Vallarta Eats, Dec 26 2012

Vallarta Eats is a company that provides culinary tours in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. We registered for Mole, Pozole and More. I learned a bit and ate a lot! We were so full, no one wanted to stay in the city to party.

We started at 5pm and our guide, Memo, walked us North, away from the beach and tourist area.

El Mole de Jovita
The first stop was a mole restaurant, called El Mole De Jovita.
The mole is made from the owner's mother's (Jovita) recipe. The story is she makes it in Mexico city and it is sent to Puerto Vallarta. We had two types of mole, Mole Pueblano and Green mole. I preferred the pueblano, it had a richer taste to it. They also served it with a corn salad that was simple, but amazing! Memo explained how to make it. The secret ingredient is powered chicken broth!

Mexican Corn Salad recipe
Pablano pepper
onion
olive oil
butter
corn
sour cream
chicken stock, powered

Roast the peppers over a flame until skin is black. Sweat the peppers in a plastic bag for 30 minutes. Peel the skins from the peppers. Slice the peppers and onions and place into a pan with the onions, olive oil and butter. Saute and then add corn, sour cream and chicken stock until heated through.

Second stop
Seafood restaurant. Memo told us that the majority fo seafood restaurants are open only until 5pm. This is one of the few open in teh evening. We had three dishes, the first was a smoked marlin on a tostada. The second was a seafood soup with octopus and shrimp. The octopus was surprisingly soft. The last was agua chile, which was like a ceviche. It was raw shrimp in a lime and jalapeno marinade. with cucumbers and onion. It was refreshing, and the jalapenos added a heat that was slightly too much, but still good.

Third stop
Taco stand. two tacos. I was full at this point.

Fourth
Pozole. Very full now, could hardly eat another bite.

Fifth
Candy store that made their own fruit based gel-like candy.