November 29, 2011 Lunch – Eldorado Restaurant at Punta Mita and Dinner – Fish Stew

 

November 29, 2011 Lunch – Eldorado Restaurant at Punta Mita and Dinner – Fish Stew

In the morning we drove to Hamanara Yoga Resort, which is located on the same peninsula and road that our rental house on which our rental house is located.  Hanamara was lovely, high on a hill overlooking the vast expanse of Escondido beach; the next beach north of Sayulita.  Although there is electricity to the main dining area and reception most of bungalows scattered along the ridge line have no electricity, but do have plumbing.   At the Reception we were met by a lady, who Luke spoke to, and who invited us to walk around and told us we could inspect one of the unoccupied bungalows, so we walked around and saw two lovely round yoga platforms of darkened wood positioned on points with magnificent views of the ocean and the bay.  At the second platform, a yoga class was just ending and one of the woman screamed and ran over to Luke and hugged him, when he said, “Oh My God!”  She was Jazmin, the instructor of the class, one of the owners of Laughing Lotus Yoga Institute, where Luke worked in New York. Luke described the Laughing Lotus Institute as a family within the bigger family of yoga centers.  We also met the lady who organized the retreat, who was editor of Vegan Magazine in San Francisco.  After photos, we dropped Luke off at the road into Sayulita and we drove over to the National Highway and south to San Ignacio to visit the copper guy.  He was still in the hospital but his friend was sitting by the truck loaded with copper pots and sinks.  I read while Suzette talked and looked.  It shortly became obvious that he did not have any four sided basins like Suzette needed for the spa, so we decided to drive to Punta Mita for Lunch because we wanted to share a large whole red snapper cooked over an open flame, which is a famous local dish in the PV area.  We arrived at around 12:00 and went to Eldorado Restaurant , which is one we have eaten at before and enjoyed.  There is a long line of restaurants at Punta Mita on the beach facing into the Banderas Bay with a view of the Marquesas Islands.  I asked the waiter if there was a large Red Snapper and he said not at the moment but then called the owner and said the owner was bringing fish and he would arrive in a few minutes.  After watching the sun glint across the waves rolling into the sand an pebble shoreline, we decided to swim.  So I went and got our swim wear out of the car and we walked the twenty feet to the water and swam for several minutes.  Then we showered off at a shower in the restaurant and asked the waiter if the red snapper had arrived.  He said they were too small and smelled bad, so we should get something else.  This is the kind of pleasant lie that occurs in Mexico all the time that I find so endearing.  So I asked the waiter what he would prefer and he said he recommended the Fish Eldorado prepared in a Bechamel and cheese sauce.  Suzette studied the menu and found that the restaurant had several octopus recipes.  The waiter recommended a dish made with octopus sautéed in a mild Guajilla chile and garlic butter cause, which Suzette chose.  I asked the waiter to bring a side of the béchamel for Suzette so she could have a creamy sauce to accompany her octopus if it jarred with the vouvray. The waiter said we could open our bottle of Champlou Vouvray and brought us an ice bucket filled with ice and water to keep our wine chilled.

As we sat waiting for our food I noticed a sail boat enter the pay under motor power with the main sail up about half way and noted that it looked like Harold Lott’s Juneau sailboat.  Although more than a mile away, we could see the distinctive v shaped back of the boat and it was sailing toward PV, which is where Harold moors his boat.

When the food arrived we ate it with gusto.  The fish was delicious in its heavy crème sauce and perfect with the slightly sweet, minerally vouvray sec.  Suzette’s octopus was a unique and memorable combination of fried strips of red chile mixed with chunks of octopus coated with the buttery garlic sauce.  Both dishes were served with an accompanying plate on which there was a pile of sautéed steamed vegetables, a baked potato slathered with crema and cojita cheese flakes and a round timble of rice.

The waiter also brought a basket with several pieces of garlic bread.

We shared and ate until we could not eat any more.  The creamy fish and the rich tangy octopus made an interesting combination of flavors. 

Luke took the 5:00 p.m. yoga class at Hamanara and Suzette was stuffed from lunch, so I was left to assemble dinner.  I chose the old Boy Scout method of getting everything out of the refrigerator and made a fish stew with the PPI goat cheese stuffed pasta shells with chicken and shrimp, the red snapper fillet from the Thanksgiving meal, I chopped up some endive lettuce and parsley and sautéed some of the cauliflower flowerlets, with two cloves of garlic and ¼ cup of red onion.  We could only eat a small bowl, but the warm stew was delicious.