June 6, 2021 Sunday Brunch - Shrimp and Mushroom Omelet with Burrata, Frente de Punto restaurant, Dinner - TerraViva Restaurant
We were sunburned from yesterday at the beach so today we decided to drive to PV to shop.
Unfortunately most of the shops were closed so our shopping experience came up short. Suzette wanted a chime era, one of those ceramic Mexican semi enclosed fire pits with a chimney.
We made the best brunch of the trip. Shrimp peeled and diced, mushrooms sliced, two green onions sliced and sautéed and then we covered the omelet to cook the surface and finally cut open a burrata on top and sprinkled chopped Italian broad leaf parsley on top of the burrata.
We drank the last of the a cotes du Provence Rose with the meal and I toasted a piece of bread that I spread with butter and strawberry jam.
After brunch we drove to the airport where we obtained a Covid test. Thankfully, we were both negative.
We then drove into the center and went to Artisan Mercado, but found no chimneys. We were told to go to a shop named Tlacquepaque, which we did but it was closed. The other place we were told to go was an area of town named Pararill, which we did but found no ceramics shops.
So we returned to Sayulita. It was 4:30 and we were a little hungry so we looked for a restaurant. We went down one street to the beach but there was no good restaurant there so we retraced our route and turned toward the beach on the street at the end of the baseball field and drove to the beach where we found Frente del Punta with its large grassy lawn and rows of palm trees plus ocean frontage.
We sat at a table and considered the menu under the large palapa. No alcohol was being served this weekend in Nayarit because there is an election, so I ordered a limeade and Suzette ordered a Mint lift, which the menu called a Nojita and a Tuna Tartare. The Tuna tartare turned out to be a pile of cubed raw aji tuna and cooked shrimp marinated in soy and sesame oil dotted with black sesame seeds and wrapped in slices of avocado. It easily rated best presentation on any dish we have had in Sayulita. The presentation went over the top when we saw that it was garnished with delicious crisp thin threads of crystalized leek, which I had never had before.
We were served a bowl of crisp warm tostados with the tartare and I was even brought a pair of chop sticks when I asked for them.
All in all a fabulous dining experience.
We returned to Villa Bali at 5:30 and I took a short nap.until 7:15 when we left for dinner in town. T.Rr drove and found a parking spot a block away from the Terraviva Restaurant that T.R. And Linda had recommended for its sushi menu.
T. R. carried beers and wine so we would have alcoholic beverages if the restaurant let us bring our own. Terraviva said no alcohol could be consumed and T.R. Checked another restaurant that also said no, so we returned to Terraviva and ordered limeades and bottled waters and then perused the menu. I had eaten at Terraviva several times over the years and found its food to be excellent. I was encouraged by the improvements it had made since our last visit of encasing the kitchen in grey paneling.
We had come for Sushi but the menu choices was so expansive I had difficulty choosing an entree. Finally, Suzette helped make the decision by ordering a Spider Roll, which was a roll of nori wrapped fried soft shell crab encased in sushi rice. I then was free to order my first choice of a Shrimp stuffed Chile Relleno, which is one of my favorite dishes of this region of Mexico, because the poblano chiles grow very large and are rather mild they make a great casing for any filling and shrimp are also excellent in this area, so a naturally delicious combination that is further enhanced by the addition of cheese to the filling and a delicious batter in which the Chili is dipped and fried. Tonight the stand out flavor though was the puddle of tomato sauce on which the Relleno sat enhanced by a zig zag line of sour cream. The total effect was very impressive. I can only remember one other chili Relleno that I have ever tasted that was as good and that was two blocks away and twenty years ago at Ollas Altas, which was then a restaurant and now is a liquor store. That was was filled with Ropa Vieja, which was shredded chicken stewed in spices until most of the liquid evaporated in the manner of cooking common to Mexican Cuisine. Instead of tonight’s loose filling of shrimp and cheese that resembled a sauce the Ropa vieja was firm and was like a meal inside a meal.
Alas, tonight’s chili Relleno was good enough for me to want to eat it again and again.
Suzette’s crab roll was also excellent, a tight roll served on a platter with ten or 12 pieces with a a small circle of wasabi, a big pile of pickled ginger and a small sauce bowl of soy. Enough stuff for even the most ardent sushi aficionado to be left breathless.
T.R. and Linda ordered their favorite dishes. Linda ordered Terraviva Shrimp, which was 8 or ten large shrimp sautéed in in herbaceous sauce. T.R. looked like kid when pointing to his order of a pile of shrimp skewered on bamboo sticks, coated with shredded coconut, and deep fried. T.R.’s comment was, “I like to eat things on sticks.”
The dishes were all served with a rather wet rice that had been cooked in an herb bath and a pile of julienned steamed vegetables.
The only thing I could find to criticize was that several of the green beans were tough. That is going a long way to find something to criticize. In summation everything was delicious and the Relleno was memorable.
Bon Appetit
No comments:
Post a Comment