April 2, 2022 breakfast - French Bakery. Lunch - Tropical Garden. Dinner - Beef Ravioli in a Carrot and Tomato Ragu
Today was one of those magical days that got better as it went along.
We started at 6:20 going to town to get some breakfast before the big deep sea fishing trip. I ordered coffee and a chai and two pieces of bad banana bread At Chocolate Banana on the plaza.
Then we went to the fishing fleet area and found captain William and the proper boat. I felt compelled to be honest with Capt. William and told him. “yo tango problemas con mI cuerpo. I have problems with my body.”
When TR and John arrived at 8:00 the captain told TR that I could not go. What a relief.
We drove back to the main area and parked and walked to the French bakery and ordered breakfast. We each ordered scrambled eggs with ham and cheese with four slices of French baguette that had soft crusts rather than hard crusts. The bakery eggs with ham and cheese are rather plain, but filling. The lady brought us a small container of strawberry preserved upon request.
We then returned to Villa Amalia but stopped at a juice stand and filled our empty 500 ml. bottle with carrot/orange and the 600 ml. bottle with fresh squeezed orange juice. We then rested for an hour.
When we awakened again it was noon and time for lunch.
We tried to drive to Frente Al Punto but it was closed and a huge ugly blue plastic tarp was erected in front of the restaurant blocking the usually beautiful view of the beach.
There was loud Mexican Techno music blaring and vendors were bringing in beer for the big Beer Fest so we left and tried to drive to Jakal on Palmar. We parked on the supine road near Jakal and walked to it. When we arrived it was closed also, but I had noticed people eating in a lovely garden at Tropical House. Suzette wanted to go to a restaurant on the beach side of Palmar that we had gone to before that I did not think had very good food, so I objected and she grudgingly agreed to try Tropical House. We took a table in the middle of the garden surrounded by Bougainvillea and dotted with a palm tree or two.
It was an old converted residence and the was a line of old American ex-pats drinking and talking at the bar, which I took to be a good sign.
Soon, the waitress arrived with the menu. The only interesting dish I noticed was Tuna Carpaccio so I ordered it. Suzette asked if there was fresh fish but it was not on the menu. The waitress said give me a moment and asked the owner, who walked over. His named was Michel and he had a bigger beer belly than me, but very friendly. He has the waitress, who by now was in a secondary function bring the dinner menu. He said” “We have fresh Dorado, Mahi Mahi. There were three different preparations offered on the menu, Vera Cruz, Sarandeado (an awful sauce dominated by chili and Worcestershire sauce. Here is the recipe https://www.bigoven.com/recipe/mexican-style-grilled-fish-sarandeado/161138), and an intriguing Tropical choice. Suzette asked me to choose and I chose the Tropical prep. The waitress asked if we wanted that with rice or noodles and we said rice.
Suzette ordered a margarita, which claims is the best drink with grilled fish.
I had not ordered a drink, so soon after we ordered Michel returned with two artisanal beers in his hand, one was Porter and the other Stout. I asked him which was sweeter and he put the stout on the table and I thanked him. The waitress opened the bottle for us and poured some of the dark malty beverage into a glass. Suzette and I immediately noticed the name on the bottle was La Bicicleta, the Bicycle, which made us think of the wonderful French restaurant we used to go to in San Pancho and then she read the side label and read the long list of recommended food accompaniments, one of which was smoked goose. That intrigued her and she asked to speak to the owner again. When Michel returned we asked two questions, Was he the owner of La Bicicleta and when would smoked goose be on the menu?
His recollection was a little different than ours. He remembered the French restaurant in San Pancho but called it by a different name and added that the French who owned it also had a restaurant in his current Tropical House location where we were sitting, which sort of made the name fit together.
In response to Suzette’s smoked goose question, Michel laughed and said that the label printer made an error. He had said smoked Gouda and the printer put smoked goose. But, then he said he was the maker of a cheese.
We did not press that as the waitress was bringing the tuna carpaccio that was a very interesting mound of fresh chopped Romaine lettuce with strips of fresh raw sushi grade tuna laid on the sides of the pile of lettuce and rested with a balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and caper dressing, very much like the one Suzette makes. We split the salad and I asked for a drizzle of a little more olive oil to dampen the acidity of the balsamic, which Suzette was fine with.
Soon the Tropical grilled Mahi Mahi arrived. It was a perfectly grilled moist through and through fish fillet floating on a sauce of sautéed papaya, pineapple, and caramelized onions served with a lovely rice risotto. An ocean full of food on a plate.
We loved both the dishes and ate to our hearts content. I later checked its rating and it was 4.5, higher than Don Pedro’s and equal to Jakal, so a great restaurant by Sayulita standards.
We drove back to the hotel and rested and then Suzette swam and I did water yoga for twenty minutes. The hotel has a lovely small pool in its patio that I 1.75 meters deep so perfect for me to stand and stretch and deep enough for Suzette to swim.
After swimming we made rum drinks with the Penefiel mineral water with lime, ice, and fresh orange juice. The drink was delicious but Suzette wanted to go exploring and soon came back with word of discovery of an elevator at the end of the hallway. She asked the duena if there was a roof top veranda and she lady said, “Yes, on level four.”
So we took outer drinks and the lady accompanied us to level four to a beautiful roof veranda with its 360 degree panoramic view of the city and the ocean. We were stunned by this amenity in what we had initially thought would be a humble Mexican Posada and decided immediately to eat dinner at sunset on the veranda.
We went back down and searched the TV and soon found CNN among the amazing assortment of channels.
At 5:30 we decided to start cooking dinner. Suzette had thought of a recipe inspired by the latest issue Martha Stewart Magazine utilizing roasted carrots as the main ingredient in dishes. We did not have an oven so Suzette showed me the approximately 2 inch long strip she wanted and I sliced two carrots into strips. Then I sliced the white ends of two Mexican green onions and minced two cloves of garlic. Then I diced two tomatoes and four mushrooms, and finally a handful of cilantro.
I can not tell you how vibrantly fresh the produce is in Mexico. Every vegetable is as fresh and perfect as the best you ever find in the U.S.
Suzette sautéed the carrots for a while to try to caramelize them and then added the other ingredients to the sauté. While the sauce was cooking she started boiling the beef stuffed ravioli we had bought at Moka Kaffe pasta shop in PV yesterday.
Suzette then opened the bottle of Trapiche Cabernet Sauvignon and we tasted it and it had that balance of tannin and fruit we associate with cabs, so we were good to go on the wine.
Suzette filled our glasses with wine and had about 1/3 cup left that we decided to add to the sauce.
As the thirty to 40 fresh raviolis were boiled Suzette added them to the sauce as I watched the final four game between North Carolina and Duke.
It was just like Saturday night at home, cooking and watching TV.
When the raviolis were all boiled and added to the sauce with a bit of the pasta water and wine to emulsify the sauce, Suzette filled bowls and we carried them to the roof and enjoyed a marvelous dinner. The carrots dominated but their partnership with the beef stuffed ravioli made a truly memorable dish. We lingered as the sky darker and lights came on along the hills surrounding Sayulita’s crescent shaped bay.
We returned to the room after finishing our wine and I made a cup of mint tea and poured a sip of the Bacardi Anejo rum and opened a packet of the chocolate wafer cookies and had a little dessert course. We tried to watch Desi and Luci but did not care for its documentary format and went to bed by 10:00 after a day of wonderful food and food adventures.
Bon Appetit
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