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Food tours are a terrific way to explore a city, since food drives travel around the world. What is the local delicacy? What should we not skip? Where can we find the best food the city has to offer?
We have taken 43 food tours around the world. Since we have been to Puerto Vallarta several times, and explored the tourist areas, we were ready for a small neighborhood experience – eating our way around the winding streets! We booked A Taste of Pitillal. Pitillal is an old neighborhood, a historical pocket, and Puerto Vallarta grew around it. It is a delightful – and old – barrio. There are no designer shops, nor even high-tech shops. It is a throwback to what small neighborhood shops and restaurants were many years ago.
Our tour was led by Al, who has lived here for many years. He was determined to only take us to the best and most authentic places. We enjoyed several different kinds of tacos, a seafood tostada, a churro made before our eyes, a chili cheese tamale, and fabulous popsicles containing real fruit. More than anything, though, the history we learned as we walked about, and meeting a great group of fellow travelers, made it all so worthwhile.
One thing we realized at the end of the day was that the food was good – BUT, “authentic Mexican food” was exactly the same as that which we enjoy in California. This is most likely due to the fact that many Mexican immigrants established restaurants so that they could share their “tastes of home” with people in their new country. And it is them, and their descendants, who provide such great Mexican food in California…even if the restaurant is not a mom-and-pop operation, but a chain restaurant! So, it isn’t necessary to travel to Mexico for good Mexican food. It can be had all over California. We have tried Mexican food in the Midwest and in several European countries cities. It is much better today than 20 years ago, but is still, to our palates, “Mexican-ish.” Try it in California if you can’t get to Mexico!
An umbrella sky greeted us in the port.
Meeting our food tour at Plaza Pitillal, and arriving early, we explored the church across the street – St. Michael the Archangel. With its flags, it looked like it was ready for a fiesta.
Inside, it looked modern, with a Resurrected Jesus rather than a Crucified Jesus. This statue was installed in 1992. The people gathered near the front are attending a baptism. We could hear the priest talking, but kept our distance so as to avoid interrupting the event.
We stopped to see the seafood at a small cart on the corner of the plaza. This woman was cleaning a tub of shrimp.
These are corn tortillas being made at Tortilleria Las Cuatas. The machine flattens the balls of maize, cooks them (the top center), then drops them (bottom right) onto a conveyor belt where they are retrieved, packaged, and sold.
We don’t understand these prices. The first sign, for jitomates (navel tomatoes), is advertising them at a price of 39 cents US – for 2.2 pounds!
A very small store selling beans and spices.
For 29 cents US, you can have a freshly fried churro dipped in cinnamon and sugar. It was one of the best things we ate on the food tour! Crisp on the outside, soft on the inside, and warm, of course.
The streets in Pitillal are all cobblestone, making for a bumpy Uber ride as we arrived. By the way, Uber worked great in this town. Each ride was about $5, for a 15-minute ride in traffic.
This is our guide in a piñata shop, displaying the inner pottery around which all piñatas are fashioned. If you can think of a favorite theme or character, this shop can constructit for you.He did mention, though, that piñatas aren’t as popular as they once were.
This restaurant is Pichi II, a seafood restaurant. The next photo shows part of our tostada.
The tostadas were filled with shrimp, scallops, and octopus. The octopus, or pulpo, was a bit gummy and chewy.
All of the intersections featured this dizzying jumble of electrical wires – but only if you were looking UP!
Birrieria Robles restaurant, featuring birria, or goat meat.
Here is the Birrieria menu. Remember, though, that $100 Mexican is about $5 US.
At Cenaduria Tia Anita (a dinner-only venue that opened just for our food tour), these women were preparing the corn husks that get filled with masa and meats or cheeses.
Our last stop on the tour was this popsicle joint. As you can see, most treats cost well under a dollar. We tried a coconut popsicle, and it was jammed with chunks of coconut. It was really good.
What can we say?? A perfect ending to our day in Puerto Vallarta.
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