PUERTO VALLARTA RESTAURANTS

It’s the destination’s great variety of venues and cuisine that keeps returning foodies blissfully content.

During the past 30 years, immigrant chefs have expanded the culinary horizons beyond seafood and Mexican fare. You’ll find everything from haute cuisine to fish kebabs. Some of the most rewarding culinary experiences are found outside of fancy restaurants and familiar chain eateries at the street-side tacos stalls and neighborhood fondas, humble spots serving bowls of chile-laced pozole and seafood-heavy Mexican comfort food.

The trend of the day is restaurant-lounges. Ten years ago, DeSantos (co-owned by the drummer of the Mexican rock band Maná) was the first to combine dining and dancing in a hip new way, with its noisy, ground-floor bar-restaurant and pulsing dance club above. Today DeSantos, Ztai, Mandala, and other lounges provide places to party with the locals beyond their cool and chill dining rooms.

For those who prefer dining alfresco (and wearing flip-flops) to the glamour scene, almost every popular beach has apalapa shanty or two selling fish fillets and snacks, sodas, and beer. Some offer the Pacific Coast specialty pescado sarandeado (butterflied red snapper rubbed with salt and spices and grilled over a wood fire) or the devilishly simple (and fiery hot) dish aguachile, a ceviche salad. The catch of the day may vary, but the white plastic tables and chairs in the sand are permanent fixtures.