Steve made our dinner selection tonight all by his own big self (with a little help from Trip Advisor). We walked a little east and a little north of our hotel and came to his selection, Martini En Fuego. It is a slightly upscale restaurant in the romantic zone of Vallarta. They specialize in steaks and seafood. We walked in and they suggested a little table in the corner for us, which was perfect. They took our drink order and offered us either bottled or glass of water.
They have a very nice menu, so we decided to share the whole thing with you. Remember, the prices are in pesos, not US dollars.
They brought our drinks, and then the chef (Roberto) came out to tell us about the specials of the day. He was offering an seared ahi tuna steak with grilled vegetables or a fresh caught snapper.
Steve ordered the ahi tuna special and I ordered a poblano cream shrimp with vegetables off of the menu. As we were enjoying our margaritas, our waiter brought out two ceasar salads compliments of the chef (who is also the owner of the restaurant).
We really enjoyed our ceasar salads as we waited for our entrees. They were very fresh with a really nice dressing. Shortly after we finished our salads, our entrees were served, and they were both spectacular!
Steve's ahi steak was served with a berry infused balsamic reduction. It was the perfect compliment to the ahi.
My poblamo cream shrimp as also great. It was the perfect flavor combinations!
As we ate our dinners, we noticed a couple of gecos on the wall by the window. They were just minding their business, keeping the restaurant free of flies and mosquitos and bringing good luck to all of the patrons of the restaurant.
As we ate our dinner, the chef came out to check on us, to make sure that we were enjoying our dinner. We told him that it was fabulous!
We stopped early on our dinners because we really wanted to order a dessert. So with half of our food on our plates I asked in Spanish if the waiter could please bring us a to go box. He said of course, then asked "aqui?". I am very slow at interpreting Spanish, so it took me a minute to understand what he was asking in his one word, but when I finally comprehended him, I said "here" because that was what he had said. He was asking if we wanted to have our food boxed at our table or if he could take it to the kitchen, so when I said "here", he thought that we wanted it boxed at our table, so then we had to explain how slow I am at interpreting Spanish and that boxing it in the kitchen would be fine. He laughed along with us and realized that I am very poor at Spanish, so from then on, he worked with me on my Spanish, which I really appreciated. He also asked if we wanted them boxed together or separate and we said that together would be great. He told me that together in Spanish is "juntos". That is my new word for the day, and I really need to remember it!
He boxed up our dinners, and instead of bringing us a dessert menu, he brought out this beautiful dessert of pears in wine sauce with vanilla ice cream and again said that it was compliments of the chef. By this time, I was getting watery eyed at the graciousness of this chef. He is working so hard to make his restaurant a success, and yet he has now given us a complimentary salads and desserts.
Steve asked him what would be a good after dinner drink to accompany our dessert, and he quickly brought out two liquors on ice. We asked what they were, and he said that it was called 43. It is a fruit liquor with a vanilla flavor. He said that it was also on the house, but Steve insisted that it needed to be on our bill.
We drank our 43 as we slowly enjoyed our pears, and a few minutes later, the chef came out with a shot of home made tequila. He said that he really wanted us to have it, but said that it should follow our dessert and 43. So once we finished our dessert, we shared our shot of home made tequila.
The tequila was very good too! We asked the chef if we could see the bottle of the 43, so he brought it out for us to look at. It is something that we have never seen before in the US, so now we will have to look for it.
Another thing that we have noticed in Puerto Vallarta this time is that a lot of the restaurants hire musicians to play during the dinner hour, but they are not mariachis. They play quietly, kind of in the background and are actually a real compliment to the meal experience. There was a musician at the restaurant tonight, and we really enjoyed his music as we ate.
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