Given that we were up early, 4:00 AM for me, we decided to head to our traditional first-night dinner at El Dorado a bit on the early side as well. It has changed management, like many other places here. In fact the first three places we have eaten have all changed hands or management. The change at El Dorado was more, shall we say, glaring than the others, however.
The New El Dorado
Now when you realize that El Dorado was one of the first beach bars here and in fifty years had not really changed a lot, this change was, well, glaring. It has gone from an old, kind of formal, Mexican place to what now looks like a Southern California beach bar. I can't say I like it all that much, particularly the techno-beat music they now have blaring. But, tradition is tradition so that is where we had our first-night's dinner.
Our First Cervezas In Puerto Vallarta
Happily, the food was still very good, although a bit different in its preparation. The Mysterious Chinese Woman had a whole red snapper and I had a tuna cervice, very good with a nice tang to it. Others have complained that the prices are somewhat high and I guess $8.50 for a hamburger might attest to that. I didn't think our meals were too expensive, but I am from New York so what do I know.
Sadly my tranquility here was shattered upon leaving when I saw this sign:
The Big Game
I tried to convice people that the "big" game was the week before when the Jets played the Steelers but, as you can imagine, I got no sympathetic ear.
We were kind of pooped so we called it an early night and then went to one of our favorite places for breakfast the next morning.
Lagostinos
The food, as usual, was quite good.
Huevos Divorciado
In English this would be divorced eggs. Two eggs, one with a green sauce and one with a red sauce. Very tasty.
The Mysterious Chinese Woman had a vegetarian omelette and it came with two soft tortillas folded over melted cheese. Also refried beans and a scoop of mashed potatoes.
Hmm, Yummy
Plenty to eat and very good. Their coffee is good too. It was only afterward that we learned that this place had also changed hands. But at least not much else seemed to have changed. I will have to check it out for dinner one night.
And, in keeping with the theme of change, the old pier that has been here forever is being torn down to be replaced with, well, with another pier.
The Old Pier Will Be No More
Apparently there was a large picture of what the new pier would look like, but it had been taken down.
Only The Frame Remains
A local wag suggested that they have to redo the picture every time the plans for the new pier change. I suspect that it was kind of an eyesore and blocked a nice view of the bay.
Then, we ended up going to what once was Sweeny's for dinner. But, again, it was no longer Sweeny's.
Que Pasa
This place, like Lagostinos, really hadn't changed. Same menu, same specials, same great food and friendly service. There is kind of a hstory behind the change in ownership. I know Sweeny was trying to sell the place last year and whoever bought it also bought the rights to the menu as well. Plus, I believe the new owner was somehow involved with Sweeny when he originally opened the place. I think some of the staff is the same as well. One guy who used to work there was in having a beer and he said he still bartends on Wednesday sfternoons.
So, there you have it, three restaurants and three changes of either management or ownership.
Some things don't change, however. As we were having a beer before dinner a few friends that we hadn't seen since last year, Bella, Tom, Marie and Peter, spotted us from the street and hollered up a hello. We hollered back and invited them to join us and we all had dinner together. So the best part of Pueto Vallarta, making new friends, meeting old friends and spontaneous get-togethers, remains the same.
Sadly, except for Bella who is from Puerto Vallarta, the other three were from, arrgh, Wisconsin. They were surpisingly sympathetic about the Jets loss to the Steelers, but that was just because they had wanted to watch the Super Bowl with me so we could root for our respective teams and hurl insults at each other.
Today is another one of the Mysterious Chinese Woman's birthdays so I am taking her to La Palapa for dinner. As far as I know that place remains the same.
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