Wedding Blog

I must preface this post by saying Mr. Cookie and I are avid cooks. Although I do most of the everyday meals, Mr. Cookie can navigate the kitchen very well. His dish of lemon seared scallops over a bed of cooked spinach and caramelized pecans is to die for *wipes drool from mouth* Ok, so I am just going to say it: we are foodies. We seriously live for good cuisine.

It is literally insane how many restaurants Puerto Vallarta boasts. So, we decided to skip the all-inclusive option in favor of dining on local cuisine. Here were a few of our favorite places to eat in PV.

Up and down the streets of Puerto Vallarta are fabulous street vendors. You can get a hearty meal for around $5-10 per person. By far our favorite spot to dine, period, was this little taco cart. Mr. Cookie and I ate there every morning for breakfast.

You can’t see it in this picture, but I loved to watch the woman in the front hand press the homemade tortillas.

The tacos consisted of a corn tortilla, asada, beans, onions, and cabbage (at least I think it was cabbage) that you would sprinkle with cilantro, guacamole, green salsa, and of course fresh squeeze lime juice. Fresh lime is squeezed on almost every dish. Oh, I am salivating just thinking about them.


This little guy was there to greet us at the taco cart every morning as we would sit down to eat our tacos. We lovingly nicknamed him Stubby.
This place was a hole-in-the-wall, but had the best shrimp burritos ever! Their special ingredient: mayonnaise. For two straight evenings we grabbed our shrimp burritos and hurried back to our hotel room to eat and watch the sunset from our balcony.

On our last night in PV, per Mr. Cookie’s Best Man’s suggestion, we dined at Las Carmelitas. The restaurant is located high in the mountains on a dirt road that gets you thinking if the cab brakes gave out, you’d be a goner. But never mind the dirt road because not only is the food great, the view of PV is breathtaking.

It was a little overcast the evening we went, so this photo really doesn’t do the view justice.

Las Carmelitas is building a new restaurant higher up the mountain. Our waiter let us hike up and take a peek at the new building for an even better view of PV.

The outdoor kitchen.
Wood burning oven. I wish I had one of the these in my kitchen.

You can’t have a dinner in PV without margaritas.

I ordered an Argentinian beef steak topped with grilled pineapple. Even though the beef has a gamey taste in comparison to American beef, the pineapple was an excellent complement to the beef.

Mr. Cookie order the seafood combination platter consisting of octopus, mahi mahi, oysters, shrimp, and crab.

To accompany our meal were fresh tortilla chips, guacamole, pico de gallo, and a tomato puree along with…

… fresh corn tortillas. Yummy!

At the end of our meal and because I am a coffee addict, I had to order cafè con leche.

Probably because I was asking so many questions about how the food was prepared, our waiter brought over some fresh herbs that they grow on the property: cilantro, basil, rosemary, anise, wild mint, and marigold. He got a little extra tip for that one. Total cost for the meal was $100 US dollars.

If you would like to dine at Las Carmelitas, especially during the busy season, reservations are required. Ask your hotel concierge to book the reservation for you. Also, as the restaurant is far from the beaten path, arrange for the taxi driver to pick you up after your meal. Allow between 2-2 1/2 hours because the service is slow in order for you to enjoy not only the spectacular view, but a culinary treat.

Las Carmelitas was the perfect end to a wonderful and romantic honeymoon. We wish we could have stayed longer in PV, but alas back to the daily grind.

What unique restaurants did you dine at during your honeymoon?