Café des Artistes del Mar

Café des Artistes del Mar Review

A more casual and beachy interpretation of the downtown Puerto Vallarta brand faces the water at the north end of Playa El Anclote. If you sit on the dark-stained deck, you'll have the best view of the ocean, Marietas Islands, and the left arm of Banderas Bay. Portions are petite, but the five-course tasting menu still manages to stuff one silly. Representative courses include a delicious beet-and-goat-cheese appetizer; spinach salad with poached pear and Gorgonzola cheese; salmon carpaccio with lemony scallops tartare; a deliciously tender short rib with pineapple chutney; and, for dessert, vanilla ice cream with mango foam. The soundtrack is sexy Brazilian and other ethnic-tinted jazz, the waitstaff is attentive, and the views are divine. It is attached to the condo-hotel Hotel des Artistes, although separately owned and managed.