Escape the crowds of Sayulita with a visit to San Pancho, a quiet (but rapidly changing) beach town that’s home to one of the most ambitious restaurants in Banderas Bay. Combined, chefs Mario Mendoza and Rosario García cooked at Vallarta’s first fine dining restaurant, Café des Artistes, Pitiona, and Origen in Oaxaca, Apéritif in Bali, and Relae in Copenhagen, before returning home. Find items like dry-aged rockot fish with chintextle (dry chile paste from Oaxaca), wakame, fava beans, and house-made bottarga. The tuna with cured nopal, pasilla chile Mixe, and ponzu tostada showcase the chefs’ refined coastal takes.

Chef Sebastián Renner and co-owner Josué Martínez of Makai opened Tukari as the kind of place that offers a respite from the masses of partying tourists. The oasis surrounded by palm trees and lush tropical flowers is built around an open-fire grill where thick cuts of swordfish, steaks, and pork chops are perfectly cooked. The food centers around locally sourced fish, meats, and vegetables, highlighting the region’s coastal and mountainous bounty. Grilled panela cheese from El Tuito with kalamata tapenade and fennel chimichurri is a good way to start your feast here, while the local swordfish chuletón becomes the main act the moment it hits the table, arriving surrounded by slow-grilled tacos olvidados filled with beans.

Seafood charcuterie and experimental takes on mariscos using locally grown vegetables make this unassuming restaurant a must-stop on the way out to Punta Mita. The chef is Sebastián Renner, who hails from Tapalpa, Jalisco; he went from cooking across Europe at Michelin-starred restaurants to cooking next to an Oxxo gas station along the side of the road. Cocina de mar is the style at Makai, where local pristine seafood, often spearfished by Renner himself, is the star. The menu includes items like local tuna wrapped in hoja santa leaves over an herby beurre blanc and shrimp meatballs over romesco fortified with dry chiles. Check out the seafood charcuterie, which features local ahi tuna cured like jamón serrano, and bottarga made with local fish and grated over a crudo. But the sleeper hit is the pig jowl taco over a mashed plantain puree, which just goes perfectly with a cocktail made with barranca, the type of mezcal native to Tapalpa. After your meal, walk across the jungle to La Lancha, one of the last public beaches in Punta Mita.

Opening La Tienda Grande was like coming back home for chef Salvador “Chava” Carrillo. After working his way up to chef de cuisine at La Leche, one of the very first fine dining restaurants in Puerto Vallarta, Chava left to cut his teeth in Dubai. He eventually came back home and opened a restaurant in the working-class neighborhood of Ixtapa, where he grew up. His menu is inspired by his international experience, with dishes like Anita’s Pasta (a squid ink fettuccine with chiltepín chile and shrimp), charcoal beef carpaccio with black sour sauce, and sea smoked ham (cured local sashimi, bone marrow cream, amaranth, and sunflower seeds). Carrillo’s restaurant is as colorful as his menu, with navy blue tables, wicker basket chandeliers, and lightbulbs decorated with hanging field corn. It’s 30 minutes away from El Centro, but there is no other restaurant like La Tienda Grande in the Banderas Bay.

Despite being surrounded by coffee-growing regions such as San Sebastián del Oeste, Talpa de Allende, and the neighboring state of Nayarit, Puerto Vallarta is not known as a coffee destination. This is changing thanks to Biorel Villaseñor, who has brought attention to producer-driven coffee. Tucked away at the edge of the Bobadilla and Coapinole neighborhoods in the working-class area of El Pitillal, Café Ina is changing the narrative and the context in which specialty coffee is consumed. Go early and ask Villaseñor, who also serves as a barista, to make you his pour over of choice with his current favorite bean. Or go at night when he stirs cocktails using raicilla, which he likes to source from the mountains of Talpa de Allende.

It takes a lot to stand out in Puerto Vallarta’s taco scene, but this taquería in the Versalles neighborhood won over a loyal clientele almost immediately. Part of the Joel Ornelas restaurant group, the restaurant is run by Ornelas’s mother, Ana Martina García. The menu only offers five items: the flagship pork belly tacos, pork belly in salsa verde, bean and panela cheese tacos, quesadillas, and guacamayas (Guanajuato-style tortas filled with crispy chicharrón, except served on sourdough Jalisco-style crusty birote salado rolls). The tortillas are made from local heirloom blue corn, and El Puerco de Oro may have the most epic salsa counter in town.

A cenaduría offers one of the best eating experiences in Jalisco: the kind of classic antojitos around dinnertime that satisfy both hunger and that universal yearning for home-cooked comfort. The typical menu at these establishments centers on corn-centric dishes such as pozole, tacos dorados, enchiladas, and tostadas. Cenaduría Chepina is located in the former home of Josefina Cárdenas in the Versalles neighborhood, who served classics such as tostadas raspadas with shredded pork, pork neck pozole, and enchiladas de requesón for 31 years. Her daughters run the cenaduría now; they recently gave it a bright, new look, but they kept their mom’s original recipes.

Walk along the end of the malecón (boardwalk), and you will find a sea of vendors selling esquites, grilled or boiled corn kernels served in cups and slathered with a mix of mayo and sour cream, crumbled cotija cheese, and an endless supply of toppings. But go to Eloteca in the Versalles neighborhood for a truly excellent esquite made with local corn. Tania Mancha set up this esquite bar on the front patio of her house, where she offers esquites topped with epazote-pepita pesto, salsa habanera, salsa mulata or salsa macha, and brunoise of blue and yellow tortilla chips to add tiny bits of crunch. There are also sweet corn tamales and a silky corn flan that makes the perfect dessert.

Tacos Sahuayo is a perfect example of a locals spot, nowhere near the Centro or any hotel. In the La Vena neighborhood, just look for the huddle of people on plastic chairs eating taco after taco of Sahuyo’s extremely well-seasoned trompo de al pastor. The trompero does a great job of rotating the meat next to the roaring flame, allowing just enough char on each juicy piece. The savory adobo seasoning is also a good representation of the dish’s roots, aromatic with warm spices like clove and cinnamon.

Jacinto Macedo started selling ceviche out of a street cart and people loved it so much he built a restaurant dedicated to it. The menu has grown much larger, but the quality has withstood the test of time. Make time for a seafood feast at the original location, and be sure to order the chicharrón de pescado, taquitos de jaiba (a crab-filled cross between creamy enchiladas and tacos dorados), and the tostadas with ceviche molido, topped with your choice of raw scallops or whole poached butterflied shrimp and layered with sliced avocado. Wash everything down with the restaurant’s tamarind margaritas made with raicilla instead of tequila. For dessert, make sure to order the carlota de limón, Vallarta’s equivalent of a key lime pie made with María cookies. Just make sure to bring cash, since no credit cards are accepted.

El Solar has it all: It’s a few feet away from the water. It features great local craft beer and cocktails made with raicilla, Puerto Vallarta’s regional mezcal made with tropical agave. It’s far enough from the malecón. And when you start to get hungry, you can ask for the menu from the sister restaurant next door, El Barracuda, which offers excellent botanas like chicharrón de queso with octopus and a nice aguachile. The playlist is great as well, with a nice mix of Puerto Vallarta’s signature lounge and reggae.

Birria may have only recently blown up in the United States, but in Vallarta, it’s always been the breakfast taco of the people. This tiny taquería in Centro offers goat and beef versions, both tender and delicious. The light, handmade tortillas create the kind of nimble taco that fits with an easy morning routine. You can order your tacos dorados or suaves, or get your feast on with a quesabirria or huaraches topped with birria. Make sure to order a cup of consomé with your plate to taste the essence of the birria spices.

Find the towering, slender man always dressed in a collared shirt at the corner of Uruguay and Perú Street, right behind the Casa Ley grocery store. His name is Julio, and alongside his wife Paty, he’s been making churros for 34 years. Their frying oil is always crystal clear, the churros are made to order, and the quick fry results in a custardy interior and crunchy exterior coated in cinnamon sugar.

Puerto Vallarta’s own tropical speakeasy is located in El Centro, tucked among the clubs and the masses of tourists. The drinks here are lively, and while the menu changes often, you can usually find options like coconut oil-washed gin and tonics with yuzu, or raicilla combined with house-made orgeat and charred pineapple. There are also classic cocktails made with coffee and Mexican whiskey.

Every little detail at Puerto Cafe, from the vinyl-only background music to the intentionally sourced Mexican coffee, is what you may imagine when you think of the “perfect neighborhood coffee shop.” Owner and barista Aldo Hernández is a native of Mexico City, grew up in Puerto Vallarta, and left a career as an engineer to open Puerto Cafe. There are fruity pour overs, velvety flat whites, and — most important of all — vibes. The team is mostly made up of young skateboarders that Hernández trained himself, and you never know who you’ll see there. If you love what the staff pours for you, ask if you can buy a bag of beans to take back home.

This buffet-style spot is hidden deep among the many enchanting andadores (staircases) in Vallarta’s Centro neighborhood. The restaurant specialized in old school vegetarian food way before the words “plant-based” or “vegan” were heard around town. The place is open all day, and staff switch out buffet items around lunchtime, except for the legendary, flagship black beans. For breakfast, look for chilaquiles; birria made with house-made soy strips; all-you-can-drink green juice; and pancakes filled with sweet papaya, puffed amaranth, and cajeta (goat milk caramel). For lunch or dinner, depending on the day of the week, you’ll find potato-stuffed chiles rellenos, pumpkin seed albondigas, sweet potato lasagna, and banana bread pudding for dessert.

Tacos La Mucca is the taquería project of chef Joel Ornelas, of Tintoque and El Puerco de Oro, and chef Alejandro Castellanos, the head taquero at La Mucca. Start with the botana section with headcheese aguachile, a meaty rendition of the mariscos classic. The order of escabeche comes packed with tiny pickled potatoes and carrots, and it’s topped with pickled pork skin. The sopes, meanwhile, come slathered with refried beans and jocoque (a labneh-like cultured cream), and arrive with spicy salsa de molcajete, just like you’d have it if you grew up in Vallarta. But perhaps the most iconic taco at La Mucca is Puerto Vallarta’s own regional taco, the taco arriero, which consists of about three regular-sized tacos worth of carne asada on a thick handmade tortilla, all draped with melted cheese, beans, and minced cabbage. The arriero originated in La Aurora, a working-class neighborhood, where it was meant to fill customers up at the end of a work day. La Mucca elevates the arriero with tortillas made from local heirloom corn and wood-fired Angus beef.

It’s only a matter of time until you become obsessed with tacos al vapor. This is arguably the purest and simplest form of a taco, involving steaming a whole cow head until the beef is buttery and tender. The tacos are separated into cachete (cheek meat), lengua (tongue), labio (lips), or surtido (a mix of all three), and each cut has its own texture. The tortillas are also steamed, which provides an ethereal and wispy texture throughout each bite. It is so very easy to eat half a dozen of these tacos and still want more. Tacos de Cabeza el Chulo turns out an excellent version, and it’s stumbling distance from El Centro.

The best fish taco in all of Mexico is actually sold out of this 35-year-old daytime-only taco stand. It’s a bold claim, but the elements that make up this “taco de dedo de pescado” back it up: a slightly oversized handmade corn tortilla that’s chewy and buttery on its own, a battered and fried-to-order strip of fresh mahi-mahi, and onions marinated in a Huichol-like salsa. The rest of the toppings are there too, with paper-thin shredded cabbage, salsa Mexicana (the name for pico de gallo-style salsa in Jalisco), guacamole, and as many squiggles of chipotle crema as your heart desires. Make sure to also try the rest of the seafood guisados like salpicón de jaiba (crab guisado), smoked marlin picadillo, and calamar a la diabla. The operation has two locations: a stand in Vallarta’s Zona Romántica and a small shop in the Versalles neighborhood.