I was just sorting through the Puerto Vallarta pictures today and came across the pictures from my birthday dinner at Cafe de Artistes, I had to write about this place and the special night I had before I get around to writing a trip report.

For dinner on my birthday, Siv had made reservations at the Cocina de Autor, the fine dining area at the world famous restaurant Cafe des Artistes owned by the award winning chef Thierry Blouet. Truly, the best restaurant I have ever been to! I think this should be one of the reasons to visit Puerto Vallarta, a true destination restaurant!
http://www.cafedesartistes.com/

We were seated in the sleek and stylish dining room with glass walls and glass ceilings looking into a flowing waterfall with lush landscape on the top floor of the restaurant. The table was set oh so perfect with some 6-7 wine glasses in different shapes, which kept disappearing one by one after each course, a perfect execution!The menu is French gourmet, and is offered in prix fixe tasting menu style, you can pick anywhere from 3 to 5 courses, any combination of appetizers, main courses and desserts. Siv and I both picked the 4 course option with two appetizers, one entree and a dessert . The menu was just awesome, it was really hard to pick just 4! Siv went for the wine pairing, but I can’t really handle 4 glasses of wine and still enjoy a great meal like this, so I stuck with the one glass of Pinot Noir I started with.

The service is just what you would expect from any of the fine restaurants, 5 different servers just waiting around, one for bringing you new place settings before each course, one to pour wine, one to serve and explain the dish, and another one to clear the plates, did I miss any?

Our meal of course started with the obligatory amuse bouche (small appetizer bites compliments of the chef, before the dinner is served to get your palette going) as expected in any fine restaurant. I should have paid more attention to what the waiter was saying about the dish, I was licking my chops, on the site of this amazing presentation! The right most is a mini bruchetta, with pear salad. Then you have the tomato soup with crème garnished with fennel seeds, and finally a pistachio paste cake to clear your palette. We were asked to start from the right, and oh god, the first bite and we knew we are at the best restaurant we have ever eaten at!

 
For the first course, both of us picked the foie gras , since we love foie gras, and all the best chefs do something unique with it. It was served on a warm apple salad, with a side of sweet potato puree, and the chef’s instruction was to take each bite of foie gras along with a dash of the sweet potato, and he knows what he is talking about, the combination was just amazing!

My next course was the crab cakes . It was served with basil oil and a heart of lettuce with some amazing sauces. No doubt the best crab cake I have ever had! Siv’s second course was the lobster salad, there is no way I can even begin to explain the burst of flavors inside the mouth when I took a bite of that salad!

My third course from the entree section was the seabass in miso sauce, and siv got the roasted piglets in some red sauce. While mine was a gastronomical delight, siv’s entree was a disappointment, I think in any other restaurant, it would have passed as an okay dish, but our expectations were sky high at this place by this time. The sauce was just too sweet and strong. My dish came with a side of creamy shallot sauce, which was poured over the fish at the table. The resulting sauce was just so delicious, lucky they gave a spoon along with this order, so that I didn’t have to pick up the dish and suck the sauce in and embarrass myself, I am sure I would have done that, since the sauce was just too good to waste! Siv’s pork dish came with a side of bacon wrapped bananas, and while on paper it sounds like a great dish, I really didn’t like that combination. Overall, the only disappointment in the whole meal!

Before the dessert course, they served us a complementary cheese tray, 4 different cheeses ranging from mild to very strong, each one paired with the perfect complement! The last cheese was a really strong goat cheese, which both of us couldn’t eat, but all the others were just awesome!

 
Till then all the courses were appearing just in time, with just enough interval between courses, that we never felt rushed, but at the same time never felt like we are just sitting and waiting! But after the cheese course, it took a while for them to bring the dessert out, and I was getting kind of impatient, then I heard some loud music. I was just starting to complain to Siv as to how loud that was, but I suddenly realized that the tune was “Happy Birthday to you!” . In a moment, there they were next to our table, a live saxophone player serenading me personally (with the accompanying piano music from the live piano bar), and two waiters carrying a beautiful tray of desserts, which was personally created for us. The tray was a big mirror, with Happy Birthday written in chocolate, two complementary desserts in addition to the crème brulees we ordered, a vase of beautiful flowers, two cups of raspberry sorbet, and a beautiful lighted candle!

 
I was so embarrassed with all the attention, but I sure felt special!!! We were really blown away by this artistic creation! They could have just stuck a candle in the crème brulee, or on a separate piece of cake, and called it a night, but this was really going out of the way! By the way the crème brulee with lychees and mangos which both of us picked for our last course was just so amazing! Oh and Siv’s courses were perfectly paired with the right wines… Four courses were just too many actually after the amuse bouche and the complimentary cheese course, I was so stuffed, I couldn’t actually enjoy the dessert that much! But there is no way I could have just picked three anyway, so I am glad I went with the four course!

 
We have been to some great restaurants before, like Lumiere in Vancouver, Fleur de Lys in Vegas, and Seattle’s own Mistral, Lampreia, Rover’s… but I can say without any doubt in my mind that this is the best we have been to… Definitely worth a trip to PV just to try this!

Thanks to Siv and Thierry Blouet for making my birthday extra special!

Updated: 05/17/07 

I am sending this over to Bon Vivant for the blog event - Meals Abroad. Chelsea is collecting food related travel memories from foodies around the world. When I saw this event description, I knew I had to send in the most wonderful meal I’ve ever had. Chelsea agreed that I can reuse an older post. Thanks Chelsea!

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Comments

3 Responses to “Cafe des Artistes/Thierry Blouet Cocina de Autor - the finest restaurant in Puerto Vallarta”

  1. Nandita Iyer says:
    February 14, 2007 at 2:53 pm

    You are one lucky girl! Belated birthday wishes Sig!

    Reply
  2. Sig says:
    February 14, 2007 at 3:55 pm

    Thanks Nandita :).

    Reply
  3. Chelsea says:
    May 18, 2007 at 12:07 am

    I can see why this was the best meal you ever had - I wish I was there! Thanks for contributing to Meals Abroad, this is exactly what I had in mind!

    Reply

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