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 Entertainment | Restaurants & Dining | November 2006 
Las Casitas - A Life by the Sea
 Kathy Taylor - PVNN
Las Casitas, celebrating each element of the ocean, holds promise as a destination seafood restaurant - if the previewed menu is any indication.
It is hard to go wrong with a location such as this - the beach just steps away, stately columns framing the sunset, waves breaking on the shore - then add spectacular seafood served with the Marriott's world class service, and you definitely have a winning combination.
Executive Chef Fred Ruiz walked me through the contemporary dining room, dressed out in cool marbles and tropical white upholstery and linens. Sure to be one of the hottest bars in Marina Vallarta is the huge circular stone and marble bar where the bartenders are busy shaking up the latest in creative cocktails, a good vantage point - to see and be seen.
And if the band who currently plays mostly in the Lobby Bar, Jai, plays a few evenings a week in Las Casitas as promised, it will be a wonderful place for after dinner drinks and dancing for the hip, but not hiphop, crowd.
Location and ambiance count, but Las Casita's focus is really on the menu and offering the best seafood available. The new menu begins with great starters like Baja crab enchiladas, lobster tacos, lobster bisque, a cappuccino of wild mushroom soup, and of course, ceviche. Ruiz features two ceviches, one on tostadas, with scallops, avocado and an invigorating radish sauce. The other is as simple as it gets - shrimp marinated with fresh lime juice and cilantro.
The main course selection is brimming with seafood, of course, like the Oaxaca style boullaibaise, crammed with lobster, shrimp, scallops, mussels and fish, in a rich tomato - smoked chile broth. This menu lets the flavors of the ocean rise to the surface, uncluttered but nicely embellished.
The richest dish on the menu, both in pesos and luxury, is the fricassee style lobster with a sauvignon blanc sauce. There is salmon, snapper, sea bass and shrimp, but meat lovers haven't been forgotten.
U.S. Black Angus filet, rib eye and New York cuts balance this menu, with creative sides like a chayote au gratin or deluxe treatments like the rib eye that is crusted with marrow, mushrooms, topped with a blue cheese foam, and served with a blackberry glaze.
Ruiz's extravagant imagination floats to the dessert menu, you'll be glad to know. Each dish offers a single Mexican element, either in ingredient or style, and extends beyond the ordinary.
There are carmelized banana empanadas with a bittersweet chocolate sauce, and a bourbon -pecan crθme brulee served with a milk chocolate sauce. More chocolate appears with the warm chocolate cake, and two very different desserts complete the selection.
A sweet corn bombe filled with vanilla cream is served with cilantro syrup, and a duo of corn crepes share a plate. One is filled with key lime cream and the other with chocolate mousse (more chocolate!), topped with an agave syrup and roasted strawberries.
Las Casitas, with its seafood theme, opens just in time for Ruiz to join forces with one of the most notable seafood chefs in North America, Chef Dean James Max, for Festival Gourmet International Vallarta 2006.
Max is the inspired hand at Ocean 3030 in Miami, and the recent author of "A Life by the Sea," a book of clear ideas and ocean fresh recipes. During the 10 day Festival, they will offer a collaborative menu every evening in the beautiful Las Casitas.
Chef Max will also join Ruiz for the all day "Fine Asiatic" cooking demonstration in the serenely oriental Mikado, another of the Marriott's top flight restaurants. Go to www.festivalgourmet.com for more information on both the cooking demonstrations and the special festival menus offered nightly between the 9th and 19th of November.
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