Today I went to get a couple delicious huaraches from the first huarache restaurant in Vallarta, El Huarache.
Hello, again. My dad and I, and sometimes my mom comes along too, have been going out on the town to find some of the best hole in the wall, off the beaten path cheap eats restaurants that we can find. We go out almost every day, finding some new little place to tell you about and review the food and prices.
Now, if you don’t know what huaraches are, don’t worry, they’re not actual shoes. What huaraches are is some sort of meat or guisado put on top of what’s basically a thick, sandal-shaped corn tortilla. These are really popular in Mexico City, but they weren’t made here, or at least there wasn’t a restaurant here in Puerto Vallarta until about 30 years ago. Vianney is the current owner of El Huarache, but her mother started the same business in Palmar De Aramara in 1990. After her mother passed away, Vianney took over the establishment. She moved the location and they are now at Mezquital #623 in Los Portales. The longitude latitude location is 20.663670343997275, -105.2276097553295.
El Huarache only serves huaraches, but there are lots of varieties. They are legitimate flavors from Mexico City, and each of the flavors are unique and everyone should be able to find one that they enjoy. For example, I can’t stand mushrooms myself, but my dad always orders a mushroom huarache. There are 14 different combinations including lots of meat options but also a couple of vegetarian options. They have eggs, mushrooms, nopals, rajas with cheese, or you can even get one without a filling. There’s also a few specials and promotions such as 2 huaraches and a water for 79 pesos. The optional toppings are cheese, crema, and onions, but the plain huarache will come piled high with more of the toppings than the others. Also, you can order your huarache ether cooked or fried. The cooked is on a grittle, and it turns out thick and soft like a tortilla. The fried, on the other hand, is deep-fried and comes out light and crunchy with a big air bubble in it. If you try to cut the fried ones with a knife it will simply crumble. To drink they have sodas, chocolate milk, smoothies, and waters. The waters and smoothies are made fresh every time you order one so you can ask for little, lots, or no sugar. Also, even the waters are made in a blender with ice so they’re very cold and smoothie-like themselves.
I got a pork bistec huarache and strawberry water. I, personally do not like my huaraches fried because then they have a bit of a greasy texture, so I just got mine cooked. The huarache was super soft and had a really nice texture, like a sope or gordita. The meat wasn’t chewy, it was soft and tender, and it was cut into small chunks. The flavor was also really, really good. It had a spiced flavor, but not spicy, that was almost like a subtle al pastor taste. There were two spicy sauces though, a red and a green, and the green went sooo well with the huarache. The red was roasted tomatoes, chilis, and other vegetables. It had kinda a burnt flavor so I personally didn’t enjoy it. The green was a jalapeño sauce, I think, and it had more of a fresh flavor.
My dad had two huaraches, a mushroom and a beef bistec. The mushroom I wouldn’t dare try, as I really hate mushrooms, but the beef was good. It tasted like arachera rather than bistec, and it was also really tender and soft. And my dad put sauce on it as well, except he used the red sauce.
I wouldn’t call the restaurant large, but it also isn’t small. There is a pretty good amount of tables and a counter with bar stools. But, if it’s ever packed then you can take food to go and there’s a little park about a block away.
El Huarache's Phone Number: 322 149 3933
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