Today we went to a new favorite place that we thought was going to be an old favorite.
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 not so well known cheap eats, mostly family-owned, restaurants that we can find. We go out almost every day, finding some new little place, or big place, to tell you about and review the food and prices.
So, I used to live in the Marina when I was little, and my dad had an office there too, so of course we would often eat at restaurants on the Marina. One of our favorites was a little fonda place owned by a couple older women, though I don’t remember the name of it, since it’s been multiple years since I’ve been there! So, a couple weeks ago we just had to go back to try that place and write a review. Or so we thought that was what we were doing. Actually, there is a new restaurant there now, and while it’s still a fonda, it’s completely changed, and the place looks sooo different. And that made us have to eat there even more! So we did, and it was pretty good, but not the greatest. I enjoyed the meal, and it was filling, but in my opinion it wasn't super special, so I wasn't sure I wanted to write an article. Well, today we were in the Marina again, and of course my bonehead dad told me that we should go try it again, which of course we did. And the thing is, they must've just had a little off day, because boy was the food incredible this time!! And it really showed in the effort they put in to cook their costillas, the effort to make it taste a lot better then average! The place is called Mi Rinconcito and is located on Timon 1 in Marina Vallarta, and the longitude latitude location is 20.664512845105126, -105.25256525390733.
Mi Rinconcito is a fonda serving comida corrida, which includes the main course of the day and a water for 70 pesos, and they also serve breakfasts, other meals, tacos, and a variety of drinks. On top of that they have desserts like flan and delicious creamy milk-based ice pops, also called paletas. Oh, and by the way, if you go for lunch and say Maya sent you, or present this article to them, they will include for free a water of the day or your choice of their tasty paletas!
I was going to get the comida corrida of the day, but decided on chicken sopes, and they were really good! There were four of them, and they were actually quite large, so I’m also surprised at the fact that I ate all of them! They had extra thick corn tortilla-like bases with the curled up edges that hold sauce, whatever you call those things, then chicken with some tomato-ey red sauce, and a huge pile of lettuce, some onion, a tomato slice, and some crema and queso cotija to top it off and add a little artistic-ness to it. The flavor of the tortilla-like base was really sweet, but corny, and to be honest kind of strange, though in a good way. It tasted like sweet American corn that’s used for corn bread, or that you eat on the cob with good quality butter. The chicken itself had really good flavor and different spices, though it was kinda dry, even with the sauce, but all together with the fresh, cold lettuce and the crema it didn’t seem dry at all.
My dad got the comida corrida deal, and the meal of the day was costillas, or ribs, in a red sauce. His red sauce was different than my red sauce, it was kind of like a ranchero sauce, and you could taste it had lots of tomato, onion, garlic, and peppers in it. It was very well made, and a very good texture to go with the pork, as it wasn’t runny, it was thick, yet still smooth. It would also go super good on pasta!
The ribs were obviously pan-fried, or deep-fried, or some sort of fried, before being put into the sauce, because they were crispy on the outside, while they were super tender and juicy on the inside, which is how my dad cooks his ribs too!! Most comida corrida places cook costillas in with the sauce, though here it was soooo obvious they cooked them separately, which is a plus, because they had an amazing caramelization flavor, and some nice texture. My dad was also given tortillas to go with his costillas, and they were hand-made with a strong corn flavor, and they were yellow! Yellow form the corn! I asked the owner about them, and I was told the recipe for their tortillas goes back 20 generations!!!
Mi Rinconcito looks very different than the last restaurant that used to be there, but it’s still small and nice, in fact it's very nicer, cleaner, and more sanitary. Actually it's the most clean fonda I've been to! Yet it offers as good food as the one before it did, which was much more casual, and not as nice. I’m not sure why the last one closed, but the owner of this one, Elizabeth, wanted to re-open a little fonda place because it’s rare to find real, authentic Mexican food in the Marina and other tourist-y places. She opened this little place up about 2 years ago, and the choice of place was smart, since so many people knew and loved the people who were there before her. And, now those people love and know Mi Rinconcito, and it’s great flavor!!
Mi Rinconcito's Phone Number: 322 194 7134
If you enjoyed this article, and would like to recommend a place that you know about, then please let me know. Or, if you are an owner yourself of a place that you would like to see written about, contact me.
And to see the rest of my food reviews go to the Dining Out section here in Vallarta Bay Times.