Dining Local, January 31st.

Today's travels included going into town to pick up some last minute trinkets, and soak in the things that I know I'll miss.

I ended up with a history lesson at one of the vendor stalls.  This guy creates beautiful art out of tequila bottles.  One bottle was with the "evil man" who is a sun god, and the other is a moon god.  He was explaining the difference between the aztec and mayan gods and how his art reflected it.  I really didn't have anywhere to put these bottles, so purchasing one was not an option.  However, he did beautiful bracelets, so I purchased one for my niece.

With all this walking around in the humid heat, I knew I needed a beer and headed to Zorro's.  They promised my bottle coozies for the following day, so I'll be picking those up.  Afterward I headed to my other favorite watering hole to see Arturo and snack on the better Calamari rings in Zihua. There, I ended up meeting a group of girls from Canada, two of which lived locally.  Nice!  Once sells property here and gave me a brochure.  We slug down a couple of beers, but I have to head back because I have a dinner date with two WorldMark Couples.

We end up walking to the left of the WorldMark, and where the road splinters there's a drive way that heads up.  At the top is Leo's (pronounced Layo's).  His family fishes for the menu items every day, and they work 365 days a year.  This restaurant does not close for the end of the tourist season.

His margaritas have a healthy amount of tequila...very nice. And his menu, while simple, is delicious.  Word of warning, it's written entirely in Spanish so ask for help.  Pulpo is Octopus, so I ordered the Pulpo Leo Especial.  I also ordered fish tacos...just in case I didn't like the Octopus...which was entirely unnecessary.  First, they bring you out a little cup of soup, which is delicious and not too spicy.  It has bits of chicken floating in it and made of a seafood stock. After, they brought out the tacos, and they were fabulous.  I could've just eaten those alone...crispy, flavorful, slight smokey hint to the fish...Mmmmm.

Then the Pulpo is brought out with Arroz (rice) and a cucumber salad.  While the rice is mediocre, the cucumber is refreshing. And then I cut into the Octopus. OMG, this stuff is tender.  It has a chile sauce on it that is spicy (beware) but awesome.  I totally recommend this dish.  For those of you that don't do spicy or items with legs, the Camarones Gratin is your dish.  Cheesy, big shrimp, peppers, etc.

For dessert we had a shot of the Mezcal, which was a really nice blanco, but not too smokey and overpowering.  How could this meal be topped off?  Only one way...by not paying for it!  One of the couples paid for the entire meal, which was too generous, but I threw in half the tip.

Afterward, we headed back to the resort and did another tour of my condo.