Cuates y Cuetes – Part II
Author: Jacqui Birchall
Be sure to come to Cuates y Cuetes on March 21, when Tete and Martin will host the Annual Spring Equinox Jazz Festival.
This is not to be missed. It starts at 5:00pm and there is no charge for this amazing, multi-band event. This event will see performances by world-class musicians and Fundacion Jazzfest (www.fundacionjazzfestac.org), an organization that encourages and teaches young jazz musicians here in Mexico. There will be an indigenous sunset ceremony.
It is Tete’s dream to host a series of workshops for aspiring young jazz musicians with Fundacion Jazzfest here in Puerto Vallarta, spring 2013.
Tete is a spiritual person who celebrates the changing of the seasons at the restaurant. There is corn hanging everywhere in the bar which slowly disappears as the year progresses. People who need food take it and they plant the kernels and so, Tete feels, the circle is complete.
Corn, she says, is a huge symbol of Mexico. Mexico has enough land to grow it and does not need to import it. Her lamps are hand carved from gourds, her ceiling made of natural fibers. Tete favors handmade Mexican clothes, pointing out their beauty and importance to Mexican culture. She has a very close relationship with her staff, most of who have been with her for many years.
Tete tells me her Mexican customers say that CCs is too rustic for a jazz joint, that it should be more sophisticated. She demurs. Cuates y Cuetes restaurant, she says, is her plantation. At every equinox and solstice, and on Revolution Day, Tete serves delicious pozole (rich corn soup) to her customers, her symbolic way of sharing and saying thank you to her customers.
She has a sunset ceremony on the beach to thank our ancestors and Mother Nature. She also serves pozole on November 1, the anniversary of her opening. She is not your typical restaurateur.
Revolution Day, November 20, should be spent nowhere but here, where Tete brings in famous female mariachi singer Linda Azucena and her band and the Mexican customers sing along to all the songs of the revolution. It is a wonderful experience to be here on that day.
The hours are 8:00am to 11:00pm daily. Full breakfast, lunch and dinner menus. The typically Mexican food is delicious and fresh. Happy hours are from 12:00pm to 2:00pm and 5:00pm to 8:00pm.
This is a great place to spend the day at the beach or evenings watching the dramatic sunsets, listening to the waves crash and the jazz soar.
Click here to know the complete list of restaurants in Puerto Vallarta.
