"Escape the crowds of Sayulita with a visit to San Pancho, a quiet (but rapidly changing) beach town that’s home to one of the most ambitious restaurants in Banderas Bay. Combined, chefs Mario Mendoza and Rosario García cooked at Vallarta’s first fine dining restaurant, Café des Artistes, Pitiona, and Origen in Oaxaca, Apéritif in Bali, and Relae in Copenhagen, before returning home. Find items like dry-aged rockot fish with chintextle (dry chile paste from Oaxaca), wakame, fava beans, and house-made bottarga. The tuna with cured nopal, pasilla chile Mixe, and ponzu tostada showcase the chefs’ refined coastal takes." - Paola Briseño-González