Andale Restaurant and Bar has been an Iconic Party Place and Eatery right in the Romantic Zone on Olas Altas, in Puerto Vallarta for 38 Years. This Week we have a conversation with Jorge Zambrano, Owner of Andale’s. Along with his local Rotary Club, Rotary Sur, He Gives Back to The Community.
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Hello fellow travelers, welcome this episode of the Puerto Vallarta Travel show. I am your host Barry Kessler and I am just so happy to be introducing you to my favorite vacation destination, and maybe even yours, Puerto Vallarta Mexico.
That music you were just listening to is performed by Alberto Perez, the owner of the La Palapa Group of Restaurants. Those are La Palapa, Puerto Vallarta’s Oldest Restaurant on the famous Los Muertos Beach, and The El Dorado Restaurant and Beach Club right next door so you can enjoy that fantastic view of the Los Muertos Pier all lit up at night in beautiful colors, or during the day in its grand splendor for breakfast, lunch or dinner, seated with our toes in the sand right at the water’s edge. It’s so romantic, it’s so, Puerto Vallarta my friends.
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This week’s guest is Jorge Zambrano Hernandez, and George is the owner of the world famous Andale’s Restaurant and Bar
located on Olas Altas, right in the middle of the romantic zone but first, let’s see what’s happening this week, the 30th of August, 2018.
Crocodile Spotted Off Los Muertos Beach
Last week I told you about crocodiles gone wild. Well I was reading a Facebook post and saw that one was spotted in the water right there on Los Muertos Beach, just in front of Swell Beach club there. Luckily nobody was hurt, and one of the waiters from Swell ran down to warn swimmers to get out of the water till the croc swam away. So once again, beware. That was a swell story wasn’t it? I love Swell Beach Club, Just saying!
It’s Septi-Hombre Again in Puerto Vallarta
We are coming into the slowest month of the year in Puerto Vallarta, and that is the month of September, “Septi-hombre” as it’s called in Vallarta. Restaurants close and take some time off for the coming high season, so keep that in mind before you walk up to some padlocked doors.
Keep in mind that Daiquiri Dicks is closed for September, so is Bravos and Siam Thai, Chenandos, L’Angolo di Napoli, I don’t know if Barcelona Tapas is on vacation, but they are doing a big job putting in an elevator…at any rate, check before you venture out to make sure your favorite restaurant is going to be open.
A few months back we celebrated as Puerto Vallarta broke a Guinness Book of Worlds Record, record for getting together a bunch of coffee drinkers on the Malceon. Well, add another World Record to the list, here’s a story from Mexico News Daily dated August 21st 2018…
World’s biggest bead mosaic wins Guinness record for Wixáritari
15 indigenous artisans spent three months creating the 81-square-meter project
Tuesday, August 21, 2018
The Wixáritari people of Jalisco have won the state’s 31st — and Mexico’s 204th — Guinness World Record with the world’s largest bead mosaic.
Boasting an area of 81.55 square meters and a weight of two tons, the mosaic was painstakingly created over a period of nearly three months by 15 dedicated artisans from the northern sierra town of San Sebastián. They used 450 kilograms of small plastic beads known as chaquiras in the process.
The beads were affixed to 32 wooden boards using 48 kilograms of beeswax. The resulting mosaic depicts a female figure wearing the traditional attire of the women of Jalisco, accompanied by a male figure wearing a charro suit, popular among mariachi musicians.
The couple is adorned and surrounded by flowers and multi-colored shapes and figures.
The process was verified by staff from Guinness World Records, who paid close attention to ensure that no gaps existed during the process of joining the individual wooden boards.
This was crucial to consider the end product a single piece, said Guinness judge Carlos Tapia.
“The goal was to surpass a 71.33-square-meter mosaic created in New Orleans, but that was not made out of chaquiras, this is a new category. Speaking of mosaics [the one created by the Wixáritari] is currently the largest,” he told the news agency EFE.
“The Mexican people have great strength . . . when they set out to do something, they accomplish it. They come together as a people and always want to share this kind of handicraft with the world,” Tapia said.
The mosaic was presented during the International Mariachi Encounter at Guadalajara’s Liberación plaza. If the weather allows, the Wixáritari mosaic will be on exhibition there until September 2.
The event organizer, the local Chamber of Commerce, plans to auction the mosaic and use the funds to build a classroom in the Huichol town where the mosaic was created, in collaboration with the Iyari Alba foundation.
Source: El Universal (sp)
As many of you know, the Huichols make these intricate beaded figurines, and you will see them all over Vallarta. So, I wonder how much peyote consumption went into that work of art huh? Well, we are going to talk more about the Huichols in upcoming episodes, and even a little today with our guest, stay tuned as I like to say, stay tuned.
Now I have other stuff but that is going to have to wait till the coming weeks because this interview is long folks. Let’s get to it shall we?
Andale Restaurant and Bar and Hotel in Puerto Vallarta Mexico
On my first trip to Puerto Vallarta in the winter of 1984, Debbie and I stayed at the Playa Los Arcos Hotel, right in the middle of town. And across the street from Playa Los Arcos, was a raucous bar called Andale’s Bar and Restaurant. And because it was
across the street, we spent lots of time there. After a long day of beach volleyball and beers, we would venture across the street, lured in by the loud music, and the even louder partiers. This was the spot. Ladies dancing on the bar and tables, girls with bottles of tequila roaming the crowd pouring shots down willing gullets. Blowing their police whistles and performing a ritual shake and spank of the recipient, just to make sure the tequila went down the right way I guess. It was a fun time. There were many nightclubs in town, most of them are long gone. Fancier places with big cover charges, like I said, most are gone now but not Andale’s. Andale’s is still going strong, mostly because they were then, and still today, a friendly place to come and have a good time. There are plenty of old-timers who came to Vallarta in those early days in the ‘80s. that remember the fun times and are drawn back to relive those days of Vallarta Past.
And to their surprise, it’s the same.
So in May, on a Monday Morning, I wandered down to Andale’s to see if I could find the owner. JR told me to look for and ask for Jorge, so I did, and to my surprise he agreed to talk to me. Now this particular Monday morning, George was getting ready to go with his group of fellow Rotarians, to feed abut 100 or so people, not at the restaurant, but they were doing charity work, delivering food to this group out, I think in El Pitial.
So he sat down with me for the interview, which as it turns out, was just the beginning of the interview, because I went along with the volunteers to volunteer myself after I got about 15 minutes of audio, and during the interview, he would welcome volunteers as they came in, and treat them to a little medicine, OK a margarita before they took off, to feed the people. Cool, get a little buzz before feeding the masses.
So, let’s go right now, to one of my favorite places in Puerto Vallarta, Andale’s Bar and Restaurant, on Olas Altas, right in the middle of everything, to a place where everybody is normal, and let’s meet my new friend, and now yours, Jorge Zambrano Hernandez, George, owner of Andale’s.
Contact Information For Andale’s Restaurant and Bar in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
- Website: http://andales.com/en/home-i/
- Address: Olas Altas 425, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
- Phone: 01322-222-1054
- Facebook: Andale Restaurant Facebook
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From the restaurant I joined George, his son and his girlfriend, and we took a ride to a building out in the boonies. A nicely constructed building with the Rotary International emblem on the outside.
Inside the building was a kitchen and the volunteers gathered there to get food out, to dole out to the people, waiting for their lunch to be served.
Before lunch, Jorge asked those waiting to thank each volunteer by name, he would say Thank you to Barry, and they would all say thank you Barry, and so on. I thought that was a good thing. Every one of the Volunteers was acknowledged. Nice touch.
The people we fed came with their own plates, and we would fill them up with food, and they filed on and off to eat.
After all the food was gone, out came suitcases filled with discarded clothing, and again, the people lined up, and got a chance to choose an article of clothing. I was told by one of the volunteers, when I made mention of the fact that there wasn’t a lot of clothing for boys, that they all exchange amongst each other after we leave. When all the clothes were gone, they gave away the suitcases too.
We cleaned up the kitchen, and hopped in the SUV, and took off to another place, this place was very nice, also built with funds from Rotarians. This place was a daycare center for handicapped kids and young adults. Jorge showed me around the
facility, introduced me to the wonderful people who were working with the kids, joked with the kids who all seemed to know him, and to love him, and then we took off looking for ice cream. This gave me a chance to interview Jorge in the car so let’s go and listen to that conversation.
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So, my wife and I took a walk to Andale’s to join Jorge for breakfast and to finish up the interview.
We sat with him and a couple others outside, in the sidewalk seating section, and watched the master take charge. Jorge is like
the Mayor of Puerto Vallarta. Everybody knows him, and he seems to know everybody. I had to cut some portions because it was just too long but don’t worry, it’s long enough. Now there was a squeaky fan overhead, and I did a pretty good job of cutting out half of the noise, couldn’t get it all, but at least it’s listenable. We join in on the conversation, Jorge is telling us about a wallet that was turned in by one of his waiters, let’s listen….
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After the interview, Jorge gave us a tour of these apartments, and wow, they are beautiful, and modern. I took lots of pictures so make sure to take a look in the show notes. I also have pictures of some of the photos we were talking about during breakfast, so check those out too.
So, wow, what a guy! This guy is a Rockstar in my book. If you live in Vallarta, or if you spend months there, think about joining the Rotary club and volunteering with Jorge and his merry band of do-gooders. He is a really great guy and he runs a really great restaurant. A fun place where everyone is welcome, where everyone is the same, where everyone is as Jorge would say NORMAL.
Okay, that should do it for this episode of the Puerto Vallarta Travel Show.
Next week, stay tuned for more on the ground reports from Puerto Vallarta Mexico, with travel tips, great restaurant and excursion ideas and more. Until then, remember, this is an interactive show where I depend on your questions and suggestions about all things Puerto Vallarta. If you think of something I should be talking about, please reach out to me by clicking on the Contact us tab and sending us your message.
And remember, if you are considering booking any type of tour while you are in Puerto Vallarta, you must go to Vallartainfo.com, JR’s website and reserve your tour through him, right from his website. Remember the value for value proposition. His experience and on the ground knowledge of everything Puerto Vallarta in exchange for your making a purchase of a tour that you would do anyway, you’re just doing it through him as a way of saying thank you. It costs no more than if you were to use someone else so do it. Really. And when you do take one of these tours, email me about your experiences. Maybe you can come on-board and share with others what you liked or didn’t like about the tour. Again, contact me by clicking on the Contact us tab and sending off a message. Don’t forget his maps, his DIY tours and his revitalized Happy Hour Board. I have links to all of those in the show notes.
And once again, if you like this podcast, please take the time and subscribe and give me a good review on iTunes if you would. That way we can get the word out to more and more people about the magic of this place. Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Remember I made it easy for you to do just that with each episode I create. But if you haven’t been to my website, you really need to have a look there. I have the links to the places we talk about, interesting pictures and the more all right there in my blog-posts and show-notes for each episode of the show so check them out for sure if you haven’t already all-right? All right.
And thank you so much Jorge Zambrano, you are an incredible man. Thanks for all you do for our beloved Vallarta. And thank you for your kind hospitality and talking with us, and taking me along to see what you, and your volunteers, and fellow Rotarians do to improve the lives of countless people through education, and good works and deeds. So wonderful.
Make sure you stop in to Andale’s for a fun time for breakfast, lunch or dinner, then dancing and singing too.
And thanks to all of you for listening all the way through this episode of the Puerto Vallarta Travel Show. This is Barry Kessler signing off with a wish for you all to slow down, be kind and live the Vallarta lifestyle. Nos Vemos amigos!