Bonito Kitchen and Bar and Ramen Ya Restaurant, serve delicious Asian dishes in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. We talk with the owner Francie Nguyen about her restaurants including the newest one, Bonito Cafe’.
Women’s Day Celebrations and Marches in Puerto Vallarta 2020
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.
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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 your toes in the sand right at the water’s edge. It’s so romantic, it’s so, Puerto Vallarta my friends.
This week, East Meets West, we go to Vallarta’s Jardines de Las Gaviotas neighborhood where I’ll introduce you to Francie Nguyen, owner of three, count them three wonderful restaurants. Bonito Kitchen, Ramen Ya in Gaviotas, and now Bonito Café in The Romantic Zone. But before we get to Francie, let’s see what’s happening in Puerto Vallarta this week, the 9th of March, 2020.
International Women’s Day March Puerto Vallarta 2020
Yesterday, the 8th of March marked International Women’s Day Worldwide. Why March 8th and what are the roots of the international Women’s March, I went to the Wiki pages and was surprised a little surprised. Check this out…
International Women’s Day
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated on the 8th of March every year around the world.[3] It is a focal point in the movement for women’s rights.
After the Socialist Party of America organized a Women’s Day in New York City on February 28, 1909, German delegates Clara Zetkin, Käte Duncker and others proposed at the 1910 International Socialist Woman’s Conference that “a special Women’s Day” be organized annually.[4] After women gained suffrage in Soviet Russia in 1917, March 8 became a national holiday there.[citation needed] The day was then predominantly celebrated by the socialist movement and communist countries until it was adopted by the feminist movement in about 1967. The United Nations began celebrating the day in 1977.[5]
Commemoration of International Women’s Day today ranges from being a public holiday in some countries to being largely ignored elsewhere.[6] In some places, it is a day of protest; in others, it is a day that celebrates womanhood.[7]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Women%27s_Day
And yesterday in Puerto Vallarta, International Women’s Day was celebrated with a March …let me read from their Facebook Post ….
In the search to raise our voice to a greater level, without parties, without political badges and with an objective that unites us all; Demand justice and urgent measures to ensure a life free of gender-based violence. On March 8 we will raise our voice in unison of Ni Una menos. Dress in purple and join our fight. 3:pm -Front McDonald’s on the Malecon “Never more will have the comfort of our silence.
..So, several hundred gathered at the McDonald’s yesterday afternoon, and marched along the Malecon chanting pre-practiced slogans, peacefully to Tile Park, Lazaro Cardenas Park for speeches and a Rally.
A Day Without Women in Mexico and Puerto Vallarta, March 9th
Then today is a special day in Mexico and in Vallarta, the ninth of March has been designated a day without women in protest over the killing of women and children in Mexico. There are according to government figures, 10 femicides occur every day in Mexico, 10 women murdered per day.
Compare that to the their neighbors to the north, in the United States, there are approximately 3.5 femicides per day in a country of 360 million as opposed to Mexico’s ten per day with a population of half of that of the US, at 126 million.
Today, March 9th upwards of 20 million Mexican women are expected to take part by staying at home.
Let me read from an article in the Guardian Online…
Mexico’s feminist revolt has been gathering steam since last summer when demonstrators poured onto the streets for what was dubbed the “revolución diamantina” (glitter revolution)
But the current mutiny began in February with a trio of macabre, headline-grabbing femicides that shocked the nation and highlighted the government’s failure to protect women.
First came the killing of 25-year-old Ingrid Escamilla on 9 February. She was stabbed and skinned by her partner before having a picture of her corpse splashed onto a local tabloid’s front page.
Two days later a seven-year-old girl, Fátima Cecilia Aldrighetti Antón, was abducted and murdered in Mexico City, adding to the outcry.
In Tijuana, meanwhile, all eyes were on a third crime: the murder of Marbella Valdez Villarreal, a 20-year-old student whose body was found on a rubbish dump on 8 February. Photographs subsequently emerged showing Valdez’s suspected killer attending her funeral and placing flowers on her coffin.
The article goes on to read….
Mexico’s femicide crisis did not begin with the presidency of its current leader, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, a leftwing populist who took office in December 2018 and is best known as Amlo. but the number of killings is rising. Last year 1,006 of 3,825 murders were officially classified as femicides – women or girls killed because of their gender. That compared to 426 in 2015, when authorities began counting such crimes.
And Amlo’s response to the recent killings has infuriated and alienated women’s rights activists, many of whom voted for him in 2018 believing a progressive leader would do more for their cause.
In recent weeks Amlo has maligned next Monday’s strike as part of a “dark forces” conspiracy cooked up by conservative agitators. On another occasion he appeared to wash his hands of the femicide crisis, blaming it on the “neoliberal” policies of previous governments.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/07/mexico-femicides-protest-women-strike
Okay, so today, 22 million women across Mexico are planning to not go to work, go to school, take their daughters to school, and not purchase anything. The goal being to show what it would be like if a woman or girl you know, disappeared from your life, their place of work, their school, the places they visit daily to buy their basic needs or just whims or desires, making a clear statement against femicide, misogyny and inequality.
Many businesses around the country are clearing the way for their female employees to participate including here in Puerto Vallarta.
I have links to several articles I used in this report and you can find that at www.puertovallartatravelshow.com.
Now let’s talk about the Corona Virus
I was going to make some Corona Beer jokes, but I’ll skip all those for now anyway and get right down to the news and my take on the situation.
A couple I know were supposed to leave Los Angeles on a Mexican Rivera Cruise with a scheduled stop in Puerto Vallarta. In Fact, I had them set up with Eduardo Nava for a day tour, and then I got a call from them last night asking me to let Eduardo know they wouldn’t be coming….They said they were at the terminal in San Pedro here and the cruise was cancelled. They were waiting for their luggage back and a ride home. Here’s the report from ABC Channel 7 LA…
SAN PEDRO, LOS ANGELES (KABC) — Passengers who were set to sail on the Royal Princess cruise ship for a 7-day journey to Mexico from the Port of Los Angeles on Saturday were forced to make other plans after the cruise was canceled over coronavirus concerns.
In a tweet, Princess Cruises said a crew member who previously served on the Grand Princess was transferred to the Royal Princess ship over two weeks ago, prompting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to issue a “no-sail order” for the ship until the individual was tested for COVID-19.
The test results have not been released.
So…really???? This is such a bogus story, and it’s dangerous and it could be really bad for the travel industry…
Let me be clear, I’m not a doctor…but I’m afraid journalists are creating panic.
There is a doctor I trust, Dr. Drew Pinsky. Dr. Drew had a show called Love Line many years ago, and he’s local here in Los Angeles, and he’s really involved in the homeless problem here in Los Angeles. It’s really a huge issue here. Urban camping is a big problem and he really cares. But he’s really pissed off about the reporting on the Woohan Flu too. Here’s Dr. Drew last on the daily blast live. ……
Listen to The Podcast
So, I thought I would just give you my take and Dr. Drew’s take too. People are being scared to death unnecessarily.
I’m sure you don’t know this, I don’t talk about this but one of the things I do, is square dance. I never thought I would enjoy it, but my wife asked me if I would learn with her, and for the last 8 years, we have been square dancing. In fact, we are president’s of our local Simi Valley Square Dance Club. We have about 140 members. Now square dancing is a contact sport. We hold hands, we hug each other, we swing and dose-do. And, the average age of the square dancers in the club is 74.
And we have Dance class every week, and here’s an email I got last night from one of the square dancers. Get this….
Good morning Barry,
The most effective way to stop the spread of the corona virus is for everyone to be quarantined until everyone who has the virus has died or has recovered from it.
I was on my way to the dance last night while listening to the radio. I was fretting about being so close to so many people in touching their hands and all that with this virus around. And then the guy on the radio is saying that we shouldn’t be at places where there’s lots of people. That was enough for me. I turned around and went home.
Old people are among the most vulnerable to this virus.
If we are going to continue dancing during this outbreak, we have to be a little bit Nazi about people washing their hands frequently.
What are your thoughts?
So here we have an example of someone who has been totally frightened by the media. Turn off the radio dude! Really.
Okay, I’ll get off my soapbox.
Let’s get to the interview shall we?
Bonito Kitchen and Bar, Ramen Ya and Bonito Cafe, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
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We began the podcast today speaking of Woman’s Day and our guest Francie Nguyen is one of those women I would like to honor on this international Women’s Day. She has brought the Asian food scene in Vallarta to a whole new level.
In a town where restaurants abound, over 900 of them, it’s evident that Asian food, good Asian food is hard to find, but this lady has created, along with her daughter Sole’, three, count them, three lovely restaurants.
Two of them are in the Jardenas de las Gaviotas Neighborhood which is just east of the Versalles neighborhood, not too far from Barrio Bistro. From downtown take the 200 north to Francisco Villa turn right to Avenida Fluvial Vallarta. Then make another right and there you will find it. Take an Uber or cab for goodness sake.
Francie is from Vietnam and when I asked her where she landed when she came to the US, she said to my surprise, Arkansas. She was one of the 700,000 Vietnamese Boat People who escaped Vietnam after the war. Fancie’s family wound up at a place called Fort Chaffee.
Let me read this article about an operation called Operation New Life….
Fort Chaffee in northwest Arkansas once played an important role at the end United States’ official involvement in the Vietnam War after the fall of Saigon to North Vietnamese forces on April 30, 1975. From May until December of that year, Fort Chaffee became the temporary home to more than 50,000 Indochinese who had sought refugee status.
The resettlement process was known by the U.S. Military as “Operation New Life.” It was brought about when Congress enacted the Indochina Migration and Assistance Act of 1975
Fort Chaffee was among four domestic military bases to take in refugees from the war. The others were Camp Pendleton in California, Eglin Air Force Base in Florida and Fort Indiantown Gap in Pennsylvania. Fort Chaffee took in the largest share of the nearly 100,000 Indochinese political refugees who came to the United States in 1975.
According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture, the refugee population “was a very heterogeneous one, consisting of Vietnamese, Laotian, Cambodian, and Hmong.” Though many educators and social service providers entered the camp to assist the refugees on humanitarian grounds, refugees were largely isolated from the surrounding communities of northwest Arkansas at the time.
Most of the refugees resettled to different regions in the United States, like Orange County, California and Falls Church, Virginia. Some did stay in Fort Smith and surrounding areas, where a small Indochinese population remains to this day.
And I have a link to that article where you can read the rest of the story if you like, but I’m going to let our guest tell you the rest. Let’s go right now to the Las Gaviotas Neighborhood of Puerto Vallarta, and let’s talk Pho, pot stickers, Baos, wontons, dim
sum, dumplings and killer cocktails. Let’s meet my new friend, Francie Nguyen, owner and operator of Bonito Kitchen, Ramen Ya and Bonito Café Restaurants, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
Contact Information For Bonito Kitchen Bar in Puerto Vallarta
- Address: De Los Tules 325 Jardenas de Las Gaviotas, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
- Phone: +52-322-225-8632
- Website: https://www.bonitokitchen.com/#home-1-section
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BonitoKitchenBar/
Contact Information For Ramen Ya Restaurant Puerto Vallarta
- Address: 260 De Los Tules, Jardenas de Las Gaviotas, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
- Phone: +52-322-206-6626
- Website: https://www.bonitokitchen.com/#ramenya-section
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ramenya.pv/
Contact Information For Bonito Cafe, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
- Address: 399 Ignacio Vallarta, Colonia Emiliano Zapata, Puerto Valarta, Mexico
- Phone: +52-322-274-4030
- Website: https://www.bonitokitchen.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bonitocafepv/
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Okay, thank you Francie. So nice, so genuine and I love her voice don’t you. I love her restaurants too.
Now, remember she was talking about ingredients she needs muled in? Well, I asked her what she would like us to bring her and here’s what she said. Chili Oil, Teriyaki Sauce and Spicy Miso. That’s …..It’s in the shownotes in case you forget. At
www.puertovallartatravelshow.com There you will also find the pictures and links and maps to all three restaurants…Bonito Café, Ramen Ya and Bonito Kitchen.
Okay that should do it for this week.
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.
Thanks to Francie Nyugen form Bonito Kitchen, Ramen Ya and Bonito Café. I love your food. It’s all good. So fresh and delicious. Make sure you try one or all three next time you come to Paradise. Check out Las Gaviotas or the Emiliano Zapata
location if you don’t want to leave town. Don’t forget to bring Francie a jar or two of Asian ingredients in your checked luggage. Also I have that list of ingredients, pictures, links and maps for all three locations in the shownotes so go there and see what the fuss is all about.
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!