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• The Origin

At times in which the market demand for land was almost nonexistent, less so for a jagged rocky bluff over the ocean, while looking out on the horizon during a stopover enroute to El Tuito, at what was known as a lookout point located five minutes away from the town of Mismaloya and just over ten miles south of Puerto Vallarta; an idea was born in the mind of Vallartense Eleno Guzmán, a waiter-boatman-farmer among other trades, native of Mismaloya, the idea of a place that would one day be known as “The most beautiful and romantic restaurant of Mexico and Latin America”

Its beginning was not quite so glamorous but the seed had been planted, in hindsight there one could see the entrepreneurial vision beyond the existing context of activities in the Puerto Vallarta of the early seventies, considered a picturesque town located amidst exuberant jungle of the Mexican Pacific Coast, in the State of Jalisco.

By God, what have you bought Eleno! This is just a cliff where nothing can be cultivated! His wife countered when he showed her where this investment had gone. Look Paula, he responded while calmly leading her gaze towards the impressive horizon, on this site with a spectacular ocean view no one will ever obstruct, in ten or fifteen years we will open a restaurant, you will see!

Some years later, aiming at opening a bar that was distant from the city where gentlemen could frolic undisturbed, in 1981 works on the restaurant were under way, well, mainly the cone sheltering the bar and its shelves being built to be the main attraction of the place, where the lobby now stands under the huge palapa.

On the verge of its opening, architect Cachi Pérez came to visit, uttering immediately at the sight of the magnificent space and its potential: Eleno, this is an incredible place! The land is beautiful and the view is fantastic! Why don’t you build a lookout point over that area? Raise columns here to hold a platform giving you more room! Captive of the new idea, Eleno stops building the palapa to give priority to the platform and its lookout terrace.

Once the terrace was inaugurated, the architect reappeared, commenting: Eleno, look down, your terrain is solid rock, over which you can build a restaurant, not just a simple bar. The original project was again altered, and the adventure of building down the cliff began to take root and in 1983 opened as “La Quebrada de Vallarta” (after La Quebrada in Acapulco, where cliff divers leap from), which of course had a diving platform over 100 ft high and brave divers from Acapulco and Mazatlan leaped into the bay twice daily on programmed schedules. Soon the place became a natural attraction of Puerto Vallarta, dozens of boats came by sea and several buses arrived by land loaded with tourists to see the divers leaping into the immensity of the ocean. Those were times of celebration and success.

• Hard Times

With no competition and supported by a great number of friends, Eleno and his venue attracted everybody’s attention; the opportunity came in 1986 to rent it to some who operated the restaurant successfully during a certain period, though after a few years, when the operation was handed to a new operator things did not continue to do as well. The place declined to such an extent that it required immediate rescue action. By 1993, damage had taken its toll, the place lay practically abandoned and the flow of visitors to a minimum.

The Guzmáns, now headed by Mrs. Paula and her sons Marco, Carlos and José, took over the administration accepting the challenge of refurbishing the restaurant and regaining its clientele, a battle that lasted from 1993 to 1996, against internal and external factors that at times seemed to loom too high.

In May, 1993, Mr. Roberto Hernández, production director of “Corazón Salvaje” the soap opera of great success in Latin America, decided the restaurant would be the hut of Juan del Diablo, the main character in the series. It took three days of filming to have that period in the air for a month contributing to the countrywide renown of the restaurant and therefore helping to its recovery. Nonetheless, an uninterrupted three-day rainstorm from hurricane “Rosita” in September that same year brought down the palapa and the place had to close for four months. Hard restoration work had to start anew.

With just the skeleton of the palapa and a fourth of the roof, the Guzmán family reopened the place. People arriving there stood in awe, there was much dust and debris, but the place was open.

• Landmark

Inspired and motivated by their mother, Carlos, José and Marco, convinced that they had the most spectacular facility in Puerto Vallarta, despite criticism and the difficult situation, decide to retake the reins, though now with a wider panorama and the outlook of converting  Le Kliff into one of the most emblematic spots in our destination. The strategy being of “dedicated personal commitment to promotion and excellence in service”. Carlos took charge of marketing and public relations, while Marco and José took over the responsibility of the operation and service.

The team worked uphill and results became apparent. Soon more tourists started to visit Le Kliff, where these efforts reflected in quality and warm service. After three months of having launched their new plan, Le Kliff increased its sales 100% and so on gradually in an ever-ascending line.

Carlos Guzmán comments: “While all of this was happening, some clients occasionally asked us for wedding quotes, we then told them to choose their food from our menu and quoted them a fee for the rental of the place. Five or six weddings were celebrated each year and, although I could see how memorable it was getting married in our place, I felt it was too much work and stress. We finally decided to prepare a wedding package that started to sell quite well”.

• The challenge

By 2004 everything seemed to stagnate. New culinary tendencies were present in our destination and with a menu based on tasty traditional butter-cooked recipes, the Guzmáns felt out of place within the new gastronomic context  filled with influences from the four corners of the world, forcing everyone to raise the quality of their production, operation and service standards. Staying the same was not an option, being a beautiful and typical Vallartense venue with spectacular ocean views and sunsets had to be put aside to become a restaurant with a dramatic setting, offering gourmet cuisine and world class service. The challenge was to be among the best in the world and to participate in Puerto Vallarta’s Gourmet Festival.

Besides having a very seasoned chef, the requirements to participate were quite demanding, their application was rejected more than once. But instead of feeling beat, Marco, Carlos and José kept pushing their project forward, Juan Barrios “el toro”, a good friend and well learned chef appeared on the scene, having just arrived from the Unites States, he is immediately contacted, a contract is issued which “el toro” accepts, he takes up the tasks of establishing the high quality standards the American certification process requires from restaurants. From then on, while the essence of Le Kliff is sustained, everything else was renewed in order to be accepted into the Gourmet Festival.

The new culinary adventure with “el toro” began to bear fruit. The new wave of visitors were fascinated by a most daring tropical cuisine style with Asian accents, combining fruits with seafood, adding flowers to recipes and serving generous portions, among other things contrary to the current trends, and they caused a sensation to such a degree that Carlos Guzmán thinks Thierry Blouet ―initiator and main promoter of the Gourmet Festival― sent them emissaries in a secret visit to taste and confirm whether what was happening at Le Kliff was really worthy of recognition in order to be accepted as participant in the Festival.

Finally in March 2005, Le Kliff is accepted into the Gourmet Festival of Puerto Vallarta; it was now time to work hard to not only participate, but to also stand out and excel!

• New Levels

From their entry into the Gourmet Festival in 2005; greeting their first invited chef Amiko Gubbins, creator of prestigious “Parallel 33” and a friend of “el toro”; the history of Le Kliff is divided into before and after the Festival.

Juan Barrios leaves his position and Everardo Robles takes over; a passionate Vallartense chef with years of experience who has also worked vis à vis with the greatest, most prestigious chefs invited by other restaurants during the past festivals. Beside his talents and attributes, Everardo marvelously learned to find the perfect balance among the various elements and ingredients forming what since then has become the gourmet menu at Le Kliff.

Puerto Vallarta and the warmth of Vallartenses had left a deep imprint in Amiko Gubbins, who, wishing to share her experience with her master and mentor, the worldwide renown chef Jeff Inahara, invited him to visit Vallarta and asked the Guzmán Family to care for him personally. Chef Inahara was not spared by the charm of Puerto Vallarta and, fascinated by what he was feeling, he ended up being the second chef invited by Le Kliff for its participation in the 2006 Gourmet Festival, inspiring great admiration among organizers, participants and visitors.

Chef Inahara’s participation significantly enriched Le kliff, greatly contributing to reaffirming a spirit of innovation deep in the hearts of its owners.

Finally Le Kliff had not only found, but created its own place within the culinary map of Puerto Vallarta, considered the second largest gourmet Destination in Mexico ―only after Mexico City because of the size of its population― though the only one featuring a Gourmet Festival of this magnitude, making it the gourmet destination that best represents Mexico worldwide.

• Present and Future

When everything showed that the summit was within reach, Ciarán Duffy arrived as invited chef for the 2007 Gourmet Festival, introducing molecular cuisine to Puerto Vallarta with his great charisma. Le Kliff’s participation in the Festival stands out again, this time leaving a precedent that fuels new expectations on the part of those visiting with the purpose of experiencing the details of his “molecular cuisine”, once more making daring advances Le Kliff makes it “its cuisine”.

The participation and performance by chef Ciáran Duffy was so impressing he had to return for the 2008 Festival as invited chef!

Carlos Guzmán comments: “With the present access to foods from all over the world, we are well defined as a “global cuisine” restaurant, a new substitute to “international cuisine”, with some Asian accents.  We have adopted “molecular cuisine” techniques, using textures to make foams, jellies and spherification of some dishes; as well as the sous-vide or vacuum cooking technique, consisting in slow cooking at lower temperatures allowing foods to retain 98% of their qualities; proteins, vitamins, texture and original flavor… all within sight. The experience of tasting dishes prepared with this technique is distinct, flavorful, enriching and memorable. We are already working and experimenting with “molecular mixology”, consisting in preparing drinks with faux pearls or caviar. Perhaps a martini that includes iced-tea pearls, that are a real delight when popped inside the mouth.

While courage, deliverance, perseverance and passion for what you do have been the values over which Le Kliff is founded, its main distinction is that through time, the Guzmán family has been parting with established schemes, making innovation and their gorgeous restaurant, their best playing cards. But most striking of it all is keeping that undisturbed original essence first envisioned by that Vallartense, fascinated by this special and natural lookout point.

Presently Le Kliff is the most sought after wedding venue in Puerto Vallarta and the Riviera Nayarit. Hundreds of requests arrive yearly and most of those weddings generate reservations of hotel rooms for guests, and sales of tours and activities and other services. It is an apparently unstoppable cycle of promotion and productivity.

Due to its incredible location, its exuberant surroundings, the excellent quality of its products, menu innovation, warm service, organization of weddings and other events and their commitment to constant improvement, becoming an icon and natural attraction to Puerto Vallarta is the obvious next step for Le Kliff.

We have much more to share on Le Kliff, but putting it off for future occasions we assure you your visit to this fascinating place will be a delicious and memorable experience.Email to a friend

Recognitions received by Le Kliff:

• Participant in Puerto Vallarta Gourmet Festival.
• Diamond Stars 2009 by the Hospitality Sciences Academy of the USA
• Top 50 Mexican Restaurants de México in the Visa Guide
• Named Mexico’s most beautiful  restaurant by Mexicana Airlines 2006

Jesús de Avila
E-mail: publisher@pvmirror.com

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