2021 Home Guide
Chef Salvador Carrillo
Invests in Hometown Cooked on Slow Heat, Love and Memories Make La Tienda Grande a Must Visit By Jerry Jones It has often been said that “home is where the heart is.”
Chef Carrillo has seen his beloved Ixtapa grow and blossom, only in years later to see it’s light and relevance fade out.
Nothing sums up the life of Chef Salvador Carrillo than that phrase. And with our theme, “making Puerto Vallarta your home” it seemed appropriate to feature someone who has invested their heart, soul and finances back into the community they grew up in.
“It’s a place that permeates my mind with memories, and I’m aware, many others can relate with me,” he said. “My heart knows this town still has the magic to become a landmark and can keep on creating indelible experiences that will be remembered by generations to come.”
La Tienda Grande, a restaurant project created by Chef Carrillo, brings home his love for family, his hometown, and his love of food.
And it was with these memories and passion that brought La Tienda Grande to fruition, where Carrillo’s desire to give back to his Ixtapa came about.
A native of Puerto Vallarta, but now living half way across the globe in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Carrillo grew up as a free child in the streets of Ixtapa, a colonia in Puerto Vallarta. He spent his time with his brother, his friends and his dog. Occasionally farming with his grandpa, and weekend cooking with his grandma.
“La Tienda Grande was cooked on slow heat, as a homage to the women who made me the chef I am today,” he said. “My mom, my four grandmothers, aunts, friends and those women who I’ve met in life and have inspired me. The menu is based in dishes I’ve tried before and have lived in my memory, they’ll be interpreted in my own way; my team and I will make Mexican creative cuisine, all in the place I was raised.”
“I’ve never had any luxury items, just a small TV with four channels, no computer or fancy books,” he said. “Just me and my creativity to be who I was and became who I am. Indirectly I was living the same life as now, but I didn’t know.” 6
Home Guide
Sitting at the corner of Hidalgo and Juárez, in the heart of Ixtapa, the building housing La Tienda Grande paints the perfect portrait of Ixtapa in the 40’s, as a meeting point for the village Fa l l 2 0 2 1
