Port Vida
Authentic, creative, and rooted in traditional South of the border cooking. The true flavors of Mexico have arrived on the North Shore at Port Vida in Newburyport.
Port Vida is a Mexican Cantina offering guests cool cocktails and delicious food in a fun, vibrant atmosphere housed in a historic 200 year old brick building. General Manager, Paola Gonzalez says it's all about providing a spot for the community to celebrate and enjoy her family’s recipes.
“Port vida means a celebration of life, family food here at the Port. That's why we choose Port Vida, because we are in Newburyport, and we want to connect our roots with the community that we are at.”
“We want to showcase different part of Mexico. And here, specifically, I think it was perfect for us to introduce some of the coast, the seafood dishes most of the restaurants are, tend to have more of the just regional, north part of Mexico here, we decided we want to look a little bit different… so that's what, that's what. We think it was great for us to combine different regions of Mexico.”
Starting with appetizers, Port Vida combines traditional Mexican dishes with the flavors of the New England Coast. You can get traditional style guacamole loaded with fresh lobster on top.
Or, go for the traditional queso fundido featuring melty Mexican cheese, and housemade chorizo sausage served in a cast iron skillet.
Paola’s personal favorite appetizer is the Torre (Tour-ray) de Attun (Ah-toon), stacking fresh raw tuna, with chopped cucumber, tomatoes, red onions, scallions and avocado, covered in a special soy-sesame sauce.
“The crunchness of the cucumbers, the onions and the texture of the raw tuna, because we put it's not like cook in anything, it's just raw tuna. And we just put a base of, like, kind of a sweet, sour sauce, then it gets that little spiciness, Mexican twist. So it's great.”
Of course, Port Vida offers plenty of taco options… like their creamy lobster tacos, featuring fresh-shucked local lobster, topped with pico de gallo, Mexican coleslaw and their chipotle cream sauce.
And then there’s the ever-popular Birria tacos packed with slow cooked beef, served with the traditional consomme for dipping.
“The birria is slow cook… We use different kind of dried peppers. It's a long process to do the birria the traditional way… we have to marinate it a day before and we leave it on the stove for like hours. But it's a combination of toasted sesame seeds… some chocolate, some guajillo pepper, like different kind of a blend of peppers and a lot of spices, is very flavorful. I love it.”
“Those came with a good amount of meat or seafood, whatever do you put on top is kind of a good size. Not everybody is able to finish the whole the whole entree taco.”
Port Vida’s larger entrees offer options too, including oversized burritos and the signature fajitas. Served sizzling with chicken, steak, or shrimp, along with all of the fixings, sour cream, cheese, peppers onions, and guacamole so you can build your perfect bite.
The Cochionita Pibil is a traditional Mexican dish, with hearty braised pork marinated in an adobo sauce, served on top of a plantain leaf with pickled red onions, habanero sauce and tortillas on the side.
For a even larger portion of protein, we recommend ordering Port Vida’s ribeye steak. It's grilled to perfection, very juicy and flavorful. And the key is their take on a Mexican style steak sauce, made with a mix of butter, tequila, some lime and seasonings. That gets fired up in the sautee pan, and brushed directly onto the steak for a serious flavor boost. And it’s plated along with a side salad and some mixed veggies.
The treats don’t end at dinner, though, Port Vida of course serves traditional Mexican tamales including a dessert version called “Tamales de Pina” .
“That is with pineapple. That one is a sweet version.”
“It has sugar on it, you know, like and the fruit, you know, the pineapple… You have to steam it with the corn husk and everything.”
“It's different. You don't find it if you try to get, like, really a sweet tamale, even when we put it on the menu, some customers didn't know pineapple tamale.”
“It's popular there in Mexico, if you like. If one Mexican hear about that, they come sometimes over different places, different towns, and they said,’ Oh, I hear that you have tamales de Pina. Like sweet tamales’. So it is unique..
So, if you’re craving some Mexican food, made from the heart, then you have to get to Port Vida in Newburyport.
“Our goal is to make everybody to feel home, to feel welcome, to feel They are visiting family. That's how we feel it is in here, and that's what is really, I think, made Port Vida special.
whatever you like, seafood, you like meat, you like chicken, you like vegetarian.
we love to craft different kinds of cocktails.so Every person who walk in is feel like they're part of our family.”
