For Sayulita surfers on the way home from a good or great session at La Lancha, or Burros, or Anclote, until last year there was nowhere to go, nowhere to stop for a beer and a talk-over-the-waves session. You just ran for Sayulita and home. Not that there’s anything wrong with that…but sometimes, you want something different, something out of town, that isn’t on the beach at Anclote.
Here it is, at the side of the Punta Mita Highway in Higuera Blanca, built into and atop the shell of a small roadside restaurant building that some hombre named Leo put up three or four years ago and named after himself, Leo’s Restaurant, to which nobody ventured because it was about as inviting as a dog with fleas. Last year a trio of enterprising surfer dudes from Mexico City and Guadalajara—Rodolfo Gomez, David Lopez, and Javier Garcia–took over the place and transformed it into a new surf-oriented hangout: they executed a lively pop art paint job, added a spacious, open air rooftop deck with a pizza oven and a bar, put up tiki lights and lively signage and all the stuff that signals, to surfers and hipsters and cool modern tourists driving by, that this is THE PLACE if you want to stop in for a cold one, watch the sun go down, and maybe even eat a really good burger (meat or vegan), salad, or pizza.
Kilometro Five Surf Bar is the new name of this roadside attraction, and now, having ventured in a time or two, we can highly recommend it. Colorful, mellow, full of good vibes, good food, and if you pick the right night, good live music, this is a great place to pull in and chill on the way back to Sayulita from Punta Mita, or vice versa. We dropped in the other night, and totally scored: great food, a bunch of friends and neighbors from Sayulita on site, and Orlando, the fine Sayulita street sax player, blowing his classic jazz tunes with a back up guitarist and drummer.
I used to frequent jazz bars in my years in New York City, and I have heard a lot of horn players in my time, good and bad. It’s easy to dismiss a street musician with a tin cup, playing on the corner for spare change, but when Orlando plays, you should pay attention. He’s a polished player and an adventurous improviser.
The sun was setting, the air cooling but still warm, the music hot, sexy, and sweet, and all in all, it was a perfect Nayarit evening.
The K5 Surf bar is open every day from noon to 9 pm, and has a menu loaded with pizzas, salads, and burgers along with sides and appetizers. Prices range from 50 pesos for fried potatoes to 150 pesos for a large pizza with 4 ingredients. The restaurant has a full bar and even a short wine list. They will be featuring live music many nights through the upcoming high season. And they even have a couple of surfboards for rent, should you need to hit the waves and forgot to bring the stick.
Reservations available via phone at 329 298 4169. Carretera Sayulita a Punta Mita KM#11, Higuera Blanca, km5surfbar@gmail.com
