By Warren Woodberry Jr.
As high-heeled diners exit black SUVs and walk up slate stone steps bathed in soft white light from the restaurant’s neon-lid stairs, chill music plays on outdoors speakers at Acre Restaurant & Cocktail Bar just near San Jose del Cabo.
Like Los Angeles nightlife, fashionable patrons sip Tequila for an evening of celebration over farm to table dishes on natural wood furnishings, surrounded by lush greenery for that native land. All furniture, dishes, lighting and accessories come from the Baja and Mexican mainland.
Global cuisine and local ingredients authenticity drives the food and cocktail program here. Acre uses only ingredients that are close by and don’t travel far from their farms and neighboring suppliers to your plate or glass.
Don’t be fooled by the name, Acre is part of a 25-acre farmland. Millennium Magazine made its visit at night when the restaurant is shaded by trees from the gorgeous starry night sky, so one would not see the 100 mango orchard and surrounding farms. Herbs citrus trees, vegetables, flowers and mangos are abundant.
The land was purchased by Cameron Watt and Stuart McPherson more than four years ago. The entrepreneurs felt there was a shortage in interesting choices in Cabo for both dining and accommodations and believed American urbanites tired of the typical resort stye vacation, could gain an experience in Cabo that is surely off the reservation. Acre is developed as a place for people to relax, learn, rejuvenate and celebrate.
With the restaurant serving also as an event space along with farms, the collaborative is phase one. A dozen tree houses are being added in the palm forest just outside the restaurant. Each tree house has a queen size bed, toilet, sink minibar and storage areas for clothes. Showers are outside the terrace and walls allow seas breezes and views of the surrounding palm trees.
The event space and swimming pool were nearly finished during our visit.