Esta publicación también está disponible en: English Español
From Quebec with Love
At Jardin Cafe Lounge, a charming establishment in Puerto Vallarta, Quebec meets Mexico with a delightful fusion of French and Latin influences. Here, the clinking of the martini glasses mingles with the melodic cadence in the romantic tone of the French language, and the laughter spirals at the quick-witted jokes of one of the owners, Warren Wesley Weir. It’s a place where the spirit of Quebec mingles with the vibrant energy of Puerto Vallarta. It’s a bar, it’s a café, it’s a boutique shop, it’s a garden—it is a vision of a dreamer.
And I am a sucker for dreamers.
“I first fell in love with PV in 2014, then Carlos—my now husband—in 2019, and together as a family we brought the best of Quebec and Mexico through our lifestyles,” Weir tells me. But his journey through Puerto Vallarta had several stops in his life before he arrived.
Weir spent his teen years working on the farm and finishing high school despite enduring bullying and harassment for being different from his peers
The eleven-year-old boy left his challenging childhood and arrived in Saint-André-Avellin in 1994, a small town shy of two hours from Montreal—at a farm to live with his mother—Monique, and one of her friends, Chantal, who quickly became like his second mom. Later in life, Monique would come out as a lesbian, and, despite their drifting lives, she and Chantal would remain friends.
Weir spent his teen years working on the farm and finishing high school despite enduring bullying and harassment for being different from his peers.
He left the small-town living behind and arrived in Montreal in 2001 at nineteen. Before landing a job at Cabaret Mado (Mado Lamotte), he shares with me, he completed a bartending course offered in the basement of a church, provided by an elderly lady, Raymonde Simard, who greeted him wearing snug leather pants and a cozy wool sweater with a cat imprint, casually puffing on an Audrey Hepburn-style extended cigarette holder—picture Eileen Brennan portraying Jack’s eccentric acting coach Zandra in Will & Grace.
From there, many times to escape the Canadian cold, Weir’s life took him to places such as Cayman Islands, Punta Cana, and Miami before returning to Montreal and juggling multiple jobs simultaneously: tending bar at the Sky Bar, serving refreshments as a flight attendant for Sky Regional—an affiliate airline of Air Canada—and working as a realtor selling real estate in Canada. He has continued his work in real estate in Puerto Vallarta through Donner & Associates since 2021.
Weir knows first impressions can mean everything
It wasn’t until after several vacation trips to Puerto Vallarta between 2014 and 2019 when he met his husband-to-be, Carlos, in December of 2019 that Weir realized he could have a life here. Months later, these two lovebirds exchanged wedding vows in Canada on September 23, 2020.
It’s another—at times trying—journey in Vallarta and life’s unexpected turns in late 2023 that eventually led Weir and Carlos to imagine owning a bar like Jardin Cafe Lounge, as a retirement dream, Weir shares.
It started with a concept of a garden where people could mingle having wine and conversations at night. From there, it morphed into a café, a boutique, and eventually a bar. – Jardin Cafe Lounge. Today, Weir is happy that that concept has now become a space that permeates humor and a good vibe.
“I also like to write jokes,” he tells me smilingly
Weir knows first impressions can mean everything; that’s what you experience when you open the door to the Lounge on 326 Lazaro Cardenas in Zona Romantica. A salmonish-pink chaise lounge, facing the storefront, buoyantly invites you in, and you feel like settling in. To the right is the café where coffee drinkers can indulge in caffeinated beverages of their choice along with croissants, sandwiches, cheese plates, nachos, and many other tasty treats.
Past the café, past the chaise, are placed a couple of gathering tables to mingle and socialize, and, as one’s gaze skims past them, Weir can be spotted behind the bar mixing cocktails and entertaining patrons.
“I also like to write jokes,” he tells me smilingly while shaking the martini shaker, to which I suggest he consider adding stand-up as a possible gig for the lounge. Next, I know, he hops on a raised wooden platform as if ready to make a packed room fall off their chairs holding their stomachs and laughing. I can imagine one day the Lounge inviting aspiring comedians to an open-mic night.
Weir has many plans for the Jardin Café Lounge, which is apparent as one takes in a boutique room to the left of the café, showcasing scented candles next to a vanity mirror suited for a diva to prepare for an upcoming performance. It is worth mentioning that Carlos is also a makeup artist.
Adjacent to the boutique room, a wooden door opens to a plants-covered shaded patio flanked with hammock-style swing chairs and a blue, Mediterranean-design bench against an exposed brick wall painted white. Weir has plans for this lounge. I suspect he lays sleepless at night, envisioning what this place would look like in weeks and months.
He is a dreamer.
And that is the loving charm of the Jardin Café Lounge, to get behind his passion, to support his vision, and to see the transformation of this place through the imaginative eyes of its owners, all the while, enjoying Weir’s quirky personality, and having seventy-five pesos martini along with several other happy-hour specials.
So come see Warren Wesley Weir and his crew mixing cocktails at Jardin Cafe Lounge, laughing at an episode of Grace and Frankie on Mondays, Taco Tuesdays, or game nights on any other day of the week, and be a part of Weir’s journey!
Follow the link below for Jardin Café Lounge’s daily special deals.
Esta publicación también está disponible en: English Español
