Known for its bold use of herbs and spices, Sinaloan cuisine is piquant and flavorful, using the abundance of local chiles, tomatoes and other produce to gastronomic advantage. The Sinaloan cook has a great selection of ingredients close at hand year round.

The confluence of the calm Sea of Cortez with the rougher Pacific Ocean off the state's coast provides both deep-sea fish such as marlin, swordfish, tuna and sea bass and shallow-water fish and shellfish. Shrimp, squid, octopus and fish cocktails are popular at small eateries along the beaches.

In Mazatlán, famous for its restaurants, dining centers on seafood. Enormous quantities of fish are smoked over mesquite and sold in the market to chefs and home cooks who use it in appetizers and salads.

Mazatlán's restaurant scene is twofold. In the Zona Dorada — the Gold Zone — with its tourist hotels and upscale restaurants, the emphasis is on creative fish and shellfish dishes, such as Pescado Doña Margarita, a poached fish fillet with oysters and shrimp served at Chiquita Banana in the Camino Real.

In Viejo Mazatlán — Old Mazatlán — where restaurants line the Plaza Machado, dining spots offer more of Sinaloa's traditional meat dishes. At Pedro and Lola, grilled pork with chorizo, vegetables and olives is a specialty. Also along the plaza are the cenadurías (late supper restaurants) that characterize western Mexico.

One of the oldest, El Tunel, offers a staple of Sinaloan cooking, caldo — rich beef or chicken stock. The meat that will be used to make tacos, gorditas and enchiladas at night is simmered all day, during which time customers come for carry-out stock to take home and use in soups and sauces. In the cenadurías, meat and chicken cooked in stock is typically marinated for a short time in vinegar, salt and pepper, and then fried in clear lard or oil.

Further inland, the Culiacan valley is a valuable agricultural center with large canneries, including those that produce several brand name Mexican salsas. Restaurants in Culiacan make liberal use of the locally grown chiles, adding them to most dishes and serving them sautéed on the side.

South of Sinaloa lies Nayarit, with its beaches, mangrove stands and tropical forests in the low-lying areas, and inland volcanic highlands. Fertile soil and abundant summer rains produce a variety of tropical fruits, including 14 different kinds of bananas and petacon mangos.

Nayarit is home to the Huichol Indians and the hot sauce bearing their name — salsa huichol — made from several kinds of chiles, vinegar and spices and sold bottled throughout Mexico. Huichol sauce tops many regional specialties, including tostadas de chanfaina (chitterling tostadas) and frijoles puercos — refried beans added to fried, crumbled chorizo, garnished with cheese and served with totopos.

Seafood is also a staple on Nayarit's menus, which feature shark, sea bass, sierra and shellfish. The isle of Mexcaltitan, at the center of Mexico's largest estuary, is the home of pescado zarandeado, sea bream marinated in lime juice, soy sauce and chile and smoked over a wood fire on a woven rack called a zaranda. The small, nameless restaurants on the island also offer albóndigas de camarón, shrimp "meatballs" served in a fish and tomato-based broth.

In the coastal town of San Blas, pescado tatemado (grilled mullet) is a favorite. At Dutch's Restaurant, crab fajitas are a change from the usual chicken and beef versions.

Inland, the state capital, Tepic, is better known for its caldos than for seafood. Cenaduría Lupita and Tirayan are good places to enjoy fragrant chicken broth at night, while the municipal market is crowded with diners eating caldo in the morning.

Thirty miles southeast of Tepic, a volcanic crater lake lies near the village of Santa Maria de Oro. Here small lakeside restaurants serve the local favorite, chicharrón de pescado (deep-fried fish chips) as well as ceviche tostadas and fresh lake perch.

The food of Nayarit is often accompanied by a fruit drink made from nanches (loquats) or agua de cebada — barley water — a refreshing hot weather beverage. Alcoholic drinks include tepache, made from fermented pineapple rinds and sugar; and tejuino, made from fermented corn.

Called the "most Mexican" of states, Jalisco is the home of mariachi music and tequila. From bustling Puerto Vallarta to the high plains covered with the blue agave used to make tequila, Jalisco offers a wide range of regional food.

Puerto Vallarta, with 2.5 million visitors a year, is one of Mexico's gastronomic capitals. Located on the deep Bay of Banderas, it offers chefs a selection of black marlin, tuna, shellfish and octopus. Large quantities of this seafood, along with other dishes, are prepared each November during the city's Gourmet Festival, founded by Thierry Blouet. His Café des Artistes features a fusion of French techniques and Mexican ingredients, creating such dishes as prawn and pumpkin soup and filet mignon wrapped in blue agave with a shallot and pasilla sauce.

From gourmet dining to Mexican combination plates, Puerto Vallarta has it all, with 18 restaurants in seven blocks on Basilio Badilla street ("restaurant row") plus those along the seafront boulevard and other neighborhoods. At Los Arbolitos, a combination plate for two features fresh red snapper, lobster, grilled shrimp, prawns, oysters and octopus.

Farther inland, as Jalisco climbs toward the Sierra, the culinary resources change with the terrain and ranch cooking dominates. Pozole, Mexico's pork and hominy stew, originated here as did birria, mutton or goat prepared in an adobo sauce and served in a rich tomato and meat broth. At Birrerías Chololo in Guadalajara diners put meat from a large platter into deep bowls, while the waiter makes the rounds of tables to pour the broth. Accompaniments are chopped onion and cilantro, plus hot sauce.

Guadalajara is also famous for its tortas ahogadas, roast pork sandwiches on bolillos topped with a spicy red sauce. This informal fare is often eaten at small cafes and street stands, with locals flocking to La Loca, a well-known torta stand in the Mercado Libertad, the central market where produce and handcrafted items are stacked up in heaps.

At La Pianola restaurant in Guadalajara, diners can order a regional platter and sample some of Jalisco's typical dishes, including pozole and tortas ahogas. A shrimp torta ahoga is also offered, along with pollo valentina, chicken in a tomato, chile and chorizo sauce.

Nestled against Jalisco is Colima, with over 3,000 years of civilization and the ancient food traditions that go with it. Pre-Hispanic people found a supply of fresh water running down the slopes of the Fuego and Nevado volcanoes, encouraging them to settle and cultivate the land. Later the Spaniards planted sugar cane, which thrives in volcanic soil.

Besides sugar cane, much of Colima is covered with coconut, coffee and banana plantations and orchards of avocado, limes, mango, mamey and tamarind. Many of these are used to make typical Colima beverages and candies, especially cocadas, a sweet enjoyed throughout Mexico. From candy and brandy to cold coconut soup, Colima's cooks put los cocos to creative use.

Along the coast, Manzanillo is a popular resort known for its swordfish and sailfish. Seafood restaurants nearly all serve the regional soup of fish, shrimp, crab, prawn and octopus, and a variation of the local specialty camarones al queso — shrimp sautéed with onions and bell peppers, covered with a soft cheese which melts over the top, and often served in a piping hot molcajete. El Tablao and La Huerta both feature pescado a la talla, fish baked in a wood-fired clay oven.

Down the coast, in Cuyutlan, Restaurant Fenix offers fresh lobster, garlic shrimp and huachinango a la diabla (red snapper). In Tecoman, along the surfing beach of Boca de Pascuales, Las Hamacas del Mayor, in business for over 50 years, specializes in giant prawns and grilled fish.

Inland areas of Colima place more emphasis on meat, and in the capital city, also called Colima, restaurants serve hearty regional dishes, including tatemado, pork marinated in spices and the local palm vinegar and baked in a clay cazuela, or casserole.

A type of restaurant characteristic of Colima is the botanero, where bottles of local alcoholic beverages are ordered and accompanied by an assortment of botanas that come free of charge. The historic town of Comala, north of Colima city, is the center of the botanero custom. Especially on Sundays, families can be seen along the colonnade of restaurants around the town square, enjoying ponche de granada (pomegranate punch) and drinks made from tamarind, dried plums and other fruit, as well as tuba, a mildly alcoholic drink made from palm sap. Botanas include fried tacos, enchiladas, ceviche-topped tostadas and a number of cheeses and salads.

Pacifico Restaurante Mexicano in Calistoga, Calif., features many dishes reminiscent of those found in such places as Guadalajara, Puerta Vallarta and Colima. Owner Susan Scurto and chef Martin Rodriguez traveled to Colima, where they met chef Amado Morales, a graduate of the Guadalajara Culinary Academy, who taught them to make the Creamy Tomatillo Salsa that tops Pacifico's Enchiladas Suizas.