BajaNomad

Eating Tijuana

BajaNews - 7-22-2010 at 10:36 PM

http://blogs.ocweekly.com/stickaforkinit/out-of-county-exper...

By Dave Lieberman
Jul. 20 2010

"You're insane."

"You're going to die, you know."

"Are you stupid?"

"Can I have your car?"

Such were the reactions I got when I mentioned that I would be taking part in a culinary tour of Tijuana given by Bill Esparza of Street Gourmet LA: total certainty that I would never make it back north of the border alive. Their responses are understandable when considered in a U.S.-centric vacuum: the media here have concentrated on the spurts of violence in Mexico's border towns, rental car companies have withdrawn the option of driving to Baja, and the US State Department has issued an uncharacteristically strongly worded warning that mentions Tijuana.

It drives me crazy to read all of this.

Yes, Tijuana is one of the places where drug cartels are fighting the military. Yes, there have been shootouts. Unless you hang out with Mexican guys who drive black Suburbans and call themselves "El Kilo", your chances of being mixed up in any of this are about the same as your chances of getting into trouble in any big city. Statistically, you are more likely to be killed in Washington, D.C. than in Tijuana, yet we don't warn tourists not to go to Washington. The advice for D.C. is sensible: don't be an idiot, don't invite trouble, and use your common sense to stay out of sketchy situations.

That same advice goes twice over for T.J.: don't be a P-nche idiot. Don't count money on the street. Don't walk through the red-light district at night. Don't disrespect people in any language (most tijuanenses speak good English, remember).

Most Americans' view of Tijuana is Avenida Revolución, the tacky one-time destination for millions of tourists looking for cheap drugs, doctors, liquors and Cuban cigars. The façades of the buildings on Tijuana's main downtown drag were falling to pieces. While the shop owners still try to use cunning ploys to get you to go inside and look at the cheap schlock they sell, they've toned it down. I heard a lot of, "Beautiful women inside!" and "One hundred percent off!", pitches that are downright tame in comparison with the heyday of tourist Tijuana. The most creative attempt at my attention, incidentally, was "Young man! Turn left! You're under arrest." They were desperate; I saw fewer than a dozen obviously American tourists on the street.

Tijuana is a big city: with this year's census expected to put the population very near the 2 million mark, it's approximately half the size of Los Angeles. Judging Tijuana by "la Revo" is about as fair as judging Los Angeles by Broadway, or Orange County by Harbor Boulevard in the Anaheim Resort. Americans don't think of Tijuana as a city, though; they tend to dispense with it as the poor southern suburb of San Diego and, in a spectacular example of a pars pro toto synecdoche, assume that the ten blocks from the border fence to the jai alai palace and the crumbling shacks of the Zona Norte along the Avenida Internacional are representative of the whole city.

Tijuana's restaurant scene gets written off easily, too. "Oh, yeah, you go down there, three carne asada tacos for a buck. Just don't ask what went into 'em." To hear Californians talk, one would think tijuanenses survived on nothing but cheap, gristly meat tucked into indifferent corn tortillas. Like any cosmopolitan city, there is a huge variety of restaurants. Sushi is huge in Tijuana; signs advertising comida china peek out from nearly every non-residential block. There are high-end temples of gastronomy, there are hundreds of mid-range cenadurias (diners) and there's a vibrant street food scene that puts even New York to shame.

Since we were early, we headed for Playas de Tijuana and stopped at Mariscos Becerra, one of dozens of seafood shacks that line the beach. Becerra specializes in smoked seafood. Smoked tuna, smoked marlin and smoked clams make their way into the hands of hungry diners, and for good reason: the taste is like nothing you'll find this side of la línea.

Smoked marlin is everywhere in Tijuana, and almost unheard of just a thousand feet to the north. We ate our marlin as toritos, an idea that is long, long since overdue here in the United States: smoked marlin or shrimp stuffed into chiles güeros (the yellow chiles that look like wider, paler jalapeños). Toritos are usually wrapped in bacon and cooked; these were tucked into freshly made tortillas. There were, suddenly, no words: mouths were too busy eating every last crumb of these tacos.

We also ordered a big bowl of shrimp posole, a light but zesty broth with hominy corn and fresh shrimp. The ultimate seafood breakfast cried out for a Tecate de barril, a lager drawn from a cold keg through an ancient tap. Drinking at 11 a.m.? Don't mind if I do. Smoked clams were next, put into a foil pouch with tomatoes, onions and chiles. The smokiness of the clams permeated the broth that built up around the seafood; I wanted to lick the foil clean. The price for this wonderfulness? Change back from a US $20.

Just a half a block up the street, the 29th Annual Festival of Fish and Seafood was in full swing. We met with our guides from CANIRAC--the restaurant association of Tijuana and Tecate--and the Tijuana Convention and Visitors' Bureau. The bounty of the sea jumped out from tent after tent.

Forced to choose at one tent from a menu of temptations including tacos gobernador (tortillas filled with sautéed shrimp and cheese, then griddled crisp), toritos and marlin tacos, I punted and asked for a coctél mixto. A foam cup nearly a liter in size was handed over, stuffed full of sweet shrimp and purple-tinged octopus. A viscous, slightly sweet tomato-and-onion purée flecked with chiles serranos and shot through with lemon surrounded the c-cktail. I've eaten octopus on many occasions in Baja California, and the tenderness makes it the best pulpo in the world; this coctél was amazing.

We made our way up past a booth from Cheripán, an Argentine churrascaría with a huge grill filled with natural lump charcoal so hot it was pure white, topped with curls of porky, herb-flecked chorizo and long, thick slabs of beautifully marbled beef short ribs. We took plates of piping hot, fried mollejas--sweetbreads so tender they nearly melted in the mouth.

At one stand, we were given literature about the grand re-opening of Caesar's, the home of the salad now served in every two-bit café in North America. Javier Plascencia, the owner of several of Tijuana's best restaurants, rescued the crumbling building on Revolución and 4th, restored it, and will open Caesar's Restaurant to the world next week. We were treated to the original Caesar salad: whole interior leaves of romaine lettuce tossed with each of the dressing ingredients in turn: olive oil, fresh garlic, salt and pepper, vinegar or lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, an egg that has been boiled for exactly one minute, fresh Parmigiano cheese and croutons. The chef explained that it was meant to be eaten with the fingers: pick up the leaf by the stem and eat like a small piece of pizza.

Across the street, an absolutely enormous drum of paella was cooking. In a nod to Mexican preference, it was made with long-grain rice, not the medium-grain Valencian rice required in Spanish paella recipes. The chef obligingly lifted the cloth cover to expose at least twenty kilograms of seafood interspersed with the rice: shrimp, clams, mussels, octopus, squid, and Mexican chorizo, bright red with paprika. When it was finally done, we were served plates of tender seafood; a few minutes more and there would have been rice crust to go with it. We ate this greedily with L.A. Cetto wine from the Valle de Guadalupe, northeast of Ensenada. L.A. Cetto is a huge name in Mexican wine and make many kinds of wine; the best of the samples we had was the oaky Chardonnay.

Our last stop at the festival was at a stand with a huge line serving the archetypal, best-known and most-exported Baja California seafood dish, tacos de pescado. Asked what kind of fish it was, the fry cook shrugged and responded, "Pescado blanco." White fish. Whatever kind of fish it was (probably tilapia), it was dipped in batter and fried to order, topped with cabbage, crema mexicana (a thin sour cream) and a splash of salsa. With a better choice of fish, it would have been divine; as it was, it was quite good. Rubio's and Wahoo's don't provide any kind of preparation for a real Ensenada-style fish taco, but credible versions are available in L.A. and Orange Counties.

Parched after standing around in the sun and drinking alcohol, we wandered the boardwalk down the hill, watching hawkers sell candies, tepache (a drink made by mashing pineapples and sugar and allowing it to ferment very slightly; it's always served with a refreshing scoop of lemon ice) and crispy fried wheat puffs to passersby. I stopped at a stand filled with enormous young coconuts. A woman wielding an enormous knife cleaved the top of a coconut the size of my head, made an indentation in the soft interior flesh with a clean pocket knife, and (upon my asking) tipped the water into a clear plastic bag with a straw. Fresh young coconut water is one of the most refreshing liquids on Earth, and a powerful hangover remedy to boot. Having finished the water, the woman scraped the gelatinous, sweet flesh into the bag and indicated an array of seasonings: lime, chile powder, salt and an addictive, deep red syrup called chamoy. This last is made by drying apricots with brine; the resulting salty liquid is reduced and chile powder is added to it, for a sweet, salty, sour and spicy treat.

This what eating on the beach should be like; we should have amazing seafood being fished out of the water and served from unassuming buildings and quickly set-up tents. Instead, we have overpriced restaurants that fly in imported, expensive seafood and torture it into compliance. Tijuana manages to do what we Socalis cannot: celebrate the bounty of the local catch and use it to best effect in simple recipes.

Stay tuned... for the rest of the trip: high-end ceviche and people in Prada and Ermenegildo Zegna and the finest tacos in all the world, tacos that alone are worth the two-hour drive.



[Edited on 7-23-2010 by BajaNews]

Eating Tijuana, Part Two

BajaNews - 7-22-2010 at 10:48 PM

By Dave Lieberman
Jul. 21 2010

I wanted to see whether the news reports were true; I missed Baja and the laid-back lifestyle it represents. When Bill Esparza of Street Gourmet LA offered a quick one-day tour, I jumped at the chance to see whether it was time to go back.

I'm happy to report that it is. No soldiers roaming the streets; no anybody roaming the streets. Read on for the conclusion of twelve hours of utter gluttony in the industrial capital of northwestern Mexico, Tijuana. After the festival, our first stop was the Distrito Gastronómico, an offshoot of the high-rent Zona Río where alta cocina restaurants line Escuadrón 201, Sánchez Taboada and Sonora streets. We headed for Erizo Cebichería, a small restaurant that wouldn't feel out of place in Newport Beach. The restaurant's name means "sea urchin", with a column of spent sea urchin shells out front. Inside, I immediately felt underdressed in jeans, untucked button-down seersucker shirt and baseball cap; the woman sitting to our left was a vision of Chanel and Prada, and her husband was dressed in deliberately-casual Ermenegildo Zegna. We'd stumbled into Park Avenue.

It didn't matter; no one batted an eyelash. We were there for fish and seafood, and that was what we were going to have. For those who know ceviche as a tomatoey, gloppy mess served with crackers and bad beer, Erizo is an awakening: ceviche as it was meant to be served. Erizo is owned by Javier Plascencia, the mastermind behind many of Tijuana's finest restaurants and sells screamingly fresh, strictly local seafood. No fish flown in from God-only-knows-where, no flash-frozen seafood bought at Tokyo's Tsukiji Market; everything Plascencia sells is plucked straight from the waters of Baja.

While the entire menu looks enticing, a few items at Erizo deserve special mention. The restaurant's namesake sea urchin is served in a spoon with a dose of a Japanese-inspired, soy-spiked broth. You eat the entire thing at once and revel in the briny, salty, deeply umami urchin going down your throat. The chaser is leche de tigre, the liquid leftover from making ceviche. Leche de tigre is a powerful stimulant and, some say, an aphrodisiac. We didn't feel any carnal stirrings, but we were amazed by the sour, salty liquid, which is served with a quail's egg and a branch of salicornia (sea beans).

Two kinds of scallop, callo de garra de león (lion's paw scallops) and callo de hacha (diver scallops) starred in a dish containing purslane, lamb's quarters and other local greens, as well as cucumbers, onions and a little bit of chile. Callo de garra de león is like a thicker, meatier, more assertive version of the scallops that grace our American tables; it's abundant in Baja but almost never seen in California. Instead of limes for the acidic part of the ceviche, Erizo uses kumquats, which provide a hint of sweetness.

Even better was birria de jurel, yellowtail cooked very gently in a cumin-based sauce made with several kinds of chiles and served in a traditional thin blue cazuelita. The result was a broth designed to emphasize rather than overwhelm the strongly flavored fish. Wrapped up in a fresh, thick corn tortilla with onions, lime and guacamole, I could eat that every day for lunch. A masterfully made pisco de maracuyá was made from fresh passion fruit and the Peruvian national white liquor and was the perfect accompaniment.

The best dish, however, was ceviche verde de tres almejas, made with standard littleneck-type clams, Pismo clams and almeja chocolata, the "chocolate" clams that come from the Sea of Cortez on the eastern side of the Baja California peninsula. These last are identifiable by their orange color and their briny, rich taste. The clams were mixed with cucumbers and an herbal, citric sauce that really elevated a simple dish to the next level.

Sipping on a round of piscos sour after our meal, we looked around and realized the place was just about empty. Time to move on.

We headed to Revolución to see Caesar's restaurant. I headed for Licores Leyva, between 6th and 7th, to buy a bottle of Orendain membrillo (quince-flavored liquor) and a bottle of Volcán de Mi Tierra reposado. A few bottles were out on the counter, and samples were proffered. A sip of añejo tequila made me briefly reconsider my reposado, but I persevered. Tequila lines one whole side of the surprisingly deep store, everything from that yellow pee known as Cuervo Gold to artisanal tequilas worth hundreds of dollars. My tequila ran me just shy of $11, though, and the membrillo was under $6 after a generous wink at the exchange rate.

On the way back toward El Arco, I was in front of our group when I felt someone grab my shoulder. "¡Joven!" shouted a big bear of a man. "Oh God," I thought as I turned around with an angry, aggressive look on my face. The guy stepped back a couple of paces, smiled shyly, and said, "Su bolsa va partir. Se le va caer las botellas." Your bag is going to split open--do something before you lose your tequila. I thanked him, fixed it, and continued on my way.

When I got back to Villa del Tabaco, a cigar shop between 2nd and 3rd, the rum they were pouring had run out, damn my luck; I got a tiny, but heavenly sip of seven-year Cuban rum, a taste unavailable through legal means in the United States. Men puffed huge Cuban cigars; an espresso machine hummed. For the aficionado of slightly guilty pleasures, this is the first stop and the reason to come to Revolución. The hubbub of the outdoors is kept out by a thick glass door; you're welcome to sit and smoke and drink as much as you want.

Having sat and shot the breeze--and most importantly, not eaten--for a while, we headed back to the car and headed southeast, into parts of Tijuana that tourists never bother with. Past the Zona Río and the giant Wal-Mart that hides it from Agua Caliente street, we headed east toward the airport. Bill hung a quick turn and we parked near Tacos Salceados, the very best taquería in all creation, universally called "La Ermita" after the street it's on.

Walk in and look up at the chalkboard menus on either side of the room. Make up your mind and make your way to the bar, club-style; call your order to whomever looks up. They'll remember it, and they'll get it right.

A bowl packed full of griddled chiles güeros and a plate of cucumber slices dressed with homemade Russian dressing hit the counter; a few minutes later, a plate of cebollitas, long green onions that have been charred on the grill until they turn smoky and juicy. The cebollitas made me long for a Catalan calçotada (a festival centering on pretty much exactly these grilled spring onions).

"Well," I said, "I can probably polish off a taco... maybe." I ordered the speciality of the house, a quesataco mar y tierra. One of the chefs sprinkled mozzarella cheese on the griddle, causing it to melt instantly. When the bottom of this cheese "tortilla" had started to brown (a delectable state of affairs called chicharrón de queso), he tapped slices of fresh scallop and a couple of strips of New York steak into the middle, then wrapped it up like a dairy tamal. This was then laid on a corn tortilla and topped with avocado, crema and salsa. One bite was all it took for the foodgasm face.

It gets better: you can have any topping you want turned into a quesataco. The taco salceado prepared this way is pretty much a tiny version of the D.F. street food known as alambre: carne asada, bacon and mushrooms tucked into the cheese roll and slipped onto a tortilla. Beef, bacon, cheese, mushrooms, spicy salsa, quite possibly the world's most perfect portable food.

We also got a taco dulce, a hash of shrimp and pineapple tucked into the tortilla with more crema and a berry reduction sauce. Very sweet, but with a little hit of spiciness and, of course, the earthiness of the tortilla.

The salsas on the salsa bar deserve their own mention, because they're not at all shy about what goes in the sauce. Jamaica (hibiscus flower tea) gets paired with chile mulato for a smoky, sweet, purple-red juice with a long burn. Another one was made with ground almonds and chile serrano; a third was an unassuming-looking avocado salsa that nearly knocked me on my ass. The owner is a former saucier in a fancy restaurant; it is easy to tell.

So much for moderation; so much for just one taco. We made absolute pigs of ourselves. Tacos were flying everywhere. Adobada (what al pastor is called in Tijuana), marlin, smoked tuna, trout, scallops, steak, nopales (cactus paddles). We ate heroically; we ate shamefully large amounts of food. When we were done, I called for la cuenta, bracing myself for the worst. "¿Cuántas bebidas en total?" called Marcos. "Cinco," I replied, looking at the row of Mexican Coke bottles. Some mental addition and the bill for six of us came out to... 412 pesos. $33 for six of us to eat like that.

Upon leaving, Bill noticed the door of Barbacoa Ermita was open across the street; he knows Victor Torres, a man who makes a living by roasting lambs in a custom-built, tile-lined pit in his covered patio. Barbacoa Ermita was closed, having run out of lamb nearly eight hours earlier (it's normally open weekends from 8 a.m. until they're out), but we were given a tour of the facility while Torres' son looked on at the gringo tourists. Definitely a stop for an overnight weekend trip.

On the way toward the border, we were groaning with the just deserts of our gluttony when someone uttered the words, "tamarind margaritas". A quick turn, a short detour, and we ended up at Cheripan, a glossy, unbelievably beautiful Argentine churrascaría in the Distrito Gastronómico, a place with tall, glassed-in wood doors, white linen napkins and valet parking. At 9 p.m. on Sunday they were nearly empty, but were happy to seat us and get us each a tall, frosty glass of brown granita. Tamarind is the kind of fruit that makes your lips smack from the tannin; it's sour and sweet at once and went absolutely perfectly with Don Julio blanco tequila.

Defeated at last, we hopped into a taxi while Bill headed for his hotel. "La línea, por favor," someone said, and we headed north to the border. The border post was nearly completely empty; the ratio of CBP officers to entering people was nearly 2:1.

It's a damn shame that so few Americans are going to Tijuana. Other than my initial reaction to the guy trying to save my liquor investment, I didn't feel anything but completely safe while I was there. Sure, the streets are in God-awful shape; sure, the drivers are slightly insane (Mexicans believe in using the entire roadbed for the movement of vehicles); sure, lots of parts of it are gritty and run-down. Tijuana might not be like San Diego, and it might not be like the rest of Mexico, but it is a dining destination in its own right.

Screw the negative reporting; screw the doubters; screw the State Department's oft-misinterpreted warning. Grab your passport and learn what real Mexican cooking is all about. You'll never be able to set foot in Alberto's, On the Border or El Torito again. I know I'll be back; I have a list of restaurants as long as my arm I want to try: Mariscos Ruben, La Querencia, Mercado Hidalgo, Tacos el Francés, Restaurante Uno, and so many others are waiting for me the next time I head to Baja.


Mariscos Becerra, Del Pacífico, 743, Secc. Monumental, Playas de Tijuana; 011-52-664-290-23-13.
Cocos El Palmero, Parque Azteca Norte, 640, Secc. Monumental, Playas de Tijuana; no telephone.
Erizo Cebichería, Sonora, 3808-11, Fracc. Chapultepec, Tijuana; 011-52-664-686-28-95.
Licores Leyva, Revolución, 1026, Zona Centro, Tijuana; 011-52-664-688-09-80.
Villa del Tabaco, Revolución, 868, Zona Centro, Tijuana; 011-52-664-688-29-30.
Tacos Salceados, Ermita Norte, 30A, Fracc. Santa Cruz La Mesa, Tijuana; no telephone.
Barbacoa La Ermita, Ermita Norte, 807, Fracc. Santa Cruz La Mesa, Tijuana; 011-52-664-622-1969.
Cheripan, Escuádron 201, 3151, Col. Aviación, Tijuana; 011-52-664-622-97-30.

Note: I and the other attendees were hosted at the Festival del Pescado y el Marisco; all other expenses on this trip were paid out of my own pocket. Special thanks to Bill Esparza, Jahdiel Vargas, Emma Cruz, and all the people at CANIRAC and Cotuco for your great hospitality.




[Edited on 7-23-2010 by BajaNews]

BajaNews - 7-22-2010 at 10:53 PM

http://blogs.ocweekly.com/stickaforkinit/out-of-county-exper...

Superchango says:

FYI, Restaurante Uno has closed in TJ and moved to Ensenada.

I always appreciate people who write about the many great things Tijuana has to offer. I am a Tijuana native who crosses the border to work in SD. Most people in SD have no idea about the great restaurants and street food available at a fraction of the price of SD.

I'll throw out a couple of recommendations: Tacos Aaron in Playas or El Soler are GREAT. Tacos Jr serve up delicious fish tacos. Los Calditos de la Cuatla sets up at about 2AM on weekends and they serve a seafood soup for late night revelers.

Tijuana Makes Me Happy.

Posted On: Thursday, Jul. 22 2010 @ 11:33AM

tjBill - 7-23-2010 at 11:40 PM

Nice culinary tour of Tijuana.

Some of the places he recommended:

- Mariscos Becerra: a seafood shack on the beach for smoked seafod

- Cheripán: Gourmet Argentine restaurant in the Zona Rio restaurant row(Sánchez Taboada)

- Re-opening of cesear's restaurant: Ave. Revolution

- La Cetto : winery restaurant- downtown

- Erizo Cebichería : gourmet seafood in the Zona Rio restaurant row

- Tacos Salceado: gourmet tacos, east of the Zona Rio

JESSE - 7-24-2010 at 12:21 AM

my town rocks !

taxcutter - 7-24-2010 at 02:52 PM

La Palapa in Zona Rio, good seafood.

Udo - 7-24-2010 at 03:11 PM

And in a couple of months TJ will host another Tequila Expo. Nice chaser after the culinary tour.

bajajudy - 7-24-2010 at 05:02 PM

Man o man, that all sounded so good but the shrimp pozole definitely got my attention. yum

elgatoloco - 7-24-2010 at 05:04 PM

Nice article.

Last year after the Tequila Festival we hopped in a cab and our friends took us to Tacos Salceados. I have been jonesing for a return since. Hope to get down there soon. :yes:

MelissaF - 11-3-2010 at 04:39 AM

Nice article and it sounds really good.
Thanks for sharing.

sanquintinsince73 - 11-3-2010 at 03:17 PM

Nothing like eating a marlin taco....they are delicious.

Bajahowodd - 11-3-2010 at 03:27 PM

Nice to see that someone has invested the time and money to re-open Caesar's. It was an absolute icon for generations.

I had read that Restaurante Uno had relocated to Ensenada. Anyone know its location? I ask because their website is no longer available; their blog is no longer available; nor is their Facebook page. Just wondering if it's even the same folks.

[Edited on 11-3-2010 by Bajahowodd]

mcfez - 11-5-2010 at 09:45 AM

Thanks for that positive report of Baja. I agree...that shrimp pozole looks like a wow factor.

Any good steak houses near the border?

DENNIS - 11-5-2010 at 09:49 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Bajahowodd
I had read that Restaurante Uno had relocated to Ensenada. Anyone know its location? I ask because their website is no longer available; their blog is no longer available; nor is their Facebook page. Just wondering if it's even the same folks.



Moderation with those mushrooms, Howard. You're starting to believe your hallucinations. I'm sure this place never existed. :lol::lol:

Mass Hallucination?

Bajahowodd - 11-5-2010 at 01:32 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by DENNIS
Quote:
Originally posted by Bajahowodd
I had read that Restaurante Uno had relocated to Ensenada. Anyone know its location? I ask because their website is no longer available; their blog is no longer available; nor is their Facebook page. Just wondering if it's even the same folks.



Moderation with those mushrooms, Howard. You're starting to believe your hallucinations. I'm sure this place never existed. :lol::lol:


First check this out. Some really fine cuisine.

http://masaassassin.blogspot.com/2010/02/restaurante-uno-tij...

Then, this:http://restauranteuno.blogspot.com/

And...http://www.facebook.com/restaurante.uno

http://www.bluehost.com/cgi/suspended?d=restauranteuno.com

Just don't understand why, if you are the same owner, you wouldn't just post your new address at all those sites.

This is from Street Gourmet LA's Blog

Gypsy Jan - 11-5-2010 at 01:58 PM

(I posted the whole long article because it is Baja-related, but in answer to Bajahowodd's question, Restaurante Uno is supposed to reopen in TJ in January.)

Dated Thursday, October 28, 2010

Baja Chefs at Test Kitchen Tonight: The Young Lions of Baja Cuisine Show Promise for the Future of Mexico's Culinary Hot Spot

"Tonight, the young lions of the Baja kitchen are at Test Kitchen. Their appearance at LA’s pop-up of note was somewhat of a surprise. Quietly, they were dropped in as a last minute fill-in for La Casita Mexicana, whose schedule couldn’t accommodate this run at Test Kitchen to celebrate the Mexican Bicentennial, as curated by Bricia Lopez. Joshua Gil, the new chef for Bricia’s contemporary Oaxacan venture, Mitla, which will debut at Test Kitchen on Friday and Saturday, frequents Baja and called up his friends, Diego Hernandez, Guillermo Barreto, and Ismene Venegas to come and cook for a couple of days.

The three young chefs are part of the fascinating culinary movement going on in Baja California. The position of having the best seafood, the top Mexican wine region, a broad range of food products grown locally, and special foods that are only available in Baja has made this region ground zero for Mexico’s contemporary dining scene. Baja California is home to Baja Cuisine, Baja-Mediterranean Cuisine, Valle de Guadalupe cuisine, and a range of regional cooking styles that are the playground for some of the best chefs in Mexico. Miguel Angel Guerrero, Benito Molina, Javier Plascencia, Martin San Roman, and Jair Tellez have been at the forefront of Baja’s culinary dynamism.

Diego Hernandez(2nd from left), Guillermo Barreto(far right), and Ismene Venegas(4th from right) are part of the next generation of Baja chefs.They are working with their good friend Joshua Gil(3rd from right) of the new Mitla restaurant.

Diego has worked in some of the most famous kitchens in Mexico, Guillermo Gonzalez’s Pangea, Enrique Olvera’s Pujol, and Benito Molina’s Manzanilla before opening his first restaurant with a partner in 2008, Restaurante Uno. He is set to open his first restaurant by himself this coming January, Estado 29, and he’s barely 27 years old.Chef Diego Hernandez has been a student of the vanguard cuisine of Mexico, and Baja’s ingredients are what has kept him around.

Still only in his early 30’s, Guillermo Barreto, a Baja native, is already an accomplished restaurateur, with a successful Italian restaurant in Mexicali called La Piazza. When he first came to Ensenada to launch his newest venture, El Sarmiento, he still favored his Italian style of cooking but soon fell under the influence of Benito Molina, and Jair Tellez. Currently, Guillermo’s approach to cooking could be called Mex-Italian.

Ismene Venegas is a genuine Baja Californian, and deep roots in Baja’s wine industry. Ismene is the daughter of one of the famous women of the Tres Mujeres winery in the Valle de Guadalupe, Eva Cotero. Tres Mujeres Winery is a collaboration of three female Baja winemakers, Eva Cotero, Ivette Vaillard, and Laura McGregor. They produce one barrel a year, each woman takes turn making their wine, which are highly sought after by enthusiasts in Mexico City. Ismene grew up with Mexican food and Mexican wine, and the Baja aesthetic. She worked with Benito Molina, and then alongside Jair Tellez at Restaurante del Parque, before he went off to open MeroToro in Mexico City.

Last night I was in to sample the cooking of these three young lions of the Baja kitchen. I had been to La Contra where Ismene was cooking when Jair was still there, and I’m happy to say that she has changed the menu to incorporate more Mexican ingredients. I met and dined with Guillermo one night at Manzanilla, but hadn’t been to El Sarmiento, and Diego, I knew of his restaurant, but he closed before I was able to stop by Restaurante Uno. These are the first Baja restaurants that got to me before I got to them.

The tostada of steak tartar with an Asian mignonette and guacamole sauce was nice, and displayed one of the biggest influences in the Baja kitchen, the flavors of Baja’s Asian immigrant population.

The wood fire grilled octopus had just enough of a citrus sauce, also Asian themed, to enhance the fine texture of the octopus. This is typical of the Valle de Guadalupe kitchen.

My favorite of the three bar bites, the pizzadilla with Oaxacan chile de agua, quesillo(Oaxacan string cheese), baby heirloom tomatoes, and onions was robust, savory, and a delicious Oaxacan sting at the end.

Local scallops were used for the first course. They were flash cooked in citrus, and covered with an onion and almond pesto. Pickled onions and pickled radishes lightly accented by chile habanero gave this dish a splendor and refinement. Baja style ceviches and crudos are creative, while always staying true to the Mexican practices of raw seafood preparation.

Baja is home to a variety of fresh vegetables, and many chefs keep their own gardens. The heirloom tomato salad with a slice of hamachi was a fine example of Baja’s Mediterranean and Asian leanings, with a drizzle of Baja Californian olive oil brought by the three chefs, and seaweed. This is a bright salad, bursting with lively fruit, an interesting salad that I would gladly order again.

One of my favorites of the night the manila clam soup is a dish I first tried at Benito Molina’s Manzanilla.

Ground chicharrones, agave worm salt, manila clams and basil were presented with a tableside pour of a saffron laced broth. The dish was clean, balanced and deeply delicious.


A rib-eye steak was topped with a salsa macha adorned with sesame seeds, and paired with a black bean esquite (street corn style), an emulsion of corn, guacamole, and salty cotija cheese. This is a deconstructed taco of carne asada, alta cocina style, the contribution of Diego Hernandez.

Chef Ismene brought some fresh walnuts grown at her mom’s winery that they harvest each year to make chiles en nogada, and 3 month aged cow’s milk cheese from Rancho Cortez, located in Ejido El Porvenir in the Valle de Guadalupe. This cheese is mild, and dreamy, the kind you want to want to remain in your mouth for as long as possible, ’til just the last impressions remain, and then wash it down with glass of wine.

The tasting ended with a simple lemon crepe paired with a coconut sorbet.

This was a great tasting, and a chance to see what the next wave of Baja chefs have in store. This is an exciting region, and an inspired trio of young chefs still developing their respective styles of Baja cuisine. Come catch them if you can grab a seat tonight at Test Kitchen. Walk ins are welcome, just call Test Kitchen at 310-277-0133 to see if there’s a spot."

http://www.streetgourmetla.com/2010/10/baja-chefs-at-test-ki...

[Edited on 11-5-2010 by Gypsy Jan]

Bajahowodd - 11-5-2010 at 02:24 PM

Thanks Jan. I actually read that article when it came out. That said, if you scroll up to the third post in this thread, it says that Uno moved to Ensenada. Your posted article states that one of the (former) owners is planning to open a TJ restaurant. Not quite the same? Or did I misread?

Gahh!

Gypsy Jan - 11-5-2010 at 02:34 PM

That's what happens when you try to speed read.

I take the info to mean that he was in Ensenada, but now he's not and it doesn't say where where he is going to open his new restaurant; just gives us the name, Estado 29, and date of next January.

I guess for now, it's "wait and see" unless you want to contact Street Gourmet LA via his blog.