Javier Plascencia leads the culinary charge in Tijuana
http://www.sdcitybeat.com/sandiego/article-10359-javier-plas...
The chef helps define the style of the often misunderstood border town
By Alex Zaragoza
Monday, Apr 02, 2012
If you feed them, they will come. It’s a simple idea that Chef Javier Plascencia has turned into an entire movement. He firmly believes good food can
overcome the bad publicity Tijuana has received in the last few years due to the gruesome drug wars that have frightened citizens and reduced tourism.
Times of cultural revival follow every dark period, and the Tijuana renaissance has already begun. Nightlife is booming, theater houses sell out
regularly, Baja wines are getting attention for their full flavors and many feel Plascencia is the coxswain pushing the charge forward in the culinary
world. He’s garnered attention worldwide for the complex dishes he creates and serves at his restaurant, Misión 19, an open space consisting of
cement, wood and walls of windows overlooking the Zona Rio, less than 10 minutes from the border.
“Tijuana is becoming a food destination—a foodie city. We’re excited about that,” says the 44-year-old chef, who opened Misión 19 in January 2011.
“[People are] hooked. The government knows this. It’s because of the food that people are coming back.”
Through his colorful, textured, modern Mexican dishes Plascencia tells the story of Tijuana, encompassing the life, history and varied cultures that
dwell within its dusty boundaries. He incorporates Asian ingredients as a nod to the city’s large Chinese community. There’s the presence of
Mediterranean-type ingredients grown locally and in abundance in Baja California, thanks to its proximity to the ocean, warm weather and farms and
vineyards. And bits from all over Mexico that are most commonly found in the street carts and puestos around town find their way onto the plate.
“Tijuana has its own ambiance, its own style,” Plascencia says. “The street food is great. I travel a lot, and I always come back to Tijuana and think
it’s the best street-food city that exists. We take a lot of inspiration from that for my own dishes.”
In combining these elements, the chef carves out a style that is quintessentially Tijuanense, a mixture of many pieces found in the city elevated to a
higher level of flavor.
“Huge props to Javi because he’s been the pioneer of this whole movement,” says friend Marcela Valladolid, host of the Food Network’s Mexican Made
Easy. “He’s got so much passion for promoting Tijuana, talking about the food, and it’s kind of happening at the same time that people are realizing
that we’re blessed in Baja with the most amazing ingredients.”
Valladolid, born in San Diego but raised in Tijuana, believes the rehabilitation of Tijuana’s image lies in its amazing food, and Plascencia is “a
total representation of what’s going on from a culinary perspective in Baja.”
That vision didn’t come right away for Plascencia—though, being the son of one of the biggest restaurateurs in Tijuana, it’s not too much of a
surprise that he eventually got it. His father, Juan José Plascencia, owns 11 eateries around the city and in San Diego, including four Giuseppi’s
pizzerias, Casa Plascencia, Villa Saverios and Romesco over the border in Bonita. The young Plascencia, along with his brothers, had to work at the
family businesses every weekend and is grateful that he did. It served as the foundation for his career.
After graduating from high school, he told his parents that he’d like to study to be a chef at the Culinary Institute of America in New York. Worried
his son might not feel the same in a year, Juan José sent him to study at San Diego Mesa College instead. After completing his courses and remaining
passionate about his career choice, the two men took off for a long trip to Europe and came back to open their first restaurant together.
Now, 20 years later, Plascencia has stepped away to make his own mark, taking the lessons he learned from his father to start Misión 19.
“It’s like musicians: Sometimes they want to do something on their own, and then they come back to their group,” he explains. “My family doesn’t mind
it. They just support me.”
To further get the word out on what Tijuana has to offer the palette, Plascencia does pop-up restaurants in Los Angeles and San Diego, hoping to get
people “hooked” and lure them across the border. He travels all over to spread the gospel, learn more and find inspiration for his dishes.
While away, he relies on his young sous chef, Adria Montaño, whom the staff calls “La Mama,” even though she’s only 25, because of her ability to
maintain the strict kitchen environment Plascencia prefers.
“I think working here is an accomplishment, apart from being a source of pride for me, because we’re greatly representing what we are here in
Tijuana,” Montaño says.
“She understands my philosophy of what I want to do with my dishes,” Plascencia says. “I’m very excited about this team. We’ve only been open a year
and four months, but the team is getting it together. It’s growing. It’s like a kid. I know when this restaurant turns 2 or 3 years old, it’s going to
be very, very good.
“Cooking is the only thing that I know how to do well,” he says. “I know that’s what I’m always going to be doing.”
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