Go Thee To Baja! Baja Culinary Fest Oct 11-14

October 11-14 is the 2nd annual Baja California Culinary Fest! Thanks to the generosity of Chef Javier Plascencia, I was able to attend the 1st annual festival last year and with more experience, this year's is promising to be even better. There are many different events over the four days, from special dinners, a gastro tour of Tijuana, a visit to the Ramonetti cheese cellar, a festival in Rosarita, and many more.

It all culminates in a festival at the Galerias Hipodromo. Last year's festival had some of the best restaurants in Tijuana, and this year will probably have even more. Instead of paying an all inclusive ticket, last year attendees buy tickets for each item purchased.
From a whole leg carved on-site by Cheripan, Tijuana's premier Argentinean restaurant.

There was a great chocolate clam cocktail from Catavina (it's a type of Mexican clam, there's no chocolate in it!)

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Crispy Empanadas and Pickled Pig's Feet at Panchita (San Felipe, Baja, Mexico)

You find gems in unexpected places. Even in places you already expected to be good, you can still find unexpected dishes. Such was the case with Cenaduria Panchita in San Felipe.

During the last Baja trip, our host took us to Panchita for the best empanadas in town, but to our delight we also found ... pickled pig's feet! This specialty of Jalisco was quite a treat, with the bright pickle flavors counteracting the fatty pig's skin. Very different than the sweet Chinese style I'm used to.

Of course, there are the empanadas. After all, that's what Panchita is locally famous for. They also serve taquitos and other things, but I didn't find those particularly memorable.

Here, the meat-filled empanadas are fried (according to Street Gourmet LA, this is more Baja style than Jalisco).

What I really loved about these empanadas was the thinner skin, and of course the crispiness from the frying. These were some of the best empanadas I've had recently. I wish I could've taken some back to LA but they would've gotten soggy. I guess I'll just have to return to San Felipe to have them for breakfast!

Iced Jamaica, much needed in the hot San Felipe summer

Cenaduria Panchita
Calle Ensenada #201
San Felipe, Mexicali, Baja California
Mexico, CP21850

LA Street Food Fest Summer Tasting, Back on July 21

The LA Street Food Fest returns to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on Saturday, July 21. The full vendor lineup hasn't been released yet, but usually the vendors from previous years would come back, so check out last year's highlights to know what to expect!

The term "Street Food Fest" has been defined pretty loosely, since now it's not just food carts/stalls/trucks, but also various restaurants and dessert shops participating.

And it's not just LA, the Food Fest also brought some of the best from Baja, including the uni tostada from La Guerrerense in Ensenada. They may just be making a repeat appearance this year. This little seafood cart has been featured many TV shows recently, so if you haven't had the time to drive down to Baja, try it locally at the food fest!

One of the best chefs in Baja, Javier Plascencia is also coming back this year. Last year he brought a lot of goodies, including these grilled oysters topped with sea asparagus. I don't know why the line wasn't longer at this booth, but hey, better for me.

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El Balcon: Alta Cocina in San Felipe (Baja, Mexico)

Unlike the more metropolitan Tijuana, there aren't too many high end dining options in San Felipe, a sleepy town during the off-season. Still, there is at least one, and a very good one at that.

El Balcon Cocina Artesanal opened in Jaunary this year by Chef Julio Cesar Gonzalez Zetina who had previous worked at the Ritz Carlton in Cancun and researched Mayan culinary traditions for the university there. Now he also teaches the subject at the local university after a recent move from Ensenada.

El Balcon wasn't a fancy restaurant, just a few cute tables outside on the second floor of La Plazita, and an outdoor kitchen. Thick tortilla chips are accompanied by a bold housemade salsa.

Our lunch tasting began with an Aguachile de Cazon (dogfish marinated in burnt chili sauce and green sauce, smoked tuna, sea asparagus and "Huaxes" (toasted seeds), grasshopper, verdolaga

We have had plenty of bounty from the Sea of Cortez, but this was the first time in San Felipe that we had it raw. The fresh dogfish carpaccio reminded me of kanpachi and both of the chile were so good that despite not being able to eat that spicy, I had to finish the entire plate (while downing plenty of water).

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Giant Cactus! Valle de Los Gigantes in San Felipe, Baja California,Mexico

People think of the beach and ocean when they think of San Felipe in Baja California, Mexico, but it is also a desert. A desert with giant cacti!

Thanks to Street Gourmet LA, I went along on a media trip to San Felipe this past week and saw these giants with my own eyes.
Valle de Los Gigantes in Rancho Punta Estrella features gigantic sahuaros, which are only 6 mm when it's a year old but can grow for 2000 (yes, 2000!) years!

They don't produce the first seed until they're about 75 years old, and after that it will go on to produce millions, but maybe only one will survive until maturity. Well, when "maturity" in the desert amount to thousands of years, that's not so surprising ...

For size comparisons:

See Street Gourmet LA with his camera to the right? It's not that he's far away in the background, that really is how big that cactus is.

I don't know why this one didn't sprout any branches, but it sure grew to be a lot taller than the rest!

San Felipe gets really hot in the summer months (March is the ideal time to vacation here), but it was definitely worth the trek to see them.

Cebicheria Erizo (Tijuana, Mexico)

Chef Javier Plascencia from Tijuana can be likened to Wolfgang Puck in Los Angeles, dominating the Tijuana dining scene with numerous restaurants. Capping off the weekend-long Baja Culinary trip this past year was a tasting at one of these restaurants, Cebicheria Erizo, specializing in fresh seafood (including, of course, ceviches). Seafood from fish to octopus to clams are displayed in refrigerated cases as you enter; daily specials written on the blackboard above it. For our visit, though, we left it up to Chef Plascencia to serve us whatever he wanted.

To whet our appetite was a shot of leche de tigre with cucumber, fish jerky, and sea urchin (erizo de mar, the restaurant's namesake) hidden at the bottom.


Following up was a bowl of lightly spicy callo de hacha, Baja scallops with chicharrones

Instead of scooping up ceviche with tortilla chips, why not take it to the next level with chicharrones? Better yet, can we replace salad croutons with chicharrones from now on?

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Mariscos El Mazateno (Tijuana, Mexico)

My last trip to Tijuana with Street Gourmet LA took me back to Mariscos El Mazateno, a Sinaloan seafood taqueria. I came here on my first trip to TJ, but back then I was even weaker to spicy food as I am now so it was nice to revisit and enjoy it even better this time.

The must order here is the Taco Mazatena (shrimp/camarones enchilado), a taco packed full of fresh, crisp, lightly spicy shrimp. If you walk by the kitchen, you can see them cooking the spicy shrimp in a giant pot.

Dress this with the available condiments including cabbage, crema, pico de gallo, and a bottle of house made spicy green sauce made with avocado and serrano chili. The shrimp taco to end all shrimp tacos!

The meals start with a styrofoam cup of shrimp consomme.
While waiting for our tacos, they served us a plate of seafood cocktail including shrimp, octopus, scallops, and more.

If you have room for another after the heaping shrimp taco, try the smoked marlin taco, equally stuffed to the brim.

The pulpo/octopus was also popular among the other diners.

The tacos here cost up to 40 pesos (around $3) and considering how much seafood you get with them, it's not bad at all. Whatever the price may be, the taco mazatena is a must try!


Mariscos El Mazateno
Calzada Tecnologico,No. 473-E
Tomas Aquino
Tijuana,BCN

Dec 8: Pig Out in Tijuana, Head to Tail

Mexico? It ain't that far, and this Wednesday is the perfect time to cross the border. How does a pork feast, from head to tail, with paired wines for 350 pesos (about $35) sound? Talk about a deal! Yup, on Wednesday December 8, you can partake in 5 Chefs, 5 pork preparations, 5 Baja wines at Villa Saverios in Tijuana.

Here's the chefs' lineup:
Chef Max Bonacci from The Linkery and El Take it Easy (San Diego,CA)
Chef Benito Molina from Manzanilla and Muelle Tres ( Ensenada)
Chef Jair Tellez from Laja (Valle de Guadalupe) and Mero Toro (Mexico City)
Chef Paul Zamudio from Peacocks(San Jose del Cabo)
Chef Javier Plascencia from Villa Saverios, Casa Plascencia, and Mision 19 (Tijuana)

Paired with wines from Valle de Guadalupe:
Adobe Guadalupe
Aborigen
Sinergi VT
Tres Valles
Vinisterra


For reservations, call Villa Saverios, from the US dial 011-52-664-686-6443,ext. 104.

Wednesday, December 8,2010, 7PM.
Villa Saverios
Blvd Sanches Taboada
Esq. Escuadron 201
Zona Rio, Tijuana, Mexico

Special Viewing Party: Bizarre Foods - Baja at La Guelaguetza

A fellow foodblogger, Street Gourmet LA, has made it big. You may have seen him recently as a guest judge on Top Chef Masters: Scary Surf & Turf episode. Now he's going to be on screen with Andrew Zimmern, acting as his guide in the Bizarre Foods episode in Baja!

La Guelaguetza on 3014 W. Olympic Blvd will be holding a special viewing party for him on Monday June 14th (hopefully on their new 150" screen?) and will be offering some great $5 special deals.
The $5 specials include chapulines (grasshoppers), Taquitos, Clayudas, and some awesome specialty mezcal and tequila cocktails including the Donaji garnished with crushed agave worm salt and other less adventurous cocktails.

The party starts at 6 PM and the viewing will start at 7 PM. There will also be a special message from Andrew Zimmern via satellite and everyone is invited!

Tijuana (Baja, Mexico)

Tijuana

• Barbacoa de La Ermita - Hidalgo style lamb barbacoa cooked overnight in a pit. Open on weekends only and there ain't no hangover cure like it.
  
• Cebicheria Erizo
• Cheripan -a great Argentinian restaurant with an amazing flank steak and a big martini list, including tamarind martini.
  
• La Querencia - one of the most exciting places in Baja with the Baja Med food movement in the forefront.
  
• La Vuelta -Fun place with some good beer offerings and a great mariachi band. Open late so get your party on here.
  
• Lorca - a great little Spanish place with delicious paella and whole suckling pig.
• Mariscos El Mazateno
• Mariscos Ruben - THE best seafood truck on this coast with THE best marlin taquitos.
  
• Mision 19
• Tacos El Poblano - Their carne asada tacos, made with 3 different meats, blow any carne asada taco in Los Angeles out of the water.
  
• Villa Saverios Restaurant - Both Italian and Baja Med influence the cuisine of Chef Javier Plascencia at this gorgeous restaurant.

Tijuana: Mariscos Ruben and the Best Marlin Taquito

I like going to Mexico with Street Gourmet LA, just blindly following him to the places he's researched and discovered (hey it's a vacation). He has not disappointed yet.

On our last trip to Tijuana for Tequila Expo, he took us to one seafood truck that I can't get my mind off of. Mariscos Ruben.
Husband and wife team Ruben and Mirta Rodriguez have operated this Sonoran seafood truck at this very corner for the past 20 years and they employ quite a few staff working the "kitchen" in the truck.

There's a small tented area where patrons squeeze into plastic chairs and stools. Some of the locals are decked up in suits and fancy dresses, but good food has always brought people together.

Our meal started big.
A plate of Manitas de Jaiba (crab claws).These small crab claws are fresh and sweet and served with citrusy chile marinade.

The crab tostada was equally impressive.
Fresh crab meat topped with onions, salsa, and thick slices of avocado really brought out the sweetness of the crab meat even more.

But it was these babies here that I crave, that makes this place so memorable to me. Marlin Taquitos.
Meaty smoked marlin in chargrilled tortillas are topped with cabbage, homemade thousand island dressing, and another homemade secret sauce. There's the smokiness, the creaminess, and then there's the crunch. To put it simply, they're the best taquitos ever.

Ruben works a small charcoal grill behind the tented area. The wife high recommended we try another dish before leaving: Almejas Gratinadas (Clams au gratin, basically).
We watched as Ruben Rodriquez picked up foil-wrapped Pismo clams from the charcoal. One of the cooks then split them open and prepared the real deal for us.
Like a treasure box, the big clam shell is now topped not just with the tender clam meat swirling in its juice, but with octopus, shrimp, scallops, cream and monterey jack cheese. We can see why Mirta wanted to make sure we try these and we're so glad we listened.

Every now and again I find myself wanting to drive down to Tijuana. The main reason would be this place and their marlin taquitos. I regret everyday not making a pit stop on my way home that time.
If you're ever in Tijuana, make sure you stop by and check this place out.
No, wait, scratch that. If you're not in Tijuana, get in your car and drive to this street corner.

Other reviews for Mariscos Ruben: Street Gourmet LA, Food GPS,

Mariscos Ruben
Corner of 8th & Quintana Roo
Tijuana, B.C., Mexico

Open 7 days a week, 10am-6pm

Tacos El Fenix: The Real Baja Fish Taco

What would a Baja trip be without Baja fish tacos? Since even the thought is unacceptable, our Cotuco-sponsored weekend FAM Media Trip naturally included a stop at Taqueria El Fenix in Ensenada.

Taqueria El Fenix uses angelito shark (angel shark) meat, coated in a secret-recipe batter (rumors suggest mustard and oregano, among others), and double-fried in, yes, lard.
Here at El Fenix, you dress your own tacos the way you like it. The expected toppings like cabbage, onions, cilantro, salsa, guacamole, etc etc are all there.
The crunchy fried batter makes way for the juicy and meaty piece of shark. It really is about the batter and the double frying here. The mustard laden batter gives it that much more flavour and the double frying makes it so crispy yet very much not greasy, despite the frying in lard.


Taqueria El Fenix
At Calles Espinoza and Juarez (Calle 5)
Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico

7am-9pm daily

Cheripan in Tijuana: Argentinean Steak and Exotic Martinis

The Zona Gastronomica in Tijuana, Mexico isn't all about Mexican or Baja-Med food. Located in the heart of this district is Cheripan, a wonderful Argentinean restaurant offering a great selection of steaks and other Argentinean cuisine, a nice list of cocktails, and a large wine selection.

Naturally, it was one of our 8-restaurant-stop first day of Baja extravaganza sponsored by Cotuco.

Cheripan has a whole list of fresh fruit martinis, from the fruits you typically find in the US like strawberry to the more interesting ones like tamarind and nanchy. On my first visit I opted for the tamarind martini, shaken and poured tableside.
Sweet, smooth, and strong, it definitely goes down easy. We all liked having the shaker left next to our glass - you know, refills. You definitely get a lot for your money.

The second time I tried the nanchy martini. Nanchy is the fruit you see here, and tasted like something fermented.

Now, back to my first visit, and our meal there.

We had two types of empanadas: meat and spinach/cheese
When they give you fresh flaky puff pastries with two different fillings, that just means everyone will end up eating two of them.

Chorizo sausages were nicely spiced.

I really enjoyed the Ensalada de palmitos (hearts of palm salad), which were fresh and crisp.

Fried sweetbreads were nice, although they could be crispier for my taste.

Although skirt steak is typically known to be a touch cut of meat, the skirt steak at Cheripan was not only very flavorful, but very tender as well. A winner.
You'd be hard pressed to find skirt steak this good in LA.

For dessert, some chocolate gelato from the gelato shop owned by the same chef/owner.

And, of course, milhojas (literally "thousand layers") an Argentinean dulce de leche 'napoleon'


Cheripan
Zona Río Escuadrón 201-3151
Col. Aviación C.P. 22440
Tijuana, Mexico
www.cheripan.com/english.html
Phone: (664) 622-9730

Tijuana: Villa Saverios, Baja Med with a Touch of Italy

Finishing up the first day of our Baja FAM food decathlon, we ended up at Villa Saverios, an elegant restaurant headed by Chef Javier Plascencia with cuisine featuring Mediterranean influences and Baja California ingredients.

Despite having had many delicious tamarind cocktails throughout the day, the one at Villa Saverios was instantly my favorite.
The slightly tart cocktails was made with mezcal and Damiana (an herbal liqueur made with the damiana herb) and garnished with a tamarind pod. This cocktail proved the most well balanced of the day. The texture was quite icy and similar to a slushee, but more watery.
(The next visit we tried ordering their tamarind margarita, but I don't think it was the same ..)

Pulpo (octopus) carpaccio with arugula, tomatoes, nopales, olive oil, and grapefruit.
A nice light start, to the delight of our extremely stuffed stomachs. The pulpo had a wonderful texture and the use of grapefruit here was quite refreshing.

Next we were served a sampler of their signature dishes. From the right: Mijillon (mussel) cappuccino, pulpo encebollado, and "Tacos de Fideo"

Grandma's "Taco de Fideo." Think spaghetti taco. Corn tortilla is filled with sausage, spaghetti, salsa verde, greens, cheese, habanero, and Mexican cream
An impressive dish, not only on the creativity front but also the taste.

Braised short rib with Oaxaca mole, black Mission figs, port wine, and mascarpone mashed potato.
A lovely dish with very tender short ribs, the rich and sweet mole and a nice texture contrast from the fig half.

Chef Plascencia surprised us with his dessert also: blackberry tamale
Using corn masa, the dessert had a nice light sweetness and a prominent blackberry flavor. Despite tamale being a rather heavy dessert, I can definitely have a lot of this.

Even though we were already so full, I was glad we had this 'dinner'. Chef Plascencia's cuisine is innovative and well executed with restrained and balanced flavors across the board. Villa Saverios is lauded as one of the best fine dining establishments in Tijuana, and I can definitely see why.

Villa Saverios
Blvd Sanches Taboada
Esq. Escuadron 201
Zona Rio, Tijuana, Mexico
http://www.villasaverios.com/english.html