In eight short years, Baja’s gone from a virtual dead zone to one of the globe’s top food and drink destinations. With the world watching, how will innovators in Tijuana and Valle de Guadalupe handle growing crowds and attention—without selling their souls?
The Baja Moment
Misión 19’s trio of local ceviches over a bed of rusty nails and seaweed, a tribute to a local beach.
Misión 19’s trio of local ceviches over a bed of rusty nails and seaweed, a tribute to a local beach.
That smell has always saddened me. That’s Tijuana’s handshake to the world—a pungent spritz of sewage? The Tijuana River Basin runs under the San Ysidro border crossing, carrying a flotilla of discarded grossness. Most tourists like their travel destinations more redolent of spa eucalyptus. The smell is why some of them don’t come here.
“Tijuana’s not for everybody, and that’s okay,” says Derrik Chinn, an American journalist who’s lived there since 2007. Chinn owns Turista Libre!, leading gringos on cultural excursions through Tijuana. When he started, Mexican cabbies threw rocks at his bus. In September, the TJ newspaper hailed his contribution to the city.
The soil rivals California for produce. On top of that, the Sea of Cortez supplies mussels, octopus, spiny lobster, bluefin tuna, chocolate clams—every aquatic delicacy.
“The city’s been a tourist trap since Prohibition,” he says. “The drug wars and border waits gave the city a much, much-needed chance to define itself for itself. The tourists weren’t coming. What if they never came back?”
Prohibition is why Tijuana became what it became. Hollywood A-listers came here to gamble at Caliente, watch bullfights on acid, escape America’s crushing sobriety. Preachers called it “Satan’s Playground.” By the ’80s, Avenida Revolucion was a prolific vice market made grotesque by the drastic socioeconomic divide between the sellers and the buyers. It was the place to get drunk, drugged, mugged, prostituted, marginalized, corrupted, blasphemed, kidnapped, and thrown in a moldy jail forever and ever.
Of course, that was always part of Tijuana’s allure—fear being the catalyst for pleasure that it is.
The Baja Moment
Chef Javier Plascencia
Chef Javier Plascencia
Then Nortec Collective happened. In 1999, this small army of Tijuana DJs, musicians, and artists became internationally famous. Art stole the spotlight back from the donkeys painted like zebras (zonkeys).
Then there was blood. In 2006, the Mexican government stopped partying with the cartels and started arresting them. With a power vacuum created, aspiring cartels fought in the streets over the lucrative crime market. American media peeked over the fence and inflamed the scene even more.
The Baja Moment
“Raining Machetes in Mexico!”
“How to Survive A Battery Acid Attack in TJ!”
Americans overreacted and wrote off the entire country. Like someone from Mexico City saying, “Sorry, niños. There’s murder in Chicago. No Disneyland this year.”
Now, the dust has settled and Baja is one of the most buzzed-about culinary destinations on the planet. Anthony Bourdain, Andrew Zimmern, and Rick Bayless are praising it on TV. The Wall Street Journal is taking it seriously enough to critique the region’s wines. This year’s esteemed S. Pellegrino list of Latin America’s Top 50 Best Restaurants included two in Baja.
A couple years ago, star Tijuana chef Javier Plascencia told the New Yorker and the New York Times he wanted to see Baja become an international food destination one day. Just like San Francisco or Mexico City.
That day is now.
Tijuana’s most brilliant tourism initiative seems to have been ignoring tourists. By doing so, they created an exciting native culture that’s attracting a more sophisticated breed of visitor.
“People are open to seeing Tijuana less as a tourist, and more as a traveler,” Chinn suggests. “As a tourist, the city is adapting to you. As a traveler, you’re adapting to the city.”
This time, chefs were the Nortec Collective—cultural ambassadors luring foreigners back to Mexico. Famed chefs like Benito Molina (Manzanilla), Diego Hernandez (Corazon de Tierra), and Miguel Angel Guerrero (La Querencia) cooked at events in the U.S. Jair Téllez—often called the Thomas Keller of Baja—helped design the menu at former San Diego restaurant El Take It Easy. Top San Diego restaurants have added Baja Med dishes (grilled octopus, tiraditos, gourmet tostadas, etc.).
The Baja Moment
Baja California’s wealth of locally caught seafood and farmers market produce is helping spur a culinary renaissance.
Baja California’s wealth of locally caught seafood and farmers market produce is helping spur a culinary renaissance.
A lot of credit has deservedly gone to Plascencia. The chef was raised on both sides of the border. He’s bilingual. He looks like a Mexican George Clooney. Most importantly, he can really cook. He is the gateway.
