Sweltering Summer Afternoon at Concurso de Paellas

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The annual Paella Contest at Viña de Liceaga in Valle de Guadalupe was scheduled for Sunday, August 20 – until the threat of Hurricane/Tropical Storm Hilary pushed it back a week. Which was a good thing, as it would have been a veritable mud and wind fest, and not very enjoyable for attendees, paelleros, or winery representatives! Although it was very hot last Sunday, the event took place without a hitch.

The contest brings together about 80 teams, who take their paella very seriously. The event also showcases Baja wineries, with around 150 varietals available for tasting! Paella (as we lovingly refer to it) is the closing event of the multi-week Fiestas de la Vendimia, the grape harvest fest, and has been held for more than 25 years.

As you can see, there are many different versions of paella cooked up over wood fire at the event (no propane allowed!) but most are comprised of various seafood, bits of sausage, mystery meat (chicken? pork?) peas, spices, and of course, the ubiquitous  rice.

This team spotlighted octopus, or pulpo, as the star of their paella!

Jumping on the Barbie bandwagon, Team Barbie’s booth was festooned in pink, and the servers sported pink aprons and chef’s hats.

Opening times for booths are staggered. Before each one opens for attendees, event staff on quads pick up samples of each team’s paella for the judging. And then the feeding frenzy begins!

A close-up of a serving of one of the several paellas we enjoyed.

Always good to see Armando staffing the booth for Lechuza, one of our favorite Valle wineries . . . 

. . . a representative from MD Vinos of Valle de la Grulla, the original wine route of Baja, south of Ensenada . . .

. . . as well as the Madera 5 team.

Live music, too! In both English and Español.

Team EDB at the event. Over the years, we’ve learned to bring a tablecloth to mark our spot, and wine glasses, since sometimes (including this year) glasses are not provided to attendees. Hats also recommended!

The Concurso de Paellas may be the last big Baja food & wine festival of this year; we’ve not heard yet if or when the Valle Food and Wine Fest, usually staged in October, will take place. Stay tuned for updates!

Of course, if no events are on the horizon, we encourage “independent study” of the various Baja wineries.

Como siempre, gracias por los fotos de Bob Gove.

Adios 2022; Hola 2023!

Hola! Muy Feliz Año Nuevo! 2022 is now in our rear-view mirror. However, we certainly had some great experiences last year eating and drinking in Baja.

2022 brought the post-pandemic return of some of our favorite food and wine festivals. Excited by the revival of the Festival de Las Conchas y el Vino Nuevo along the marina at Hotel Coral in May, we arrived super early and secured a fabulous table as our hub for the afternoon. That was key, since Team EatDrinkBaja later swelled to 13 strong! (Thanks, all.) Conchas features many of Baja’s best wineries and restaurants. Although celebrity chefs Javier Plascencia and Drew Deckman did not appear to be in attendance as in the past, we mowed our way through dozens of booths with oysters, clams, abalone and more . . . and, of course, multiple wine tastings! It was wonderful to spot other Team EDB members in the crowd and exchange “reviews” of recently-visited booths. Our MO: eat, drink, compare notes, get back in line, repeat. An incredibly fun afternoon.

Team EDB!!

On June 11 we traveled down to Valle de Guadalupe for the Viñedos en Flor festival, held on the grounds of the Monte Xanic winery. While not as impressive as Conchas, Viñedos has a cool, rural, family-oriented vibe, with kids’ activities and a petting zoo. And it was fantastic to reunite with Natalia Badan, an early founder of wine making in the Valle who chaired this fest five or so years ago when it took place at Finca La Carrodilla.

I consider Natalia as the Katherine Hepburn of the Valle.

Very special: the patriarch of F. Rubio pouring their vinos.

In July, the Cocina La Baja festival returned to the Estero Beach Hotel south of Ensenada. Bob attended solo, but reported that it was among his favorite Baja food fests due to the variety of dishes available to attendees, the chef cooking demonstrations, the abundance of offerings by Baja craft breweries . . . and, of course, the spectacular seaside venue!

Ah, August . . . the Concurso de Paellas at Viñas Liceaga in Valle de Guadalupe! Truly my favorite way to spend a sweltering summer afternoon. This event is so special – you can bring in food and non-alcoholic beverages. Attending over the years has taught us to not only pack hats and sunscreen . . . but also a tablecloth, veggie and hummus tray, and a small rolling cooler. Gotta get there early and stake out a great table in the shade of the big oak trees, strategically positioned between the wine tasting and paella-serving booths. Some folks do it up really fancy, with china, silverware and cloth napkins! But the paella –  cooked over wood fires by 90 teams competing for honors – is the star of the show. Plus, there’s live music and/or a DJ on two stages. A Baja tradition – in reality, a Baja happening.

We were glad to see the Valle Food and Wine Fest return in October, albeit with some changes. Due to limitations on really large events in Valle de Guadalupe in recent years, this fest downsized . . . and increased significantly in price. Relocating from Finca Altozano to Bruma (on the eastern end of the Valle), the 3-day fest included chef’s dinners on Friday evening, a main event on Saturday night, and a “Valle Fest Brunch” on Sunday, which we attended . . . since we were just coming back from taking Bob’s boat to Avalon for the Catalina Jazz Festival! (Yes . . . living la vida loca.) To their credit, the Valle Fest brings in major, internationally-known chefs. It was wonderful to see and chat with Rick Bayless and other chefs at the brunch. And attendees appeared to be having a good time. However, this event is definitely at the high end of the $$ spectrum compared to other Baja food and wine fests, with the Saturday night event at $250 and the Sunday brunch at $190 (once they finally lowered the price, thank you). As Bob opined, it was a nice event, but should have been half the price. I agree whole heartedly.

Rick Bayless, an impressive chef and an early advocate of Mexican cuisine.

That’s our wrap-up of the 2022 Baja food fests we enjoyed! Promise: we’ll soon give you a quick recap of Baja restaurants visited in the past year or so, as well as a preview of 2023 Baja food fests. We’re back on the post-pandemic track now!

As Daisy Fuentes famously said at the end of her MTV Latino shows years ago, “Ciao-cito, babies!”

Como siempre, muchisimas gracias por photos by Bob Gove.

Girls’ Weekend in the Valle: A Trilogy (Part III)

After our tasting at Mogor Badan, we stopped by Deckman’s to put in our dinner reservation. Returning after our visits to 3 Mujeres, Viñas de Garza, Finca Altozano & La Esperanza, the sun was slipping behind the hills. Deckman’s is certainly the lowest key of the “high” cuisine restaurants I’ve visited in the Valle. Its intimacy makes Finca Altozano and La Esperanza seem rather large and, in comparison, somewhat commercial.

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Deckman’s is nestled under pine trees; the dining area’s walls are hay bales; its wooden tables rest upon a carpet of fallen leaves and pine needles. We felt fortunate that Chef Drew himself was in the house, diligently slaving over the firewood-fueled grill that is the restaurant’s centerpiece. Since he is a Michelin-starred chef, we HAD to go with the five-course tasting menu, which worked out to a very reasonable $45. We began with a fish sope (compliments of the casa), continued with delicious oysters mignonette, clam salpicon, quail with delicate mole and black beans, very moist and tender lobina (fish) and a decadent dessert. All the dishes were so beautifully presented!  A very memorable meal; after paying our tab, we paid our respects to Chef Drew.

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Sunday morning was our last at Casa Mayoral. We walked down to get a closer look at the ostriches (como se dice “ostrich” en español? Avestruz – thank you Eduardo Mayoral!) in a large pen on their neighbor’s property. From time to time the big birds would preen and bellow – quite interesting!

Ostrich crop

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After another great breakfast – this time, huevos a la mexicana – we packed up to journey out of the Valle. When we stopped in to say goodbye to Eduardo, we met Ismene Venegas, the chef at El Pintar de 3 Mujeres, which was closed for the winter. We look forward to sampling her cuisine on a future Valle visit!

Adios, Casa Mayoral! But we weren’t done eating and drinking our way through the Valle. We checked out the nearby Clos de Tres Cantos, which is artsy (love the cement easy chairs) yet casually elegant. But their wines? For us at least, not terribly memorable. Maybe we need to make a second visit . . .

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Speaking of low-key, we sought – and eventually found – Lechuza. I loved their wines I’d sampled at events, but had never visited their winery. Alas – they were closed! Hopefully you can catch them at KM 82.5. But don’t expect a lot of signage to help you find ’em!

Heading west, we stopped to peek at Finca La Divina on the outskirts of San Antonio de las Minas. This three-bedroom B&B opened about a year ago by fave Baja chef, Javier Plasciencia. Rita and her husband, from Mission Valley, were the only guests, and she encouraged us to snoop around. One look at La Finca’s great room – a lovely chef’s kitchen at one end, fireplace with sheepskin-strewn chairs clustered about in the middle, a bar well-stocked with Baja wines at the other end and cool art sprinkled in between – made me want to move in!

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The pool, jacuzzi and groovy chairs outside aren’t bad, either. According to Rita, stays at La Finca include breakfast whipped up by the onsite caretaker/manager, and guests can order food from Plasciencia’s Finca Altozano to be delivered! What a wonderful refuge right outside San Antonio, which felt like a bustling city after two bucolic days deeper in the Valle.

We found our way to Vinícola Retorno, which has to get the award for the funkiest winery we visited. But their wines: great! We enjoyed chatting with our young hosts and would have purchased a bottle, but were already at our limit for taking back to the U.S. We also stopped at Los Globos, the venerable cheese and gourmet goodies shop in San Antonio; we sampled a few and bought a big slice of their cheese with a crust of rosemary and other herbs. It’s called “greñudo,” which loosely translates to “shaggy” or “hippie” – imagine, a hippie cheese!

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I’d heard great things about Malva, named Baja’s best restaurant in 2014. Malva is just west of San Antonio, perched above the Mina Penelope winery. It’s on the first curve heading west; don’t blink or you’ll miss the turnoff! What a hidden gem with a fantastic vibe. Wish we’d been hungrier: Malva’s seven-course tasting menu was going for 600 pesos, or just $35 U.S! In my opinion, Malva’s grilled oysters won the prize for best dish on this trip. We also shared the duck carnitas sopes, which were very tasty and generous. Our server told us about the chowder with chicharrón de crab; I hope it will be on the menu when I return!

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We’d planned to stop at Madera 5 on our way back to El Sauzal; we know Chef Ryan Steyn had El Clavo, outside their tasting room. Alas, Madero 5 was locked up and from what we’ve learned, El Clavo has moved off the premises. Bummer – I love Madera’s Nebbiolo and Chef Ryan’s cuisine! We headed north, stopping at Popotla to visit with Bob and friends and catch a bit of the Super Bowl on our way back to San Diego. Although we gathered an awesome assortment of Baja wines, gourmet, bath & body products during our adventure, we kept talking about the things we should have bought.

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IMG_1196Hey, there’s always a reason to return to Baja and Valle de Guadalupe!

Photos by Patti Anderson, Carole Ravago & Bob Gove.

 

Best Bet: Latin Food Fest

This weekend’s Latin Food Fest is shaping up nicely. The Grande Tasting is Sat. 11am to 3pm @ the Port Pavilion just N of USS Midway. With food & bev included, it’s a good value for the $$, & a very fun scene. PLUS it benefits our local YMCA! Especially looking forward to Kokopelli, La Diferencia, Fortaleza & Pura Vida Tequilas, Lomita, Cava Aragon 126 & Vinisterra. And I hope to interview emcee Ana Saldana, national TV host & Chef of “Historias Sabrosas” on Canal 22, who’s doing  a cooking demo @ 1:10 pm. Will we see you there?

LFF crowd

Verbena Campestre for Bob’s Birthday

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IMG_0651It’s because of events like this that I started this blog! YES, it was a long way (south of Ensenada, past Estero Beach & Maneadero, at the start of the “Ruta Antigua del Vino,”) but well worth the journey and easy to find.

Thanks to emails with Marisol Acuna, San Cosme Vinedos owners’ daughter, we were able to reserve tickets at the advance rate ($250 pesos, under $17). Gracias, Marisol!

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Included: commemorative wine glass, two wine tastes, one cerveza taste, cheese and olive oil samples, live music and a ton of fun. And, it was Bob’s birthday!

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DSC_2724DSC_2713Food (including paella, pulpo & pig) and wine by the bottle were available at very reasonable rates. We especially enjoyed the wines of Madera 5/Cava Aragon 126, and it was a treat to meet Jose Luis Rendon. The octopus from La Cocedora de Langosta was outstanding.

IMG_0668Our group kept growing ’til we had a party of nine, all turned out to celebrate Bob’s birthday. (Note the “dead soldiers” on the table.)

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As the sun dipped behind the hills, we grooved to the music and showmanship of Tinta Bohemio.  Put this event on your list for next year for sure. It’s not on the tourist radar, so you’ll feel like a local. I don’t think you’ll regret it!

DSC_2747DSC_2692Fountain crop

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DSC_2738DSC_2789Photos by Bob Gove, David Hetherington & Carole Ravago.