Splash Rosarito Baja California Restaurant Mexico

Courtesy of Splash Baja Restaurant

We all have that friend who was there first, who knows the spots before the influencers, before the Michelin Guide furtively dines, who lives like locals do, and seem to make friends at each coveted location.You annoyingly see a gorgeously arranged plate sans filter on Instagram at a restaurant that doesn’t even have a geotag. Then, a story from a hotel with views that aren’t out-of-this-world in another country—like say, Mexico.With so many exciting new things coming out of Baja these days, we looked to those people—the region’s tastemakers, local experts, and even a few of our San Diego friends—to give us the inside scoop on new, noteworthy, trendy, or hidden gems across the border.Here are 12 places to go in Baja right now as recommended by Monica Arreola, co-owner of Arte Contemporaneo in TJ; Dang Nguyen, consultant for Coyote Projects hospitality group in Baja; Hank Morton (founder and president) and Geoff Hill (director of brand & marketing) of Baja Bound; and our friends at the tourism authority on the latest developments.

Where to Go in Tijuana

Nook Hotel Tijuana Baja California Mexico

Courtesy of Nook Hotel

Nook Hotel

A block away from the much-more famous—though slightly dustier—Caesar’s Hotel, is this boutique gem. With pastel, Mondrian-like paintings hung over their gallery walls and chic, nouveau furnishings throughout, it gives more Downtown L.A. than Zona Central. It’s also open 24 hours for your carousing convenience.

Midnight Cowboy

Less Jon Voight, more Juan Voight. This caballero-inspired border saloon is so new, you won’t even be able to find the address without a DM. Reach out for a reservation, snag the code, and find yourself in a glow-up version of every ranch hand’s dream home (on the range), with marble countertops, ornamental horseshoes, and leather coasters. Try tipples like the Desperado, a concoction of agave spirits, Benedictine, and Fernet Branca.

Casa Tijuana Restaurant Baja California Mexico

Courtesy of Casa Tijuana

Casa Tijuana 

Don’t have friends in Tijuana who can invite you over for a home-cooked meal? Think again. Chef Juan Cabrera Barrón would like to welcome you into his. Enter Casa Tijuana, a restaurant in an actual house, in a thriving neighborhood on the outskirts of town, where the dining room is every room. Bedecked with personal effects from Barrón’s own life, the cozy, abuelita décor style belies the food’s modern edge. Labeling itself as Mexican comfort food, this local eatery has a bite to satisfy every palette. Pro Tip: Work up an appetite perusing local, modern artists’ work at 206 Arte Contemporaneo then take a five-minute drive here to dish on all your favorite pieces—and dishes.

Where to Go in Rosarito

Splash Baja California Rosarito Restaurant Mexico

Courtesy of Splash Baja Restaurant

Splash

Seemingly carved out of the cliffs, this old casita-turned-restaurant is a classic spot to post up on your way to Valle, or before hitting traffic on the way back home. Though erring a little toward the Americanized palate, “El Cielito Lindo” is on heavy mariachi rotation for some traditional fun and their margaritas don’t disappoint.

Marea Alta

Winner of 2023’s “Best Seafood Restaurant” from Galardón Gastronómica, this unassuming Puerto Nuevo eatery highlights the region’s freshest seafood with modern techniques, plus all the al fresco, the-UV-index-is-peaking-but-that’s-what-sunscreen-is-for, summer vibes.

Colectivo Surf Tasting Room

K41 (also known as the Mexican mile marker, Kilometer 41) is the X marking the spot for finding some of the region’s best sushi alongside a much-need, post-surf sesh brew in Playas de Rosarito. A restaurant focusing on fresh catches from its shores and four in-house brands under the collective: Cerveza Surf, Colectivo Sagrado Mezcal, Amor del Mar Vino, and Kaffiso 100 percent Café Orgánico.

Where to Go in Valle de Guadalupe

Bloodlust Restaurant Valle de Guadalupe Baja California Mexico

Courtesy of Bloodlust

Bloodlust

Mimetic architecture never tasted so good. Shaped like an entire bulb of ajo (garlic), this wine and vermouth bar specializes in natural wine and sophisticated plates without the pretense of some other Valle notables. Be sure to check their ‘gram so you can coordinate your visit with a live band playing in their amphitheater or a vinyl selector manning the decks indoors for a meal fit for an audiophile.

Decantos Vinicola

Villa vibes with Mexican cultura and terroir. Celebrating eight years this summer, winemaker Alonso Granados has kept his vision alive with constant innovation. Geoff explains some of the ingenuity behind Granados’ winemaking, “Everything is gravity fed. There’s no pumps because they don’t want it to disturb the molecular structure.” As the son of the artist Gina Romo, creativity is in his blood. After learning winemaking in Spain, he took his vision to the sprawling landscape of Valle de Guadalupe and prepared to conquer Mexico’s wine market. With 20,000 cases sold per year—running the gamut from refreshing “joven” wines and dessert options like a tokaji—he’s on track to keeping his top spot.

Where to Go in Ensenada

Cerveceria Transpeninsular Ensenada Baja California Mexico

Courtesy of Cerveceria Transpeninsular

Cerveceria Transpeninsular

Though Valle can lean adult with its 21+ restrictions, there are many places that are kid friendly, where you can still partake in local microbrews. Since 2016, Cerveceria Transpenisular has been that spot. Each beer is named for a local point of interest alongside the winding roadways of this Baja region, like the Km 5.5 milk stout and the La Curva double IPA. So, grab a pint while the pint-sized ones run amok.

La Morocha

Ensenada’s favorite culinary son and Fauna chef, David Castro Hussong, is back with another concept. This time he’s settled in the winery of Santo Tomás in Ensenada with his bar and restaurant that’s named after slang for a pretty Latina, La Morocha. Their Instagram and website are taunting us with lack of details but they say they’re warming the pans as we salivate and expect an August open. We do know this, on July 29, they had a pop-up for the anniversary at Decantos Vinicola, which featured a dish of Wagyu rib flautas with truffle potato. So, don’t mind us, we’ll just sit here hitting refresh on our browser until we finally can make a reservation…

Muelle Tres

Pierside dining? Yes, please. This excellent seafood outpost was featured in last year’s Valle Food & Wine Festival for good reason. Try the featured dish, Marisquite, a mashup of elote, octopus, and shrimp. Street corn never had it so good. 

La Bête Noir

This self-proclaimed “hi fi-gastro” in Zona Centro wants you to be aware that it is not a club. There are no memberships and no reservations, which keeps space for all to hear the sounds and take in the culinary morsels this Ensenada pseudo-speakeasy provides. Repping McIntosh speaker gear, the sounds will be as smooth as cocktail creator Alexandra Purcaru’s cardamom-infused gin and tonic, known as “La Bete Gin.”

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A selection of pieces from Omar Khâlid’s BRAKE AND TAKE OFF, prototypes for failure at 206 Arte Contemporáneo in Tijuana

It takes 18 minutes, a taxi ride, and ten bucks to find myself tucked away in a neighborhood off the bustling, pharmacy-laden corners of the city center of Tijuana. My destination: 206 Arte Contemporáneo, the unassuming hub of the city’s arts scene. I enter its disarming residential façade and traverse a humble stairway towards work that feels uniquely at home in a border town gallery.

Omar Khâlid’s Brake and Take Off Tijuana Art 2

206 is run by twin sisters Mónica and Melisa Arreola. This creative duo supports the greater Tijuana and Baja Norte art community through their mediums—architecture for both, as well as photography and music, respectively. Mónica showed her stoic and overcast photos of the buildings of Valle San Pedro, an abandoned town outside Tijuana, as part of the 2022 Whitney Biennial, while Melisa is the frontwoman for the band Cuarto Paisaje, a dreamy patchwork of indie rock and languid electronic effects. Their performances seem equal parts rock show and sonic installation.

Omar Khâlid’s Brake and Take Off Tijuana Art 6

In 2012, the Arreolas nabbed a space on the main drag of Avenida de Revolucion, which was still rebuilding after the 2008 reign of terror from narcos left many buildings on the strip abandoned. Two years ago, as rents soared downtown, they moved the arts institution to this new, light-filled space with views of the city.“

Today, there’s a unique opportunity to have an independent space that is not in downtown,” Mónica says. The move, perhaps inadvertently, brought a more plugged-in and intentional audience. There’s no stumbling onto this spot after a margarita at Caesar’s.

Omar Khâlid’s Brake and Take Off Tijuana Art 3

The current exhibition, which runs through July, is BRAKE AND TAKE OFF, prototypes for failure. It features the work of Omar Khâlid, a former student at the Autonomous University of Baja California. Of the works that the Arreolas host in the gallery, about “90 percent come from university [alumni],” Mónica says. Khâlid is soft-spoken but assured as we chat through his interpreter, Guillermo Estrada. Estrada is a fellow artist in the Arreolas’ orbit who moonlights as Memo Navajas in his band, Rancho Shampoo & The Indian Dub Orchestra.

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A post shared by Omar Khâlid (@omarkhalid_artist)

“The idea of the work is the alien aesthetic,” Estrada explains, or “martiana” in Spanish. Looking around the gallery, you’re met with small, unframed vignettes of rust-hued extraterrestrial life forms and their broken-down airships. A prototype lies in the center of the space, untouched and unusable. Khâlid also created an alien script that adorns the walls, draped on canvas in a carven, stela-like style.The script translates to nothing, so the Martians keep their secrets, or viewers invent their own.

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That’s why Mexican tourism officials created the Stone Human Race, Baja’s first-ever scrambling competition, held on May 19. “Scrambling” in this context has nothing to do with eggs or chorizo. It’s the kind that involves leaping, climbing, and otherwise navigating rugged terrain, like the kind found up there, an otherworldly landscape similar to the craggiest parts of Joshua Tree National Park.

I Tried It: Baja’s New Adventure Race

Photo: Chase Scheinbaum

The 2-kilometer course weaved up, down, and over the terrain, as well as through several cuevitas (little caves) formed by piled boulders. It also required six rappels, the first of which descended that very exposed cliff face, positioned over the serpentine highway below.

La Rumorosa get its name from a whispering sound the wind makes as it whips through. On race day, though, the air was still, the sun was strong. The only sounds were from clinking carabiners and the hoots and heavy breathing of 19 two-person teams competing for a first place prize of $500.

Just five miles from the U.S. border, La Rumorosa is home to a tiny mountain town that offers a cool summertime escape from the desert. The area is probably better known for its notorious stretch of highway, which has been fatal for many truck drivers (particularly before recent road improvements), or a nearby archeological site once inhabited by Kumeyaay people. The Baja California government is hoping to make it an adventure destination, too. Hence the inaugural event of what it plans to make an annual competition. Next year’s course will triple the distance to six kilometers.

I descended the cliff, butt-first, into an alcove. After unclipping from the rope, I continued following a trail of small, spray-painted eagles marking the course. At one point after rappelling into a cave, I had to find my way out by following the sunlight to an opening just big enough for a person. I was glad I’d opted out of the free burritos offered beforehand!

Each rappel station was monitored by an attendant who made sure competitors properly connected their figure-eight rappel device to the rope. A local search and rescue team was on site and there was even an ambulance at the entrance. The safety precautions were comforting. By day’s end, the only person who needed attention was a competitor who twisted an ankle. I could attest to at least one undiagnosed sun burn, a few minor scrapes, and a pair of sore quads.

The fastest team, a couple of experienced racers who traveled from Spain, crossed the finish line, sweaty and dusty, in about 45 minutes. Other than about $30 per person for the entry fee, and knowing how to rappel, racers need only a willingness to clamber around on jagged terrain. And to see Baja from a new perspective.

I Tried It: Baja’s New Adventure Race

A racer rappells a cliff during the Stone Human Race. | Photo: Chase Scheinbaum

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Baja Fresh!

The Caesar salad, the margarita, the fish taco—Baja’s cuisine is so iconic, it was recently named a cultural treasure to the state by the World Tourism Organization. And there’s no better time to sample it all than the Baja California Culinary Fest in Tijuana and Valle de Guadalupe October 24-27.

The four-day event kicks off Thursday with an inaugural dinner hosted by Food Network chef Marcela Valladolid. Other events include cooking competitions, celeb chef cooking demos, a culinary expo featuring Tijuana’s best street food and 7-course wine-pairing dinners at restaurants like Mision 19 and La Condesa. For those who have always wanted to know the true story about the creation of the Caesar salad, there’s even a play about its origins on Oct. 26 at the Tijuana Cultural Center and yes, a Caesar salad tasting will follow.

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