Despite so many of my runs to Baja, I was never able to get over to the Valle de Guadalupe, mainly due to logistics challenges. Forunately, Uber Tijuana is running a service called valleX, giving you a roundtrip driver to wine country with as many stops as you'd like (just pay for the waiting time). Yay! After a pretty long ride inclusive of some bumpy dirt roads, we made our way to this farm-to-table restaurant (Rancho San Marcos S/N at Km 88, 646-156-8030), which is currently number 39 on Pellegrino's Top 50 for Latin America.
They were charging US$75 for a 6-course meal plus another US$45 for wine pairing. On a global basis, that's not outrageous for a fine dining place like this, but it was still a lot more than I was expecting for Baja, especially given the bargain prices I was getting at places like Mision 19 (it seems like these guys previously priced in pesos, which probably would've made it cheaper before they fixed it to the dollar). Well, at least those six courses were bookended with multiple amuse-bouche, petits fours, and even a sorbet palate cleanser in between.
And yes, the food was delicate and done with care, leveraging a surprising range of local ingredients. That tuna tostada above was my favorite, not to mention all of the lovely vegetables and seafood that they leveraged in the other dishes. Next time I think I might try to stay at one of the boutique hotels in the valley, as there were so many more restaurants and vineyards to explore here. Fortunately, I was still able to stop at a local cheese shop today, as well as taste some local olive oil.
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