Comida de Baja: Mazanilla
Hey there party people. Sorry I’ve been laggin’ on this series, but work just got really crazy – so something’s got to give.
So to recap. Crazy Mexican food adventure a couple weeks back. First stop Tacos Salceados – upscale taco shop. Next stop, Mazanilla.
So after Salceados in TJ, we booked it down to Ensenada via the “cuota” and after a couple of toll booths and militia check points we arrived at the harbor a little after midnight for round two of dinner at one of Baja’s Gastronomic crown jewels. Apparently, Chef Benito Molina’s wife Solange Muris was expecting us or she was cool with eight angelenos rollin’ up after hours. We were the only ones in there and the food, wine, and mezcal started flowing quickly.
I have no idea what was ordered or even if it came from the menu, Solange just brought stuff out that she thought we’d like. Benito has created his own Baja style Sashimi seasoned to perfection and we noshed on the tuna and cured swordfish. There were two kinds of oysters: small cold ones, and hot big ones. I didn’t even know I liked oysters, but mmm mmm mmmmm. We also had lengua, beef tongue, which was fantastic – I forgot to take a picture of it, but it pretty much looked like canadian bacon only darker and covered in fresh tomato and cheese cubes. We finished up with cheeses, Crème Brulée, and flan. OMG the flan was the best thing ever. We still aren’t even sure what flavor it was; maybe wild pear, candied plum, or some other exotic fruit that only visionary chefs know about – either way it was crazy delicious and puts any regular caramel flan to shame.
The front door handles (above) echo Benito’s signature mustache (below).
Image from Masa Assassin
We left Manzanilla a little after 3am, with a tip from Solange that there was going to be a big wine festival the next day inland from Ensenada in Baja’s burgeoning wine country. But before we could head east, there were many taco stands that needed to be checked off the list first – so stay tuned.
- Curt
[...] a late night of munching at Manzanilla, we grabbed fish tacos for breakfast in Ensenada – yes breakfast. Nothing like a crispy fish [...]
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[...] done recapping our Baja food adventure (if you missed the first few posts, they’re here, here, and here)… but we couldn’t leave out our tour of Baja’s wine country, a [...]
Pingback by Grizzly Bear Modern » Comida de Baja: Wine Country — June 29, 2010 #