Finally made it to Tijuana celebrity chef Javier Plascencia's outpost on this side of the border, Romesco Baja Mediterranean Bistro. http://romescomexmed.com/. Fantastic experience!
It is in a strip mall next to a Baskin Robbins.
And yet....once you are inside, it feels like you have escaped San Diego and are in a chic restaurant in a lively Mexican city like Puertao Vallarta - or in a French bistro. Very nice bistro setting. EXCELLENT service (there are no "hey, how are you?" teenagers here - very efficient men in formal wear). Extremely tasty and innovative food.
Theme: "Baja Med" - so a mix of Spanish and Italian, with some Mexican touches.
Wine list: very interesting, lots of choices you don't see elsewhere in San Diego. They gave me a taste of the tempranillo (love tempranillo, but this bottle was ROUGH) and a Spanish red blend which is not on the online menu. It was *delicious*, very fruit-forward, for only $7/glass.
French Bread: Excellent.
Tapas: Very extensive list. We opted to do the regular menu instead, but I tried the mushrooms in garlic sauce which yelpers (and my waiter) recommended. On its own there is too much sauce (like salad dressed too heavily) BUT if you follow the waiter's recommendation and put it on the bread, it is perfect - the sauce soaks down into the bread and the mushrooms can be eaten alone (and the sauce tastes great on the bread).
Salads (free with entrees): Not that impressive. Boring caesar with iceberg lettuce. They have more exciting sounding salads on the menu for extra money.
Soup: Got the spiced pumpkin soup following the recommendations on Yelp. Fantastic! This is why Plascencia is a celebrity chef who gets international attention: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/09/dining/09tijuana.html.
Entrees: CH got a carne asada plate that he thought was excellent (there's the Mexican food). Too big a portion for him to finish.
--I skipped the pasta (Italian) options and got the fish of the day (escolar) al ajillo. Superdelicious. I liked the preparation too - with just some new potatoes and some baby vegetables, so not too heavy (I wasn't a huge fan of the baby zucchini and yellow squash, but they were healthy).
Dessert: Cute Husband talked me into getting the churro dessert. I'm not a big churro person; he LOVES churros. They turned out to be excellent, a TV-food-show-worthy dessert. They took a basic street food and elevated into something elegant. Perfect churros (crispy on the outside, warm and soft on the inside, and full of a perfect amount of cinammon and sugar), with a dulce de leche dipping sauce, excellent vanilla ice cream (with pistachios or some other sliced nut) and then a little cup of Mexican hot chocolate with whipped cream). CH would have liked a chocolate dipping sauce too but I was too full.
Decor: I was expecting this to be a glam, dress-to-the-nines place. But even though the atmosphere is very romantic, there are well-behaved kids there too. So there were some people like me in dining-out dresses, and others in stylish jeans (with fancy handbags!) along with their children. You can choose how to go.
Overall, this is absolutely worth the drive, and I'm glad to be moving this from my "Places I'm Thinking of Trying" list to my list of places I have been to and can remember to go again!
Oh - and I passed Caribbean Pleasures (the Haitian restaurant) on the way there. I need to figure out a time to go there - and a willing companion!
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