The Spirit of Baja wine pairing dinner (with Chef Javier Plascencia)

Americas - USA West San Diego
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The “Art of Baja” Mexican wine and beer pairing with Michelin star’d chef Drew “The Chew” Deckman of famed El Magor outdoor eatery in Valle de Guadalupe teams up with Chef Jeff Jackson for a five course family style feast at The Lodge at Torrey Pines. For those interested, see the link below. it should be a spectacular event. Looking forward to trying some of those rare Baja wines. I will give this it’s own thread very soon.

The Art of Baja

Esteemed Executive Chef Jeff Jackson has put together a spectacular five-course family-style feast highlighting traditional dishes and ingredients from this unique region, which will be prepared on the outdoor rotisserie. The dinner will feature wine connoisseur and Michelin starred Chef Drew Deckman as well as Hugo D’Acosta, the premier wine guru of Valle De Guadalupe who will showcase rare wines normally unavailable in California.

For those who prefer hops to grapes, Eugenio Wendtlandt of Wendtlandt Brewery, voted Best Mexican Brewery 2015, will also be in attendance in addition to other craft beer selections from the Agua Mala region.

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Thanks for posting. I think I’ll be going to this one :slight_smile:

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Think I will as well, as long as I’m not out of the country. My job now requires me to commute to Asia and I will be spending about half my work days there. I expect that this will be just the kind of thing I will be craving!

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I wasn’t ignoring you, RISD. We left for a getaway in SF last Wednesday and just returned this afternoon. I took a complete break from the internet, including email, etc.

No, I didn’t hear any rumors to the effect that Guerrero might open shop in SD, but it might make good business sense for him to do so. I wouldn’t see it so much as competition with Plascencia as it would be complimentary; a synergistic reinforcement of the Nueva Baja movement here.

On the subject of wine, a terrific discussion here about VDG, SD area, and CA wines in general! Sorry I missed out. No, I haven’t had any VDG wines that have inspired me sufficiently to seek out and buy a case. I agree with the point of view that CA (and Argentinian, Spanish, Australian, Chilean) wines of comparable or better quality can be had for much less and are easier to obtain. I enjoy the VDG wines for what they are, which is to say, different in each style from what one normally has in northern CA wines and those from other countries. Some very good ones, but overpriced IMO. Also, I’ve never had a local (SD area) wine that I really like, much as I wish I would sometime.

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Sounds interesting…

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So you are 5-6 months in Asia now every year ?

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This from my partner, when I asked if she was interested in this one:

“At first, I thought the food was going to be prepared by Chef Deckman so I looked him up and he sounds quite extraordinary. But, it looks like the dinner is being prepared by the chef at the Lodge at Torrey Pines and Chef Deckman and the wine experts are going to be the guests of honor.”

In any case, it sounds like they’re talking Classic Baja rather than Nueva Baja – which is great, but not as compelling to us.

I think we’ll probably take a pass on this.

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Hi Doc,

It is my understanding from a good mutual friend of both Chef Jackson and Chef Deckman, that Drew sourced the ingredients for this dinner and was heavily involved in the creation of the dishes and menu… It is to be served family style just as Drew does at his acclaimed outdoor El Mogor restaurant. A big part of this meal is to showcase the new wood burning grill/rotisserie/oven created for “The Grill” at the Lodge and Drew has loads of experience cooking and running a restaurant using similar capabilities and cooking techniques. Drew specifically tailored the menu to showcase Baja style rustic wood fired cooking.

“The pride and joy of Chef Jackson’s enhanced culinary program is a custom-built wood-fired grill to be located for all to see on the restaurant’s remodeled outdoor patio. Designed by San Diego-based grill expert, Phil Roxworthy, this four-in-one statement piece stands 6-feet tall surrounded by natural boulders and incorporates a guest facing fireplace opposite a massive six foot grill, two rotisseries and a six foot oven, creating endless options for the culinary team.”

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For the foreseeable future, yes. Who knows how long I’ll be able to endure that. The company probably figures it’s cheaper than a relocation. Eventually I may have to attach myself to a US location, but my home is in SD and I will hold out as long as I can.

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Sounds like a pretty tough situation - I hope you don’t have fly back and forth every week but can stay for longer times in Asia. Do you stay mainly in one city in Asia (and you should start posting about the food on the Asia board) ?

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DC, there are a LOT worse things than having Chef Jeff prepare the dinner. He is a really good chef and has been a proponent of local sourcing and “clean” cooking for a long time. He’s definitely got cooking chops. And there is not a thing wrong with Classic Baja cooking, it’s basically what you’re terming Nueva Baja, there really isn’t a lot of difference between the two.

I’ve eaten Drew’s food and Chef Jeff’s food and they are both masters at what they do.

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Old article on Drew Deckman, but explains what he’s doing in Baja.

Why a Michelin-starred chef cooks under pine trees in Mexico’s wine country

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No disagreement with anything you say, DD. We (my partner and I) both love classic Baja food, and it’s of course a big part of the “raiz” that Plascencia uses to describe the new cuisine. And yes, it would be great to have food designed by masters and cooked by “Chef Jeff”. I didn’t mean to disparage either, and it’s always possible we might change our minds about going.

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Don Plascencia has been busy of late. Hurrah’s, New York, and now the wine-pairing next week at his restaurant, Bracero. He’s had more than one pairing there, but this one seems special because it’s going to feature old-vintage and recent wines from Adobe Guadalupe, exclusively. I don’t know if Plascencia will be in the kitchen, but they have his menu and instructions. Looking forward to it and will report back after.

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I’ve attended one of the paired wine dinners.

I might go back to Bracero.

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I see that the “Vintage Dinner with Adobe Guadalupe” at Bracero tomorrow, being as it was sold out a week or so ago, has opened additional seating for the event at the bar, at a reduced price. Interesting. Just hope it doesn’t overextend the kitchen staff.

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A wonderful evening. No surprise. More later.

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What a tease. . .do I need to bring back Charlie?
:racehorse:

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The Vintage Dinner with Adobe Guadalupe last night was a great success, and, except for what we thought was excessively loud music, a thoroughly enjoyable evening. Service was exemplary, and Javier Plascencia was in the kitchen (visible through the glass) much if not all of the time.

This was a single-vineyard wine pairing dinner with an interesting twist. For three of the seven courses, an aged and then a new bottling of the same wine (all blends) were served. These were Miguel (2005 and 2014), which is mostly tempranillo; Kerubiel (2002 and 2013), syrah dominating; and Gabriel (also 2002 and 2013), merlot and cabernet. The wines and percentages in the blends differed between the old and new versions; no surprise. We enjoyed these, and the old/new comparisons were interesting. Also interesting was that, for our taste, in each of these three cases we preferred the younger wine.

The first course, an appetizer, was a tiny ahi tuna tostada, maybe two inches in diameter, but absolutely delicious. This was served with a rose that I didn’t care for, but then I’m not much of a rose drinker anyway. Next up was an inventive combination of octopus and cod with other ingredients including marble-shaped (and sized) Asian pear, a nice touch, served with a nice crisp non-oaky chardonnay. It was one of our favorite dishes.

The arroz verde with chicken, charred mushrooms and egg (served with Miguel) was excellent; the masa pancake with crab and pork belly (served with Kerubiel) was good, but not a favorite. We enjoyed the beef tostada with shallots and cow foot (!) that completed the main part of the dinner and was served with Gabriel.

Dessert consisted of small but excellent wine-infused truffles, and a wonderful blood-orange sherbet with a rich chocolate mousse and mezcal.

This was most certainly another fine example of modern Baja cuisine. I’ll editorialize a bit here, because I’ve recently seen and heard it referred to as “Cali-Baja”, when it really has nothing to do with Cali and everything to do with Baja. It’s a cuisine that’s still in need of landing on a clear and consistent name.

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Great report Doc!
The octopus with cod sounds delicious with an Asian pear…hate when one of the best dishes is minuscule and you wish you had way more!
Cow foot…wtf?!

Just a side note. . .
I go all Tourette’s syndrome when I see or hear the word ‘Cali’…as a vernacular from one from the West coast…
East Coast, they don’t know better…
:jack_o_lantern: