Month: March 2019

Malinalli Sabores Autóctonos!

Jonathan and Pablo at Amores in Tecate. You can read about our dinner there in yesterday’s blog. When we asked Jonathan for a Tecate breakfast recommendation, his answer was immediate and unequivocal: Malinalli Sabores Autóctonos!

I wanted a quick overnight trip to Tecate to grab a few photos of the roads into and around the city, and some photos inside the city, for a story I’m writing about the place as a superb moto destination.  Sometimes you just have to go with what awaits, though, and what awaited Susie and me on this trip was an unexpected discovery:  Tecate is a foodie’s paradise!

So here’s the deal…at the end of our completely world-class dinner at Amores on Friday, I asked Jonathan (the head chef) for a breakfast recommendation.   He smiled and said the best place in town, and his personal favorite, was Malinalli Sabores Autóctonos.    Jonathan explained that this restaurant not only prepared regional specialties, but they had researched historical specialties from all over Mexico and their breakfasts were superb.  I asked how to get there, but I was feeling the effects of the huge glass of Cabernet and my five-course Amores dinner, and I was only half-listening to Jonathan’s directions.  They were complex, and he was giving me street names and directions I couldn’t follow.   All of sudden, Susie jumped in because she heard something I missed. “The Hacienda Hotel?” she asked.  “That’s where we’re staying!”

Talk about a small world…I had stayed at the Hacienda Hotel several times before, and I never noticed the Malinalli Sabores Autóctonos restaurant.  I think that’s because I usually check in at night, and I’m on the road early the next morning.   Sometimes you need to slow down and smell the roses, I guess.  The next morning (yesterday morning), Sue and I enjoyed one of the best breakfasts ever in our new good buddy Alicia’s Malinalli Sabores Autóctonos.  It was wonderful.  They opened at 8:00 a.m.   We were waiting at the door when they did so.

The Malinalli Sabores Autóctonos restaurant. It shares a driveway and parking lot with the Hacienda Hotel, my favorite in Tecate.

Alicia’s restaurant specializes in authentic dishes as mentioned above, and in using varieties of corn for their tortillas, empanadas, and other dishes from different regions of Mexico.  The restaurant also emphasizes the culture of the Kumiai Native Americans, a tribe from the Tecate area (something I was not aware of prior to our breakfast yesterday).

A Kumiai doll on display inside the Malinalli Sabores Autóctonos restaurant.
Artwork abounds in the Malinalli Sabores Autóctonos restaurant.  We saw this young lady as soon as we entered.
The buffet line awaits. The aromas were inspiring. I thought I was hungry when we entered; the feeling intensified when we encountered the selections. The coffee was extra special (more about that in a bit).
Maria, one of the friendly folks who took care of us yesterday morning. The steam and flavors were intoxicating.

So, about that buffet…allow me to share with you just a few photos of the Malinalli Sabores Autóctonos selections…

A beef dish. It looked (and tasted) wonderful. I could do a photo essay just on the buffet line.
Eggs, prepared the way I like. Malinalli Sabores Autóctonos also offers omelettes prepared to your tastes with a variety of authentic ingredients, but the buffet line was so overwhelming we decided it alone was enough. It was more than enough, actually.
A pork selection. I had pork the night before and I didn’t sample this, but it smelled delicious.
Cheese empanadas, with a pastry shell that provided flavors that were out of this world. A few minutes later, Maria brought out more…and they were chicken empanadas. They were delicious.
Coffee, Malinalli Sabores Autóctonos style. There were clay cups in from of this pot, and you ladled the coffee into your cup as if it were soup. The coffee has cinnamon and brown sugar already mixed in. It was unquestionably the most exotic and most delicious coffee I’ve ever tasted. Wow, was it ever good!

Sue and I were lost in the grandness of our morning meal, and we both commented on our surprise that Tecate had such incredible restaurants.   While we enjoying our buffet selection, Maria brought a plate with their specialty corn tortilla shells and eggs.  It was yet another delicious and unexpected treat…

Thick, fluffy, regional corn tortillas caressing fried eggs. What a treat!

We met and spoke with Alicia, the Malinalli Sabores Autóctonos owner, after our fabulous breakfast.  Alicia told us the story of her restaurant.  Her pride in what she was doing was evident.  It was a grand experience.

You might be wondering…what did this magnificent morning meal set us back?  For both of us, it was $11.13.  That’s US dollars.  Not only was Tecate proving to be foodie paradise, but the prices were stunningly low.  $11.  Wow!

Folks, trust me on this…time in Tecate has to be on your bucket list!

Hey, on another topic…here are a few updates from our advertisers.  For starters, you can bet I wore one of my R Heroes USA shirts on this trip, as I knew we might hit some cold weather.   Here’s a photo Susie snapped of yours truly as we went deeper into Mexico later that day at one of the Ruta del Vino wineries…

Do I have a career as a male model? I think not, but this photo in the L.A. Cetto Winery shows my R Heroes USA workshirt well. I’ve been wearing this shirt for 10 years!

I wanted to mention that if you’d like to purchase one of these grand shirts, here’s the link to see.   It will take you to a page that finds your closest R Heroes retail outlet.  Trust me on this, folks…if you ride, you need one of these shirts in your life!

A Mexican police officer in a truck just like this one came over and directed me to get into another line. If he had wanted to see my insurance papers, BajaBound had me covered.

Next topic…I was sure glad I had my BajaBound insurance on this trip. It’s what I use on every trip across the border.  Bajabound is inexpensive, it’s good (I know guys who needed to submit claims and they pay promptly), it’s easy to get online, and it’s required.  You have to have Mexican insurance when you visit Baja.  We had a Mexican police officer direct us into a different line as we waited to cross back into the US yesterday.   I felt secure in the knowledge that if he wanted to see my insurance paperwork, I was covered!

The Blue Rim Tours Four Corners Tour starts at the end of May. Check it out!

And hey, more good stuff…our good buddies at RoadRUNNER magazine are hooked up with Blue Rim Tours, and they are offering an amazing Four Corners Tour later this year.  Having visited the places this tour touches on, I know this is going to be a good one.

And folks, that’s a wrap.  The rains have returned to So Cal.  We had a nice window of good weather, and the Tecate trip was a blast.   Stay tuned…there’s more good stuff coming your way!

A Tecate sunrise…

The sunrise part will actually be a bit later this morning.  Last night, in Tecate, was stellar.

Gresh and I are heading into Baja later this month, but life is what happens while you’re making plans and Joe and I both felt it was best to push the trip out for a couple of weeks.  I’ve got a wedding to get to, Joe Gee is busy pouring concrete and getting his new tractor online, and before we knew it, our current activities and those of the next few days ganged up on us.  We ran out of time for our planned 2019 10-day Baja expedition.  It’s gonna happen, but not this weekend.  Give us a couple more weeks.

Still, I had the urge to cross the border, and specifically, to visit Tecate.  I have a story due for one of the magazines, and Susie and I decided to drive the 147 miles and spend the evening in this fine northern Baja town. Yep, it’s dateline Tecate. It’s where we are now.

Getting here and getting the trip together was a snap. Throw a few things in an overnight bag, grab the Nikon and a couple of fast lenses I like, get my BajaBound insurance for one night in Mexico (it was ridiculously inexpensive and it’s the only one I use when I’m in Baja), and we were off. Three hours later, we crossed the border into Mexico.

Susie and I felt like a fancy dinner last night.   You might be wondering…in Tecate?   Oh, yeah.  Amores is definitely the place for fine dining in Tecate.  Dinner there is a world class gourmet event.  Amores is tucked away in a hidden corner of this border town, and it is, to borrow a phrase, an Epicurean delight (I love that word, but I confess I don’t know what it means…if there’s a place called Epicurea, tell me about it and Gresh and I will ride our motorcycles there).

Our Tecate dinner was exquisite. We opted for five-courses (Amores has options that go up to seven courses).  Each course was better than the previous one, and the first course was awesome.  Yep, it just kept getting better and better.

Here you go, folks…enjoy!

Susie in Amores, in Tecate, Baja, Mexico. We could tell right away…this was going to be good!  Amores is a bit tough to find, and the exterior offers no clues as to what awaits inside.  But find it, enter, and an amazing experience unfolds.
Adriana pouring our wine. Sue opted for the Merlot; I had the a Cabernet. Everything served in Amores is local; these wines are from northern Baja vineyards.
Bread baked in Tecate. Jonathan, the Amores Master Chef, told us that Tecate is known throughout Mexico for its breads. Who knew? The bread was exquisite, as was the olive oil and balsamic vinegar, the onion jelly (it had incredible flavor), and the locally-prepared kimchi. Kimchi! In Tecate! Go figure! Again, who knew?
Course No. 1:  Our salad. But not just any salad. Hydroponic lettuce (grown in water), hot and cold vegetables with thin pear slices, and an amazing blend of tastes. Just exquisite!
During our dinner, I snuck over to the kitchen. That’s Jonathan, the Master Chef. He visited with us several times during our meal, which made it even more enjoyable.
Another photo of the kitchen crew hard at work. We were having a great time.
Course No. 2. We weren’t sure what it was, until Pablo, one of the two chefs, came over to explain it to us when I asked for a fork. They brought a soup spoon, and I learned that I was looking at baby octopus. Still, why a soup spoon?
Ah, yes…the tomato-based soup, poured over the octopus at our table. Again, it was delicious.
Soup time!
Course No. 3. Susie and I both opted for freshly-caught Baja corvina. It was delicious.
But wait…there’s more! This was my Course No. 4: Pork, and it was even better than the last course! There are two cuts of pork here and both were wonderful.
Susie’s Course No. 4: Chicken. I tried a little bit and it was yet another wonderful dish. These guys are world class!
And finally, our last course: Dessert. That’s a homemade cake adorned with assorted fruits and a blackberry sorbet nestled in brown sugar. It was as good as I’ve ever had anywhere in the world, and it made for a fitting finale to our grand Tecate evening.

You know, Tecate is a gritty, industrial border town that anchors the northern end of the Ruta del Vino and is home to the Tecate Brewery.  I would have never imagined this kind of dining was available here.  Los Angeles, sure.  New York City, you bet.   But Tecate?  Who knew?

We’re going to try to get a tour of the Tecate Brewery today, and then it’s on for a quick run south on the Ruta del Vino to the L.A. Cetto vineyard for olive oil, olives, a bit of wine tasting, and of course, a bottle or two of wine to take home.  Good times, folks!