{"id":434,"date":"2018-08-02T04:11:23","date_gmt":"2018-08-02T04:11:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/?p=434"},"modified":"2018-08-02T04:48:48","modified_gmt":"2018-08-02T04:48:48","slug":"baja-cuisine-palomar-to-el-rosario","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/2018\/08\/02\/baja-cuisine-palomar-to-el-rosario\/","title":{"rendered":"Baja Cuisine: Palomar to El Rosario"},"content":{"rendered":"

We’ve already covered my favorite Baja places to eat from the border down through Ensenada in our previous installment of the adventurer’s guide to Baja dining<\/a>. \u00a0 This next set of Baja dining recommendations covers the corridor south of Ensenada, through San Quintin, all the way to El Rosario. This region covers the wine country and the agricultural district, which ends in the San Quintin area. After San Quintin, Baja\u2019s Highway 1 (the Transpeninsular Highway), continues south through low-lying coastal plains hugging the Pacific coast. Then it\u2019s a brief climb through a set of twisties into El Rosario.<\/p>\n

There are great places to eat through this stretch of Baja, folks.\u00a0 Let’s take a look…<\/p>\n

Palomar<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is a cool little place that\u2019s on the right side of Highway 1 after you’ve passed through the mountains south of Ensenada. The food is good, it’s reasonable, and it\u2019s always fresh. I like their chicken tacos; my friends seem to always gravitate toward the shrimp.<\/p>\n

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The El Palomar, a nice spot to stop for lunch.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The Pemex next to the Palomar restaurant.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There\u2019s a little general store next to the restaurant, and if you need Baja kitsch, this is a good place to get it. More importantly, there\u2019s also a Pemex station. I\u2019d advise topping off here. If you\u2019re on a motorcycle (and of course, you should be), this will get you all the way to El Rosario.<\/p>\n

San Quintin<\/strong><\/p>\n

What can I say? I love this area. It\u2019s one of the last vestiges of the northern Baja agricultural region.\u00a0 There are three places I like here. One is the restaurant in the Mision San Quintin<\/em>. It\u2019s a hotel restaurant (it\u2019s pricey for Baja, but it\u2019s cheap compared to US prices), and it\u2019s good. I\u2019ve stayed at the hotel and had breakfast and dinner here; both are great. The orange juice is always freshly squeezed, and it\u2019s fantastic.\u00a0 To my great surprise, I didn’t have any photos of the Mision San Quintin when I prepared this blog entry.\u00a0 Sounds to me like a good excuse to ride down there again.<\/p>\n

Another is the Molina Viejo restaurant, near the Old Mill Hotel, which is right on Bahia San Quintin<\/em>. The good news here is that the 4-mile ride to Bahia San Quintin<\/em> is now paved (no more white-knuckle soft sand or deep mud, thank God).\u00a0 Even before the road was paved, though, the ride out was worth it.\u00a0 There are two great restaurants hidden away back here (the Molina Viejo and Don Eddie’s), and the food at both is stellar.<\/p>\n

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Fried mushrooms at the Molina Viejo. They’re awesome.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Good buddy Dave on his FJR. Fortunately, the road into Bahia San Quintin is now paved!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Both restaurants are literally right on the bay, and occasionally a gray whale will find its way into the bay. When that happens, it\u2019s an amazing thing to see and hear.\u00a0 The Molina Viejo has a fried mushroom appetizer that\u2019s a favorite, and any of the entrees are excellent. This place rivals the d\u00e9cor and feel of any restaurant in the US, but it hasn\u2019t been discovered yet (and that means the prices are low).<\/p>\n

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The Molina Viejo, a great restaurant right on Bahia San Quintin.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Having a beer or two before dinner at the Molina Viejo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The real deal…Mariachi singers in the Molina Viejo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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A good day, a good ride, and a Tecate overlooking Bahia San Quintin. We saw a California gray whale swim by this very spot one night.\u00a0 Life doesn’t get any better.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The other restaurant, Don Eddie’s, is on the opposite side of the Old Mill Hotel. \u00a0 It’s not as fancy as the Molina Viejo, but I think the food is even better.\u00a0 If you call ahead, Don Eddie (he’s a real guy) will prepare a buffet-style meal for your group.\u00a0 We do that whenever I\u2019m leading a group tour, and the breakfasts are particularly fabulous.<\/p>\n

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An incredible Don Eddie dish….shrimp and pasta. Bring an appetite!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The seafood medley at Don Eddie’s. The food is off the charts. The prices are ridiculously low. \u00a0 Hey, that’s Baja.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

El Rosario<\/strong><\/p>\n

El Rosario is the last town on the Transpeninsular Highway before you enter the Valle de los Cirios<\/em>. That\u2019s an experience like no other; it\u2019s the barren and beautiful wilderness that is Baja. But I digress; the focus here is the dining, and El Rosario (as any Bajaeno<\/em> knows) means two things: Top off at the Pemex (it\u2019s the last one for 200 miles if you’re headed south), and eat at Mama Espinosa\u2019s.<\/p>\n

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Decals and more at Mama Espinosa’s. Get one for your motorcycle; people will know you’re the real deal.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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I’ve parked my bike here many, many times.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mama Espinosa\u2019s is a Baja icon, a legend among many Baja legends, and perhaps their most legendary dish is the old gal\u2019s lobster burritos. This little tiny spot is a \u201cmust see\u201d on any Baja trip. It\u2019s literally world famous. It\u2019s a stop on the Baja 1000. There are zillions of decals from folks who race and travel Baja. It\u2019s got a cool wall-sized Baja map so you can get a feel for where you are.\u00a0 But you really don’t need the map.\u00a0 Ride into Baja and you know…you’ve arrived.\u00a0 You’re in Heaven.<\/p>\n

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Lobsters at Mama Espinosa’s. Folks, this is the closest you’ll ever get to Heaven without a one-way ticket!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Mama’s chicken burritos, my personal favorite.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mama Espinosa\u2019s is known for their lobster burritos, but my favorite is Mama\u2019s chicken burritos.\u00a0 I think they\u2019re great. The bottom line is this: You won\u2019t go wrong with anything on Mama Espinosa\u2019s menu.\u00a0 It’s all good.<\/p>\n

So there you have it.\u00a0 The next push south on our culinary cruise will take us all the way down to Guerrero Negro, and the best fish tacos on the planet.\u00a0 I’m not exaggerating.\u00a0 Trust me on this. But that’s a story for the next installment of our ExhaustNotes dining tour.<\/p>\n

Stay tuned!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We’ve already covered my favorite Baja places to eat from the border down through Ensenada in our previous installment of the adventurer’s guide to Baja dining. \u00a0 This next set of Baja dining recommendations covers the corridor south of Ensenada, through San Quintin, all the way to El Rosario. This region covers the wine country … Continue reading “Baja Cuisine: Palomar to El Rosario”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[63,57,89],"tags":[3,59,101,102],"class_list":["post-434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-baja","category-baja-cuisine","category-motorcycle-adventure-ride","tag-baja","tag-baja-restaurants","tag-el-rosario","tag-mama-espinosas"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":455,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434\/revisions\/455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}