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Irish Soda Bread: A Treat for Any Day

St. Patrick's Day comes only once a year, but you can enjoy Irish soda bread any day, if you make your own.

This version is sweet, brightly flavored with caraway seeds and packed with currants. It's from a book I wrote called "Good Bread." 

The steps are simple. Mix everything, then turn the dough out onto a board and knead it until well combined. 

Next, set the loaf in a large pie pan or on a baking sheet, then cut a cross in the top with a sharp knife.

There's no rising time, because this is a quick bread, leavened with soda and baking powder, not yeast. So you can put it in the oven right away. 

Here's how the loaf looks after it has baked for an hour or so. 

After it cools in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes, you turn it out onto the rack for further cooling.

Then comes the great moment when you can cut into it. 

Here is how I like to eat the bread, with eggs for breakfast. In my opinion, it's best sliced thin and toasted. But you can cut thick slices, if you prefer.  

I've varied the recipe from time to time, such as replacing a small amount of all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour and adding raisins when I didn't have enough currants.

I've made my own buttermilk too when I didn't have time to go to the store. It's easy, all you do is add lemon juice to whole milk, about a tablespoon per cup of milk.

I hope you enjoy the bread as much as I do.

IRISH SODA BREAD
From "Good Bread" by Barbara Hansen

1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons caraway seeds
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 cups currants

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Combine the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and cream thoroughly. Beat in the egg until well blended. Mix in the caraway seeds.

Save out 1/4 cup of the flour for kneading the bread. Combine the remaining flour, salt, baking powder and soda and add to the egg mixture alternately with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. 

Lastly, add the currants and work them in with your hands. The dough will be very sticky at this point. Turn it out onto the reserved flour on a work surface--I use a large board.  Knead about 1 minute, or until thoroughly blended, adding a small amount of additional flour if too sticky. The dough should not be dry, however.

Form the dough into a round loaf and place it in a well-greased 10-inch pie pan or on a greased baking sheet. With a sharp knife, cut a slash across the top of the bread in one direction, then a slash at right angles, forming a cross.

Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes, until golden brown and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Place it in the pie pan on a rack to cool for 10 minutes, or let it stand on the baking sheet. Then turn it out onto the rack to cool completely.

Makes 1 loaf.   

Rogue Creamery's Pampered Cows

Sun and fresh air, lots of green space, massages whenever you want them, good food 24/7 and cell phones that let management know whatever you need.

Sounds like a pretty nice resort, right? And it is, but only for cows. This is Rogue Creamery's brand new dairy near Grants Pass, Oregon.

From here, the milk goes to the creamery's processing plant near Medford, where it is turned into prize-winning cheeses such as the Rogue River blue that is wrapped and aged in Syrah leaves soaked in Oregon pear brandy.

And the Crater Lake blue that is used in the blue cheese ice cream at Salt & Straw in Portland. Unfortunately, that ice cream isn't available at Salt & Straw on Larchmont Blvd. in Los Angeles. 

On Fridays at noon you can tour the dairy, which is airy and spotless, meaning no smell. Notice the chip in each cow's ear in the photo at the top. This logs every step of the procedure, from milking to controlling how much food each gets--gorging is not allowed. Any problems are communicated instantly to the staff via cell phone.

The 120 milkers line up whenever they feel the need for milking, even in the middle of the night. No one stays up to handle this. It's done by two robotic milkers that are so thoughtful they nudge the cows as a calf would, which gets them in a good mood for milking. Named Charlie and Matilda, the robots cost a cool $333,000 each.

As the cows milk, they get a third of their daily grain allowance, a tasty mix of barley, hops, oats, corn, alfalfa and molasses. The feed is piped in from this tank.

In between, they munch on hay (above).

And anytime they can rub against vertical yellow brushes for a massage. "You can actually see the cows smile," said tour leader Craig Nelson, standing beside one of the robots. Notice the leg of the cow being milked.

This one wants to see what the tourists are doing.  

Outside the barn is a broad green pasture where the cows can wander as they please. Water is kept inside to make sure they come back.

These  "cheese-making" cows yield milk that is high in butterfat and good protein, Nelson said. The low stress environment--you hear no angry mooing--probably helps too.

At the end of the tour, you can sample what the cows have produced in a shop next to the barn (above). The milk itself is not sold, but you can taste and buy the cheeses or get a grilled cheese sandwich to eat outside in quiet country atmosphere. 

The shop (above) also sells Rogue Creamery ice cream by the scoop. There are two flavors, chocolate and milk and honey, so sweet and creamy it could only have been produced with the help of very happy cows.

The main Rogue Creamery Cheese Shop is at 311 Front St. (Highway 99), Central Point, Oregon 97502. Tel: (866) 396-4704 or (541) 665-1155.

The dairy and farm stand are located at 6531 Lower River Rd., Grants Pass, Oregon  97526. Tel: (541) 471-7292. Hours are Wednesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Reservations aren't necessary for the free tours, which are offered Fridays at noon. 

Good Buys in South American Wines

It's hard to understand why Torrontés isn't a front-runner among white wines. It's good with so much that we like to eat--spicy Thai food, Indian curries and seafood dishes such as ceviche and sashimi, for starters. 

Yet Torrontés is a hard sell, says Michael J. Barlett of Blends, who represented one of only three poured at Wine LA's "Tasting South America" at the Peninsula in Beverly Hills (above)."There is not a lot of demand. We don't sell a lot of it. People like it, but we can't get anybody to buy it," he said. 

Bartlett poured the 2014 Torrontés from Tomero in the Uco Valley in Mendoza (at the right in the photo). Fermented 100% in stainless steel, it offered lovely fresh fruit flavors. The winery also exhibited a Malbec and a Cabernet Sauvignon. 

Even more of a hard sell is the white wine Albariño. People just don't know the grape, said Bartlett (above) as he poured the 2014 Albariño from Bodega Garzón in Uruguay. There, Albariño is a premier grape, and this wine, with its pleasing minerality, is a very good example. 

The most typical Urguayan red wine is Tannat, and the 2013 from Garzón is peppery, spicy and excellent with hearty meats and sauces. Garzón ferments its Tannats in stainless steel or unlined concrete and ages them 12 to 15 months in new French oak. The good news is that both of these Uruguayan wines are available here (BevMo, Whole Foods).

The only Uruguayan winery at the tasting, Bodega Garzón is a working farm that produces olive oil and other crops. The vineyards enjoy pleasant ocean breezes, as they are only 11 miles from the Atlantic. 

I also tasted a Tannat from Vinícola Perini, a Brazilian winery. Founded by Italian immigrants, it has vineyards in Farroupilha, where the Tannat was produced, and Garibaldi.

The Macaw Tannat 2012, from Valle Trentino in Farroupilha, is very different from the Uruguayan Tannat, deeply colored but lighter, with an impression of sweetness. It would make a very good sangria. 

The Perini wines, which include a sparking Moscato and a Merlot poured at the tasting, arrived in the United States about four weeks ago and have acquired representation here.  

Other wines I liked--I tasted only 20 out of more than 70--included a Chilean Carmenere, the 2012 Gran Reserva from Carmen winery. Bright and fresh, the wine blends 94% Carmenere with Carignan and Tempranillo.

Viña Cremaschi Furlotti, from Chile, produced the only Nebbiolo poured at the tasting. Its 2011 limited edition Nebiollo exhibited good acidity and good fruit. 

I liked everything I tasted from Susana Balbo in Argentina (above). The barrel-fermented Signature Torrontés 2014 was excellent, a wine with character. The 2010 Nosotros Malbec, from Agrelo, was gorgeous. The BenMarco Expresivo 2013, a mostly Malbec blend, was rich and exciting, as was the 2012 Brioso, composed of half Cabernet Sauvignon blended with Malbec, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot.

My last stop was at a table of wines without representation. This is sure to change, judging by the two poured by Valsecchi Wines from the Calchaqui Valley in Salta province in northwestern Argentina. Salta is known for white wines--it's the center of Torrontés--but these were reds, both of them powerful and memorable.

One was the 2008 Altoandino, a blend of 55% Malbec, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Tannat, aged 22 months in new oak. The other was the 2007 Desafío, which is 95% Malbec and 5% Tannat. Valsecchi's 2008 Ukumar Tannat, from high altitude vines, didn't make it to the tasting.

Valsecchi is a young winery. Its first vintage was the 2004 Desafío. The first Altoandino was 2007. Production is limited, from a high of 600 cases annually of the Altoandino blend to 350 cases of Desafio and only 100 a year of Ukumar Tannat. Such notable wines are not cheap. The retail price for the Altoandino is $65, the table rep said, not excessive for something that good. 

Baja Wines Travel to Ixtapa

The food was glorious at Food & Wine magazine's festival in Ixtapa Zihuatanejo. But the wines were glorious too. And the tasting opportunities were better than you would get even in Baja's Guadalupe Valley, where most of the wines poured at the festival were produced.

Unless you go to Ensenada for Vendimia, the annual Baja wine festival in August, there's little likelihood you would taste what was assembled for the Ixtapa festival, and perhaps not even then.

For example, J.C. Bravo poured his small production Carignan at tastings on the sand at Zihuatanejo's Playa La Ropa (at top) and at the Marina Ixtapa.

To taste this wine usually requires an appointment to meet Bravo at his bodega in the Ejido El Porvenir in the Guadalupe Valley.

Shimul presented its Italian varietals, the first time I have seen these wines, although I have bought Shimul olive oil in Ensenada.

Andrés Blanco, enologist and director of Laja restaurant in the Guadalupe Valley, poured Ulloa, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache and Petite Sirah.

After the festival, Blanco took his wines to Mexico City, where Laja founder and executive chef Jair Téllez spends much of his time at his new restaurant, Merotoro.  Open a little more than a year, Merotoro features Baja cuisine adapted to an urban setting. It's been named one of the city's top three restaurants.

The exception to the Baja presence was Viñedos Santa Elena from Aguascalientes. This winery's line includes a Malbec; a blend of 50% Malbec with Syrah, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, and a Carignan-Syrah blend.

Santa Elena started in 2006-2007 with a small vineyard. The Malbec is grown from a new, high density planting, but 30 years or so ago, it was planted in neighboring Zacatecas, so it has a long history in Mexico.  

Years ago, I went to both those states and spoke with an agricultural expert who predicted the area would  become a leader in wine grape production. Judging from Santa Elena, it looks like this is happening. 

But, guess what, even in Aguascalientes, there's a Baja connection. A partner in this winery is Hugo d'Acosta of Casa de Piedra, who consults for innumerable Baja wineries and is the area's celebrity winemaker.

Making Malbec is something D'Acosta has wanted to do since studying winemaking in France, and he travels to Aguascalientes every couple of months.

D'Acosta poured his own wines too, including the 2008 Septiembre 23, a Carignan named for the date the grapes were picked.

The Baja wine boom has made land so expensive that the proprietors of Mariatinto found it cheaper to buy a vineyard in France and so will make wines from that vineyard as well as Baja wines from purchased grapes. The Mariatinto wine I tasted was a smooth blend of Grenache, Syrah, Tempranillo and a little Cabernet Sauvignon.  

The Firmamento label offers just one wine, a handsome red blend that made me return to taste it again. It's composed of Grenache, Cinsault, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Tempranillo grown on a small vineyard in the Guadalupe Valley. And it's well worth the price, 640 pesos, or about $57.

Others taking part in the festival included Joaquín Prieto of Tres Valles, pouring among other wines a blend of Tempranillo, Sangiovese and Ruby Cabernet called Kuwal, which means red in an indigenous Baja tongue. 

Mogor Badan's Bordeaux blend stood out. Pau Pijoan poured his wines on a sunset cruise aboard the catamaran Picante (at right) along with D'Acosta and Ricardo Álvarez of Santa Elena.

When the catamaran docked, a crocodile swam up, perhaps hoping that someone might be tipsy enough to topple overboard, but that didn't happen.

Still more festival participants were Paralelo (the same winemaker as Firmamento), Vena, Vinisterra, Viñas de Garza and Monte Xanic.

But the last taste went to Bodegas Santo Tomás, which provided all the wines for the final festival event. This took place outdoors at the Palma Real Golf Course, where visitors from chilly parts of the United States reveled in the warmth of the evening.

Along with wine and food tastings, the event included a costume show from Guerrero state, lively Mexican music and, as the grand finale, a massive burst of fireworks.  

A Wine to Remember

It was bottle number 408 of only 1,210  produced.

The wine was a Malbec. Not from Argentina, where Malbec is as common as tap water. And not from California, where Malbec is gaining recognition as a varietal rather than used primarily as a blending grape.

This wine came from Baja California's Guadalupe Valley.  It was the 2002 Malbec made by Hans Backhoff of Monte Xanic.

On the label, Backhoff says the 2002 harvest yielded only four barrels, of such notable flavor that the winery felt it a duty to share it with clients and friends. 

I was lucky enough to receive a bottle when I visited Monte Xanic some years ago. But I didn't open it until the other day. And I was amazed. Deeply colored, the wine was fresh, young and full of spirit. It was an admirable Malbec, not purple, soft and jammy like many Argentine Malbecs.

According to Monte Xanic's website, the 2005 Malbec is available for purchase now. 

Like the earlier bottle, it is a limited edition wine, and the description is the same as that on my bottle--concentrated black fruit and delicate notes of licorice and freshly ground roasted coffee, "complex flavor, voluptuous in the mouth, elegant and memorable."

It's a wine I would look for on another trip to Baja. After all, one must keep good memories alive.

 

Javier Plascencia's Tijuana Food

You would have to spend a week in Tijuana to eat in all of Javier Plascencia's restaurants. And you might want to spend another week just to eat in them again. 

I've only managed two so far, the classic Villa Saverios, where Tijuana's well-heeled eat high style Baja-Mediterranean food  (above).  And the new Erizo Cebicheria, a casual seafood bistro. Erizo means sea urchin, which is sometimes on hand, but not when I was there.

The restaurants do have a couple of things in common. Both serve Plascencias' mosaic-like octopus carpaccio (Erizo's version is at right. The greens in the center are slivered nopales) and his thin-crusted pizza that's like a cheese course and dessert combined. It's topped with Baja's Real del Castillo cheese, then quince paste, fig syrup, pomegranate seeds and thyme sprigs.

And each has a signature cocktail--a tamarind martini at Saverios, Peru's pisco sour at Erizo, where you can have it plain or dolled up with flavors such as mango, passion fruit and pomegranate.

With your tamarind martini at Villa Saverios, you could have a trio of tiny tostadas (right), one topped with spider crab, another with geoduck clam and a third with a combination of Sonora dried beef and octopus machaca.  

Standouts at Saverios this last trip included a juicy cassserole of lamb shank cooked with wine, onions and little dumplings of corn masa that are called chochoyones. 

Crisp fresh radish slices on top added the contrast needed for such a rich dish.

If the only chile relleno you know is a green chile stuffed with cheese and coated with batter, you would be amazed at Saverios' pasilla chile stuffed with beef cheek sweetened with fig granules, surrounded by heirloom beans and topped with arugula.

The duck taco at Saverios is just as inventive. The wrap is a thin slice of jicama, not a tortilla. A spoonful of green habanero salsa lies underneath, crossed by a red line of jamaica salsa. Jamaica flowers are scattered over the top.

Plascencia does an interesting risotto based on his grandmother's recipe, switching from rice to farro and inorporating crisp suckling pig, sliced morels, heirloom beans and, in the center, shredded nopales.

He honors Tijuana tradition with two classic Caesar salads, the original from the Hotel Caesar and another from Victor's, which some insist is the best.

In a side by side comparison, Victor's seemed a little lighter and more vinegary. But the tableside presentation made them both winners.

Villa Saverios is upscale and dressy. Erizo is a nice place to spend a lazy afternoon. It's on a pleasant street, Avenida Sonora, where the Plascencia family restaurants Caffe Saverios and La Tia are also located.

The seafood menu is extensive. The 10 ceviches include one modeled on what Plascencia tasted in Peru. True to Peruvian style, it is dressed up with red onion, chunks of yam and corn, only not the giant corn used in Peru. Perhaps that's not available in Tijuana.

A three-clam ceviche combines geoduck, chocolate and pismo clams. A green shrimp ceviche (right) is intensely colored with tomatillos, cilantro, green onions, avocado and green chiles.

One called petroleo, which includes a variety of seafood,  apparently gets its name from the addition of squid ink.

Erizo does some clever innovations, like birria made with fish instead of meat and swordfish cochinita modeled on Yucatan's achiote-seasoned cochinita pibil (pit-steamed suckling pig).

Toritos are deep fried batter-coated guero (yellow) chiles stuffed with shrimp and crab. Aguachile combines two types of scallops with bright fresh seasonings sparked with lime juice and serrano chile.

And there's a dramatic salt-crusted whole corvina  (right) that is stuffed with herbs and lemon slices and carved at the table. It's accompanied by a garlicky yellow salsa de pescado packed with flavor from ginger, citrus butter, white wine and Peruvian aji amarillo (yellow chile).

The inventive approach to fresh seafood makes Erizo a destination place. But so do its "Tardes de Pisco Sour," a daily afternoon special when the drink price is reduced. The good thing is that afternoons at Erizo continue from 4 to 9 p.m.

Villa Saverios, Blvd. Sanchez Taboada, corner Escuadron 201 in the Zona Rio, Tijuana, B.C., Mexico. Tel: (from USA)  01152 (664) 686-6502

Erizo Cebicheria, Avenida Sonora 3808-11, Tijuana, B.C., Mexico. Tel:  01152 (664) 686-2895.

Ensenada's Cowboy Winemaker

J.C. Bravo isn't really a cowboy. He's a high school teacher in the town of El Sauzal, near Ensenada. 

But he has a vineyard too, and he works it with the gusto of a guy at home on the range. His chief wine, a gutsy, fruity Carignan, is just what you'd want for a barbecue at the ranch.

Carignan is usually a blending grape. That's how they use it in southern France, where it thrives. But Bravo doesn't fuss around. He makes a pure, 100% Carignan, and wine lovers seek him out to get it.

Bravo is located in the Ejido El Porvenir near the town of Francisco Zarco in the Guadalupe Valley. That's in the heart of  Ensenada wine country.

Still under construction, his cava is lined with adobe brick made by his brother. If Bravo knows you, he might bring in bread and cheeses from the region to taste with the wine.

And if you're really interested, he'll go with you to the vineyard, a 20-hectare plot planted with fruit trees as well as grape vines. What you notice right off is how far apart the vines are, not like most vineyards where they cluster together. Wide spacing is better. The roots don't bump each other, he says.

And you don't see an irrigation system, because there isn't one. The vines are watered naturally by rainfall and the moisture that drifts in with breezes from the coast. If that's not enough, a well on the property supplies water.

And there's no need to fumigate. Winds keep the vineyard clear of rot.

Born in the Guadalupe Valley, Bravo sold grapes to other wineries until the demand fell off, then took up wine making himself. His first release was in 2001. Production is small. Carignan has grown to 750 cases a year, and Bravo says he won't do more than 1,200. "Poquito pero bueno" (not much but good), he says.

The current release is the 2007. The 2008 has been in bottle for five months, and the 2009 is in barrels. Bravo, who says he doesn't like the taste of wood, put it in used American oak

He also makes a small amount of Palomino, a white wine with nuances of sherry.  And he's just started to produce olive oil.

That's a lot to handle while working full time. But Bravo is going to retire from teaching in a year and a half. And he's as excited as a kid counting the days until the end of school. No long lazy summer vacation, though. He'll work all the harder at what he really loves, grape growing and wine making.

JC Bravo Vinos, Emiliano Zapato 680, Ejido El Porvenir, Valle de Guadalupe, Baja California Norte, Mexico. Tel: (646) 155-2068.

Where Saturday Night's Alive

What a dinner--15 courses, three bottles of wine and a glass of mezcal--in what has to be the best place to spend Saturday night in Ensenada.

That place is Benito Molina's restaurant Manzanilla. It's the unofficial gathering spot for the Ensenada food and wine crowd, the movers and shakers, that is. The later you stay, the better it gets. Closing time is just a formality. 

The night I was there I spotted Hugo d'Acosta, the superstar of Baja wine making, whom I hadn't seen in ages, he's so busy. Who else was there? Several winemakers, an artisanal cheese producer, seafood distributors, a chef about to open a restaurant, an artist bringing Molina a stash of the Mexican green huazontle and more. It's like a weekly networking session, greased by good food and wine.

Molina was in the kitchen dealing with a whole sturgeon he had picked up at the local fish market. That turned up in the first course, hot crostini topped with the fish, tomato, green chile, garlic and herbs.

And it appeared again as sturgeon two ways, half the thin slices topped with capers, onion and vinegar, the rest with green chile and soy sauce.

Not until the end did Molina swerve from his passion for seafood to send out a meaty dish called tongue, stomach and hoof. This soft stew of beef parts under a strip of fresh pasta was hard to tackle after so much food.

The previous course had been just as rich--corvina with huitlacoche risotto and fresh radish salsa.

Molina had made the risotto with Morelos rice, a short, plump-grained Mexican rice that he says is just as good for risotto as arborio. The salsa was a tribute to his mother, a native of the state of Campeche where radishes are common. 

In between were endless plates of oysters and clams, smoked and raw. Fresh sardines had been cured two ways: with salt, vinegar and garlic and with chile serrano. They were partnered with a mound of the thick cultured cream called jocoque.

Molina also sent out squid in a roasted beet sauce with lime and orange juices, fresh ginger and habanero chile.  And cabrilla, a type of sea bass with Swiss chard and poblano chiles. And a bowl of smoked clams with bacon and potatoes in creamy saffron sauce, a sort of Ensenada style clam chowder.

He topped locally raised abalone with a spicy tomato sauce. And paired grilled mackerel and sardines--a lot of sardines were in that day's catch, obviously--with shiso from the gardens of Laja restaurant in the wine country. And presented a clam topped with gorgonzola and sitting in tarragon butter (above).

After all this, there still was a cheese plate to deal with and a platter of desserts including mango blended with whipped cream, a "fallen" chocolate cake and cookies topped with dulce de mango.

The wines were Vinas Pijoan Silvana 2008, which blends Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier; an Estacion Porvenir 2008 blend of Palomino and Chenin Blanc and Pijoan's Domenica 2007, which combines Grenache, Petit Sirah and Cabernet Sauvignon. 

The mezcal?  By that stage, nobody cared where it came from. We just headed for a taxi because in only a few hours we had to start out on another day's eating marathon.

Restaurante Manzanilla, 139 Teniente Azueta, Ensenada, B.C., Mexico. Tel: (646) 175-7073.

Taking a Chance to Eat Tacos

My friends insist that Tijuana is dangerous, ugly, scary. That I'm unwise to go there, and they would never take such a chance. 

Not having spent any time in Tijuana, they have no idea what it's really like. All they know is what they read, and the press focus is crime (there's none at home?), not places like Tacos Varios La Cacho.

La Cacho is a Tijuana neighborhood, and tacos varios are tacos de guisado, tacos topped with the dishes of the day, spooned onto a layer of rice.

Bill Esparza (Street Gourmet LA) had spotted the shop on a previous trip and took several of us there to try it.

What we found was a pleasant, friendly, family-run business, a former street stand upgraded to an indoor cafe that opens onto the street. Very small, with just a couple of tables and counter seats on either side, it's well run and spotless.

Of the five tacos we ordered, my favorites were two I wouldn't have chosen if I had been on my own--lengua entomatada and chicharron en salsa verde.

The lengua (tongue) had been cooked in tomato sauce, a simple, well-flavored home style dish (at right).

I eat very little chicharron (pork skin cracklings), because I don't like fatty foods. But the flavor of the green sauce, a little tart and a little spicy, was so irresistible that I grabbed the last bite.

The other toppings were beef milanesa, tortitas de camaron (dried shrimp cakes) with nopales (below) and cheese with poblano chile strips.

"Otro concepto en tacos" (another taco concept), the flyer says, inviting people with demanding tastes to try the guisados. 

Up to 25 dishes are available daily, among them chicken mole, picadillo, marlin, shrimp with three cheeses, chicken stew, machaca and birria.

The shop also serves tostadas, burritos and full meals that include rice and beans, a choice of any three guisados, corn or flour tortillas and a fresh fruit drink.

When leaving, be sure to check out the shoe shop next door. It's run by a daughter of the family and amounts to a stylish gallery of footwear in a very small space.

Tacos Varios La Cacho, Calle Guanajuato 2374, Colonia Cacho, Tijuana, B.C., Mexico.  

Five-Star Street Food in Tijuana

A Westside restaurant proudly advertised its link to a world famous chef. But was he there cooking? Of course not. So how could this really be his food?

I didn't waste time checking it out. I'd rather eat in a place that doesn't put on such airs, where the owner/chef cooks while you watch, where the food is fresh, original and so exceptional in quality that it could shame the absentee star chef.

In other words, I would rather eat at Mariscos Ruben, a truck parked in a street in Tijuana.

On a recent Sunday morning, Mierta Elena Rogriguez Vega stood behind the counter, arranging jumbo cooked shrimp around the edge of a giant molcajete. Inside, she had put raw shrimp and raw callos de hacho, dense meaty scallops from Sinaloa that have to be hard, she said, or they're no good.

The seafood was swimming in lime juice, salt and brazenly hot chile tepin, a chile so prized that the price has risen to almost 2000 pesos (about $152) a kilo, she complained. Nevertheless, it is the only chile that is right for aguachile, the dish she was making.

Forget about menudo, this fierce, fresh seafood combo is the best eye-opener imaginable on a Sunday morning.

But Mariscos Ruben had much more to offer that day, like caguamanta con aleta de atun, which is manta ray soup with tuna fin.

If you are in really bad shape after a late Saturday night, this is the dish. It's easy to eat and comforting--until you spike it with hot salsa from the bottles lined up along the counter.  

Also on hand were raw mangrove cockles--pata de mula--from Baja waters.

Behind the scenes, a little mesquite grill turned out smoked marlin tacos and delicious Pismo clams au gratin--almejas gratinadas--smothered in Jack cheese.

There's fresh crab when available, and raw sea urchin in the summer, when the waters are warm and the urchins rise. "Un manjar para el paladar" (a treat for the palate), Mierta Elena said, almost smacking her lips.

Food trucks are big in Los Angeles, but Mariscos Ruben is one of very few in all of Mexico, according to Bill Esparza of Street Gourmet L.A., who led the Sunday morning trek there. 

The business started in  Mierta Elena's home town, Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, and moved to Tijuana 15 years ago.

The truck appears daily at the same spot. There's a little park just outside; shoe shine boys come by, and an itinerant singer might show up to earn a few pesos with a song or two. That's atmosphere you won't find in the pristine haunts of five-star chefs.

Mariscos Ruben. Open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the corner of Quintana Roo and Hidalgo, Tijuana, B.C., Mexico.