Slow Baja - The Soul Of Baja Chef And Restaurateur Javier Plascencia

Episode Date: November 6, 2020

Javier Plascencia’s first book, The Soul of Baja, describes his approach to life (and cooking) like this, “His creations reflect the love for his homeland, his respect for ingredients, and the permanent cultural exchange experienced every day in his native Tijuana.” He grew up cooking alongside his grandmother in the kitchen of Giuseppi’s, his father’s pizza restaurant. The sights, sounds, and smells, like a freshly-butchered hog, that he would turn into chorizo -form the core of his childhood memories. By the time he was a teenager, he knew that he was going to be a chef. Now 30 years into his career, his humility and approachability are a rare breath of fresh air in our celebrity-driven culture. In this conversation -recorded in a shady grove of olive trees at Finca Altazano, in the Valle de Guadalupe -Plascencia was relaxed and in perfect harmony with our surroundings. He consistently eschewed my inquiries about his restaurant empire, preferring to talk about his passions, surfing, and golf. Like his favored pursuits, Plascencia is intensely cerebral and competes mostly against himself. He’s committed to forging his own culinary path in harmony with the environment and fresh, locally-sourced ingredients. Enjoy the conversation with chef and restaurateur Javier Plascencia. Visit the Finca Altozano Website Visit the Finca La Divina Website Visit the Javier Plascencia Website Visit Javier Plascencia on Instagram Visit Javier Plascencia on Facebook

Hey, this is Michael Emery. Thanks for tuning into the Slow Baja. This podcast is powered by Tequila Fortaleza, handmade in small batches, and hands down, my favorite tequila. Slow Baja is brought to you by the Baja XL rally. The Baja XL is the largest and longest amateur off-road rally on the Baja Peninsula. It's 10 epic days, L.A. to Cabo to L.A. Check it out at BajaXL.org.

Javier Placentia, thanks for finding some time for Slow Baja. I'm delighted to be here in the Valle, Guadalupe, at your beautiful restaurant, Finka Altozano. You literally grew up in the restaurant in a restaurant, yeah? In the restaurant business? What was that like? Tell me about your father and your grandfather and growing up in a restaurant. It was a lot of fun. My parents started the first pizza shop in Tijuana, in Baja California.

There was no pizzerias back then. That was in the 50 years ago. Actually this October, they're going to turn 51 years. So they used to cross to San Diego to watch how they make pizzas. They will sit in the counter like at Philips. Felipe's pizza and they'll just watch and eat and my father was it's still very visionary so he he worked at a he met my mom in a bank in Tijuana she was a cashier and he was the his head cashier so that's why they met and he decided to to do this pizza project and it went

really well. Everybody they wanted to eat pizza back then had to cross to San Diego because there were no pizzas in Baja California. And it's called Pizza Giuseppe's. Now he has eight Giuseppe's in the city, Rosarito as well, and four other restaurants. So it's a family-owned operation that runs 14 restaurants. So we always we all are our kids or my brothers we are involved in the business. We grew up in that pizzeria. We did homework after school because both of my parents worked there. We you know we grew up in the restaurant so I started to learn how to I really enjoy being in the kitchen since I was a very young age I enjoyed how the smells and how you feel, you know, touching the dough and doing the salsa from scratch.

Watching my grandma, she was a cook there. My grandma was an excellent cook. That's how I learned this profession. And I remember they started, they built this pizza Mexicana, because after a while, they were tired of eating pepperoni pizza every day for lunch. And one of the cooks brought a can of beans, and then my dad added some jalapenos and chorizo and bacon, and they came out with this Mexican pizza.

That was for staff meal. And the customer watched it and had a taste. They really liked it, so it became one of the most popular items in that pizzeria. So we used to buy whole pigs and make chorizo. And I still remember that smell, how the butcher came with the whole pig and butchered right there. And just seeing all of this and the smells of the meat and the paprika and the cumin and all of that. I still have it very, very in the back of my head.

I used to love making the chorizo. So I have a lot of stories like that. And that's when I turned probably 15, 16. My dad made us work on the weekends to learn, make a little money for us to go have fun with our friends. But we always had to go to work on Saturdays and Sundays. But I really enjoyed it. Sometimes I didn't go play with my friends. I'd rather stay in the kitchen with the guys.

That was a lot of fun for me. So when I turned probably 16, 17, 17 after high school, I told my dad I wanted to be a chef. And of course, he was really happy about it. Back then, we didn't have much. There was no cooking shows on TV or, you know, culinary schools, programs. There were just a program that we knew because one of the chefs at that school was my father's friend. So that's where I went. I went to Mesa College in San Diego after high school to learn about, I mean to go to this program that it was hotel and restaurant management with cooking as well.

So that's how I started. My take on being in a college kid, probably sometimes a drunk college kid in Tijuana in the 80s, it's really changed. And I think Tijuana has really changed for the better. And I think you had a big hand in, you know, the economy tank, they had other problems. But in that period of deciding what Tijuana wanted to be for the people who live there, places like, you know, Mission 19 and Bar 20, Cesar's was revitalized. Tell me about that. Tell me about your ambition to change the direction of a city through your food. Well, like Tijuana gave us so much to my family. They were outside and we've got a tractor nearby, which is okay.

You know, this is part of the charm of podcasting on location. Yeah, I mean, I grew up in Tijuana and I saw the growth of the city. I saw how my parents struggled. They went through recessions. they went through all kinds of things that I really admired all the hard work that they did for us to go to a good school, you know, to have a good quality of life. And it was all through hard work. So I saw it from since I was a very young age.

And when all this happened in Tijuana, all the narco situation, the kidnapsed. We used to have also restaurants in Avenida Revolution. My father had a couple of restaurants in a bar. When we were in high school and college, we used to come down with our friends and have a great time. I think I lived the golden years of Avenida Revolution, which was in the 80s. It was so many people that came down

and the restaurants and the bars were all busy and and it was very, very exciting times. And when all of this happened in Tijuana, that I got to experience it as well, I mean, we had to leave the city because of the kidnappings. It was very sad for me to see what was happening to the city that I grew up in the city that gave us so much. So I wasn't feeling it.

I was mad. I was very sad to see my father in such. He was very, very sad and disappointed. And he told me that he'd never seen anything like it before because the restaurant business went like 50% down on sales. Of course, he had to close so many restaurants and bars in Avenue de Revolution. And we were struggling.

I mean, it was very sad to see. We couldn't cross the border. we couldn't come and work. So I was feeling very, very mad about the situation. So I met this wonderful guys that they were my partners at Mission 19. Young guys, they built this, they felt the same. So they built this very interesting building in Sonar Rio. That's where Mission 19 is.

and they invited me to come and do this project with them when this whole situation was at its baddest, you know, at his worst, yeah. And I said yes because I thought if we, you know, made a statement of we're not going anywhere, we're staying here, plus we are doing, we're investing in this restaurant which nobody ever seen in Tijuana in this building. It made sense for me. So we started, we started very slow, you know, we started with a very unique menu, working very closely with producers and the local ingredients and the whole concept of what Tijuana

food was all about. And it started to get a lot of attention from the press and being in all these chaos of the city with this restaurant. He kind of made a statement. We just wanted to let people, the locals, know that we weren't going anywhere and that we were going to fight for our city through food because that's all I knew how to do. And it helped my family's business as well.

And then that's how we all got started. We started doing a little tours with our neighbors in California. like a lot of people didn't want to cross to Tijuana a lot because we opened a Romesco when we moved from Tijuana to San Diego we weren't doing anything that's how I got really good at golf because I was in work I couldn't cross the border so I started golfing a lot and then we opened Romesco and then all the families started working there and Rommesco was a big success in Bonita because, you know, my father, my mother, my brothers, I was cooking.

It was a very, very, very nice working along with your family. It's a little bit of chaotic, but it's very fun. And we build this really good restaurant that is still open. Now my sister and my brother-in-law own it and they run it. But it was really good times. And we kind of brought the hospitality of boss. Tijuana to Bonita and people really enjoy that and you know the whole all style of service and the waiters in the ambience of the restaurant and it went real well but but a lot of the the

people from San Diego and Los Angeles didn't want to cross the border so they will come to the restaurant they will ask us Tijuana what's happening and we started you know hey come with me let's take a day tour and we'll bring him to eat tacos and and to our restaurants and to, they felt much safer with us. So then they started coming with their families, and they started passing the word around that Tijuana was getting a little bit better, and it was safe because there were some horrible stories

about Tijuana and, you know, don't cross and you're gonna get kidnapped or you're gonna get killed and this and that. And that made us very, very, we felt, very, very mad, very pissed off the situation. And we wanted to change that. And it took us about a couple of years to get, you know, people down here. And we did it throughout our food and our taquerias and our, and other people's restaurants

and other young chefs started to open in food trucks and the craft beer scene started to blow up. And, of course, we always had this place, Valleaupe with the wines. And we always had, well, this restaurant is eight years old, but we started this restaurant as well. And everything started from there. We've touched a lot. You've touched a lot right there. So I'm going to bring you back since you were just talking about the Valle Guadalupe. With your, I hate to use the word empire, but with your collection of restaurants,

which is a sizable collection of restaurants now. What's your feeling when you're here? When you're at Finca Al Thessano, what's your feeling? What character are you playing that you may not be when you're in Miami or that you may not have been at a restaurant in San Diego or your other offerings in Tijuana? Is this your country home? Yeah, I feel...

Your Vicaro? I think freedom. Freedom, it's a word. I feel very free to do whatever I want to do. I mean, this restaurant is built around three acres, and there's so much to do from our garden, the wine program. But we started a charcutory program last year, and there's so much to do.

There's nobody telling you what you can and what you can't, especially the government-wise. we don't when i had this restaurant in san dievo there were so many rules so many regulations so many oh it was it was big barriers yeah barriers uh that it took a lot of my time my creative time and my energy handling these situations and i i was i wasn't feeling what i feel here that freedom to to be a better cook or be uh i mean what you When you come here and you sit here, you feel like, I don't know, that it's very difficult to describe, but you feel more, that it's something, someone loves this place and it's taking

really good care of it. And I mean, all my kids and my family helps me with this project because they know how, I mean, we started with just a little grill. And I had a trailer that I bought in San Miguel from an old couple. And we just put it there. And that was a place where we came as a family to just enjoy a Sunday carnasada or whatever. And it was built without any architects or without, we didn't know what the concept was going to be. We just said, you know, we love this space.

It feels very, very tranquil. Like how you say, very relaxed. Yeah, tranquil is right. And I used to come every weekend with my friends and I cook for them. And eventually I said, you know, I don't just do weekends and we'll do a menu and we will start from there. And what you see now, it's a huge project now. But everything's built with a lot of passion and love. for what this place is, which is a wine country, and we have to respect that.

We, of course, we love wine, but what it is, Bayo Gualupe right now, it's growing so fast, and there's so many places opening that we just wanted to stay the way it is. We don't want to see, you know. You don't want to golf here. No, no, no, no, no. Plenty of places in the world to golf, you know? Exactly. You got my point.

Yeah. So tell me a little bit about Finca la de van. Finca la de Vina. Devinna. Finca la de Vina. It's an amazing, beautiful property that I was able to buy some years, four or five years ago from a family. from my family from Ensenada. That's the place I used to rent for chef friends when I did pop-ups when I started here. I used to rent this. That house was abandoned for some time and when I

first rented out, it was dark, it was, but I had, we saw a lot of potential and I always wanted to have a hotel. I really loved the hospitality business, so I always wanted to have some like some type of bed and breakfast or a little hotel. And we decided to do this house and to build it into a little bed and breakfast. And that's what it is now. It's got five rooms now, but it's a beautiful property. And that's our next project because we were able to buy the land that is underneath. So we're going to build like five more rooms and make it very personal, very, very,

what our signature is very food-friendly where you can cook or we can go and cook for you and, you know, very wine-oriented and it's a beautiful property that we all love. You talked about how rapidly the Valle-Aube is growing. Can you tell me a little bit about in your travels, you've seen a few wine regions in the world. How is this wine region different? It just feels It feels very Mexico It's still

I mean To come to this place You have to come to In an unpaved road Dirt road still There's When you drink this wine And when you are sitting

Eating here It's a truly unique experience I don't I mean I've been in Argentina Italy, France Spain but here is it feels like very it's it's very Mexico the people here are very friendly passionate about

what they do but I don't like what I'm seeing is we have some businesses that don't have to be here because they don't they don't have an idea or a clue of what what this place has to do with with other like cantinas and and and some other businesses that, you know, people are just taking advantage of all the tourists that are coming here. I think we have to keep it the way it is, respect, you know, what it is. It's a wine country region and, you know, not all of the projects go along with that. I mean, you have so many places that you can do other business,

like can'tinas or bars or... We love the small hotels. we love the details of this small hotel, the restaurants, with, you know, respecting the food of the region and working with the local producers. And that, I think, it's the future of Vayawa Lupe. And, I mean, it's doing so well. There's so many talented chefs and cooks and winemakers

that it's, you know, it's such beautiful place to be and experience. We don't want it to be ruined by other things that don't have to be here. Can you explain to me? I've driven from Chiapas to the northern border, Nueva Laredo, Monterey, three or four times, lived in Zocatecas, driven up and down Baja over the last 30 years, many times. Can you explain to me how Baja is different from the rest of Mexico in your mind? Well, Baja is very unique because you have the land and the sea very close. Especially when you drive from here to Cabo San Lucas, you know, you get to experience that. You go through this land.

This is desert, and then you see this beautiful ocean. For me, that's Baja. And you can see it in my... style of cuisine, all my surfing turf that we do, it's because we get a lot of inspirations from the mountains and the land and from the sea. Because we live, I mean, I live, I mean those are my two passions. The sea, I love the sea, I love the sea of the Pacific Ocean, and we have the Sea of Cortez, which are very two different seas.

and of course now working with my projects from my farms and my working with alongside with other producers it's it's very unique it's very unique and now with the wine producers here and I have really good friends that I've been working with that make cheese make olive oil and it's it's a very fun time to be experiences Bajaqqqqa. California, that's what, I mean, of all the regions of Mexico, like you, like the Chappas, the Waxaca, Veracruz, they're all wonderful. They are very unique and you get to experience Mexican cuisine is very regional and it changes from region to region a lot.

And this region of Baja California is a new cuisine of Mexico and a lot of the chefs and a lot of the restaurant tours and people from the industry are loving Baja California because of its uniqueness and also the quality of the ingredients. And we're the start right now of Mexican cuisines

and people are coming and experiencing and we're doing a lot of demos and talking to other cooks, young cooks, about what Baja California is all about. It's mostly because, I mean, it's not only, beautiful, but it's very unique and very, the ingredients are top-notch. Here at Slow Baja, we can't wait to drive our old land cruiser south of the border.

When we go, we'll be going with Baja Bound Insurance. If your website's fast and easy to use, check them out at BajaBound.com. That's Bajabound.com, serving Mexico travelers since 1994. A Baja tourism is picking up, and our friends at the Animal Pad and TAP Act want to remind you when you're crossing the border, just say no to puppy peddlers. I know they're cute, but the sooner we can end the demand, we can end the supply. For more information, check out theanimalpad.org and Tap Act on Instagram and Facebook. You've been very humble and haven't mentioned your Baja Mediterranean cuisine that more or less is yours. You're the famous creator, more or less.

The Soul of Baja, your stunning, spectacular cookbook. These quality ingredients have been here for a very, very long time. Yes. Why is it now that they've come to the... forefront and people are paying heed to this beautiful region and these beautiful ingredients. Yeah, that's a big question. Yeah, we always had the ingredients, but I think it's just a younger generation that not only discovered them, but some in a different way.

and it's all got to do with with all the you know the I mean the cooking schools of course they helped a lot the culinary schools because they brought out so many talent young young guys that think differently and see the ingredients and the way they treat the ingredients is very different we started this whole Baja Mediterranean concept like 20 years ago with a lot of the other chefs that you know from the region and we just I think we just wanted to do our own cuisine and which just like for me it was like I discovered from one from one day to another all the potential that I had here in this region. I mean, I was cooking Mediterranean. I was cooking salmon that, I know, now it

doesn't make sense. I mean, why would we be cooking salmon that travels thousands of kilometers when I have this beautiful sea right here that have so many types of fish? For now, I think about it, and I'm like, she, what was I doing? But I was inspired. I was influenced by French and, the Mediterranean or the Spanish Italian because my family started cooking Italian before cooking Mexican. I mean, all of our events and our family meals were always either Italian or Chinese or something else. We didn't cook any Mexican food, which is very us, very, very northern. And if you live in the south, the Mexico City, O'Alajara, all your traditions and your family meals and your festivities

are around Mexican food, molese and, you know, chili reyenos and these barbacoas and everything, this wonderful Mexican dishes. But here in the north, it was very different. And now it's changing. Now we all cook beautiful fish, shellfish from here. So it was, for me, it was a wonderful time to be in these years of discovery because we are still working and we're still, you know, discovering new ingredients.

And it's amazing how everything changed so fast. and it's going in a really good direction. But it's all because of the young generation of people that are in the industry now. And of course it got to do with the winemaking, the craft piercing and everything. Architects, musicians, everything that it's born here in Baja California, it's very unique. It's a lot of talent. And it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, you can be very free and very creative, which nobody's telling you how to do it.

Because you got a lot of, you know, all recipes that you have to respect, but like in central Mexico they, they will tell you, oh, you have to make these small sauce like this, because this is a tradition, this is how it's always being made. So don't, don't mess with it. and here we are very, very free and very creative, and we can do whatever we want to do because we're making history. We just, we need to document everything because this is the future for other generations. Do you think the dark period with the narcos and when the tourists went away,

that the local people decided that's when craft beer came up and that's when other things came up and you didn't have the hordes of drunken gringoes coming every day not being very discerning. You know, they were eating tacos or street hot dogs or what have you, or they were eating food that maybe wasn't very thoughtful or sophisticated. And then all that goes away. And somebody bold has to say, well, what are we going to do? We're planting a flag in the soil and saying we're starting here today. And I think you've been humble, and I'm going to say it again.

I think to a large degree, much of that stemmed with some of the risks that you took and created this cuisine where you're not trying to impersonate somebody else. You're not bringing in salmon from Alaska or wherever it's coming from things out of a can. You're getting it local. And this region is one of those places in the world, like the San Francisco Bay Area, like many regions of Italy, that's... just has so much so close together. Yes, yes.

And I think maybe the price point of living here is a little bit less. You know, you don't have to have the investment like you would in Napa or in San Francisco to get something started. And you've got a little property like this experiment that looks stunning to me seems like it's perfectly in tune with these surroundings. And so when this is your home, your weekend. place, your compo, your barbecue spot. What are your other offerings? If you don't mind walking me through, you've got a lot going on. I mean, to sit here and take this time with

me, you've got a lot going on. Yeah, well, my life is built around this lifestyle, I mean, this lifestyle, which you can, if you see, if you, you know, you can see me on social media, you will see all this guy is such you know lucky to do what he does but behind the scenes it's a lot of work a lot of time on the phone on the computer um i mean i love my life i now that i'm older i'm wiser and i'm able to to balance it out um not working like you know mad horse and in so many hours like i I used to. Now I love what I'm doing now because I get to balance and I have great chefs and and managers that work for me that we all are a great team and we can now, you know, work on other projects. But I'm working on projects that I want to or at places where I

want to be where I want, I feel like what I feel here. and they're mostly in Baja. But the thing is that we don't, when we open a restaurant or a project, back in the day, I talked to my father and some other really good businessman from that area of the 70s, 60s, 80s, and they're all worth targeting the tourism,

the Americans, because Tijuana, in Baja, California, is always being a very tourist region. And back then, you will see all the fats and whatever the American wanted to eat. That's what we were cooking. And after all this crisis from whatever happened from the narcos and everything else, we started just targeting because we knew that tourism wasn't going to be back for quite some time. and we just decided, you know, we have to focus on the local people, what the locals want.

And it all makes sense from there. Like, we started cooking more like for the locals and not thinking much of the tourists, which we all need and love our tourists because we have so many friends in California, especially that for years they're being coming to a restaurant. and they are part of what we are now. We have so many good friends and people that are visiting us for over 30 years. And I really, I really, I love them because they're part of what I am today. But when you stop thinking about tourism and you start thinking about locals,

the tourists, now they want to come and discover what the locals are eating. And plus, you know, all that back in the area. 80s, because I was one of them. I was a young, stupid high school college guy, just want to come and get drunk and eat tacos and get buckets of beer for $5. And that'll change. That'll change. We don't have that anymore. And now we have a better tourist that wants to drink a better wine, wants to learn about the culture, wants to learn about craft beer here. And now the food, we don't have anymore, you know, one of those eight tacos for, you know, a dollar and buckets of beer and all these things. That's just in the past.

Now we have better tourism that are more, they know more about food, more about ingredients and they want to know and they want to know where the fat fish came from and who fish it and so it's it's it's it's it's it's super good for us makes us a better uh restaurant tour and we have better quality and it's all because the tourism changed and also the nationals the local people changed and the new generation is making it better and better and And that's what's happening. At least that's what happened to me in my family, in my business. So everything that we think before opening a new project,

we're just completely not think about if the tourists are going to like it or not. Well, I appreciate that answer, and I think I'm going to boil it down to it's really now you're not catering to tourists. you're really creating something that's much more from the heart, much more authentic, much more, and in my opinion, much more interesting, which you touched on, that, you know, now tourists want to do what the locals are eating. So it's, you know, it's come all the way around. Can you tell me a little bit about Caesars?

Yes. Does Caesars have a weight on you as the responsibility of, you know, generations of people eating that's very, very famous salad? Yeah, it kind of does. That restaurant, when we took it over, my father sat us down, all my brothers and my family. That's the same questions that he asked us. Are you guys? Are you ready for this?

Are you ready for this? I mean, this is a big deal. I mean, it's one of the most, I don't know what I would say, that's successful or used or, the recipe. I mean, if you travel from China to, I don't know, Tel Aviv, you're always going to see a Caesar salad either in a hotel or a restaurant. And it was a big deal for us, but we all said, yes, of course, we want to do it. Now, one of my brother runs the restaurant with my, still my father, and we have a group of very talented shows. that oversee the restaurants, that restaurant in particular.

Still very family-owned. We all, you know, have our say in it. But we all feel very proud of it. And it's a very successful, very busy restaurant from 11 to when we close at night. Locals love it because of the history as well. But also it's got that friendly Baja service. you get, you know, very professional, very, the waiters there. We have a couple of waiters in a bar, in a barman that have been there for more than 30 years

in that, the Cesar's, well, it's before the owner, you know, it's changed ownership, but they feel very proud. That's, they spend half of their lives doing what they do. And we have some salad makers that they feel very proud of what they do. They've been doing that salad for more than 30 years. and they are in Saladero. They love it. And that's what they're going to keep doing for the rest of their life.

And that's what makes a big difference when you have a business like that. It's the people that run it and when you go sit down and they make your salad right in front of you. And they tell you this story with a big smile. I mean, that for me is something very... Pride. Yeah, pride. A lot of pride. They have pride and heart.

Exactly. Yeah. You can't fake that. No, no, no, you can't. So, again, you've been very demure here in talking about the empire of Javier Placencia, so we're not going to press you any further on that. But tell me a little bit about managing that. What is it like?

You've got things in here in Tijuana. You've got here in the Valle. You've got Miami. You had things in the States. I mean, how do you deal with it? What lessons have you learned for this, for others? What would you say to others? It's a passion that gets me.

My mom always gives me a hard time because she said, oh, please slow down. I mean, last couple of years I traveled like crazy. I was just when this whole COVID thing happened. And I had a lot more time to sit down and think about my past of what I've been doing the last couple of years. I saw my agenda and I was like, Jesus, how do I, how do I, how do I did all of this?

I traveled, did so many projects and events. I was from New York to San Francisco to Oaxaca, to Cabo to here. But it was just my passion. My passion for what I do is what God. me there and and now I don't think I'm going to slow down for a bit I really enjoy working on new projects of course I want to I want to get my my restaurants that already have I need to keep them very in-tuned oil how do you say it yeah well-oiled well-oiled and I I I

I have a few projects for this coming year that I need to take care of, open. And I think it's just, if you are really passionate about what you do, it's not work for me. I really enjoy what I do. I love my lifestyle. But I don't, I mean, I don't try to be someone that I'm not. It just comes very organically to me. it's like all this farm to table fat that you've seen in a lot of the other places

of restaurants this is very this is very Baja it came naturally to me we didn't try to be what we are and I'm not trying to be someone that I'm not this is what I am this is my life this is my passion and I think if you just go along with it you you will be successful

at least you'll be happy of what you are doing Because I also had some projects that didn't work for me. But now everything's coming on great, but I don't try hard at doing it. Well, you seem super comfortable in your skin these days. You've figured it out, or at least you're fooling me if you haven't. I'm not going to take much more of your time. I've got a couple more questions for you. What do you like to eat?

I like to eat simple things. I ate. It's very, very, I had this pop-up last week here this weekend where I was cooking. I wanted to cook for my clients because I've been in and out. And I just said, I want to be this weekend and cook. And I had a lobster dish that it's lobster season right now. But yesterday I want to go eat lobster at the lobster village in Portoenau. And I love to eat beans and rice and flour tortillas and salsa. And it's just, I like to eat things that I grew up eating that I have, you know, a memory in my head, like carnassad tacos in Tijuana in different, in the street, street tacos. I like to eat a lot of broths like Brahmin soups, everything that's soupy I really love. because my mother and my father love also those types of soups and things like that. And just fresh. I'm eating a lot fresher now because I have my gardens and I get, you know, really good produce.

Really good tomatoes in season. I love olive oil. I love fish. But, you know, it's very simple. very simple things not too complicated well i think that's a recipe for success in life as well so we'll last question here what's next for you what's next uh well i i have a few more projects i have one in the in tijuana which is going to be a little hotel with a restaurant and a in a bar Yeah. I like to...

I have another project in San Jose Del Cabo. I really... I'm having a great time down there surfing and with my other restaurant in Tos Santos, Hasamango, which I really enjoy spending time there. I really enjoy that area, that Pescadero, Tos Santos. I think I want to retire half of the year down there. You and me both. Yeah.

You and me. But yeah, we're consulting on some couple other projects in the United States. But just, you know, keep doing what I like to do. And I still have, I really want to have my other book. I work on my new book, which we are starting, and create more recipes. and I mean my kids are all grown up and I have more time now and get better at surfing and golfing too. Do you find one of those is harder than the other? No, they're all the same.

They all need a lot of attention, a lot of practice, a lot of passion and just, you know, they need a lot of love. They need a lot of commitment. Commitment, yeah. You have to commit. Commitment is a big, yeah, of course. That's commitment and that's one of my dad's words and things that you need to do every day. Same.

I mean, you're cooking as, you know, any dish you will repeat and repeat every day. they need to be the same. And if you go to one of the restaurants and try a dish, and you'll come back in 10 years, and if that dish still, the menu needs to taste the same. And that's what's hard about this profession or this business, is keeping up with the quality and making sure that things are always the same. Same quality, same style of service.

It's a lot of work, but if, like I told you, if you really have the passion and enjoy what you do, you do it with without any, you know, for me, it's, it's play. No reservations. No reservations. All right. Well, Javier Placencia, you've been darn kind to make some time for slow Baja on very short notice. Delighted to be here at Finca Altazano with you, a beautiful day, drinking Cervesa under the, the shia. The shade of the olive tree, so thanks again, and I hope our paths cross soon. Cheers. Thank you. Thanks for having me.

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