Slow Baja - Travel Talk With Slow Baja Meet Leda Gamboa Of Adobe Food Truck

Episode Date: May 27, 2022

Today's Travel Talk with Slow Baja has me chatting with Leda Gamboa, the owner of Adobe Food Truck in the Valle de Guadalupe, Baja, California. Adobe Food Truck is a top-notch Tapas Restaurant masquerading as a food truck. I visited for lunch and asked Leda to pick something for me --she selected the spicy beef tongue and a Jardin Magico, Sauvignon Blanc, from Adobe Guadalupe Vineyard next door. I was delighted and a little surprised by the pairing. Later that afternoon, I returned to talk with her about her culinary journey and the food scene in the Valle. She was happy to have a Slow Baja conversation and shared several of her favorite wines, winemakers, and restaurants. Adobe Food Truck is dog-friendly and open to the public. It's located just before the main gate of Adobe Guadalupe Winery. Closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays Adobe Food Truck is Slow Baja Approved Follow Adobe Food Truck on Facebook Read about Adobe Food Truck on Tripadvisor Mentioned in today's show: Emevé Winery Christina Pino, winemaker, Santo Tomas Winery La Concheria 

Hello, hello, Ola, Como Estas, Slow Baja amigos. Today's heaping dose of gratitude goes out to all those who took the leap and came with me in the Slow Baja Safari and the Noro Mexican 1000. Specifically, I want to shout out and applaud Jim Chamberlain, 79 years old. He brought that old Manx, beautiful replica of the red number 10 car, perfect replica. And he squeezed into that with his son, Steve. and they had a smile on their face the entire 1,200-something miles down the peninsula. It warmed my heart to see Jim and to pour a shot for him, shot a Fortaleza at the finish,

and just want to say well done, and well done to the Safari Special gang who got Jim's Manx entered and helped it get down the peninsula. And I also have to acknowledge my best buddies in the world. There are four vehicles in my group, and these guys are not all. off-road racers. These are my best college buddies. And, well, Ted, my navigator, his brother, Big Olaf, Kevin, Jim Bo, Bronco Privateer, his navigator, Corey, Todd and my old college roommate and buddy and Rico, you guys were the best. Really, smile on your face, laughing our asses off. I'm going to say it, laughing our asses off. You guys really, we are growing older, but we are certainly not growing

up and it was a delight to share this a momentous event with all you guys. So, okay, today's show is with Leda, who runs the Adobe Food Truck at the Adobe Guadalupe Winery. The Adobe Food Truck is a strong Slow Baja approved and you do not need to be staying at the Adobe Guadalupe Winery to eat there at the food truck. It's right outside the front gate. It's absolutely fabulous. Leda is a terrific chef and I have to say it, and I go on and on. wax poetically about it in the podcast. I just let her pick my lunch and pick my wine and, you know, she just hit a grand slam. Stuff I would have never tried on my own. It was fabulous. So check it out. And with that, on with the show.

Hey, this is Michael Lemery. Thanks for tuning into the Slow Baja. This podcast is powered by Tequila Fortaleza, handmade in small batches and hands down my favorite tequila. Hey, I want to tell you about your new must-have accessory for your next Baja trip. Benchmark Maps has released a beautiful, beautiful Baja California Road and Recreation Atlas. It's a 72-page large format book of detailed maps and recreation guides that makes the perfect planning tool for exploring Baja. Pick yours up at Benchmarkmaps.com. Okay. Hello. Hello.

Hey, it's Travel Talk with Slow Baja, and I'm in the beautiful Valle de Guadalupe with Leda, and we are at her adobe food truck at the grounds of the adobe Guadalupe, vineyards, and inn. And you have a beautiful spot. I've been here a couple of times just for a beer. Today I had a magnificent lunch, and it was your choice. So tell me about what you decided I should have, and it was lovely. Today, because it's nice, it's not cold, it's not hot,

we decide to give you our best dish, is a tapa. is meant to share is beef town with shrimp, potatoes, olive oil from the winery infused with Chile de Arbol. He has a little... It had a little zing. And you warned me about that, but it was lovely. Yeah, we understand that people come here to enjoy wine. So the idea of our menu is to go with the wine. It's the other way around. Our food has to wrap up the wine. We're know the wine should be behind the foot. Well, you also chose my wine today, which was a beautiful pairing as well. So tell me about the wine that you selected for me.

It's Hardin Magico, is Sauvignon Blanc, 2019. No, 2020. It's from Adobe Guadalupe, of course. I love that wine because it's lemon cesty, very fruit forward, but has that grass, beautiful grass that gives that fresh. freshness at the end. I think for this weather, and also I didn't tell you, but we designed the picocito de Lengua,

that's the name of the dish that you had, for that Sauvignon Blanc. Well, I think this is the amazing thing when I don't even look at the menu. I just ask you, what do you recommend? And you chose a smashing pairing of things that I would have never ordered. Really?

I wouldn't have. No, I mean, you know, beef tongue, you say, oh, I don't know, maybe. But it was outstanding. Thank you. It was outstanding. So let's back up a minute. Okay.

Hello. Hello again. Hello again. I happened to be by for just a minute yesterday as I was driving in, 4.30 in the afternoon. It was packed. There's people here, beautiful people everywhere, including my friend Alex Verbaugh, was here with his old land cruiser like mine. I pulled into the parking lot of my friend is here.

It was a scene. Is that a regular Sunday in winter? Yes, it's a weekend. But also, if you notice, yesterday, finally we had some sun and some nice weather. And we're in Baja. People will drink wine, either is snowing, either is raining. It's just the perfect excuse to have red, white, or rosé. Okay.

Well, it was a beautiful scene full of beautiful people. Thank you. I wish I had a chance to spend a little time, but True had a date for me and we had to get off to dinner, so I wasn't able to stay and mingle and have a few glasses or a bottle of wine like I would have liked to. But your story here, let's back up to that. Oh my gosh, okay.

You came from Cancun? Yeah, from the other side of Mexico, the south border. We opened the first wine bar in Cancun. That was our thing. It was tapas, bigger menu, very local. We used to host most of the chefs and people that were in the restaurant industry and hotel and the hospitality. So that's always a very smart place when you have the people in the industry stopping by. Of course. We have an anecdote that we used to close our kitchen at 12 midnight.

The chef from the rich carton from Pantino, they asked us to open. up a little later because he was a Spaniard from Catalonia. He said, after work, I need a tapa and a drink. Yeah. So we ended up opening for five more years at one o'clock. Our kitchen was open all the way to one o'clock for them. Amazing. We had the influenza.

We decided our time in Cancun was already gone. We moved to south, to Bacala, is the, the lagoon of the seven colors. It's a beautiful place. We have a little hotel over there. And we rented up. We didn't want to run it, so we rented up. We ended up no house and no plan.

So we dropped all the way here just to retirement plan and through invite us to be part of this project that we loved. And something that was the start. as a hobby, chatting with people, having wine, just became really interesting business. We've been enjoying it for almost, no, for more than seven years. We are going seven and a half years. I think the beautiful thing is to have had the experience of having a wine bar, tapas,

and then just distilling that to a food truck. A food truck that doesn't run around, a food truck that's here. So it's all in location. And then, of course, the setting that Drew has put you in is just a fabulous. It's just fabulous. It was a food truck because when we began, since Drew and I are very good friends, we decided there was going to be a food truck whenever we didn't like each other or business was already done. It's easy to slip.

Yeah. We'll keep our friendship on top. of business so that's we never change it is the food truck stayed and and also there's some when we start the wine region wasn't that touristic and everything that you will find either was tacos or fine dining there was nothing in the middle for people to to have something some finger food some tapas in the middle and I don't smoke So every time that I have a glass of wine, I need something to nibble.

And that was my idea. If I need something to nibble, I bet you there's a lot of people. Sure. But we try to have honest prices, the top quality that we can afford with that. And it's been a success because we have a lot of locals. We love to have locals. And we love to have what locals are. I have to say this, it's not only

Valladalupe locals, because T.J people, they feel locals. And Mexically people feel locals. And San Diego, they feel locals. Because they... My friend was here from San Diego just for the day. Yeah, that's what I mean. He just ran down,

put on his beautiful hat, his nice shirt, looked good, took his little truck for a drive. People come every 15 days or every weekend. Because Bia de Guadalupe, it's everybody's house. And that's how we feel. And we host people that said, Leda, I've been here so many times. This is my house. And we know which table everybody

loves, what they don't like, what they like, what should we, we are dog-friendly. I saw two beautiful dogs here today. And sometimes even we put our reservations under the dog's names. We remember the dog's names better than our host, our guests. Fabulous. Well, folks, do you wish you'd join me on the Nora Mexican 1000? The sold-out

Slow Baja class was truly epic. We had an amazing array of vehicles and folks driving them. The Don Quay, the chimp, the vintage manxes, the vintage racing Broncos, Mayo Land Cruiser, Bronco, privateer. Shout out

to you, brother. 1980s FJ60, the Silver Lady. Let me just say, the man called Yeti and the Wild Yolo. They had an amazing Johnny Johnson tribute Ford Ranger truck. They rolled with us, changed gears and rolled with us on the last day of the event. And I think they had a ball, as did all the other folks and the new jeeps and the raptors and all the folks that came down the peninsula with us. Again, Big Oli absolutely blew up the internet.

But they were right there smiling at the end. You got to check that out, folks. I'm not going to go into it. But the next opportunity to have some fun in the slow Baja Safari class is the Nora Baja 500. It's September 29th through October 2nd. It is Ensenada to Ensenada, which means logistically. It's a heck of a lot less challenging than the Mexican 1000. So if you want to come down, have all the fun and a lot less logistics to deal with,

the Nora Baja 500 is the event for you. shoot me a message. I think this low Baja safari class is going to sell out quick. So if you're interested, let me know soon. Also, the next opportunity after that is the Baja XL rally. It's every other year. It's coming up in February of 2023. Again, it's a totally different animal. It's 200-something overlanders. 25-30 countries should be represented again now.

COVID's behind us. And it is a great time. Bring your rooftop tent. Bring your funky vehicle. Get on down the coast at a very slow. roll. There's a competition category, which is like a giant Easter egg hunt, or there's the adventure category, the touring category, which we roll in, which we just break out our benchmark map, figure out which squiggly dirt road looks the most scenic, and we take it, and nobody judges.

It's an awful lot of fun. It's too much to explain here. If you're interested, it's February 17th through February 26th, 2023. Shoot me a message through the contact feature at Slobaha.com. direct message Instagram, direct message Facebook, or Slow Baja at Gmail, and I will get you all the information you need for you to make an informed decision if Baja is right for you. Well, I think you hit a home run in having something that was casual but beautifully crafted and beautifully prepared because, look, Trues House is lovely. Oh, my gosh. It's a lovely place to have dinner.

I'll be having dinner there tonight. I enjoy the breakfast more than the dinner, because I... the breakfast is so warm, but casual. The dinners, I'm going to have to make sure my shirt is pressed and, you know, but to have this here, it's fantastic. Beautiful outdoor seating, beautiful gardens, obviously beautiful food. The weather was fabulous yesterday, and I had been freezing all over Baja. I don't want to tell people that it gets cold here, but it was very, very, very cold where I was. And to come in and see the warm weather and the people, the beautiful women in their dresses and their hats,

And again, my friend Alex was here with his old land cruiser, and he was looking sharp. And everybody seemed to be having a lovely time. And lunch today with Drew and Adriana. And, you know, it's Slow Baja approved and Slow Baja highly recommended. You serve Adobe Guadalupe wines. Yes. But you're also, you told me a little bit about a beer project. So Adobe Guadalupe is doing a beer project.

That's correct. And tell me about that. We have two beers. We didn't feel that we needed more than that. We have a light one that is not light, but we call it WERA, golden. A golden ale. A little blondie. A blondeie.

It's a golden ale. And we have a little dark, but not too much that overwhelm your plate. It's red ale, which we feel that would be enough to refresh your plate and also to give you space to have more whine. later on today. So that's the break in between wineries and wine tastings. And also remember that we told you that True decide to choose those two after three months of working very hard with a brewery that is making it especially for her. We love it. I mean, even for my spare time, that's the beer that I have because I

absolutely love it. Yeah. No more than that. I have to admit, I'm a bit of a yellow beer drinker, a simple lager beer is all I need. I don't need the hoppy, yeasties, the browns, the reds, the darks, what have you. When I came the last time, I had a beautiful, I had your blondeie, and it was lovely. Beer out of a wine glass. Slow Baja approved on that as well. So you also have the gift shop here.

Yeah, this is our store and also the wine tasting area for people. the just walk-ins. And I think it's, have you ever seen the two Frida's painting? Yes. They are interconnected. We here at the food truck, the garden that we have here, the wine tasting and store, is just beautiful. We feed each other. We nurture each other.

We're a whole thing, even though it's part of the winery and we are not. and we are but we are part of the winery, but I'm in the administration. It's separately. And I feel like the two free that's here. We have the wine, we have the olive oil that we used to cook. We have even the salsas. We have it right here at the store. A little gift souvenirs.

And soon we're going to have truffles. That's what I heard. Yeah, the chef at the house. The most secretly hidden restaurant in the Valle is Tru's house at Adobe, Guadalupe. So we're going to have truffles next time. Chocolate truffles. Yeah, chocolate truffles. Beautiful.

And, of course, you sell the Tietula tequila here, but you don't pour it in your establishment, or do you? No, we don't. Just the beer and the wine. Just the beer and the wine. We try to have more the spirit of the wine country in the fermented area. And the steel, we leave it for you to enjoy at your house. Okay, but you can buy it here. I bought a bottle on my last trip.

A tequila. Yes, tell me about the olive oil. Oh, the olive oils here. You can see it. There's olive trees everywhere, everywhere. And it's Manzanita. It's Manzanilla Amision. And it's cold press.

We make so little, but so high quality. Believe me, it's from the press. to the bottle and to your plate, to your table. There is no in-between commercial or anything in the middle. So you get to see how fresh and beautiful you have the acidity. I mean, I'm in love with our olive oil. And it's also a bad thing because after that, you eat anywhere in Mexico that use,

other kind but olive oil. And you're used now to the good things, to the good stuff. There's no way back after you try this olive oil from the valley. Yeah, can you talk a little bit about as a restaurant tour your ability to provision from the gardens here, from the trees here, from the local fish, the shellfish? I mean, you have so much within 20 miles. The Baja is the Eden. The Eden.

The Eden for Eden. The Eden for Eden, yeah. We are now supporting a local hydroponic grower. All our lettuce is from Envinka. She's doing this project right next to my house, actually. Every Thursday we harvest our lettuce. She has over 14 different styles, different time of the year. One are stronger than the other.

And that's what we serve. Thursday we harvest is right on the table. Also, all the fruit and vegetables are from here, from the Baja from the south, from San Quintin. Our meat and sausage are from Mexicali. Everything is around here. And that's one thing that really makes the table. difference in the taste, in the high quality that you are trying. Even though if you're having a sandwich or a torta, you're going to feel the difference. And I can speak from most of the

restaurant tours here. We're very proud of that. We're very proud of our products of everything that we are able to use in our kitchens. I'm telling you, because we are a very, very supportive community, we love to eat from each other's tables. I wish people could see this smile in front of me from Lena. It's beautiful. She's absolutely, absolutely honest and sincere about that. It's, uh, it comes through 100%. Um, obviously we want people to come here. Oh, yeah. To sample your food and your food truck and your beautiful setting in, in Adobe Guadalupe.

Tell me a few, a few places that people shouldn't miss if they're here to see you. Of course. Maybe another spot. Something you like, food-wise, ice cream, another glass of wine at somebody else's vineyard. I think True does such a beautiful job, but there's 300 vineyards. Well, I think most of the people, most of us that came to the Baja is because we either love wine, beer, and to it. But I'm going to tell you, one of my favorites wines besides Adobe is MV. And it's just, isn't that next door?

If I run out of wine for myself, I'll run over there. They have this amazing white wine. It's called Isabella. It's like spring on a bottle. Villanier, Sauvignon Blanc. Oh, my gosh. You open it and you can even feel how the flowers are coming out and the little fruit.

It's beautiful, amazing. I love what I always follow winemakers. and Christina Pino, she's in Santo Tomas. She makes the difference about wine. She, she knows her thing. Everything she's making since 1918, it's amazing. But there have been vineyards in Santo Tomas for centuries. Yeah, she's the new winemaker.

She's doing a very nice refreshing. twist on the winery. The owner is the family own, it's a family own, but the Santiago Cosillo is now in charge. He's renewing this very old huge winery. Very old tired. Different slow, but it's it's starting to happen in Santo Tomas again. Oh my gosh. Yeah, it is. It is even in Ensenada in the old bodega, they're making these art, what, by area where there's one of my favorite restaurants. Tell me about it. La Concheria.

It's seafood and what I like over there is the respect that they have for the seafood. Everything is fresh. They only serve whatever they get in the morning. And their slogan is the art of not cooking the sea, the seafood. Everything. If you ever get to go over there, Tomorrow? Yes, you should.

The house, Ceviche, is just amazing. It has a little touch of fresh ginger, olive oil-wise. They use an amazing olive oil from Magoni. And also, I try fresh sardines, pasta. Wow.

Yeah. Great. Again, I wish I could share this smile here. It's beautiful and authentic. So, So you've given me a couple, you've given me the winery, you've given me Christina Pina, the winemaker in Santo Tomas, la concheria. Yes, sorry, my handwriting is so bad, I couldn't even read my handwriting in Ensenada.

The owner, Angel, Beltram, and the chef, they do such a beautiful job together. They're so big about making sure that the food is perfect, that they just, make something amazing out of whatever they touch. The other restaurant that I like is closed now, but they do only exclusive by appointment. Olivia. They make it sparkling. The chef Janina Gavaldon is great.

Great. All right. Well, Slow Baja listeners, that's a few tips from Leda here at Adobe Food Truck at Adobe, Guadalupe Vineyards and Inn. How do you describe, I'm sure, seen some wine regions in the world. How do you describe the Vallelepe compared to other places and other regions? What's going on here that's so different? Has the Mexican flavor, the very casual. their relaxed style, has the own personality, wine, very professional,

because one thing that I love about here is that everybody put everything on their wine, they put all their passion on their wine. I can't tell you one whiner that I don't like. Everybody, we are so together, so united together. if somebody bottles one wine they will tell come try

come and try my wine and I think that love as a community that we have that makes us special because everywhere that you are going to go they're going to recommend you to go to other place

like I went my family was here just last week we went to La Carrodilla they treat me and my family as is if I had was a royal. We treat our own the best we can. The wines were fantastic. The place was amazing.

They also own La Lomita, but they wanted us to try everything that we didn't have any more time to go to other winery. So you're saying there's a beauty in the spirit, the creativity, the community, and the camaraderie. Oh, yes. Where there's a real, well, I always say that's the Mexican, that's the secret beauty of Mexico, that the being welcomed as family. Yes, it's a family. That you're being welcomed into their home. The Valle Guadalupe, you just said, it's a family.

It's a family. It's a family. And we have the cousin that probably we don't like that much, but if we need to close tight, we'll do it. Close ranks, close arms, yeah. Yeah. Well, Leda, it's been beautiful for you, making. a few minutes for Slow Baja. I'm going to say it again. Highly, highly recommended Slow Baja

approved the Adobe Food Truck. It's right on the entrance, right in the driveway into Adobe Guadalupe Vineyards and Inn. It's a spectacular spot. I'm going to recommend staying at the vineyard, of course, but it's a spectacular spot if you're here, you're not staying here, you can still swing in, have a lovely meal, meet Letta and her staff and sit in this beautiful spot. Bring your dog. It's dog friendly. Let your kids run around a little bit. It's a spectacular setting. And thank you so much for selecting my lunch today and selecting my wine. Two things I would have never tried on my own. And they were both lovely. So thank you. Thank you. It was very nice. And thank you for not minding all my birds singing and cheering. It's so spectacularly beautiful here.

The birds are chirping. I did make you turn down the music, but we can't turn down the birds. But the birds are just singing a beautiful song. They're so, I don't know, it's just, it's just happiness all over the place. And they're free. The birds are free. Yeah, they're an up cage. They're free. Yeah, the birds are free and the flowers are beautiful. And come, come while the rosemary's in bloom. So again, Aletta, thank you very much. I appreciate it. Thank you. We did it. Good. Have I told you about my friend True Miller? You've probably heard the podcast, but let me tell you, Her vineyard, Adobe Guadalupe Winery, is spectacular. From the breakfast at her communal table, bookended to an intimate dinner at night,

their house-bred Azteca horses, Solomon, the horseman will get you on a ride that'll just change your life. The food, the setting, the pool, it's all spectacular. AdobeGuadalupe.com. For appearing on Slow Baja today, our guests will receive the beautiful benchmark map 72-page Baja Road and Recreation Atlas. not go to Baja without this, folks. You never know when your GPS is going to crap out, and you're going to want a great map in your lap. Trust me. I hope you enjoyed that conversation with Leda at Adobe Food Truck. Again, strong, strong, Slow Baja approved on that. If you are in the Valle, swing by, have lunch, let Lada pick the food,

let Lada pick the wine or drink that beer out of a wine glass, and you will not be sorry you did. Teller Slow Baja sent you. And if you would like to join me on a one-day food tour of Ensonato with Leda. Shoot me a note through Slowbaha.com. Click that contact, Slowbaha feature, and shoot me a note, and I will keep you on the list when we get the date squared away, and you can join us in Ensonado. We can eat our way through that lovely city. All righty, while you are at Slowbaha.com, you can check out the Slowbaha shop, where I have all the t-shirts, the sweatshirts, the hats. All styles are in. All sizes are in. It won't last long, folks. So if you're thinking about something for yourself or if you're thinking about something for that slow Baja, friend of yours, get it now while it's in stock. Thanks. I appreciate that. And also I have to thank Busted Knee Adventure 18 Davis 18 and R. Ike for their lovely new five-star reviews on Apple. It is not hard to leave a review on Apple, folks. You just click that fifth star. Click the fifth star. That's the important one. They all light up. You write something nice. You hit submit.

That helps people find the show, which helps me continue to do the show, which is darned important to all of us. All righty, thanks for listening and to paraphrase my old friend and Baja lover, Steve McQueen, Baja's life. Everything that comes before or after is just waiting.