As someone who has known the great side of Tijuana all his life–the mercados, the mariscos, the street vendors, the todo–it's given me great pleasure to see that the world is finally realizing what a gastronomic wonderworld Baja California is, from the Baja Med chefs to San Felipe, from Kentucky Fried Buches to everything, that there is more to Baja than overpriced lobster dinners and tequila attacks. Because of that, I've encouraged Dave and Niyaz to blog about their Tijuana experiences, because it's basically on our front door and because their findings are always drool-inducing.
Then it got me thinking: why not include my amigo, Bill Esparza of Street Gourmet LA, America's best chronicler of Mexican food in Mexico, who has led all sorts of gabachos and pochos into Baja to discover the scene, in our coverage? And thus, I'm thrilled as hell to announce the debut of our new weekly column, Tijuana Sí!
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We're going to publish it every Thursday, with dispatches from Bill, Dave, Niyaz, and me (once in a while) about Baja California's food scene: singular dishes, restaurant reviews, photo essays, obsessions over a mercado stall, interviews with chefs, olive oil, wine, beer, EVERYTHING. By doing so, we hope to entice ustedes gentle readers into visiting Tijuana, into realizing it's a magnificent city ready to open itself to the world again, except with great food instead of donkey shows.
And for the inevitable haters who'll rant on and on about corrupt federales, beheadings, and the like? I direct you to the inspiration behind the column's name, the legendary rock en español outfit, Tijuana No!, and specifically this song:
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