Tourism

Baja California’s lobster is one of the most requested in Asia and Europe: Baja Window to the South

Puerto Nuevo style lobster is one of Baja California’s most emblematic dishes

Photo by: La Casa de la Langosta

By Sonia Zavala2022-05-07T00:36:00+00:00

Baja Window to the South is a show all about the surprises, for week after week hosts Olga Sánchez de la Vega and Scott Koenig showcase the different wonders that Baja California has to offer American tourists. This show is both for Americans who have already visited the state and those who are curious to see what surprises lie in the region.

On the Tacos With Muchachos segment, Scott Koenig and his guest, Chef Denise Adriana Roa, went to El Lugar de Nos in Tecate where they tried a taco made by Denise and her partner, Chef Mariela. This taco has a cheese crust, beef tongue, and cabbage salad. And the first thing they said is that the taco looked quite artistic; its presentation is not something that one would find in any taqueria.

Scott described it as a “transcendental taco” since it had ingredients with great flavor and were very well made. This taco also has drops of a “burned sauce” made out of charred peppers and the restaurant’s secret recipe. This taco was accompanied by a passionfruit and mezcal drink. Scott said that the seasoning, the meat’s perfect cooking, and the combination of flavors have made this the Taco of the Year.

The first guest was Karla Sing Plascencia, member of the board of directors of the Association of Hosts and Tour Organizers of Baja California (ATOPBC), which has 10 offices located in Mexicali, Tijuana, Tecate, and Rosarito. They get over 70,000 visitors every year and have tours that vary from wine sampling in Valle de Guadalupe to shark swimming in Bahía de los Ángeles. Several of these tours have won awards by the Secretariat of Tourism for their outstanding services and innovations.

Sing added that visitors came from all over Mexico as well as California and the US. The 10 companies work together in monthly meetings, with each office taking care of tasks corresponding to their area. Some of the least known tours are the one where one can travel in helicopter through the coast and vineyards and the one where one can kayak close to La Bufadora.

Olga and Scott went to Puerto Nuevo to visit La Casa de la Langosta and speak with its owner, Alan Bautista Plascencia, also President of the National Chamber of the Restaurant and Seasoned Food Industry (CANIRAC) Rosarito. He showed the way in which Puerto Nuevo style lobster is cooked since it was his grandmother the inventor of this dish which has become a “must eat” when visiting Baja California.

His grandparents, both coming from other states of Mexico, decided to create traveling fishing experiences for Americans. Since they didn’t have a lot of options, they offered them beans, rice, recently made flour tortillas, along with seafood that Alan’s grandfather brought from his sea travels, from fish, to oysters, to lobsters fried in lard. All of this occurred in petroleum-based kitchens, since there was no electricity, gas, or refrigeration and they were meals that could last days without any household appliances.

One of the lobsters that is served in this restaurant is the California Spiny Lobster, which is one of the species that can be found all across the coast of northern California and Baja California. It has a high demand commercially in the Asiatic and European markets due to its flavor and Bautista added that one of the great products of the state is the seafood.

La Casa de la Langosta has been awarded twice as the Best Restaurant in Mexico, with the most recent being in 2021 in the category of “Mexican Food” competing against other traditional dishes such as enchiladas, chiles en nogada, and many more. Scott added that he couldn’t think of a dish in Baja California that was more famous than the Puerto Nuevo style lobster, since it mixes northern influences such as the flour tortillas and Baja California’s excellent products such as lobster, fish, oysters, tuna and more. This has all made the Baja Californian cuisine one of the best.

Both hosts tried a lobster burrito with a lobster chimichanga, with both dishes being quite similar but different in flavors. Both Olga and Scott were delighted with these meals, saying goodbye to this week’s episode.