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Los Cabos Mexico

Guadalupe Valley

Hierbabuena Restaurante – Devoted to Local and Organic

July 21, 2016 by Akiba 2 Comments

 

Welcome to Hierbabuena Restaurante

Welcome to Hierbabuena Restaurante

While Los Cabos is not want for great restaurants (it’s easy to frequent the busy towns of Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo), for those who venture out, the pay-off is discovery of a diverse and passionate dining culture. I had been hearing glowing reports about a restaurant located in the small town of Pescadero near Todos Santos.  After a day at Cerritos Beach, we headed for Hierbabuena Restaurante which is set in a beautiful and bountiful organic garden where almost all of the ingredients are sourced for creative and healthy dishes. Beyond the modern outdoor façade, an airy rustic space awaits.  It has a casual feeling as there are no walls or windows and it is cooled by Pacific Ocean breezes. The seasonal menus shines a spotlight on what’s fresh right now and you can expect crisp, fresh salads, seared vegetables, locally caught wild fish, organic chicken, steak, brick-oven pizza and traditional Mexican dishes.  What they don’t grow, they source from their local neighbors, independent farmers, where there is an abundance of organic produce such melons, strawberries, figs, guava and sapote.   MenuGardens

The garden is brimming with vegetables and flowers that flourish under the watchful eye of the owner, Marcos Ramirez, who brings his culinary and gardening skills to Hierbabuena from years in Napa Valley.  He was raised in his mother’s Mexico City market restaurant where he was influenced by an array of fresh products from all over Mexico.  At 15, he went to work as a dishwasher and throughout his young life, he experienced nearly every position in the restaurant business and was introduced to many different types of cuisines.  This led to his ultimate goal of being a restaurateur.

Produce for Sale

The concept is very basic: to offer the freshest, ingredients with little manipulation so the natural flavors shine.

Marcos menu page pescado

Wild Yellow Tail Caught Locally

Pizza

Fresh, ripe tomatoes and spicy basil for a killer pizza

Carrot Ginger Coconut Soup

Carrot Ginger Coconut Soup

Marcos menu page berza

Arugula Salad with Shaved Parmesan, Nuts and Pomegranate

There is a full bar that is separate from the dining area where fruit and herbs such as mint, basil, rosemary and cilantro are muddled, infused and simply snipped for pretty and fragrant garnishes.

Mojito with Fresh Mint

Mojito with Fresh Mint

Marcos proudly offers Mexican wines from Ensenada, Guadalupe Valley and Guanajuato but he also includes wine from Italy and Spain.  Marco’s project for next season is to do a wine tasting one day a week with all Mexican wines – Mexican terroir – which are concentrated and complex, full-bodied and aromatic, generally with a higher alcohol content than European wines. The northern end of the Baja California peninsula is, in fact, one of the New World’s oldest wine-growing areas. Jesuit priests cultivated vines here in the 18th century, and the first commercial winery, Bodegas de Santo Tomas, opened in 1888.

Hierbabuena Restaurante is a celebration of the very finest of our regional food products. Marcos takes the concept of “farm-to-table” seriously, working with the freshest ingredients from his gardens and the nearby farms to design the seasonal menus.

Directions:  Turn just past the Pemex/Oxxo on the road to Rancho Pescadero. Hierbabuena is about 2/3 of the way to the beach from the highway.

Open from 12:00 noon until 9:00 pm – Closed Tuesdays

Closed month of September

Chamomile

Posted in: About, Eat, Learn, Shop Tagged: farm to table, Guadalupe Valley, Hierbabuena Restaurant, Hierbabuena Restaurante, Huachinango, Mexican wine, Organic, Pescadero

It Has Been a Long Hiatus But I am Finally Home

November 24, 2015 by Akiba 3 Comments

It has been a long hiatus but I am finally home.  I had quite an adventure that I may share one day but for now, I would like to get back to writing my blog, Baja Beat.

My husband and I drove from San Diego to Los Cabos and it was breathtaking.  This is my second time driving through the Baja and we were coming from the opposite different direction – north to south this time.  We literally had no traffic – it was almost eerie that there were no  trucks or cars on the road – but it made for a very relaxing drive enabling us enjoy the natural beauty of the Baja even more.

I want to thank Ramon and Isaiah from the Jardines Restaurant in San Quintin for taking such good care of us.  The swordfish was outstanding and their kindness to us was even more impressive.  Hotel Jardines is a little oasis in the desert with palm trees and lovely gardens filled with plants natural to the Baja.  It was the perfect stop after crossing the border in Tecate and driving through the Guadalupe Valley where we stopped for lunch and wine tasting at the Guadalupe Hacienda restaurant.  The room at Jardines was clean and comfortable and everyone from the night manager to the chef went out of their way to accommodate us.

Hotel Jardines in San Quintin

Hotel Jardines in San Quintin

 

Hacienda Guadalupe View of Vineyards from Restaurant

Hacienda Guadalupe View of Vineyards from Restaurant

 

Quail Salad at Hacienda Guadalupe

Quail Salad at Hacienda Guadalupe

———————————————————–

HOLIDAY RECIPE

I am grateful to be home and look forward to sharing the holidays with my friends and family. I grew up in Iowa and corn has always played an important role in my cooking.  I have been preparing this silky corn custard set on a bed of rich shiitake mushroom sauce for almost 25 years and it still has that “wow” factor.  I generally do not prepare the shiitake mushroom sauce for Thanksgiving as the custard is lovely on its own and the sauce can be heavy with all of the other dishes being consumed.

CORN CUSTARD

Courtesy of Bix Restaurant San Francisco

The Custard

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened

2 eggs

1 cup heavy cream

½ tablespoon Dijon mustard

1  ½ cups corn kernels (2 ears)

¾ cup Monterey Jack cheese

¼ teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1 green onion finely sliced

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  In a bowl combine the eggs, cream and mustard.  When smooth, fold in the remaining ingredients except the butter.  Pour into 6 buttered ramekins.  Place the ramekins in a shallow baking dish filled with 1 inch of water.  Cover with tin foil.  Bake for 30 minutes – serve immediately.

The Sauce 

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

½ teaspoon finely minced garlic

1 teaspoon chopped shallots

¼ cup chopped fresh fennel

¼ cup sliced shiitake mushrooms

¼ cup champagne vinegar

1 tablespoon white wine

¼ cup chicken stock

3 tablespoons minced fennel leaves

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a skillet.  Saute’ the garlic and shallots until soft.  Do not brown.  Add the fennel and mushrooms and sauté for 2 minutes.  Deglaze the pan with vinegar and wine.

Add the chicken stock, reduce by half, and add the rest of the butter.  When sauce has thickened, add the fennel leaves and season to taste with salt and pepper.

——————————————————-

POEM

I made up this little poem a few months ago and it seems appropriate for Thanksgiving since we will be cooking, sharing recipes and creating new memories.

Cooking is Love

Love of ideas, history, family and friends

Love of the bounty of our planet

Love of quality and integrity

Love of artistry

Love of taking the first step

Love of sharing the last bite

 

Buen Provecho, Akiba

Posted in: About, Eat, Learn, Recipes, Uncategorized Tagged: Baja, Guadalupe Hacienda, Guadalupe Valley, Holiday Recipe, Jardines Hotel and Restaurant, Love Poem, San Quintin

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