Little Parlor closed?, new bar behind Vermont and more

It seems that Little Parlor in South Pasadena has closed -- dark for the last two nights and not answering the phone. While Church and State is (finally) a big success, Steven Arroyo's other places have been kind of topsy turvy, closing down the little Cobras and Matadors on La Brea and selling his interest in Malo. Maybe a Potato Chips for the Little Parlor space?
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The new bar Rockwell VT that's been under construction behind Vermont should be ready to open in mid-August, according to EaterLA. That makes for plenty of booze on that corner, with Vermont's lounge, 1739 Brewhouse and the upcoming Agave.

Echo Park's Vons will finally get a makeover, according to The Eastsider LA: think spot lights and sage green paint.
Meanwhile, Highland Park's vintage Safeway-style store is still surrounded by fencing, but the sign for El Super is up now and the interior looks about halfway done.

Domenico: A touch of class in Silver Lake

Beet tortelli at Domenico

If Elf Cafe is the ultimate new Echo Park restaurant -- earthy, earnest, filled with bearded guys and deer etchings -- then Domenico is emblematic of moneyed, older Silver Lake, where even modest houses are still going for a cool million. What the two restaurants do share is friendly, attentive service and the ability to bring your own wine, with no corkage. The interior of Domenico looks much better than when it was Michelangelo, very white and elegant. But most people want the sidewalk tables -- despite the occasional firetruck or dogfight, they feel more airy and happening (You might even have a Miranda July sighting, like we did.) Despite a few uneven dishes, there's something about Domenico that briefly gives you the illusion of eating in a cafe somewhere like Cannes, which is a pretty seductive illusion.
Owner Domenico Frasca was a former waiter at Drago, while his chef Michael Young has also cooked at Italian establishments around town. We first met Domenico at a special tasting dinner for writers, but the restaurant had such a pleasant feel I returned on my own dime a few weeks later for a friend's birthday. Many Italian menus make me scream with boredom, but Young's menu is quite a bit more interesting than the usual. Most of the pastas are homemade, and they're much better than the nettle risotto we tried.

Beet tortelli isn't as sweet as the more familiar squash tortelli, but it has a similar taste with a lovely purple hue. They do a nice job with fried zucchini flowers stuffed with mozzarella and anchovies, but the Caesar salad was a very sorry specimen with brown lettuce served on a warm plate. Lasagna with oxtails (above) is complex but not too heavy, but if they have a special of cavatelli with Spanish octopus, do not miss it. Whole grilled sea bass with rapini lets you continue the cafe-in-a-Mediterranean seaport fantasy a bit longer, but it's not that exciting. A special of Niman Ranch pork short ribs with blood orange is much better: not terribly Italian, but full of deep, porky flavor.
The verdict? As S. Irene said, Domenico is a big step forward for Silver Lake, and parts of the menu are quite good, while others need more work. But the service is excellent and the setting is pleasant, so try some homemade pasta and see for yourself. Prices are on the higher side -- our dinner of salad, two pastas and one main was $80. Bringing your own wine helps, although they expect to have a liquor license soon.
Domenico
1637 Silver Lake Blvd.
323-661-6166

Artisanal homebrew kits: What the cool kids in Brooklyn are up to these days

Brooklyn Brew's Stephen Valand and Erica Shea

Here's an idea possibly ripe for an L.A. micro-entrepreneur to rip-off, I mean adapt: the Brooklyn Brew Shop sells at-home brewing kits at the Brooklyn Flea market and online in delicious-sounding flavors like Chocolate maple porter and Grapefruit honey ale. A $40 kit brews about gallon of beer and looks like an easy way to ease into homebrewing. They're also working on more flavors like Lobster beer (made with the shells, not the meat) and Bourbon Dubbel.
(via Village Voice's Fork in the Road blog)

More tequila coming to Los Feliz: Agave Tequila House

Let's see if we can remember all the places that have been in the former Cuba del Oro spot, now opening Friday as Agave Tequila House y Cantina, according to Urban Daddy. Before Cuba de Oro, was it Mes Amis? Of course, at some point, it split, and part of it became 1739 Public House, which was previous Johnny's. Before that, Tiger Lily, and before that, Hollywood Hills Coffee Shop, right?
How to break the curse on that location? Maybe offering 200 kinds of pure agave tequila will do the trick. Or maybe a happy hour from 3-7 every day. We shall see.
One thing the 1739 and Agave folks have figured out: Free bar food is always a good idea.

Julie & Julia: See it for the Paris porn and the food porn

Last night's premiere of "Julie & Julia," which opens Aug. 7, was a little disappointing: There was no party, since the "real" premiere is in N.Y. on Thursday. "We hope you'll all be really hungry by the end of the movie," said Nora Ephron before the film started, and yes, we were, but what were we supposed to do about it? It's not like we could ask other attendees like Susan Feniger and Alain Giraud to get out of their seats and whip something up for us. So instead, it was a trip to my beloved Falafel King afterwards. Oh well.
So, what about the film? It's pretty much of a mess as a movie, with an uneven screenplay, some awkward performances (particularly by blogger Julie Powell's husband) and the central problem that every other reviewer has noted -- the fact that Meryl Streep and Julia Child are a lot more interesting than a food blogger. Yes, much as it pains me to note it, watching a cute but largely unremarkable young woman type words on a screen does not a riveting movie make. So much for "EatingLA: The Movie"!
"Julie & Julia" is still worth seeing though, mainly for the scenes where Julia Child starts her cooking career at Le Cordon Bleu, shops at dead charming boulangeries, chats with Simone Beck while outfitting her copper-bottomed batterie de cuisine, perfects her mayonnaise and sports an impressive array of printed rayon shirtwaists and vintage wedgies.
So go anyway, but you'll probably want to leave the non-Julia worshippers at home.

Here's an interview with Ephron, Streep and Amy Adams from Mattbites and one from FoodGPS.
Tidbit: Ephron reads Chowhound and Serious Eats -- that's kind of cool.

Time for a jam session Sunday with Fallen Fruit

Fallen Fruit's 4th annual Public Fruit Jam is Sunday at Machine Project in Echo Park from 10-1 pm. Bring fruit you've picked or foraged (or bought if you're desperate), herbs and spices and empty jars to mix up some unusual jams. They're expecting a lot of people, so get there early, I guess, since Machine Project is tiny. "We encourage people not to follow recipes and think of it as a collaboration
between citizens of the same town," says Fallen Fruit.
Sunday, Aug. 2, 10-1; free; but bring fruit to contribute.

Dosa truck at Silver Lake Wine tonight

I'm not sure all these trucks manage to find parking, but the new Dosa truck tweeted that it will be at Silver Lake Wine's Monday night tasting tonight. Anyone tried it yet?
Here's more new food trucks from the Daily Dish blog. I'm thinking soon, we're going to get tired of eating standing up.

Tastes from Bazaar, Bashan and more at Plate by Plate's benefit

The Plate by Plate benefit Saturday evening is shaping up to be a delectable experience, with tastes from restaurants including Bazaar, Bashan, Good Girl Dinette, Katsuya, Mo-chica, M Cafe, Maison Akira and many others. Beverages include beer from the Bruery, Stone, Firestone Walker, Sapporo, Singha and Hite and sake from Ozeki, Gekkekien, Hakutsuru as well as wine and non-alcoholic bevs.
The event benefits the Asian Pacific Islander Small Business Program, which assists small and micro businesses in Los Angeles, especially those of low income immigrants of Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Thai, and Filipino communities.

When: 7 to 9 pm, Saturday Aug. 1
Where: California Science Center
What: Dozens of restaurants and drink booths, live entertainment, a silent auction, celebrity guests.

Click here to buy tickets at $150 each.

Should I get a food tattoo?

Pig parts, via silive.com

One of the chefs on the Baja trip and I were discussing food-oriented tattoos, and he talked lovingly of a favorite boning knife he's thinking of memorializing on an arm. I like the idea of getting a food tattoo -- even though I'm not a chef, I'm pretty sure I won't ever get tired of eating. But unlike the pig parts tramp stamp girl pictured above, I'm just not sure what would be the best subject. I love tamarind, for instance, but a tamarind pod would just look like an ugly blob, I'm afraid. I'll have to ask Octavio Becerra who did his nicely-detailed butcher knife. Guess it's time to peruse Flickr's Food Tattoos pool.
Have you seen any great food tattoos? Please email a photo if possible, or just describe it in the comments, and I'll let you know if I decide to get one.

(Palate's Octavio Becerra, via LAmag.com)

Baja's wine country: Silvestre restaurant and Villa del Valle inn are standouts in the Valle de Guadalupe

The relaxing veranda at Villa del Valle looks out across the hills.

Baja's wine growing region, the Valle de Guadalupe, is beautiful and relatively undiscovered -- like Paso Robles maybe 15 years ago. While we only stopped at one winery on our Baja marathon tour, we tasted wines from several others and visited a lovely, luxurious bed and breakfast inn and a rustic chic outdoor restaurant. The wines seemed to be a significant cut above the ones from other dry hot areas like Temecula, for example, and chefs are really concentrating on local products from cheese to quail to bluefin tuna to kale.
Here's a few recommended places to visit; a full list of wineries is available here.

Vina de Liceaga is a winery with a spacious tasting room and cave; they're also one of the few producers of grappa outside of Italy. On the way to the winery, Bill picked up some local Real del Castillo cheese for us to try at a small market; the fresh, white cheese was springy and mild.

Eileen and Phil Gregory opened La Villa del Valle inn about four years ago in the hills of the wine country. Only about 20 minutes drive from Ensenada, the Southwest-meets-Italy inn features wines made by Phil, as well as a chef who uses the wonderful vegetables grown in their huge organic garden in dishes like ostrich wrapped in kale, a beautiful pool (above), spa and yoga classes. Rates are $175 on weekdays and $195 on weekends. Eileen keeps things cool with herbed iced lemonade, but it does get pretty toasty out in the valley in summer -- a fall, winter or spring visit would be idyillic, and romantic.The path to rustic outdoor restaurant Silvestre in Valle del Guadelupe.

Pulling up to the discreet Silvestre, we weren't sure what to expect. The outdoor-only restaurant is tucked into the rocky hills of wine country and is only open on weekends during the summer months. It's the third of "rockstar chef" Benito Molina's restaurants we visited after Ensenada's Manzanilla and Muelle Tres. (I can't really find an address or phone -- it's across from LA Cetto winery -- I would recommend calling Manzanilla and asking them.)

Gourmet's "Diary of a Foodie" filmed here, calling it "the new Provence," and while it has a Mexican flavor all its own, I can certainly see the comparison. The restaurant has only an outdoor kitchen, with mesquite-fueled grills, and a large covered patio with long tables overlooking the valley. La Casita Mexicana chef Ramiro Arvizu, left, Silvestre owner Benito Molina and Baja guru Bill Esparza.

Despite the rustic flavor, patrons were dressed as nicely as if they were eating on a Barcelona terrace, and everyone stays drinking Benito's zinfandel and other local wines until darkness falls.
We started with batons of jicama and cucumber sprinkled with chili; moved on to bluefin tuna sashimi from the nearby coastal beds that tasted like it was practically still alive, abalone ceviche (right), grilled ocean perch with nopales salad and lamb shank Yucatan style. A rare, sudden rain shower was the perfect cooling end to an amazing day in Baja's wine country.

A restaurant patron, left, and Bricia Lopez, owner of Pal Cabron Cemitas and daughter of the Guelaguetza family, right, dance in the rain.

Ensenada: The place for seafood fanatics

Ensenada's elegant, artsy Manzanilla would be right at home in Downtown L.A.

Ensenada was already a fine place -- home of the glorious fish taco, a good place to drink a Corona and munch on a churro while watching the waterspout blow at La Bufadora, a place to pass out on the beach after way too many tequila shots...oh wait, maybe that's a story for another time. That seemed like reason enough, until we tasted just about everything under the sea on our recent food blogger trip. While our group was hosted on the trip, our trip leader, Mexican food fanatic Bill from StreetgourmetLA personally discovered and wrote about these places first so this was no touristy experience -- these places are the real deal.

La Guerrense: Our first stop, the tiny seafood tostada stand La Guerrerense is right off the touristy main drag, and I'm sure I walked right by it the last time I was there without even noticing. Its tostadas and coctels are made from the freshest possible sea creatures, from sea urchin to clams to bacalao (spiced cod) to mussels, crab, shrimp, fish pate, abalone and my two favorites, sea snail and sea cucumber. Each tostada is around $2, and there's a selection of imaginative homemade salsas with ingredients like peanuts and searing habanero with diced cucumbers. I was so blown away by my first taste of sea cucumber that I failed to buy a jar of salsa to take home -- so a return trip is in order. Owner Sabina Bandina Gonzalez is a doctor during the week, so I believe the stand is weekends only. (La Guerrerense, 1st and Alvarado, Ensendada, phone 646-174-2114)

Ever-hungry bloggers march onward to fish tacos.

Tacos El Fenix: We weren't going to ignore what Ensenada is known for, but we couldn't have just any fish tacos -- they had to be Bill-approved. Don't do like I did last time I was there and eat at the very first taco place you see, right next to the tourist office.

Only five or six blocks behind the main tourist area is Tacos Mi Ranchito El Fenix, where they double-fry the cazon shark for maximum crispness in a large vat of pure lard with a mustard-laced batter. Add plenty of toppings,and their mayonaise-based sauce, and, wowza! About a buck each, shrimp tacos just a touch more (everything's half price on Tuesdays).(Tacos El Fenix, Av. Espinosa and 5ta (Juarez), Ensenada)

Border Grill chef Raymond Alvarez catches a smoke outside Muelle Tres.

Muelle Tres: Google Benito Molina and one of the first entries is an article calling him "the rockstar chef" in Spanish. Molina has a mini-empire in Baja, and the first of his places we visited was Muelle Tres. The small, modern oyster bar/seafood bistro is right on the harbor near the seafood market, so if you're looking for some seaside ambiance, this is the place. We tried wonderful local Kumiai oysters, from Guerrero Negro Lagoon, plump steamed mussels, Pismo clams with ginger, tortilla Espanola and smoked tuna croquettes. (Muelle Tres, Wharf #3, near the Mercado Negro, Ensenada)Manzanilla: Our final Ensenada stop was perhaps the most suprising. Manzanilla (top photo) is another outpost in the Benito Molina empire, and this artsy, airy bar and restaurant would be right at home in the loft district in Downtown L.A. Pink chandeliers, an antique bar and local artists on the wall give this place near the Ensenada port a very sophisticated feel, like the food, wine and beer served there. Local sardines on toast (above) and sardines wrapped around chistorra sausage were definitely alta bar food, reminiscent of AOC, not surprisingly since apparently Suzanne Goin is a friend of Molina's -- and Lucques and Manzanilla are both types of olives. While most of the bloggers tried local wines, Josh and I headed straight for tastes of Labricha beer, a local microbrew. Alvaro Alvarez-Parrilla (above) is a math professor by day, brewer and winemaker on weekends, whose Labricha extra stout and brown ale were by far the best of all the beers we tasted on the trip. Labricha isn't yet sold north of the border, but make sure to pick up a bottle if you're in Ensenada. (Manzanilla,Teniente Azueta #139, Ensenada, phone 646-175-7073).

Here's more on Ensenada and the rest of the trip from Noah at Squid Ink.

Julie & Julia: Early reviews say it's only half-cooked

It's going to be fun watching headline writers and film reviewers fall all over each other trying to come up with the most outlandish food analogies to describe Julie & Julia, opening Aug. 7. Variety's Justin Chang says "Meryl Streep's...turn is the freshest ingredient" but otherwise he finds it "overstuffed and predigested." Critic John Anderson agreed (not in a review, but on Facebook) that it's like two movies: One is a fresh hot tasty latte, while the other is a week-old doughnut iced with Crisco."
Ouch!
The bloggers and foodies (here's a great post from Mattbites) who were wooed with early screenings were quite a bit more charitable, although all seem to agree that watching Streep is the main attraction. I'm going to the premiere Monday so I'll report back after I see it...and hopefully catch la Streep in person.

Blogger Prom was a bracing dose of the 80s

One of our lovely hostesses, Tara from WhenTaraMetBlog, and her cheerful friend

What's Blogger Prom? Well, it was last night, so if you didn't know about it you missed it. If you weren't there, quick, start a blog so you'll have a shot a next year's guest list. Check out this report of the kitschy 80s dresses and festive cupcakes from KevinEats, complete with photos of Josh, Alison and Tara De Lis. And thanks to the Andaz Hotel, HC and everyone else on the prom committee, Barrie Lynn, the Cheese Impresario, and PolkaDots Cucakes (left) for injecting a lot more fun into the dreary, grueling work of a food blogger: eating a lot and then writing about it. The prom really showed how marketers are courting bloggers these days: everyone from Rosangel tequila to the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf came through with drinks and prizes.
Now, I'm going to go find some Flock of Seagulls and Soft Cell to listen to.

Kyochon Chicken Glendale: Not yet, but soon!

I don't know why I'm so unnaturally excited by this. I try to avoid the Glendale Galleria, which tends to the Fellini-esque on weekends, and I try to avoid fried chicken, which makes my cholesterol go BaZOOM!
But still -- Kyochon! In Glendale! Crunchy, addictive, sweet, hot, garlicky and horribly non-nutritious -- what more could you want?
Glendale blog Tropico Station was so excited they went to check it out today, only to report that sadly it's not open yet.

Greater Silver Lake news: Gobi Mongolian opens, Atwater Summer Nights on Thursday

Gobi Mongolian BBQ House is now open on Sunset Blvd. near Rambutan. This one took about a year and a half -- fast by Silver Lake standards. Here's EatingLA's original announcement and here's a much more recent report from FoodGPS. Has anyone tried it yet?
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Come over to Atwater on Thursday night for Atwater Summer Nights, with art exhibits, music, massages, stores and restaurants open late and even doggy adoptions. Live jazz in front of Hugo's Tacos...it's cooler at night.

Tijuana touring: Sampling TJ's finest restaurants

Scallop ceviche in a cucumber cup with frizzled leeks at La Querencia

Before this last trip to Tijuana, I had vaguely heard of alta cocina (like haute cuisine, only in Spanish), but I confess I imagined it as some sort of fussy French-influenced hybrid that probably unnecessarily tarted up Mexican food. It only took one afternoon to show me how incredibly ignorant I was of what was going on south of the border. In addition to the street food from the previous post, our group of bloggers and chefs visited a range of restaurants which I'll describe one by one so that Tijuana visitors can pick the style that appeals to them. We were invited by the Tijuana Convention and Visitor's Bureau, but I would have no hesitation recommending these restaurants on my own dime as well.
Each restaurant's address and phone is available on the linked website.Spanish: We started the upscale portion of our afternoon at the Spanish restaurant Lorca, kicking things off with a whole suckling pig, known as lechon. There was also paella and Spanish potatoes with olive oil, but we couldn't stop gobbling the crispy skin and tender meat. Some of the chefs couldn't resist cracking open the head to get at the cheeks and brain, but I passed on that experience.Josh even featured el poquito cochininto in his weekly Food GPS Vitamin P pig report.

Argentinian: Cheripan is a sleek, modern Argentinian restaurant in the "restaurant zone" where many of the nicer places are clustered. Their steak brochettes are full of the beefy flavor that is hard to find in L.A., even if the tamarindo martinis are definitely on the sweeter side.

French: L'Abricot is a charming French cafe with a patio owned by a winemaking family, with a patisserie case and a full menu with bistro fare like onion soup, salade frisee and creme brulee that might be welcome after the hundreth taco. Also probably a good place to get caffeinated.

Traditional Mexican: La Diferencia is the place for a traditional fiesta-style meal with interesting touches. A rambling hacienda design combines with icy frozen tamarindo margaritas and dishes featuring ingredients like huitlacoche (corn fungus), squash blossoms and rabbit.
Alta cocina Mexican: Cien Anos puts an emphasis on seafood and ceviches as well as imaginative cooked dishes. Here we had our first taste of local chocolata clams in a coctel, luscious salmon ceviche, marlin salpicon and a spicy shrimp dish. We also sampled damiana liquor, an herbal drink with a sexy bottle and a reputation as an aphrodisiac.

Alta cocina/Baja Med: The rather formal Villa Saverios, led by chef Javier Placencias, is certainly near the top of Baja restaurants, combining Mexican and Mediterranean influences with local ingredients. The octopus ceviche shown above is formed into a log and sliced to create the mosiac pattern. Also wonderful were the unusual chorizo/vermicelli tacos from an old family recipe, deeply flavored shortribs with fig mole and for dessert, simple but brilliant blackberry tamales. Their tamarindo margarita was my favorite, made complex and spicy with damiana liqueur, with a whole tamarind pod as a stirrer.

Baja Med: La Querencia's owner Miguel Angel Guerrero was the originator of Baja Med cuisine, a lighter, modern style that uses local ingredients with Mediterranean influence. La Querencia is casually hip, with a cool patio and trophy animals the chef has bagged mounted on the inside walls. La Querencia is probably the closest Tijuana comes to a trendy L.A. place like Animal or Gjelina. Zucchini carpaccio (above) with chile oil was a lovely way to show off summer vegetables, while beef tongue carpaccio was a revelation, with several layers of pleasantly funky, spicy, and herbal flavors all competing in the mouth. Some of the dishes are extremely reasonable, like an oyster burrito for around $2.50 and tacos for even less, but it's worth trying the full range of the imaginative menu, which features local specialties like abalone chorizo, shark and manta ray. If you're only going to try one representative of Baja's new cuisine, make it this place. I guess I'll never again expect that Baja's residents exist solely on fish tacos and carne asada tacos.

Here's more on these restaurants from Squid Ink's Noah.
Here's Barbara Hansen's Great Tastes of Tijuana report on Table Conversation.

Tijuana touring: Street food with tacos of the earth and sea

Tijuana has really changed since I took this trip with my family as a child and even since the last time I was there a few years ago. This weekend I returned to TJ, Ensenada and the Valle del Guadalupe wine country with a bunch of food bloggers, chefs and assorted writers for a semi-insane two day food crawl to see how this part of northern Baja has become a true foodie destination, from modest fresh seafood stands to luxurious restaurants featuring Alta Cocina and Baja-Med cuisine.
Our tireless leader was Bill Esparza of StreetGourmetLA, who has spent years finding and eating the most authentic and delicious foods all over Mexico. We were hosted by the Tijuana Convention and Visitor's Bureau, but this was no cookie-cutter fam tour. Bill and Xavier, the Glutser, made several trips to find the best spots for our whirlwind food marathon.
One thing that hasn't changed is the historic La Villa del Tabaco cigar shop. This shop is one of the few reasons to visit the touristy and expensive main street, Avenida Revolucion (insert donkey show joke here). Walking into the shop, I developed a serious case of deja vu, since I'm almost positive I had been there with my cigar-loving dad many decades before. Some of the chefs (from Ciudad, Border Grill and La Casita) bought Cuban cigars, while the rest of us sampled Cuban rum and espresso.The first Tijuana food stop was Tacos El Poblano, a simple stand known for its carne asada tacos served with a generous dollop of guacamole, which are made from three different cuts of beef. The juicy beef was worth the anticipation on the the long bus ride from L.A.
The next day, our first lunch stop was a simple seafood restaurant, Tacos de Mariscos el Mazateno, above. Even better than the spicy camaron enhilado tacos was the taco filling of smoked marlin, with the large tuna-like fish chopped up with various spices. We didn't try the manta ray tacos, but the whole menu looks excellent here.Are you a lamb lover? Personally I prefer seafood and pork, but lamb completists should try the traditional breakfast of lamb barbacoa from Hidalgo at Barbacoa Ermita, a makeshift restaurant open only on weekends. Huge chunks of lamb are cooked up in a permanent pit, served with lamb consomme, tortillas and an assortment of salsas. I'm sure Eddie Lin from Deep End Dining had more than one bite of the pansita, a sort of Mexican haggis including stomach, kidney and something a little too livery for my taste, even with plenty of salsa.

The last exceptional Tijuana street food stop isn't really street food, although the restaurant itself looks pretty basic. Tacos Salceados, known to the locals as Tacos La Ermita, humbly describes itself as having "the best tacos in the universe," and who am I to argue? Salceados is the baby of former sous-chef and saucier Javier Campos Guttierez, who has created the taco-queso, made from a delicate cheese crisp wrapped around meat then wrapped in a tortilla. Arriving at midnight after an endless day of eating, we all polished off our tasting plates of tacos and wished we had room for more. His richly baroque tacos include trout, mushrooms in cream, New York steak, and even a dessert taco topped with strawberry coulis and mysteriously stuffed with beef, bacon or shrimp. There's an array of equally elaborate salsas, including almond, for topping.It was so late that I left my camera on the bus, so this photo of a questotaco dulce is from Salceado's website. Prices in Baja are not third-world, dirt cheap prices, but they are a good deal less than in the U.S. Tacos at Salceados, for example, start at $1 and go up to around $3 for the better cuts of meat or combos, and they are of the highest quality.Racing greyhounds hang out at the beer festival.

What else is there to do in Tijuana? Besides the ubiquitous discount pharmacies, greyhound racing and occasional bullfights, there are festivals nearly every weekend, from opera to erotica to food and wine. We stopped by the fifth International Craft Beer Festival, held on the grounds of the casino, and it was a fun and relaxed event with not an insipid Corona in sight. Instead we sampled beers from microbreweries from Cabo's Baja Brewing to Mexicali's Cucapa.

A Clamato stand at the beer festival.
In Mexico, Clamato isn't just a fishy tomato juice: it's a catch-all term for seafood cocktails with a Clamato base, with all kinds of additions from peanuts to coconut milk.
This senorita would like to offer you a cerveza.

Next I'll cover Tijuana's haute cuisine, Ensenada and the wine country, but for now, here's a sampler from other blogs.
FoodGPS selects 6 great dishes from the trip.
Noah from Squid Ink managed to escape from the group and is probably the only person who ate an entirely different taco from the rest of us.

Top Chef Ilan Hall cooks chicken haggis at Canele tomorrow

Top Chef winner Ilan Hall cooks a Scottish-inspired at Canele's Friends Cook night Tuesday from 5:30 - 10.
Hall is cooking up mushrooms with walnut-marrow vinaigrette, chicken haggis with braised corn and pureed potatoes and shortbread lime bar with Bustelo condensed milk. There's no reservations, and prix fixe is around $30.