I'm standing right now at a vantage point
atop of one of the areas in Rancho Tecate.
This is what you get to see.
You stand here above and you see just a fraction
of what this development includes.
But people are investing in pretty significant homes
in the middle of the mountains.
So if you just see the houses
that are all around the development,
it's a significant area.
We're exploring Rancho Tecate
and you're doing it with us, folks.
"Crossing South."
Don't go anywhere.
(gentle music)
Sometimes, people think Baja is only about beaches,
but Tecate really shows another side of nature.
This ranch has a hotel, property development,
horseback riding, wines, and yes, delicious food.
I'm sitting here inside the wine cellar.
It's a pretty cool place.
Temperature's nice.
It's a cool place to have lunch, dinner.
Apparently, it is available for anyone who comes.
Any patrons can choose to have lunch down here
but we're waiting right now for the food to be brought.
So, it's "Crossing South."
(gentle music)
Empires rise and fall based on their food,
as far as we're concerned.
And by their food, they shall be judged.
(gentle music)
Oh, thank you.
So good stuff.
You've got here your charbroiled octopus,
which is always good.
This is an aguachile shrimp dish,
but it's also drenched in beet juice.
I'm not too crazy about the aguachiles personally,
but I'm always open to try them.
So sometimes, they're good.
This is just the kid in me.
I actually ask for a strawberry shake
and they aim to please, so. (laughs)
Mm.
Perfect.
Exactly what I wanted.
That's a rib eye with sauteed vegetables
and mashed potato.
So Baja is close to Sonora.
Sonora's always provided cattle for Baja.
Baja itself was a cattle region way before
Mexicans here learned how to use seafood.
It was literally, that's what you had for food.
So we're going old school.
We're doing it the Baja way.
We're at Rancho Tecate.
Let's see how this goes.
Gonna try the aguachile first, the shrimpage.
Let's see what the beet juice does to this.
(gentle music)
Wow
(upbeat music)
It is very good and it's not spicy at all.
I like this.
'Cause I've always used to just too spicy.
Now this one's not.
I don't even know if it's spicy at all.
So it's almost like a ceviche.
But ceviche normally is like mashed up.
Either shrimp, either shark, fish whatever.
It's cured in the lime.
So it's almost like raw like crude oil
but not crude because it's cured.
And the lime actually cooks the food, the raw fish.
So when you have ceviche, which is delicious,
you have that sort of taste.
This aguachile, it's almost like a heartier ceviche
because since it's not mashed up,
you can taste more of the meat immediately.
You're biting into a heartier piece of fish.
You can find value and little tweaks to traditional dishes.
So that was pretty good.
They asked me to try this ginger beer
that's apparently made in Tecate.
It's the Colibre brand.
I've never seen it before, but we'll try it.
But they said that it pairs well with the aguachile.
So let's try it with the beer.
(gentle music)
It pairs perfect.
Very nice.
So I don't know if I'm supposed to put this slab of rock
on top of the plate, but I did it.
I love that.
And you see that crunchiness in the octopus?
I love that.
Let me just try it before I mess it with
and try anything else.
Let me just try it as is.
Hmm.
It's crunchy, mm.
The octopus is very good.
Surprisingly, I think I would place
the aguachile above that.
It's just very traditional.
It is what it is.
Octopus is just good.
It's good.
It's just not surprisingly good, if you know what I mean.
Like the aguachile,
for a guy that's not a normal aguachile guy,
I was surprised with that aguachile.
It's like, whoa.
Surprised me.
I am an octopus guy.
So I'm literally getting what I'm expecting.
So in the surprise category,
the octopus would maybe not live up to the aguachile,
but it's still very good.
I would order this.
I would order this and I could continue eating this
and I would be completely happy.
So in that sense, it's very good.
Let's try the next one.
Okay, so they brought me this chicken dish.
It seems to be like a seared or charbroiled
piece of chicken.
They accompany a lot of their dishes with mashed potatoes.
Nothing wrong with that.
Mashed potatoes and vegetables, some potatoes.
And let's try it.
(gentle music)
Hmm.
(chuckles) Wonderful.
I'm the type of person that likes sweet dishes.
So if you don't, it's up to you
whether you would like it or not.
But me, I tend to like the sweet and sour.
And that's what this is.
It's some sort of tamarind sauce on the chicken.
Let's add a piece of mushroom.
I'm gonna pair this with a lager,
which are the lighter type of beers.
And let's see how that pairs with this very tasty chicken.
So.
(gentle music)
Beer is good.
But standalone, this chicken, if you like sweet,
I would recommend this chicken.
It's very tasty, very tasty.
So far, it may be number one right now.
Maybe number one the chicken, number two aguachile,
number three, the octopus.
So, okay, so now I've been brought their champion.
This is their main dish. It's a rib eye.
Big old chunk of meat right here.
Now I don't guarantee this will be the best one.
Sometimes, this happens where the restaurant
will bring what they feel is their best,
but it was in my list, maybe at number three or number two.
We'll see.
My expectations for the chicken was very low
and it jumped to number one.
So, I don't know.
We'll see.
And remember, taste is very subjective.
So you guys are trusting my taste and we'll see how this is.
I like that it's got the fat right there.
You see that?
Fat glistens and shines and brings joy.
A steak like that, it's a kind of medium rare,
which is good.
It has the pink there so we're doing good so far.
Fat is good, fat is good.
Let's try this.
Mm.
Very good.
Hmm.
Let me get into the middle of it.
Let me give it a chance with all the rest of the stuff
that the chef has brought with it.
Mm-hmm.
Let's get some fat from here.
We're actually cutting a piece of fat into it, right?
Okay, so there's a reason of not giving the verdict.
I'm trying to see if I'm missing something.
It's a good meal, just a bit underwhelming for a rib eye,
in my opinion.
Very nice.
Remember, taste is subjective.
So it's very tasty.
It's just not surprising.
So the two dishes that surprised me,
the aguachile and the chicken.
Chicken, number one, aguachile number two.
Now, number three is disputed between the rib eye
and the octopus.
These are traditional dishes.
Right now, the thing is that we're evolving
into trying very surprising dishes
where people are experimenting.
but these are oldies but goodies.
This is a delicious meal
that you will be well-served if you try.
It's "Crossing South," don't go anywhere.
Let's just continue hitting this up.
(gentle music)
While we were down in the cellar eating,
it began to rain quite a bit.
Instead of outdoor activities, we explore a bit
of the history in the main building here at the ranch.
So we got ourselves a guide and decided to expose ourselves
to the historicity of this old Rancho.
He's gonna show us the tour of this whole place.
So let's do that.
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He's saying that in 1893, this used to be a home.
And you can tell.
You can tell there's older tiles, older woodwork.
It is so interesting to see homes like this
from a more colonial era.
This used to be the family dining room.
We're traveling back in time as we get to see
this area of the original house.
A lot of this stuff goes back to the 19th century.
So let's continue exploring this place.
I mean, you take a look at this hallway
and you can literally travel 100 years or more.
I mean, look at the tile right here.
If you look at the tile on the floor,
it's different than the other parts of the building
that have been restored.
So if you see the walls
and some of the furniture pieces right here,
the ornaments on the wall, the fireplace.
This is basically a place,
it's been frozen in time.
Some of these areas, they were telling me
that they've had presidents from Mexico
actually be distinguished guests
for the original family here.
So it's very reminiscent of the Rosarito Beach Hotel.
If you've been to that, the decor is very, very similar.
This would constitute old money.
Back when the patrons had haciendas,
owned crazy amount of land and hosted dignitaries
as they passed by or were invited to do so.
Spanish influence fresh and evident.
There's some deep history to this area.
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If we were to back up the clocks all the way to the 1830s,
we'd find that a man named Juan Bandini
who was granted the land that now makes up Rancho Tecate.
And just about all of Tecate for that matter.
He is the same man whose 12-bedroom home
became the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Old Town up in San Diego.
He had a large impact in this entire region.
As he was deeply involved in politics, in business,
and had a very influential social life.
Among other things, he was responsible
for creating large vineyards.
This wine making tradition was carried on
by future owners of the area.
In fact, Tecate is the northern door that leads
to the famous wine country
Valle de Guadalupe in Baja, California.
(relaxing music)
Our friendly guide took us on a little excursion
up the mountain to a special place they wanted to show us.
This area is just beautiful.
I mean, I didn't realize this was even here.
It's hidden and it's within the property
of Rancho Tecate.
So people that live here have access to a really wonderful
natural resource, and just natural beauty.
This is an excellent hiking trail.
It's just a spectacular view.
I'm looking at the mountain ranges, the cloud formations,
these huge rocks that are like the ones in La Rumorosa.
And it's stunning.
It's breathtaking.
Not only is this spot beautiful, but it's also functional.
Okay, so we know that Baja receives its water
from the Colorado River, but you maybe didn't know
that it passes here through Tecate.
And it's booming right there.
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So this is what the water supply of a city looks like.
That's probably enough flush water for 1 million toilets
to be able to execute their powerful vortexes of might.
I could imagine some crazy sports nut getting out there
and kayaking, hitting those rapids.
The cubic tons of water that thunder forth
from the Colorado River into Mexico are only surpassed
by the cubic tons of hungry tourists
who flow into Baja, California
in search for food, wine, and a relaxed pace of life.
Rat Race Refugees is what I call them.
And they all find protection in this great land.
(relaxing music)
This powerful torrent is feeding a dam
called La Presa El Carrizo.
And that dam is a reservoir that gives water to Tijuana
and parts of Rosarito.
So the water that those two cities enjoy comes from this.
And this water originated in the Colorado River
in the United States.
Amazing, huh?
How this water just keeps making its way.
The life cycles that the earth has,
keeps so many people alive on its way back to the ocean.
Amazing.
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I just couldn't get over this unique scenery.
Look at this.
Wanted to get a closer look.
These boulders are estimated to be 100 million years old.
Wow.
Simply astonishing.
(relaxing music)