Vaga winter tasting menu

Vaga meal for our 2023 

Getting ready for the meal and excited

Situated ourself for the excitement at the pass 

This is an unusual opportunity. Encinitas opened a new resort a couple of years ago call Alila and i remember a lot of controversy as it's a huge resort that a lot of people are worried it will spoil the coast line and destabilize the bluffs. And I remember them showcasing a chef that time for Vaga restaurant in the resort Claudette Zepada. 

Fast forward 2 years later and I saw her again on Iron Chef legend competing. She's kind of bad ass and I was interested to try her food. But realized that she is only doing a consulting chef job at Vaga these days.  

Claudette doing her rounds after the meal

This winter, I saw that she is doing a winter tasting menu during winter solstice. So Bill and I decide to do today as our 2023 anniversary and year end dinner. I think they are trying to get their Michelin star as all the servers are trying to coordinate serving which is no easy feat for a 10 to 20 pax table. 

Ready, get set, serve! 

The menu for the night is quite interesting. As she's Mexican, there's some twist to the dishes to bring in a Mexican influence and she incorporated heat in almost every dish. 

Menu for the night

On our arrival, they served a complimentary cocktail while waiting for all guests to arrive. The cocktail was smoked in a cochon and was named "when the fog rolls in" 

I don't recognize half the ingredients in the cocktail (yellow chartreuse, laphroaig, blue chartreuse, blue spiralina and seaweed simple syrup).. What's interesting is they put in verde mezcal that's really strong and smoky and a definitely tribute to the Mexican twist. Traditionally mezcal is served either before with orange or after a meal so I guess she's going for the before =) 

Complimentary cocktail

Side note: The property is really beautiful at Encinitas. 

Restaurant all setup waiting for diners 

The restaurant has a great view of the ocean except that it was dark by the time dinner starts as it's winter. And we caught some cool glimpses of thunder in the ocean as SD had a winter storm. 

 

First course is snack =) There's a cracker with scallop sashimi style, a celery root on a stick and crab/avocado with bread with some kind of seeds dressing. Good start and we particularly enjoyed the scallop cracker. I don't particularly care for the root as it seems a little flat on the taste. 

Amuse-bouche course

This is the true first course in the menu. She started with a twist on aguachile. Typically aguachile is served like a cerviche with fresh chopped cucumbers and barely marinated fish/shrimp in lime juice. In this case she did a very thick sauce that's almost like a mole and it has heat that builds. The yellowtail is really fresh and the shaved fennel is very good. What throws me off is I feel like the heat of this dish did not compliment the wine and was too strong for it. And the yellowtail ended up not being featured as the sauce is too overpowering. 

First course

The 2nd course is a very successful salad. She has a habanero vinaigrette that also build the heat over the dish. It has shaved winter vegetables like carrots, radicchio and was able to balance the bitterness of vegetable with that dressing. There's some kind of treatment to the capers that they got crunchy and salty on the top that went well with the dish too. The wine pairing is good too as the salad and wine complimented each other. 

2nd course

They served the house milk bread roll to tie the time for cooking the seabass. That's a very good bread roll with a honey syrup brushed on top. I think this bread roll is a staple in the restaurant as I saw them prepping a bunch at the end of the night for the next day. 

Milk bread rolls

The 3rd course is my favorite course with seabass. The cook on the bass is perfect. And the grapefruit on the top was able to go very well with the seasoning on the fish and the farro is well cooked. It's almost a play on rice and fish in asian style except the farro is an interesting twist. This is the only dish that I didn't find heat. The wine was a pinot that I find didn't quite match the fish. But itself it's a good wine. 

3rd course

3rd course showing the farro

The 4th course is our least favourite course as the beef is overcooked. But the potatoes are well executed and serrano pepper added a lot of flavor on top of the green goddess sauce. If the beef was more rare, this would be a great dish to finish the meal. The wine for this course is our favorite. I would hunt down this petit syrah when I have time

4th course

They served the dessert with an expresso martini that is also more of a Mexican twist. The dessert is stunning with the coconut makrut with a lime filling semifreddo. The semifreddo basically a ice cream/mousse with a lime filling in the middle. The coconut makrut is a cake layer on the bottom and they sprinkled with macadamia crumble and poppy seed. Very good dessert. My only thought is I think they perfumed the makrut with coconut essence instead of real coconut based on my taste buds (I could be wrong) and that's slightly off putting for me. Otherwise it's a great dessert. 

dessert course

Los Cabos Oct 2023

Los Cabos, San Jose and Todos Santos

This trip was booked and planned one year ago when Westin offered me another time-share deal. 

Cabo sign with our beers as it's open container in the city

Summary in a pic: Where did we go, what did we eat, what did we drink

Mountains of Los Cabos from the flight.. reminds me of Hawaii!

The Westin property is beautiful with beach access and infinity pools overlooking the ocean. 

Bill and me on the Westin beach

View from our favorite lounge chair for 4 days

Westin Beach access and property facing the ocean

Random shots of the hotel

The room is a 2 BR villa that comes with full kitchen facilities that we definitely made good use this trip. 

Our 2 BR room in Westin

I always enjoy Mexico as I like the cheerful people and their food/culture. But Cabo is really pricy on the tourist side (the valley is cheap compared to Cabo and San Jose!). Looking down the city, it's divided by Highway 1 with the Pacific Ocean side called the Tourist Corridor. The food tour guide Robin said on that side, it's English speaking, Dollars as currency and resort pricing. The other side of Highway1 is called the local side. 

Driving down Highway 1, the resorts are impressive and there's articles on average cost a night is >$500 and getting pricier and more crowded every year. To put things in perspective, 4 margaritas and a nacho at Corazon Hotel near the marina cost $98. The view is killer but I feel like I'm spending in Alaska or Canada, not Mexico.

This trip has been weird as Lidia storm was causing some rain, high humidity and less wind and ultimately affected our fishing trip. The weather is very tropical and uncomfortable. 

https://thecabosun.com/tropical-storm-lidia-leading-to-los-cabos-beach-warnings/

We also got some drama on the flight coming back being put on stand by and not able to ask anyone if we got a seat? It did worked out in the end and we got on the flight. 

Boarding Volaris flight that still use stairs

But the flight boarding is all chaotic with air stewardess randomly moving bags to try and fit more bags. An upset American woman refused to check her bag as they gave away her seat and keep yelling at her husband that there's more space in the back for his bag. Other passengers telling her to stop shifting their bags. IF we fly Volaris again, lesson learned is to buy a seat. 

Another weird situation was our car rental tried to charge us $198 extra after we have paid for the car online. And on enquiry that it should only have been insurance that we got at Cabo, the pricing dropped drastically to $102 for insurance. It reminds me again that it's always good to have your rental confirmation and know what you have paid for and always double check the bill. 

Day 1 - Cabo san Lucas

Travel day and food tour day. Went for a food tour in Cabo San Lucas on the first day of arrival. When I was planning the trip they only had the tour on Thur night so I took a risk hoping we can arrive on time. Turns out they have stopped doing the seafood tour that I booked so Bill and I showed up and they wondered why there's 2 more extra person!  =) 

Good thing they still meet at the same place and same time so we joined the "eat like a local tour". They concentrated on the local side of Highway 1 and we had a good time. 

Stop 1: Tamales

Went for tamales for the first stop. It's a street vendor who sells good tamales. Very good masa and flavorful pork with red salsa. He starts at 3pm and easily sells 1000 tamales a day. Good find that we will go back. 

First stop Street vendor Tamale

Stop 2: Mole at Burro Loco

We walked for 10 mins to get to a good mole place. Mole never disappoint me and this was an above average mole. What's interesting though is the guide showed us all the spices and chili that u can get, in a candy store! Apparently it's normal for dulceria to sell those in the back. Who would have thought!

The dulceria with all the spices in the back

Good mole with jamaica in Burro Locos

Stop 3: Tacos 
This is a typical taqueria and they got really fresh shrimp and good carne asada tacos. And decent el pastor tacos. Is it better than what we can get in TJ or Ensenada? probably not. But we enjoyed it. 

El Paisa El pastor taco, carne asada and camaron tacos

Stop 4: Fish tacos and tataki 

we took a local bus that's clean and have AC. I was surprised! The bus took us to the starting point and we got fish tacoss and tataki at Wachinangos which is a famous tacos place in Cabo.. And the chef said he would cook our fish on Sunday if we do catch anything.

Fish tacos and Tataki

Stop 5: Churros rellenos 

we ended the tour with filled churros that's quite good. And we got some sweet bread for breakfast tomorrow. 

Filled churros with either caramel, chocolate or condensed milk

Day 2: San Jose 

Woke up bright and early and enjoyed breakfast in our room with sweet bread that we got from the street cart lady

Donut style sweet bread with coffee 

We spend the AM at the pool and discovered they charge $15 for a margarita at the pool =) The cool thing is this is our first margaritas sitting & ordering on a stone chair inside the pool. 

We did the time-share spiel in the AM and went to San Jose to check out the town.. Pretty cute with art galleries in town. The vibe is more laid back than Cabo San Lucas. 

Navigated there via the church that is quite pretty with a nice square in the front

San Jose church

Streets of San Jose

Westin resort always have grills and we had pork chops for dinner at the hotel that night 

Grilled pork chop with quesadilla and simple salad with a killer view

Day 3: Todos Santos

After a simple quesadilla breakfast in our room with coffee

Breakfast quesadilla

We drove to Todos Santos in the AM and it's even cuter than San Jose. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todos_Santos,_Baja_California_Sur

Again, navigated by the church so that we can get to the main square. And from there we just walked around town and saw cute shops and lots of art/galleries

Besame mucho store next to the church

Poked our head into a boutique hotel and they have a very nice little courtyard where we ordered a coffee. Turns out they are on the Guaycura route so we read up a little on them.

Boutique hotel on the Guacayo route

Is it the real hotel california? 

Ice cream for the heat

We tried to drive to the Todos Santos beach but can't find access. So instead we got a tip to go to hotel Cristóbal. Truly a place out of nowhere. We drove on a dirt road for 6 miles

Dirt road going to the ocean for at least 6 miles

It spit us out into this nice hotel that overlooks the ocean with nothing else around it except for a few fishing boats that use the isla for shelter!  

Hotel in the middle of nowhere

View of the beach at the hotel pool side

Prices for the hotel starts at $700 a night =) and we are not allowed to access the pool area and can only go around it to the restaurant.. =) 

Good ceviche and grilled fish tacos. View: priceless

On the trip back we stop at Cabos San Lucas and got rotisserie chicken from Pollo del oro. Good place, reminds us of the place that we go in Guadalupe valley where you get all the fixings with a flavorful chicken too. Definitely a local place.

Pollo del oro with its fixing

Day 4:  Fishing trip planned but didn't happen 

Today is supposed to be fishing trip but tropical storm closed the port for small boats less than 15 m.

We tried driving in the AM in the rain (a little crazy for Bill driving in the dark, highway flooded.. whew) as we are not sure what is going on with the port rules. And we kept trying to see if the port will open up once the rain passed but no luck.. Grr.. it could be the open ocean is choppier than normal but it's aggravating looking at the calm bay at the arch. 

We end up walking around the marina, across the Cabos beach (which is kind of icky actually). The heat finally drove us to a roof top bar to cool off and enjoy a view of the city and the arch

View of the bay

. 

360 bar on top of Corazon hotel.. again pricy margaritas with priceless view

View from 360 bar to the arch

View of the city from the 360 bar

Walking through the beach of Los Cabos, I have a better appreciation of the isolation of our hotel! 

Los Cabos Marina- tourist central

Los Cabos marina and American side of the town - Checked that I had seen it .. 🤣

That night we ate at the hotel as we have to use up the $60 resort credit. This gives u an idea of how far $60 will get you in a Westin at Los Cabos =).. with no wine or water. 

Dinner at hotel with short ribs and shrimp salad

Overall a fun trip and saw a lot of cute art work

Bill and statues in this trip =)

hey, we got a real one on our balcony

Elephants and art work this trip