Laja @ Guadalupe valley

My Birthday dinner at Laja

Finally After 7 years of hearing about Laja, we are ready to try it. 

The front entrance of Laja

Bill and I went there for dinner for my birthday. (Thanks Bill for dinner and driving us there) 

Goofy selfie

When we first went to Vena Cava for wine tasting, we chatted with Phil the wine maker and owner from LA. And he said he first started coming down to the valley much earlier and Laja was one of the 2 restaurants at that time for fine dining. 

Laja have a vision of farm to table, fresh, French Mexican fusion that is way before it's popular in the world

Beautiful sourdough bread.. happy dance

Also, his wife owns Alveolar and we pick up her olive bread at farmers market for years. To me, it rivals any bread that I can find in Europe

What's interesting is while the valley has boomed in food and wine, Laja has never tried to become more competitive or market themselves aggressively . They are still quietly farming the gardens and making great produce and product. 

My impression of the food is well executed French technique with spicy laced as surprise notes. They didn't attempt to pair wine from the valley but more of a introduction to Mexican booze which is interesting. 

Our first course of the night is a cauliflower puree (very distinct cauliflower flavour) with radish. There are spicy jam on the side and a surprising small dollop of flavored salt. Fresh, slightly sweet and goes well with the spicy jam. It's paired with a white chardonnay from Henry that is down the road from them. I am definitely curious to visit that winery 

Cauliflower puree with cut radish, augmented with dollops of spicy jam

Our 2nd course is fresh yellow fin tuna with chunks of avocado and tomato. There's a scoop of salsa macha (mexican salsa that has nuts and sesame) that needs to be mixed in. It's an interesting way to introduce that salsa to a ceviche-sashimi dish. And surprisingly they pair it with a beer that's German pilsner that is quite good. I was surprised as I thought the 2 flavors will clash badly but they didn't.  

Yellow fin Tuna

The 3rd course is a potato puree with pulpo (squid) and chicharron. And they paired with a really smoky mezcal that is amazing but was too much for me to finish for a mid meal drink. This is a pairing that didn't quite work for me as the mezcal is a really strong flavor that didn't go as well. Plus i didn't want to be drunk before i can enjoy the other 2 courses =) 

But the dish is well executed and delicious

Pulpo with chicharron on a bed of potato puree. Served with homemade pita bread

The 4th course is the steak course which is great executed steak (but i expect no less) and they did carrots 2 ways to go with it. One is a carrot puree and another is roasted carrots. They paired it with a red wine that came from Tecate and it turns out to be his brother in law exclusive organic wine for Laja. What took me by surprise was the smoky finish of the wine that is unique (and no, it's not from the mezcal). I love the food but the wine is so different that I'm on the fence. 

Steak course paired with a smoky red

They have a palette cleaner which is frozen melon that is rubbed with spice. It's a good mild palette cleanser and the spicy rub works well with the melon. But eating with my hands and having the melon touch my face does not feel like a successful dish. I think if they had done it as a granita would be better. 

Palette cleanser of frozen melon with spicy rub

The dessert course is a Mexican flan with figs. Yum and my favorite pairing of the night with Pijoan port wine. The figs are great and the flan is well executed.

Dessert course of Flan and port wine

As it's my birthday, I got a goodie bag to go from them. It's a"breakfast for tomorrow" bag, filled with 2 tea bags, 1 english muffin, homemade jam and seasoned dates. Very thoughtful. 

La Paz Mexico, Nov 2021

A "post pandemic" gathering leads to us booking a charter boat in La Paz with 5 other friends. 

La Paz Clear waters and blue sky

Not knowing what to expect, I was surprised by clear and warm water that rivals Redang in Malaysia. 

With perfect weather between 20 to 28 deg C all day, it's great snorkeling and boating temperature.

 

Flying out of La Paz with volaris, i took this picture from the plane, showing the perfect clear ocean that's just stunning

Sea of cortez from the plane

Day 1

Departure day. First time using CBX express pedestrian crossing to get to Tijuana airport, before flying 2 hours to La Paz airport. 

La paz airport

A little chaotic figuring out where to go (gate changes, recheck in at tj departure hall) but all sorted out after a couple of wrong directions. 

The CBX division showing the border on the bridge

All of us lining up to get off the plane upon arrival

I did notice Volaris has a weird deplane strategy. They will only open the overhead cabins for folks who are allowed to get off the plane. So everyone has to remain seated till their overhead cabins are open..

Folks getting out about 10 rows at a time

After a car ride to the marina and resort

Costabaja resort

Beautiful view from the restaurant

We had lunch at the restaurant in the resort. I had soft shell crab tacos and we all had margaritas

Lunch at the marina restaurant

After lunch, we are ready for our catamaran adventures

Where is Juliana?

Spot the catamaran

Provisioning the boat, and those wines are for one night.. (others are hidden)

Our bed / cabin for the next 5 nights

Our toys for the next 5 days

La Paz Hyatt hotel next to the fuel dock

We hired a captain Oscar and cook Anita for this trip and it allows max relaxation for all of us. 

We have 3 Bills on board. 

Boat mum Bill swinging on the boat during sunset

Olde Bill after snorkeling

Cool Cerveza Billy

the 4 women.. and ignore Billy on the side

We left the marina for Balandra playa around 4pm on Monday and settled in for the night

Our first meal by Anita was fish fillets lightly battered with flour, served with mashed potatoes and salsa roja. No pics as my phone is charging. 

Day 2

The first night was a little rough. The boat started rocking when the waves came in. 

We also discovered everything that rocks and clatters on the boat and put everything away better (evil eye at the rolling fire extinguisher) 

We woke up to a beautiful day with me and bill kayaking before breakfast. 

After a scrambled egg tacos breakfast with fruits, all 7  of us loaded up on the dinghy to explore the beaches. None of us brought a camera but the clear waters are amazing. 

After that we left for isla San Francisco which is about 4 hours away. 

We had lunch en route. Anita prepared pulpo ceviche (octopus in love)a to start, finished by a great shrimp with Chipotle sauce with rice. 

After arrival all of us jumped into beautiful and clear ocean waters and it was simply beautiful

Great sunset for the 2nd night. 

Dinner was lentil soup with fish fillets cooked with olives and green chilli that's slightly spicy and sour.

Dessert is watching stars on the deck

Day 3

I discover sunrise is equally as nice as sunset out in the sea of Cortez 

Peaceful Sunrise sitting on the boat

After breakfast of making our own breakfast tacos with scrambled egg with vegetables

We left for a fishing village with a good snorkeling area

Fishing village in the middle of the ocean

Sea of Cortez from the top of the fishing village

The rocks beside the boat are good snorkeling sites

After snorkeling, Oscar and Anita radio the fishing village and we bought some big chocolate clams and Anita made raw clams with onions and salsa with them. Yum

Oscar helping us to open up the clams and prepping with Anita

Anita showing us how to eat it

Saved some pretty shells as trip souvenirs to make a succulent planter.

Our lunch that day (yes, the clams are a snack!) are government taco with ceviche. Government tacos are baked shrimp with bell peppers and onions. The key is vegetables have to be al dente after baking with cheese. The sauce that goes with it is a Chipotle cream sauce that's really good

Anita also prepared a Tamarindo with guava and cinnamon that's full of vitamin c to keep us warm after swimming

We made our way back to Isla San Francisco to anchor for the night.

After more snorkeling on the sides of the rocks and trying to topple boat mates on paddle board, it's time for more food! 

Dinner is smoked marlin stuffed in chili rellenos, served with Mac and cheese with yellow bell pepper

Day 4 (Thanksgiving day) 

Oscar got worried as the weather forecast is rainy and choppy. So he suggested that we can go back to marina dock for the night to avoid screaming children and crying woman.. 

We left Isla San Francisco on day 4. 

First we went to San Espiritu to look at the national park for sea lions. It's beautiful out there with the belching sea lions

Sea lions at San Espiritu

Playful sea lions 

We also stop at a few beautiful coves. 

One of the beautiful coves

Another cove with a cross

Leaving the cove

The breaking point . Left is Isla Partida and right is Espirito Santo

Then we brought the boat to another snorkeling site to enjoy another day of great snorkeling 

Playa Candelero snorkeling site

Bill having fun with the life ring

Pica Pica before real lunch before we waste away

 

Lunch at the snorkeling area

Thanksgiving lunch with chicken rellenos, grilled veg platter and mac & cheese

We went back to the marina for the night, enjoying the sunset from the boat 

Sunset from the ocean

It was a good choice to go back to the marina, as one of the holding tanks is not draining. So we need to get it pump out. Think exploding sewage out of the drain.. eewww

Bill battling the sewage holding tank

For dinner we are able to grill carne asada and Anita made crazy potatoes with them. She added double baked to the grill meat, put into foil packs with mushroom and cheese. Dessert is flan. A unique thanksgiving dinner

Loco patatas

Day 5

This is our last full day for the trip. Boat is wet from the rain the night before. And the sky is a little gray today. 

Perfectly round and warm pancakes for breakfast

After the holding tank is pumped out, we went to another cove what allows divers and swimmers to go into the waters with sea lions. We brought in the dinghy to take a look but it's pretty busy and dangerous with so many snorkelers and divers that we didn't linger

Tough to get good pictures trying not to crash into anyone

Instead, we took the dinghy to explore other coves around the area 

A small cove next to the boat docking area with mangroves

After that we went back to the boat to have lunch 

Lunch for our last day at sea, with fidel soup and chicken A la king

After lunch, we went snorkeling and saw more fishes and turtle. Lots of pretty corals too. 

We headed back into the marina again to spend the night. Anita has her special tataki and ahi poke with eel sauce for dinner. The tuna tataki has jalapenos sliced on top with ginger. 

Dinner with tuna tataki and poke

Day 6

Checkout and departure day.

All of us woke up a little sad to be leaving. 

But it's been a great trip. 

After another great breakfast by Anita with quesadilla, fruits and yoghurt, it's time for us to head out to the airport

Fun times , good friends, yummy food and great weather..