Last week brought a double shot of Baja to La Jolla! eatdrinkbaja felt fortunate to attend an event by The Baja Kitchen at PIRCH, the super high-end kitchen-bath-and-more-store at UTC. The well-organized events, hosted by the Mexico Tourism Board-San Diego, Conservatorio de la Cultura Gastronómica Mexicana Región Baja California and Rancho La Puerta, are free but fill up VERY quickly.

Chef Ryan Steyn – originally from South Africa but now at the helm of El Jardin de Adobe at Adobe Guadalupe in Valle de Guadalupe, owner of The CookBook culinary school in Ensenada and more – got the party started, regaling us with tales of a chef’s life in Baja while he prepared a cold salmon dish with oyster sauce, persian cucumber, grape tomatoes, red onion and chile güero from Mexicali, topped with a crisp chicharrón.

The delicious dish was paired with Herencia, a blend of Cabernet, Merlot & Malbec from Bodegas F. Rubio in the Valle, poured by Francisco Rubio Rangel. Chef Ryan also prepared a risotto with king trumpet mushrooms that I can’t stop thinking about!

He showed us how to very lightly score the cut side of the mushroom and place it face down on the plancha to bring out the full flavor. The finished dish was paired with F. Rubio’s tasty Malbec, a varietal I haven’t seen often from Baja wineries. Our group was then greeted by Tru Miller of Adobe Guadalupe – the Valle’s pioneer bed & breakfast inn and winery – and Chef Denise Roa of Rancho La Puerta – a place that’s been on my personal bucket list for years.

Chef Denise fed us her chayote “lasagna;” roasted red & yellow tomatoes; fresh heirloom and black truffle tomatoes from The Ranch; and a gluten-free brownie, all served with Kerubiel and Rafael wines from AG. Quite the feast! Sunday found us at the San Diego Film Festival’s new culinary track, with screenings at Arclight UTC of two chef-related films, King Georges and Cooking Up a Tribute. After each film was a fun panel discussion and Q&A;then we were treated to (YES!) nibbles by French Chef Yannick Alleno, Chef Bernard Guillas of The Marine Room, Chef Aron Schwartz of Marina Kitchen, and Chef Chad White of East Village’s Común & Tijuana’s La Justina, who served up a zesty cobia aguachile.

We were fortunate to have the friendly Fernando Gaxiola of Baja Wine + Food pouring our vino, and an encore appearance by Tru Miller, who brought AG’s Gabriel, Kerubiel and even the mescal, Lucifer. Isn’t it appropriate that all Adobe’s wines are named after archangels . . . and their mescal is named for the devil?

Muchas gracias for photos by Patti Anderson.