Jorge Meraz: Folks, today on "Crossing South," we visit two amazing restaurants, one in Ensenada and the other one in the Valle de Guadalupe, a one-two amazing punch of food, and it's coming to you right now.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Jorge: You know, Ensenada is a small town, multiple generations that have been here since it was a sleepy fishing village, and now it isn't, right?

It's a city with a small-town feel, and this restaurant we're hitting right now belongs to one such multigenerational family.

It's called Ophelia's.

They say it's really good, so we're gonna get to try it and be the judges of that.

It's "Crossing South."

We're at Ophelia's, so don't go anywhere, folks.

"Crossing South."

Jorge: You know, Ensenada is the town that kind of grandfathered the Valle de Guadalupe, and they don't wanna be left behind.

They're popping restaurants within the city.

They don't want all the attention to just stay in the valle.

They want people to also enjoy, you know, a good, you know, meal, a fancy dinner, or just quality restaurants in the city of Ensenada.

One of the persons that's bringing those type of places to Ensenada is standing right next to me.

His name is Rosendo.

How're you doin', Rosendo?

Rosendo Ramos: Hey, very nice to meet you, yes.

Jorge: Likewise, Rosendo.

Talk to me about, you know, your going into the restaurant business.

What's your story?

Rosendo: In 1998, I went to Mexico City and just, kind of, to see what was going on in the world of cuisine.

I ended up opening a restaurant there, which was the first part of Ophelia.

Jorge: Oh, really.

Rosendo: Yes, we decided, when we had our first child, to come to Ensenada because-- Jorge: Family?

Rosendo: Family and to be around our kids, so came here, and this used to be where my father used to have a Mercury outboard engine shop.

Jorge: So you come back and, like, "Dad, are you still using that thing?"

Rosendo: And he said, "No, you can't do it here.

I'm renting all this."

In the end, I talked him into it.

Jorge: Right, talk to me about the food.

What style of food are you making here at Ophelia?

Rosendo: It's a global thing here, you know, because we're in Baja, Mediterraneo.

The vegetables are outstanding.

The main thing that we sell here is tuna from the farms, so we have a lot of tuna plates, fish, of course.

Oysters are from here, from San Quintin, from Guerrero Negro, from San Ignacio, so that's beautiful.

Jorge: You can't go wrong with Ensenada and Baja seafood.

Jorge: For this first round of dishes, Chef Rosendo has amazing items lined up for me.

I honestly didn't know what to expect because a lot of the media attention is focused on the valle, so I didn't expect to be surprised this much by a restaurant in Ensenada.

No slight to Ensenada.

It's just the thunder is in the valle right now, and you'll see what I mean.

Jorge: Okay, so we are starting off light, which is good, you know, get the stomach juices goin', right?

So this is a Seared Bluefin Tuna Tostada.

You've got your shiitake mushrooms.

You've got your fried leeks in there, you know, all these are leeks.

This is like a cilantro dressing.

And they've got a touch of Sriracha, so they wanna do a little bit of a spicy so-- That was as unglamorous as any tostada bite has ever been given.

This was incredibly good.

I would order this dish again, which I've never done.

I've never ordered tostadas in my life.

I would order this dish again, and if I was just here right now, and the rest of the evening I was gonna eat these tostadas, I would be happy.

It was that good.

We have here now the Sashimi Especial, special sashimi of the house.

It's got bluefin tuna that's raw.

It's got octopus.

It's also got the catch of the day, which is yellowtail today.

You know, it's got wasabi.

It's got your Serrano peppers right here.

So let's try what I can imagine to be the yellowtail.

Mm, all right, we're gonna try the octopus now.

Jorge: Folks, what a privileged region, really.

I mean, if you haven't visited the valle, Baja, Tijuana, what's goin' on, the culinary scene in the state, it's putting Mexico on the map.

So you've got your Braised Rib Sope.

You know, from corn dough, you know, they fry it, and they make these sopes.

It's got avocado, a chili aioli there, you know, your purple, you know, pickled onions, but the protein of this is basically braised rib meat.

So let's try it.

That is very nice.

Let me just try to meat alone.

Good seasoning, whoa.

Rosendo: I opened 16 years ago, this place, so-- Jorge: Was it always this popular, or did it start banging, like, just, like, recently?

Rosendo: It wasn't that popular because people didn't wanna drive that far, and I used to have an older crowd that were very faithful, and then, all of a sudden, the millennials started-- Jorge: Right.

Rosendo: That's when it-- "poom."

Jorge: It just tidal-waved.

Rosendo: It started to-- "pssshoo," yes.

Jorge: And I was about to find out why this place is so popular with millennials.

Jorge: Check this out, folks.

This is quail from the region, from Baja California.

It's charbroiled.

You've got your, you know, mashed potatoes underneath.

Check it out, your mashed potatoes.

You've got your asparagus on top.

And they actually had a chimichurri in there.

You know what?

They didn't bring me any steak knives, so I take that as an invitation to just, to just tear it apart?

Look at how easily it just tears out.

Woo, we're gonna just bite into it, folks.

It's fantastic.

Folks, it's up to you.

You can come down and check and see if I'm blowing hot air or if I'm right.

You know what?

Chimichurri, salt, and pepper and-- I think that's all it needs.

This is fantastic quail.

I mean, it's bold.

It's rememberable, you know?

This is gonna linger in my taste buds for a while.

Okay, folks, so check this out.

This looks pretty good, you know?

So this is a Black Risotto.

It's basically tainted with, you know, octopus ink.

You've got some parmesan cheese.

You see this octopus arm, tentacle, here.

It's got some, you know, small fried calamaris.

We're gonna try their risotto now.

Octopus is tender enough to even cut it with a butter knife.

It's a subtle, hearty, tasty dish.

Just so you know, this is a secret recipe from the family, so if you try the Black Risotto with octopus and calamari, you're trying a family secret guarded here at Ophelia's, mm.

Jorge: So look at this bad boy right here.

This is a clam mix with mussels.

This is actually cooked with white wine from the valle.

Look at that stew.

Look at that, folks.

If it's prepared with white wine and it's got all these, you know, mollusks, all these mussels, you know, condimenting it, you know it's gotta be good.

Oh, man, it's got a lot of butter, hah-ha.

They didn't mention the butter, but they didn't have to because I can taste the butter, oh, man.

Let's try some clams.

Let's try some mussels together.

Look at that.

We have some clam in there.

We've got some mussels now.

Let's get some more of that juice.

Let's drip it in there.

Look, look, let's just drip it in there.

That's how you wanna do it.

Oh, man.

♪♪♪ Jorge: Mm, oh, dear.

Ophelia is turn out as a great place to just come and break bread.

Jorge: And one of the ways that I came to this restaurant is I asked for a recommendation, and they gave it to me.

And I actually came here.

I scouted your restaurant before, and I really loved the furniture inside.

I loved the sofas.

I was sitting in that corner.

Velvet sofa, I was sitting there, and I'm like, "Okay, it passes the test.

We're doing a show here."

Did you build that sofa?

Rosendo: Yes, I built the sofa-- Jorge: No way.

Rosendo: --and built the bar in the back.

Jorge: This has been real fun, real tasty, but I had no idea of what I was in for.

Now, you know I like desserts.

I was made for this, capital M-A-D-E. Little did I know that I would taste a dish that would mark me indelibly.

Jorge: Folks, you know how excited I get with this part, heh-heh.

I'm a dessert guy, so we're gonna try now a little trench run of desserts.

This is a banana pie.

So it's got apparently a crust made of Oreo cookies, which sounds kind of commercial.

Like, I wouldn't-- I wouldn't have done that for a nice restaurant, but it may have a purpose.

We'll give it a chance.

So an Oreo crust.

It's got banana, you know, banana inside.

I'm liking the texture.

The creaminess, I like that.

Oh, my, should I?

[angelic harp music] Oh, my goodness.

The taste is delicious.

The right amount of sweet, and the fact they brought it freezing cold, it just makes all the difference.

It is scrumptious, folks.

It is scrumptious.

When he said, "Oreo crumble," I mean, "Oreo crust," I wouldn't have ordered it.

If I'd just seen it on the menu, I wouldn't have ordered it 'cause I'm like, "Oreo?

Come on, that's a kid's dessert," right?

"Why would you put Oreo on a fancy, like, adult dessert?

It works, folks.

Boy, does it work.

Oh, my goodness.

My producer is always telling me, "Wait, pace yourself.

There's more food coming.

Don't eat it all."

I'm sorry.

I can't.

I don't know if what's coming out there is gonna be as good as this.

I need to secure what's good.

I literally ate it all.

Oh, my goodness.

Jorge: Look at this one.

It looks phenomenal, right?

Like it's just topping over topping.

Goat Cheese Cheesecake.

You see this layered pastry?

It's called a phyllo dough.

I'll try to break it so that you guys can see what it is.

So this is a cheesecake made with goat milk.

We'll put it like that.

We'll add some cajeta, you know, the fruits.

This is very, very good.

You can see food here that is made skillfully with great care, great produce, letting the produce speak.

The combinations are phenomenal.

So it's "Crossing South," folks.

Don't go anywhere.

We got more coming your way.

Jorge: Here in the wine country, we visit a restaurant called Emat, which is connected to the Hilo Negro Winery.

"Hilo negro," meaning, "black thread."

Jorge: You know, the Valle de Guadalupe is just a place that keeps on giving, and sometimes, we get the feeling that we're never gonna cover the amount of hot, rockin' places that just keep appearing, and one such place is where we're at right now.

The place is called Emat.

It's nestled in the middle of a vineyard.

It's "Crossing South."

We're in the Valle de Guadalupe.

We're bringin' it to you.

Let's go find out.

Jorge: How're ya doin'?

Eduardo Salgado: Hi, good, thank you.

Jorge: Your name is Eduardo, right?

Eduardo: Eduardo Salgado, yeah.

Jorge: Eduardo.

Where are you from, Eduardo?

Eduardo: I'm originally from Toluca.

Jorge: Toluca.

It's near Mexico-- the state of Mexico, right?

Eduardo: Yeah, the state of Mexico, but my mom is from here, from Ensenada, so I have both, full parts.

I was playing football in Mexico.

I got a scholarship in Puebla to go study there, a culinary school, and my dad was not happy about it so, ha-ha-ha, so he told me, if I wanted to study culinary, he want me to go to New York, so I went to New York.

I went to Barcelona, as well, to work there.

I worked in New York for a year in Momofuku, in Kappo Masa.

Jorge: True New York restaurants.

Eduardo: Yeah.

Jorge: Eduardo showed me around the winery at the restaurant as well as their bottling operation.

His father is an architect, and it was impressive to see how he made some deliberate design tweaks to bring light in through all the floors.

Impressive work, but I think we all know why we're here.

We're ready to taste his food and to see some of that culinary schooling in action.

Jorge: This is his Striped Sea Bass Sushimi, so, sushimi outside.

Look at the fried onions inside.

Your veggies.

You've got your Serrano pepper.

You've got your Sriracha Mayo.

You've got your avocado mousse.

All right, it looks really nice.

Let's add some of that Salsa Emat, their Emat sauce, and let's try it.

The amount of possibilities the earth has and tastes that we've never explored, right?

Because we have these set cuisines that we've established in the world, and sometimes we just don't get out of our comfort zone, but we have people, like this, that are just willing to experiment, to fusion, to try new things.

I'm gonna try it now, again, with the pairing okay?

What a pleasant flavor.

What a pleasant flavor.

I think we're ready to try more of what he's got going.

Whatever he's sellin', I'm buying.

So let's continue.

Jorge: Okay, so this dish, he calls it Mussels Cream, you know, like, the seafood mussels, and he said it's his mom's recipe.

It has a bell pepper underneath.

It's got that chili oil.

You see that moving to the side?

That yellow thing is the mussel cream.

And on top, he's got a piece of toast with mussels pate.

The best way to do it is, like, destroy the dish so that, when you take a spoonful, you can taste everything that's in there.

So let's do it.

You're gonna do it with me, folks.

Ready?

Let's crack it all in on it.

Oh, that looks beautiful.

Even destroyed, that looks beautiful.

I cannot wait to taste that cream, to be quite honest with you.

The past dish was incredibly good.

This one's even better.

I'm gonna try one more mouthful of this with the pairing, the wine pairing.

♪♪♪ Jorge: Wow, it's fantastic.

Jorge: So we go from, you know, football player in Toluca.

We go to Puebla, a scholarship.

Your dad yanks you out, puts you in a restaurant, sends you to New York.

You do apprenticeships in Barcelona.

You do apprenticeships in New York.

How do you go to Baja, be a restauranteur here?

Eduardo: My brother opened this restaurant with a friend.

He did it with me and my other brother.

We are three brothers.

Jorge: Okay, okay.

Eduardo: Our parents are partners in the winery.

Jorge: The Hilo Negro?

Eduardo: Yeah, so it's the second generation.

Jorge: This has been an all-star lineup, and it's not over.

Jorge: Okay, so check this bad boy out.

So this is their Smoked Beet Salad.

It's got beets.

It's got balsamic vinegar puree.

It's got puffed rice.

You've got your pistachio texture, Greek yogurt.

There's an arugula emulsion, which is these little green things right here.

Jorge: Three for three, folks.

I am not joking when I tell you it's delicious.

You pop in a sliced beet.

Taste ain't that great to me.

You might love it.

I don't.

I love it in a juice, but with everything, with the pistachios, with the emulsions, with the vinegar, with the Greek yogurt, it's delicious.

So let's try it with the-- let's try it with the pairing.

All the pairings have been good, but, oddly enough, the pairing that immediately had, like, a chemical reaction when it came together with the wine was this one.

You know, the pistachio with the puffed rice, you know, the arugula emulsion, you know, the texture of the Greek yogurt, you know, it's almost like an incredibly complex and fancy way of putting salt on food.

You know what I mean?

It's like they become the condiment.

It's not just things that are there.

They actually provide a seasoning to the food, so that was really good.

That was a really good experience, wow.

Jorge: Okay, so you have here your Kumiai oysters with cantaloupe granita, which is cantaloupe shaved ice.

So it's a really good dish.

It's a really nice one.

It's in last place right now for me, but I'm almost reluctant to say that because it can convey that it's not a good dish, and it's very good.

I would order this proactively.

It's that good.

Jorge: Okay, so now you've come back.

You've got all this knowledge from New York, from Barcelona.

How do you merge Baja's produce, Baja's seafood, Baja's everything?

How do you merge that with the knowledge you have?

Eduardo: It's been actually super-easy 'cause the produce that we have here is amazing.

Jorge: Phenomenal, right?

Eduardo: It's way better than any part in the country.

So I combine my Mediterranean cuisine that I had, and I love Japanese as well.

I studied--I focused on Japanese cuisine in school.

I have French techniques.

Those were my basics.

So I have a mixture of-- Jorge: Are you mixing all of that?

Eduardo: Yeah, I'm mixing all of that in-- Jorge: Mediterranean, Japanese, French?

Eduardo: Yeah.

Jorge: Oh, wow, that's interesting.

Eduardo: So I have an international cuisine with Baja produce.

Jorge: I'm telling you, everything that he mentions, I was getting to experience.

Jorge: His mom is vegetarian, and whenever he wanted to, you know, invite his mom to eat, he never had a dish for her, and so he made this vegetable risotto.

And see that sauce on the side?

That's a roasted vegetable sauce.

They make 20 liters of vegetables that they boil, and they prepare this stock.

So, out of those 20 liters, they get one liter of actual sauce, which is this, so imagine how dense and how rich in flavor this one is.

Jorge: I'm impressed, my friend.

I am impressed.

Mom and Dad should be proud.

I know we are.

Jorge: So we have a black cod, you know, filet with some miso glaze on top.

You've got some garlic cream here, and you've got this risotto, but it's not just any risotto.

With this Japanese influence, dashi and shiitake risotto.

The black cod with the miso glaze, the garlic, I'm just tryin' 'em together, see what that does.

♪♪♪ Jorge: It tastes amazing together.

Okay, so the cod with the glaze is--I don't think "tender" and "smooth" would be even enough.

It's almost like the cod became a cream.

I can taste the schooling that Eduardo has gone through in his dishes and the quality, a high-end preparation of them.

Combined with the produce of Baja, I'm telling you, sky's the limit for these guys.

Jorge: Let me just ask you also, like, what does "Emat" mean, first of all?

Eduardo: "Emat" it's "earth," from "Kumeyaay."

Kumeyaay is a regional tribe from-- Jorge: Yeah, regional indigenous tribes from Baja.

Eduardo: Yeah, from Baja, so it comes-- Jorge: Is that what it means?

Eduardo: Yeah, and if you see the logo, it comes from, like, in diagonal, so it's, like growing.

Jorge: Okay-- Eduardo: Yeah, yeah.

Jorge: Very creative.

So "Emat" means "earth."

Eduardo: Yeah, from the earth, yeah.

Jorge: You've got your corn flan.

You've got your Rompope ice cream, and I love Rompope.

That's the Mexican eggnog.

My mom made flan for me, growing up.

You know, that was a dessert at home.

But let's try this corn flan.

♪♪♪ Jorge: Fantastic.

It's delicious.

I love Rompope.

I love ice cream.

Mm, whoa.

Let's try 'em together.

Oh, powers combined.

♪♪♪ Jorge: Delicious individually, scrumptious together.

That's all I can say.

Jorge: This is a chocolate mousse with hazelnut textures in chocolate ice cream, and just like the Mussel Cream, he's asking me to just destroy it.

I don't wanna do that.

Look, it's so beautiful, this little hut, mm.

It's a mess, but he asked me to make it, so I'm justified.

All right.

If you love chocolate, which I do, it's incredibly strong, chocolatey taste, incredibly, incredibly strong, fancy, bold dish.

He closed it out with a carajillo.

Smart man.

Very popular drink right now, carajillo.

It's a coffee-based drink.

You burn some cinnamon sticks in it, and the smokiness of the burning cinnamon does something to it.

I'mma tell you, wherever you go in Mexico, do yourself a favor and try the carajillo.

It's a very good drink, and that's not the exception, mm.

We hope you enjoyed this as much as we did, folks.

It's "Crossing South."

It's Emat.

It's Hilo Negro.

We were so happy to be here.

Jorge: So, after getting to know these awesome dudes and seeing the level of food they are putting out for their customers, hey, we leave satisfied and joyful, awaiting the next time we get to cross south.

♪♪♪ male announcer: Like to know more about the places you've just seen?

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