What's wrong with seafood and cheese appearing together in the same dish? We start on the high end, amid the candlelight and wine racks of chef Javier Plascencia's Misión 19. Plascencia is food royalty in Tijuana; his parents opened a pizzeria here in 1969 and now have a restaurant empire that includes Caesar's, the Prohibition-era hot spot where the eponymous salad was invented, and a Mexican place in the San Diego suburbs.
It was there that master sushi chef Tsuyoshi Murakami perfected his trade, learning from his father-in-law how to perfect and tweak with surprising flourishes the kappo cuisine (a coursed meal that typically eschews sushi and is prepared by chefs at an open counter) the restaurant was known for.



After gaining fame for his acclaimed restaurant Apollo 77 (now closed), Chilean chef Manuel Subercaseaux opened the guest house and restaurant combination Hostería Espíritu Santo Together with his mother, Laura Moreno, he runs the small inn-restaurant with a focus on locally available fish and seasonal ingredients.
Chef Mark Clayton is onto something at the shabby, open-air, and legendary Da Conch Shack Just off Blue Hills Road and adjacent to a parking lot replete with an aging boat full of conch shells, Da Conch Shack is the type of beach bar that beach bums yearn for — fresh, tasty seafood and potent rum-laced drinks with a punch.

From there, the pair drove me into the hills of Colonia Libertad, a neighborhood that is framed by the infrastructure of transit — and the denial of transit: A railroad to the west, the Tijuana International Airport to the east and the U.S.-Mexico border wall, just to the north.
Menu highlights include the aromatic Rogan Josh mutton curry, with mutton cooked in a yogurt-based sauce with herbs and light spices, and classics such as seekh kebabs, made with delicately spiced minced meat that's rolled into the shape of a sausage and cooked in the a tandoori oven.
The art house movie theater-cum-cocktail bar and restaurant mini-chain has opened its third installment on Avenida Revolucion in Tijuana, which boasts a sprawling rooftop terrace, extensive cocktail, wine and beer list and a food menu designed by famed Ensenada chef Diego Hernandez.

This historic Mexico City institution, founded in 1912, is big, bright, and bustling, from the entrance, with its massive mural depicting chocolate in various contexts (being enjoyed by a nobleman, being mixed into mole in a convent kitchen), which overlooks the pastry counter, to the back dining rooms with their ornate mirrors, wrought-iron railings, and Moorish-style lights.
When he's not overseeing the cooking at MeroToro in Mexico City (see number 47 ), Jair Téllez — whose background includes stints at Daniel in New York City, La Folie in San Francisco, and the Four Seasons in Mexico City — is designing daily four- and eight-course fixed-price menus here at his original restaurant, a rustic, laid-back establishment in the Mexican wine country of the Valle de Guadalupe.
Rafa Saavedra, a local writer and cultural critic, said that while the general perception of Tijuana is that it's a violent and dangerous city,” he believes that the city is undergoing a new creative boom” led by young entrepreneurs like Mr. Plascencia.

Liverpool-born chef Paul Owens' menu changes frequently, but you can count on char-grilled meats and seafood including mahimahi and swordfish, and spellbinding dishes like Caribbean shrimp in Thai green curry coconut sauce with coriander rice, foie gras and chicken liver parfait, savory snails in puff pastry with chive cream sauce, and even a spicy Caesar salad with chorizo.
It's a welcome departure from the fast-casual craze of the past few years, and reflects a growing desire among both restaurateurs and San Diegans to have a healthy restaurant culture based on quality and balance, rather than just the latest and greatest.