Ensenada

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We love Mexico and we always will. So it was no question when our good, Aussie friends (now based between Ensenada and San Diego), invited us to an intimate, birthday, dinner party at their local, favorite restaurant in Ensenada, “Ophelia” that we would oblige. I put in for a Monday off, packed the car up Saturday morning and hit the road to make the four hour journey south from Venice Beach.

The gorgeous little restaurant is owned by Chef and proprietor, Rosindo Ramos and his wife, Rosa. An Ensenada native, Rosindo moved to Mexico City, where he had a couple of restaurants over the years. Coming back to his hometown, Rosindo brought his staff with him from Mexico City to start his first enterprise by the beach. Not only a superb Chef, who has designed an interesting and modern, Mexican, Italian, Asian, fusion menu, Rosindo also designed and remodeled the beautiful, open building, filled with unique flourishes - such as a wall built with tomato stakes from a friend’s ranch.

In a separate building from the bustling, main restaurant - that seems to service Ensenada, Rosarito’s and Tijuana’s upwardly mobile - is a private dining room called, “Clandestino”. This is where we were lucky enough to celebrate our darling friend Gretchen’s birthday, all to ourselves. With a fireplace, a bar and lounge, our private room turned into a feast of never-ending plates of all of Rosindo’s specialties, which would appear and disappear as if by magic, as we danced and danced to the tunes of Julieta Venegas and the like. There seemed to be a never-ending cast of local gentlemen (Rosindo's friends) to take us for a spin around the dance floor too.

The ever-flowing, sparkling Sauvignon Blanc and a mix of delightful reds - all of which hailed locally from Baja - kept us going until three in the morning. If I hadn’t consumed so much of the stuff, I might be able to actually tell you what they were. They were good though, I know that. Very good.

One half of our lovely, Aussie pair, Gretchen’s husband Ross, runs a Blue-fin Tuna farm operation. Their offices are in San Diego, but their boats and farms are off the coast of Ensenada (you can see the large circles in the water off the coast as you’re on the outskirts of the north, descending into town).

Gretchen and Ross divide their time between the two and their delightful, year-young baby girl gets to live a life between a downtown San Diego, Little Italy abode and an absolute, ocean front, Ensenada, beach pad with 180-degree views of the Pacific and all the tuna she can eat!

Ross met Ophelia’s owner, Rosindo in the surf and the two have become the best of friends ever since. Thanks to this friendship, I will also get to crash some of Rosindo’s cooking classes at the cooking school attached to Ophelia. I also was able to save hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of dollars from his local knowledge, with a recommendation to a good dentist in Ensenada.

I’d been to a good dentist in Tijuana before, but wanted to avoid TJ if I could. While not being a Spanish-speaker and Dr. Simon Bernal not being an English speaker, we seemed to work out my needs via a series of charades, drawings and a tiny video camera in my mouth! I am now wearing the most seamless filling I’ve ever seen and the most painless, given by a doctor with the most kind and gentle bedside manner this scaredy-cat has ever experienced.

If you find yourself in Ensenada, I highly recommend a meal at the delightful, Ophelia. And I recommend the Spinach Gnocchi (of very unusual size), the Crab Ravioli and the Tuna & Mushroom Tostada’s. Bon appetit!