I started this newsletter to bring more traffic to my website and social media to have more clients for my tours.
I’ve only had one tour in August. Only one more tour this weekend… And soon I’m going to New York. Besides my week in NYC and the tour this weekend, I have the rest of the year open for tours. Want to tour with me!?
DM ME! I have great reviews! $50 per person!
Speaking of great reviews, I came across the blog: Playas y Plazas by Paul Hudson. He did a top 3 of the best Tours in Tijuana and got me as #1!
Here’s what Paul had to say:
1. Tijuana Adventure
I’ve been reading this guy’s articles about Tijuana for years. I grew up reading the San Diego Reader religiously. Matthew Suarez’s articles on seafood, beer, and daily life in Tijuana are an honest look at the region.
Suarez has been doing tours for a long time. He got his start advertising on Craigslist which attracts a unique demographic. Now that he published his book, Tijuana Adventure: Confessions of a Tour Guide, he is often booked months in advance.
What I like about his vision of Tijuana is that he knows both sides of the city: high and low. He promotes both a hip new wine bar and a phenomenal taco stand nowhere near the tourist track.
Because he is a journalist, he knows about all the events coming to town from sports to food festivals and concerts. I read somewhere that he doesn’t do bachelor parties anymore, but from the excerpts that I have read of his book, he knows the Zona Norte and all the best Chinese food.
If you are looking for a memorable tour, you need to check out Tijuana Adventure. This is not the cheapest tour of Tijuana, it is the best tour guide in Tijuana who charges a good price for the experience he provides. Make sure to book well in advance. These tours sell out fast.
Tijuana Adventure Contact Information
Thanks, Paul!
Full disclosure. I’ve never met him or given him a tour. I was googling myself and I came across his blog. I truly appreciate that shoutout. Just a couple things are wrong… I’m not that expensive… and I’m not that fully booked. Oh. And I still do bachelor party tours.
But tours go up and down. There are weeks that I do a bunch, there are weeks that I do none. August… August has been slow.
Top 5 Burgers (for Now) and New Speakeasy (BB)
I did a top 5 burgers in downtown Tijuana. I hate doing lists; it was content for the sake of content. People asked for it. But I need to try way more burgers in the city before a final consensus. There are too many suggestions, and a lot of them are now looking good. I have too many burgers to eat.
The top 5 burgers in downtown Tijuana for me are:
5. Mamut Brewery.
4. The Beer Garden.
3. Norte Brewing Co.
2. La Republica de Hops.
1. McMorris by Morris Wine Bar.
This is only downtown Tijuana. Border Psycho could have made the list but they are not consistent. Other burgers I’ve tried that I liked but wouldn’t make top 5:
El Purista is great for kids. Casa Prado I need to try it again but I wasn’t impressed. Container Coffee was solid but not spectacular and too many fries. Barrio Burgers was good but they sold me the idea that it was going to be the best thing ever when it was just a solid choice.
Burgers that would go on the top 5 are: Yo Mommaz! in Altamira is solid copy of In N Out. 80/20 impressed me even though I’m not a fan of potato buns. I heard comments from people that they didn’t like it… but hey, for me it has been great. Bite Me! would go on the list, but it only does pop-up events so that’s not consistent enough to be a true burger place.
There are many more burgers that I have to try and perhaps change the list altogether. People commented a ton of great suggestions and a bunch of bad ones. Burgers I need to try: Enchinga Burger, Randy Patty, Agredanos, Norte Burger (different Norte), Beer Boutique (eek), Bastardo, Leyendas, Forastero, Bichiburger, BurgerCrib, Truck91, and oh god… so many fucking more.
Burgers that I dislike: Smash Bros Burgers, some pop-up at Teorema, Slow Burger (ewww why do people ever like this), Beverly Burger (I mean go for it if you like frozen food), Burra Burger (good sauces, dry as fuck meat), and any trendy burger with Cheeto dust or gimmicky shit like that.
Just like the burger game has increased tenfold and is way better in Tijuana… the garbage has also grown. There are SOOOOO many garbage options in this city that is so difficult to navigate all the noise. So many new faces trying to strike gold with a new restaurant copy cat ideas. And influencers go and swear that that garbage is the best thing they’ve ever had. The restaurant gets packed for a few weeks or even months… then reality hits. It was always shit. People went for the trend… and never went back. Only a very few restaurants survive. And some get popular that over expand and then quality goes under… I’m afraid for El Vaquero… it’s still great, but they just announced that they are expanding… I hope it doesn’t grow too fast.
Restaurant people… please remember why you are there. Because you want to serve great food to good people. Or at least that’s what I want to believe.
Top 5 burgers in video format:
In the top 5, I added La Republica de Hops because they have a delicious new smash burger. They have other types of burgers as well, and they call both the chicken and fish sandwich a burger… which, hey… DON’T! But they also have sliders and regular burgers that are filling and tasty (albeit a bit on the pricey side, but everything is expensive now).
Beers are also great there. But again… 120 pesos for a pint is pushing it. Let’s go back to when it was 80 pesos, please?! Or at least don’t break 100 because that shit is ridiculous.
I know it’s expensive for all, including the service industry. Everyone is battling with costs. But there is also too much competition. And that should drive prices down… in theory.
There is too much Tijuana, and Tijuana is going to keep going wild.
I’m almost done with the Tijuana La Horrible book. It has a lot of great paragraphs, but with a ton of technical scholarly fluff. It is, after all, a book for studying, not a book for entertainment. It is a dull book filled with great information. It helps with my tours and for my future book. More information about this city.
New speakeasy bar. Border Bloom Bar. BBB.
Bueno Bonito but not Barato…
And it’s more than bueno.
Border Bloom is the baby of a bartender by the name of Alberto. He told me all about his life and inspiration. And you can tell it’s a labor of love. He has worked in some of the most competitive cities for bartenders (DC, Mexico City, Beijing, New York, etc.). He knows his craft very well, and he wants you to have a unique experience with every sip.
I fucking hate speakeasys.
Like… Despise them. The first time I encountered one, I loved it… But it was back in 2011 in Seattle. Then I saw another one in San Francisco, and I didn’t know the correct password for the day, and they told me to fuck off. Another great one was in Minnesota, it was hidden behind a dumpster in an alley, and the vibe in there was jazzy and sublime. The first great Tijuana speakeasy was (and still is) behind Oryx Restaurant. The bar is called Nortico.
But then it became a social media trend, and it went to shit. They opened so many shitty speakeasys with absolutely no concept except “look, it has a shitty hidden door.” There was a speakeasy behind a fake fridge door (that looked very obviously fake). There was a speakeasy behind a very obvious bookcase that was a door. There was a speakeasy that didn’t even try to be a speakeasy; they just said it was. There have been so many ridiculously stupid speakeasys that… they killed the vibe. They killed the concept.
And now… Border Bloom.
The speakeasy is behind a somewhat obvious mirror. The facade is that it’s a simple shitty bar on the front serving shit like licuachelas and garbage cheap drinks. And the classy speakeasy is behind the mirror. Somewhat obvious. Not my favorite entrance to a speakeasy. I wish they were more creative with the entrance, like in an alley or something, but the choices are limited. And once inside, a classic fancy bar: all black with some gold highlights and marble. Great art made out of garbage and some okay nude prints by some photographer that is supposed to be the tits, but for me it just looks like a dude that takes nudes in black and white of chicks with tattoos. Not my taste and sort off-putting for the bar, but not bad. It is a great location for a boudoir photoshoot.
The bar is somewhat tight but manageable, and it displays all the herbs they use in the drinks. There are a few tables perfect for dates. And to the main part of a bar… the drinks.
They are inspired by everything Baja, especially the native communities of Kumiai and Cucapah, and the herbs that they use. The two cocktails I tried were complex and well-balanced. The signature cocktail is made with bacanora, which I rarely ever find in a cocktail. Very herbal, and it goes down well, especially for having a liquor that is very strong.
The second cocktail was pink! My girlfriend’s favorite color. And it contained gin, and she’s been loving the gin and tonics. It was fantastic. Wonderful aroma followed by a nice sour and sweet combination. I liked it better than the signature. Yet there are MANY more cocktails to try.
Drink 1: Yumanos del Desierto – Bacanora, bellota tostada Kumiai (roasted acorn), miel silvestre (wild honey), cordial de gordolobo (great mullein), and tintura de moronel.
Drink 2: Clover Bloom – Ginebra infusión de bugambilia (gin infused with bougainvillea), jarabe de frambuesa (raspberry syrup), emulsion con manzanilla (chamomille), perfume de artemisa (sagebrush), limón, and pollen.
Soon I’ll do a list of the best cocktail bars in Tijuana. Cocktails, just like burgers, have skyrocketed in quality in this city. It used to be okay stuff that was passable, but it couldn’t seriously compete with other cities. But now… There are more than five cocktail places that are doing superb stuff. And Border Bloom might be on that list.
Speaking of others that could be on the list… Casa Ocampo.
I said I would write a full review… but I haven’t gone back to try their cocktails on a regular day. All I tried was a martini and a limoncello drink that I couldn’t fully appreciate. But the place… Oooo, I appreciate the place.
This is a speakeasy without calling itself a speakeasy and/or trying. It is nowhere near any other bar. It is situated in an old warehouse near all the fish markets. It doesn’t look like a bar from the outside… and the inside… they did a magnificent job. They have garbage art by the same artist. I call it garbage art, but what I mean it’s that he uses recycled materials. But it truly is just great garbage art.
That could be another one on the list.
And so could be Aruba Day Drinking Bar, Illuso Cocktail House, Malbouche, and Nortico. I still need to try Minimal…and go back to Nortico… and that pretty much sums up the top 5.
Except I mentioned 7…
It is going to be a difficult choice. Cocktail bars in Tijuana can finally compete with other cities, but the prices are also as expensive. In all of these places expect to pay $12-20 per cocktail…
La Ballena shirt information:
Did you know that the longest bar in the world used to be in Tijuana? It was nicknamed “La Ballena.”
The original name of the building was Liquor Palace and Mexicali Beer Hall, but it was also dubbed “The Long Bar” and “La Ballena.” The bar was over 100 yards long. It was built in 1923 by American businessmen and gangsters during the Prohibition era (like most of Tijuana). The building now houses pharmacies, a market, curio shops, coffee shops, and more. Beers used to be around 25 cents, which equals $5 nowadays.
The bar closed in 1960, and it was moved across the street from the original spot and was less than half the size it used to be. Then it was moved from place to place. Several bars in Tijuana claimed to have been a part of La Ballena. But none could come close to what was the original longest bar in the world.
The legacy of the place now only exists in stories and distorted memories. And in this shirt and tote bags!
GET YOURS NOW!
I’ve done a lot of research about this, and like everything in Tijuana, there is conflicting information. A lot of people in the 60s wrote about visiting the longest bar in the world, but it was closed by then. And their description of the bar is that it was a nasty place with a rancid bathroom and a ton of drunk people. But back in the 20s, it was a classy joint where famous people (matadors) would hang out.
Tijuana Adventure 
Leave a comment