The Los Cabos area, encompassing Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo, has been a top spring break, wedding and honeymoon destination for decades. With fresh seafood and organic farm-to-table fare, the cuisine has come into its own and made this area of the Baja Peninsula a major draw for top chefs and culinary travelers. Here are a few new cooking excursions and tours at farms that just might include artisan mezcal and a treehouse hotel room.
New Farm-to-Table Excursion
Opened at the end of 2020, El Huerto is a new farm-to-table dining concept just five minutes from downtown Cabo San Lucas – and a world away from the bars and party atmosphere. This intimate Baja farm grows dozens of varieties of fruits, vegetables, citrus trees, herbs and spices. Everything grown on-site is used in the adjacent kitchen, where Chef Emilio Sirera incorporates nutrient-rich ingredients into the menu at the open-air restaurant for farm veggie tacos and swiss chard pizza.
El Huerto is gaining recognition for its straightforward, organic approach to serving healthy and sustainable food. Before or after a meal, guests are encouraged to explore the farm and new vineyard or just relax on a hammock underneath the palm trees. This location also makes for a great excursion on Saturday mornings for a chorizo casserole breakfast and the outdoor farmer’s market. They sell produce but also artisan handicrafts from different parts of Mexico, and showcase other local boutique organizations that support fair trade.
Visit a Trio of Farms
If you want to take a deeper dive into the farm-to-table cuisine, you can arrange a farm tour with three to choose from in San Jose del Cabo. Los Tamarindos, Flora Farms and Acre are all located in the same area so if you took a car or uber, one could spend time at all three on one day, but it’s probably best to enjoy a full afternoon at one where you can take a tour of the farm, participate in a cooking class and then enjoy the lunch or dinner that you just helped prepare. Life truly slows down on these farms so it’s nice to allow time to relax and recharge.
Highlights from three farms in San Jose del Cabo
Cooking Classes and Mezcal
Los Tamarindos is an Organic Farm & Restaurant just one mile away from the Sea of Cortez and San Jose Del Cabo’s estuary. Located in a farmhouse dating back to the 19th Century, which used to grow sugar cane, and due to its fertile soil quickly became one of the region’s most important farms.
Chef and owner Enrique Silva is armed with a degree in agricultural engineering and leads guests through a hands-on cooking class where you will harvest your own veggies and herbs before crafting a seasonal 4-course meal with Mexican and Mediterranean cuisine. Menu items might include the catch of the day or the signature Cornish game hens raised on the farm. The class concluded with a lunch overlooking the fields and sea.
Another good reason to visit this farm: Silva also contracted with master Mescalero Celestino Sernas Lopez of Oaxaca and produces his own brand of organic, artisanal mescal called La Venia. The Chef´s signature dish, pork shank, braised in Oaxacan green mole, cooked with hoja santa and tomatillo should pair nicely.
Truly Sustainable Farm Life
Flora’s Field kitchen is another farm-fresh eatery with a goal to create healthy family meals with a sense of place. The original Flora Restaurant was in San Jose del Cabo, but after five years of supplying the produce, the owner decided he would switch things up and bring the restaurant to the farm.
Flora’s strives to only serve what they make raise or grow on the 150-acre farm but they do not offer beef on the menu as they feel it’s not sustainable and there is not enough water in Baja. They do grow (seasonally) Heirloom vegetables and herbs along with tropical fruits such as pineapple, mangos, papayas and bananas. Over 100 varieties are all planted and harvested by hand.
After your farm tour and cooking class, you might want to check out the farm spa where they use plant-based products and organic flowers and herbs from the grounds.
Farm Tour, Cocktails and a Treehouse
Situated on 25 acres of verdant farmland, Acre Hotel + Villas is a true Cabo adventure. At the center of this property is one of Baja’s most exciting restaurant and bar scenes, which was built before the cool treehouse-style hotel, but they both epitomize the free-spirited ethos and the indoor-outdoor flow of the grounds. They feature an innovative cocktail program (from the award-winning Keefer Bar in Vancouver) with produce from the garden at the foothills of the Sierra de la Laguna mountains. The on-site working farm provides 70% of Acre’s all-day, farm-to-table restaurant ingredients utilized by Chef Diego Moles. Pro Tip: don’t miss the award-winning eponymous mezcal.
Farm-to-Table Off Land
Los Cabos’ newest restaurant, Animalón by the Sea, is actually a floating dining experience by Chef Javier Plascencia. This fine-dining restaurant meets a sunset cruise takes place on a luxury yacht with only one seating per day for about 35 people. The six-course menu with wine pairings offers views of the Cabo San Lucas bay and the Arch rock formation. This menu also follows farm to table using ingredients sourced from the Baja Peninsula land and sea. While this project was born out of necessity from the pandemic, it’s here to stay. To make a reservation, contact reservations@animalonbythesea.com or a travel advisor.
Cabo to Kitchen Package
At the Hilton Los Cabos Award-winning Executive Chef Mauricio Lopez will lead a two-hour cooking class and join guests for a private dinner. It starts with a tour of the chef’s Vertical Garden to hand-pick aromatic herbs and search for Baja’s “Chocolate Clams” (often referred to as ‘Baja’s Seafood Candy’) followed by the class and a dining experience under the stars near a roaring wood-and-coal bonfire.
Michelin Chefs are Popping-Up
Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal has debuted a monthly Culinary Weekend Series that features the talents of Executive Chef Gustavo Pinet alongside eclectic flavors from partnering Michelin-starred Chefs, former James Beard Award winners, Food Network judges, Top Chef winners and beyond. Over the next few months, Chef Michael Mina will be in residence from May 13-15, 2021; followed by Chef Gavin Fine and Chef Stephanie Izard from June 11-13, 2021.
New Way to Get There
Set Jet is a new membership-based private jet charter flight program bridging the gap between commercial and private has recently started a new weekly, non-stop service between Los Angeles and Cabo San Lucas with additional one-stop connecting flights between Cabo and the Bay Area.
