Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Five minutes to Baja's finest

La Faraona, in Tijuana’s Zona Rio, offers a taste of Baja’s finest cuisine

Try the hogazas at this inspired wine bar — a French roll split open and filled with melted cheese and piled with pancetta or chorizo.
Try the hogazas at this inspired wine bar — a French roll split open and filled with melted cheese and piled with pancetta or chorizo.
Place

Faraona

Avenida Puente México #8250, Colonia Zona Centro, Tijuana, BC

One of the most visible symptoms of the cultural shift that has been taking place in Tijuana over the past several years is the reclamation of former tourist dumps by businesses that now highlight Baja’s abundance of homegrown art and locally sourced gastronomy. La Faraona is a perfect example. Having celebrated their grand opening just over a month ago, this inspired wine bar is located on the walk of shame from Revolucíon to the pedestrian bridge, across from the Wax Museum, in a plaza historically reserved for disposable-trinket hawkers and lackluster taco shops.

“A recent thing here in Tijuana is that people really take pride in local, artisanal food and drinks,” says David Leon, who owns the bar with Oscar, Jorge, and Danielle Campos.

Accordingly, the quartet established La Faraona as a tasting room for Sol de Media Noche (Midnight Sun), a two-year-young winery in Valle de Guadalupe run by the Campos’ aunt, Lupita Cortes.

Priced at a palate-whetting $2.50/glass, $3.75/flight, or $12/bottle, the wine selection includes a white (peachy with a smooth finish) 50/50 cabernet/tempranillo and 70/30 cab/tempranillo.

Sponsored
Sponsored

To accompany the vino, you can sample a local cheese spread for $5 or, better yet, a fresh-baked hogaza (~$6) — a French roll split open and filled with melted cheese, piled with pancetta or chorizo, and then topped with sun-dried tomato and cheeses marinated in olive oil.

“Oscar and I like to cook and experiment,” David says. “We wanted something like tapas, and we came up with the hogazas.”

Faraona’s walls are splattered with Tijuana artist Lizardo’s urban-surrealist murals depicting multicolored paints spewing from a Calle Sexta alleyway and a slice of hillside neighborhood Libertad tiptoeing on insectoid robot legs over the “Cardboardlandia” shacks that once populated the canal running through Zona Rio.

The bar shares its colorful space with Café Tiwan (coffee, Italian sodas, teas, sandwiches, etc.) and — get this — an upstairs micro-theater called “De Cuarto a Cuatro,” which puts on a series of five 15-minute performances Thursdays through Sundays from 8 to 11 p.m. ($12 for all five or $3 each). Each show accommodates 15 people in a standing-room-only theater.

To complete the experience, David says the bar is looking to round out their standard selection of Mexican beers with local craft suds and select batches of Oscar’s (a doctor by day) homebrews.

Imagine: a taste of Baja’s finest just a five-minute walk from the border.

  • Price: Beer $2+, wine $2.50
  • Hours: Tuesday–Wednesday and Sunday, 4–10 p.m.; Thursday–Saturday, 4–2 a.m.; closed mondays.
  • Happy: Always
  • Food: Until midnight Friday and Saturday; 9ish else
  • Capacity: Sits about 50
  • Cards:

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

The danger of San Diego's hoarders

The $1 million Flash Comics #1
Next Article

The danger of San Diego's hoarders

The $1 million Flash Comics #1
Try the hogazas at this inspired wine bar — a French roll split open and filled with melted cheese and piled with pancetta or chorizo.
Try the hogazas at this inspired wine bar — a French roll split open and filled with melted cheese and piled with pancetta or chorizo.
Place

Faraona

Avenida Puente México #8250, Colonia Zona Centro, Tijuana, BC

One of the most visible symptoms of the cultural shift that has been taking place in Tijuana over the past several years is the reclamation of former tourist dumps by businesses that now highlight Baja’s abundance of homegrown art and locally sourced gastronomy. La Faraona is a perfect example. Having celebrated their grand opening just over a month ago, this inspired wine bar is located on the walk of shame from Revolucíon to the pedestrian bridge, across from the Wax Museum, in a plaza historically reserved for disposable-trinket hawkers and lackluster taco shops.

“A recent thing here in Tijuana is that people really take pride in local, artisanal food and drinks,” says David Leon, who owns the bar with Oscar, Jorge, and Danielle Campos.

Accordingly, the quartet established La Faraona as a tasting room for Sol de Media Noche (Midnight Sun), a two-year-young winery in Valle de Guadalupe run by the Campos’ aunt, Lupita Cortes.

Priced at a palate-whetting $2.50/glass, $3.75/flight, or $12/bottle, the wine selection includes a white (peachy with a smooth finish) 50/50 cabernet/tempranillo and 70/30 cab/tempranillo.

Sponsored
Sponsored

To accompany the vino, you can sample a local cheese spread for $5 or, better yet, a fresh-baked hogaza (~$6) — a French roll split open and filled with melted cheese, piled with pancetta or chorizo, and then topped with sun-dried tomato and cheeses marinated in olive oil.

“Oscar and I like to cook and experiment,” David says. “We wanted something like tapas, and we came up with the hogazas.”

Faraona’s walls are splattered with Tijuana artist Lizardo’s urban-surrealist murals depicting multicolored paints spewing from a Calle Sexta alleyway and a slice of hillside neighborhood Libertad tiptoeing on insectoid robot legs over the “Cardboardlandia” shacks that once populated the canal running through Zona Rio.

The bar shares its colorful space with Café Tiwan (coffee, Italian sodas, teas, sandwiches, etc.) and — get this — an upstairs micro-theater called “De Cuarto a Cuatro,” which puts on a series of five 15-minute performances Thursdays through Sundays from 8 to 11 p.m. ($12 for all five or $3 each). Each show accommodates 15 people in a standing-room-only theater.

To complete the experience, David says the bar is looking to round out their standard selection of Mexican beers with local craft suds and select batches of Oscar’s (a doctor by day) homebrews.

Imagine: a taste of Baja’s finest just a five-minute walk from the border.

  • Price: Beer $2+, wine $2.50
  • Hours: Tuesday–Wednesday and Sunday, 4–10 p.m.; Thursday–Saturday, 4–2 a.m.; closed mondays.
  • Happy: Always
  • Food: Until midnight Friday and Saturday; 9ish else
  • Capacity: Sits about 50
  • Cards:
Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Gonzo Report: Three nights of Mission Bayfest bring bliss

“This is a top-notch production.”
Next Article

Everything You’ve Ever Wanted To Know About doTERRA

Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader