Sampling Mexican Cuisine in San Juan Bautista, California by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Sampling Mexican Cuisine in San Juan Bautista by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Every feast of Saint John the Baptist on June 24^th or around it, my family and I would go out to San Juan Bautista for lunch at Les Jardines Restaurant.

The first thing you have to know about driving in San Juan Bautista is that roosters strut around the town and in all the roads.  They are pets.  They will never be coq au vin.

Their owners do watch over them, but you are in the roosters’ town, and you must slow down for the roosters and kids.  That is driving etiquette for adults.

There are actually three restaurants that I like in San Juan Bautista: Dona Esther, Les Jardines, and a Basque restaurant that has changed names over the years depending on which family member owns it at the time.

We usually went to Dona Esther when Florence was little, because children, parents, and grandparents usually eat there.  There is a lot of good, warm food; wandering mariachi bands on Sunday; and children can practice their “nice manners” here.  Children at Dona Esther do not play video games.  They talk with their families and learn how to speak with people of all ages, including grandparents.

Les Jardines is a more adult affair, which makes Tex-Mex food, but serves it European style.  I like Les Jardines, because I can get menudo soup everyday of the week here instead of just on Sunday like I do at El Rancho in Marina, California.

Menudo is a Mexican tripe soup with spicy chicken-tomato-pepper broth.  It comes steaming hot with dry parsley and a lime-like citrus fruit from Mexico called a citron.

You squeeze the citron juice into the menudo and put parsley in it.  Menudo is supposed to be a cure for hangovers, but I just like the flavors.  There are a lot of nutrients in this soup and something like zero calories.

For people who are squeamish about eating tripe, they should remember that one of the specialties of French cuisine is tripe a la Caen.  The French travel to that city to specifically eat this dish, buy Calvados (apple brandy), and visit the tomb of William the Conqueror.

Laurent usually orders a carne-asada platter (thin-cut, grilled steak), which arrives with a mound of stewed, black beans, sour cream, torn iceberg lettuce with California black olives; Spanish rice; and soft, corn tortillas.

Les Jardines does not stint on the soft, corn tortillas.  You get about six to make carne asada meat into a quesadilla-like fold over full of the ingredients that I just mentioned.

I like cheese or chicken enchiladas with chile verde sauce made from tomatillos (Mexican green tomatoes) and various green peppers.  The chile verde sauce can probably be made spicier upon request.  Peppers contain Vitamin C, which is good for fighting colds.  I especially like somewhat spicy peppers, because they help clean your sinuses, which fights colds, too.

I like refried beans, Spanish rice, and shredded lettuce with California black olives and a dollop of sour cream on top along with Spanish rice.  European olives are lovely, but many people do not like how salty they are.  California olives do not clash with the salsa flavor wise either.  I also like promoting American agricultural products and not putting Americans out of work.

Chipotle knows people in the suburbs like this, too.  That is why McDonalds created this chain for people, who are afraid of going into inner-cities for food.

When I go to Les Jardines, I always get Negra Modelo amber beer.  It has a flavor like light molasses, but is not as strong as Guiness.

And, you must get flan at Les Jardines for dessert that floats in a pool of warm, caramel sauce.

After dinner, we would walk around the garden and look at all the cactus plants.  They had several ducks in the garden behind chicken wire that would quack at the roosters, who could roam freely.  Florence would quack at the ducks and chase the roosters away from the “cute” ducks.

Florence knew all about Saint John the Baptist from Catholic School Bible classes.

I told her that many people in France had the tradition of jumping over a bonfire to celebrate Saint John’s Day.

“That is an unsafe and stupid tradition.  Do not do it, even if it is said to be very authentic by the French.  You can shove someone into a fire very easily, if they are jumping over it,” I said.

“Mom’s word of wisdom for the day,” Florence remarked and laughed.

I always tried to think up a didactic lesson for an after-dinner lagniappe in San Juan Bautista. 

Laurent ate mints and tried to look like Hitchcock.  (A major scene from Psycho  was filmed at the Mission in San Juan Bautista.)

By Ruth Paget, Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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