Today’s lunch hasn’t started yet but I thought I’d tease you with the menu
I’ll be back with the deets later.
OK, I survived the LA traffic and made it home after a delightful meal at the 2025 Heirloom Bean Encuentro at Alta Baja Market in Santa Ana so I can report on our meal. The location is a specialty grocery market specializing in foods of Mexico and the southwest US. They also have a cafe and have been hosting this annual bean gathering for several years now. Their cafe is tiny so putting on this event is quite an undertaking.
I did not partake of the wine pairing since I was driving but I bought a bottle of each of the wines to take home. They’re all from wineries in Baja California. At the moment, I’m sipping a glass of the rosé, a Grenache-Syrah blend that was served with the lentil salad. Very nice.
We started off with a refreshing agua fresca dubbed Agua de SanTana. The glasses (paper cups 🙃) were rimmed with Rancho Gordo Stardust chile/lime powder and garnished with pomegranate arils.
The first food course was a Puy lentil salad from chef Evan Kleiman, former restaurateur and current host of the Good Food podcast. In this photo, the lentils are in front with a crunchy breadstick and the paper cup of agua fresca is behind the plate.
The next dish consisted of two scoops of warm rice porridge with pickled kohlrabi and smoked black garbanzo beans flanking a cool disk of alubia blanca mash with miso topped with apples and pickled Christmas lima beans, nasturtium flowers and herbs.
My photo doesn’t do this justice, nor does the paper plate, but it was a delight to eat and the story behind it was even better. Chef Minh Phan works with culinary arts programs at local public high schools and this dish was her idea but was entirely prepared and plated by a group of her students. They all came out to join her on the stage so we could give them a big round of applause.
Next up were buckeye beans and forest mushrooms from Chef Tony Ensault. The mushroom broth was deeply flavorful but also clear and not murky at all. The tiny (see my fork for scale) white beech mushrooms on top were pickled to add a bright note.
Next up was a dish of Ayocote Negro beans cooked with habenero chiles and xoconostle for a fun mix of heat and tartness. The beans were topped with dumplings made from masa, potato and garlic. This was the only dish that some people found too spicy but I thought it was perfect. It was from chef Ray Garcia.
The last dish, from Chef Eric Linares, was a macha custard with sweet Domingo Rojo beans. I wasn’t expecting a bean dessert! The bean component reminded me of Asian desserts with adzuki beans, except more flavorful. There was sweetness from the condensed milk but the beans themselves also had a savory note and the macha custard was rich and delicious.
Again, the small paper bowls don’t show this one off, but it was delicious.
In addition to the wine, I picked up a few other things in the market but I’ll post them elsewhere.
