22. Misi\u00f3n 19 (Tijuana, Mexico)<\/p>\n
Javier Plascencia, whose family owns everything from pizzerias to the special-occasion Villa Saverios (number 61<\/a>) to the dining room at Hotel Caesar’s (number 92<\/a>), where the famous salad was invented, has been instrumental in helping to turn the infamous border town of Tijuana into something approaching a fine dining destination \u2014 and Misi\u00f3n 19 is his flagship.<\/p>\n Looking out on the city from the second floor of a modern office building, the dining room \u2014 with wraparound windows, an open latticework of wood enclosing the bar, pastel neon accents, and cactuses that look like something out of a cartoon \u2014 is every bit as eclectic, colorful, and energizing as Plascencia’s creations.<\/p>\n A bastion of “BajaMed” cuisine (and why shouldn’t northwestern Mexico have every bit as much a claim to the Mediterranean as Northern California?), Misi\u00f3n 19 tempts diners with such unexpected but welcome fare as seaweed and goat cheese salad with cured, grilled salmon trout; risotto with heirloom beans, wild mushrooms, and huitlacoche; fish of the day in fermented soybean sauce with poblano chile adobo, roasted carrots, and almonds; and tablitas (crosscut beef ribs) vacuum-cooked for 48 hours and served with “cracklins” of beluga lentils, chayote, and Brussels sprouts.<\/p>\n