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Telefónica Gastro Park
What's Good In Your Hood
Visit one of the most innovative food courts in North America – that also happens to be in Tijuana, México.
Show transcript
00:01
We're part of many things that make a good name for Tijuana
00:04
Food has no walls when no tourists are coming.
00:07
We said let's make food for the.
00:10
It has been a labor that connects us to the rest of the world
00:16
we dining in or do real people cooking the bees are our wa and
00:22
the chef is laugh like your finger is good because we're about
00:26
to see what good, what's good in your hood is what happens when
00:38
you combine your life's work into an experience to share with
00:41
the world.
00:42
And today we're south of the border in Tijuana, Mexico to meet
00:46
a duo that's changing the food game and rebuilding Tijuana
00:49
Just a literal stone's throw from San Diego.
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This is Tijuana.
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It's got a reputation for being a bad place, but it's honestly
00:56
magical and it's buzzing again.
00:58
Tijuana is unique in its fluid border culture language cuisine
01:02
and in its vibe.
01:06
What's up everybody?
01:07
It's Dean and I'm in Tijuana, Mexico at Telefonica Gastro
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Park.
01:11
It's a smorgasbord of flavors brews and new waves of let's
01:16
check it out guys.
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A culinary revolution is happening in the heart of this controversial
01:28
city and Telefonica Gastro Park is at the epicenter.
01:46
I'm from San Diego, but I come every weekend because the food
01:48
here, I like the food better and there's more variety.
01:51
There's actually a lot of Instagram spots here.
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You can go anywhere in this place.
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I believe every single corner here and you can have a pretty
01:57
thick Instagram shot.
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You guys.
01:59
How pretty are these?
02:03
Fuck, like many of us who take a winding road to our futures
02:08
and prosper out of necessity.
02:11
And Tony came up during hard times.
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Well, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm from born and raised in Tijuana.
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Parents are from Tina also I always love, love food and the
02:22
culture here I come from various backgrounds.
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So I, I work in the, for many years, eventually I started as
02:32
well to venture into the music business.
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Uh I still have an electronic music label called disco but
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music, you know, and, and all of that kind of, you know, to food
02:43
you know, and, and, and beer.
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So we ended up meeting, working together and developing the
02:48
brewery alongside it.
03:00
It has, it has, it has, it has not been easy talk to me about the
03:03
dark times of Tijuana.
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Well, the dark times are the beginning of the bright times
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because when bad things were happening in Tijuana, that's
03:13
when Tijuana took it up to the next level.
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And that's where the culinary scene took off.
03:18
All of the good things that make uh place shine started because
03:23
Tijuana said, we, we have to take over the narrative.
03:26
No tourists.
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We're, we're coming nothing worse because of the bad publicity
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I think that's when the beginning of the bright times came
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When we said, well, let's make food for ourselves, not for
03:37
the tourists.
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And now we are finding out that the food and beer that we like
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uh everybody likes and what was it like when the tourist left
03:46
Was that really hard economically?
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Even the, you know, didn't come anymore.
03:51
It went away, it just went away.
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It was too uh difficult for people to come and trust that nobody
03:58
No, nothing was gonna happen.
03:59
Yeah, that's also another thing, you know, people think that
04:02
the Tijuana and San Diego don't talk to each other.
04:05
It's totally the other way around.
04:08
You know, the the business side of the San Diego and Tijuana
04:10
are always every day talking to each other, how we can connect
04:15
because Tijuana is like a border city.
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Tijuana has always been characterized as being a place for
04:21
migrants.
04:22
Tijuana is a melting pot.
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You know, for many people within Mexico, you know, you have
04:28
people from Sinaloa, from Mexico City, from Guadalajara
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You know, uh and if you add, you know, people who are coming
04:35
from other parts of the world, no, that's part of the of the
04:38
spice that Tijuana is having in India.
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Tijuana is always has an open hearts for everyone.
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Tijuana is, is a city that, that has no walls and food translate
04:49
into that into that like food has no walls, food transcends
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everything.
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You guys don't seem like bad hombres.
04:55
You seem like pretty awesome hombres.
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This border town is historically fluent in American culture
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with some of its residents working and going back and forth
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to school in the States.
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This tag team is changing the way that food is consumed and
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appreciated in Tijuana and real talk, the food is next level
05:12
and definitely worth sharing.
05:14
So the first thing you see when you walk into Telefonica is
05:18
hi guys.
05:19
How are you guys?
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They make an amazing octopus taco, you know, with, with and
05:24
cheese.
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But you know, they have like American style cheeseburgers
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mac and cheese, you know, the works very good.
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If you have the munchies, you know, the place that Exactly
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we have, which is, you know, incredible Mexican style ramen
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That's definitely the Mex of Ramen.
05:50
Yeah, we have uh which is like one of the best places where you
05:56
could get seafood here in Tijuana.
05:58
Yeah.
05:59
If I before you know, everyone thought about Baja California
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and the baja med style, the whatever was doing it beforehand
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you know, he's like original gangster old school is the new
06:15
school Telefonica is not only a, a playground for kids, you
06:20
know, it was ambition as a playground for adults as well.
06:24
I wanna see what it's like on the inside, let's do it.
06:28
And as you know, Cesar salad was invented here in Tijuana.
06:31
You know, we have a little, little caesars here and then we
06:35
have and you are.
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So this is the, this is the cheese spot.
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This is the cheese spot, mainly the cheese spot.
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This is like a little window to the baja.
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So we try to promote uh local producers of baja different types
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of food, especially the cheese.
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We'll be back.
06:56
Yes, I'll be here and waiting for you.
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Perfect.
06:58
Let's see what's next wine.
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So this is our wine shop, you know, wines from all over, all
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over Baja Guadalupe.
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We have a food truck that sells, you know, coffee desserts
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best beans in Baja.
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And this is the jewel of the crown.
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This is the reason why Telefonica is at this new place and it's
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because we have our own brewery and this is, this is we're gonna
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be soon part of the Baja craft beer scene which is making, you
07:28
know, waves all across the world making your own beer.
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That's epic.
07:37
Perfect.
07:39
What?
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Hello is one of the most sought out food trucks here at Telefonica
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And today we're gonna find out how to make one of their most
07:54
epic sandwiches.
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This is my good friend Giovanni, owner of um we're gonna do
07:59
the pork.
07:59
It's sort of like a hot dog sandwich.
08:01
The pork that sounds banging.
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Let's find out how to make it.
08:05
It's pork time.
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OK?
08:06
What is step one?
08:08
OK.
08:08
So this is a half beef, half pork sausage.
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That's why it's called the pork.
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We have to like sort of like pan fry them over here.
08:15
Ok.
08:15
So they get nice and brown and crispy on the outside.
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So after that, the bread is over here, we grill the bread and
08:20
it smells like really good.
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So we have to fill it up.
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So every bite always comes with a sausage.
08:28
Cut it in half.
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That's very thoughtful.
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I appreciate when the sandwich comes already cut in half.
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So this is pulled pork, pulled pork low and slow.
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And after that, it comes the barbecue sauce, pickled red cabbage
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lot of sauerkraut on top.
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And after that, we have over here sweet corn and then we have
08:45
papi cheese and then you have it.
08:46
This is the pork OK?
08:48
I gotta try.
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This has sausage.
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It's so good and then there's more pork on top of it and you get
08:58
the crunchiness of the veggies and the barbecue sauce.
09:02
Super messy but super do pretty worth it.
09:06
Pork delicious.
09:07
My friends, the beautiful cultural exchange that is Tijuana
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is marred with negative stereotypes brought on by some politicians
09:15
They say that Mexico only brings its worst to the US.
09:18
But are these the bad hombres that some are worried about?
09:31
I'm at the border and I just met some law students that are actually
09:34
learning about immigrant law.
09:35
They're on the other side and we're gonna do a border handshake
09:41
some people think that coming to Tijuana is not that safe or
09:44
it's not worth it or it's not gonna be that cool of experience
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But once you come here and you live it by yourself, you can experience
09:52
a lot of cool things.
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Stay tuned for the big reveal.
09:57
Now, Tony, some people come to see one at a party so we come up
10:00
with the perfect hangover.
10:03
Just make it happen.
10:04
Well, starters, we're gonna have a, we put some local olives
10:08
off the thing and then we'll have the freshest shrimp here
10:12
from the bay and it's, this is a a and then, well, you need some
10:18
grease, right?
10:19
So 100% ground rib eye and then of course, you got to go to sleep
10:24
right?
10:24
Like a baby.
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So you need a French toast from Mao.
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So breakfast and then back to sleep, Tony, I'm gonna go get
10:32
a hangover so I can have it all in a sense.
10:36
Tijuana's bad reputation is what's protecting its rebirth
10:39
from being spoiled.
10:41
But word is getting out what we did here is uh incubator for
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young chefs that maybe didn't have the money or the resources
10:50
to put a brick and mortar restaurant and roll the dice on having
10:54
a food truck.
10:55
Our first businesses we're here in.
10:57
So we're growing together and growing.
11:00
You are because we have another location uh in Tijuana.
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And uh we're gonna go, uh we're going to go with the gringos
11:07
now to flip the tortilla and also go to San Diego and open a place
11:12
like this over there.
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It's, it's, it's a testament of, of the creativity, you know
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overflowing, you know, across the border Telefonica.
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And today's Tijuana symbolize a shift that's happening with
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changing attitudes, perceptions and adding to the already
11:28
rich food landscape of Mexico and the world is starving for
11:32
more.
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But Tijuana is being reborn through the people with a new vision
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of what Tijuana could and should be no longer the on the streets
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of the past.
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It's becoming a vibrant city of innovation and change for
11:45
the better.
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And Valenti are leading that change through.
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What is Telefonica Gastro Park?
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Thank you so much for showing me Telefonica.
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I can't wait to see what you guys have in store for the future
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Everything here is amazing.
11:59
Thank you very much for coming to Telefonica for coming to
12:02
Tijuana.
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I hope it has given you a pretty good idea of what life at the
12:05
border is like.
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I thought there's still so much more to explore in Tijuana
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and that's what's good in your hood.
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Next time on what's good in your hood.
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We're heading to the A TL where we'll explore the south in a
12:21
way that you've never seen it.