La Frontera with Pati Jinich

Giuseppis restaurant is one of the first pizzerias in Tijuana.

It was started by the parents of Javier Plascencia, as celebrity chef, credited as a pioneer of Baja cuisine.

They not only brought pizza to Baja, but they also claimed to be the first to put the Mexican in the pizza.

You're going to make your first pizza mexicana.

I love it.

So we're going to use beans.

Is this good or more?

Thats perfect.

Lets spread the cheese.

Okay.

Bacon.

And the chorizo.

I used to make these when I was a kid.

And when I went to school, like the next day, my hands will be all red.

Chorizo hands they used to call me.

Oh, really?

- Now jalapeos.

- A lot.

- A lot.

- Yes, I love.

These are pickled jalapeos.

Oh yum.

And then lets put it in the oven.

Can you open the oven for me please?

Yes.

I just open it?

And how long does it take?

Like 10-20 minutes.

Javier.

So they started with the Mexican pizza.

But then you went to culinary school in the U.S., then you came back?

- Yes.

- Then you.

Then you went to Europe.

Then you did the inward looking into Mexico, and then you pretty much started the Med-Mex thing.

I started cooking with our raw ingredients.

- Yeah.

- Discovering our ingredients.

And it became what it is now.

The Baja California cuisine, which is the newest cuisine of all Mexico.

Called?

The Baja California Cuisine.

First of all, you had to kind of get the pulse of what the personality of this whole peninsula was going to be, because it's completely new.

You had to find from within what the Mexican these regional cuisine was.

Yeah.

First, I had to, like, really go and taste Learn.

and learn from the original cook The traditional cooks and learn a lot about the culture of each region.

Like, this is home for you.

- This is.

- Well, no.

I think home was the entire peninsula.

Because I never know where you are Javier.

Its the whole Baja.

But my my family lives here my kids live here and my mom and my dad.

And this is home for me.

Yeah.

So you have the taste of your Giuseppis Mexican pizza.

This is the original.

I think they now have it in Taco Bell, I believe they have carried it for a long time now.

Dominos, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, all of the food chain But you are the original.

Cheers.

Yeah.

Taste like my childhood.

Its so good!

But I want more jalapeos.

I'm a pickle jalapeo maniac.

This is so good.