Javier Plascencia is a chef from Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, considered the most famous chef of the city^[1] and of all chefs, the one whose cuisine most helped define a new cuisine, Baja Med.^[2]

This article is an autobiography or has been extensively edited by the subject or by someone connected to the subject. (July 2022)

In 2011, Plascencia told the New York Times that the mission of his signature restaurant Misión 19 was to "revitalize the food scene in Tijuana", and to "revitalize the city itself". In the interview, he called his cuisine "Baja Mediterranean", combining ingredients from the region. Examples of this style include duck skewered with licorice and sprinkled with guava dust; risotto topped with salt-cured nopalitos (prickly pear cactus) and charred octopus; and slow-cooked short ribs bathed in a mission fig syrup on top of a black mole sauce.^[3]

Born to – according to Plascencia – "hard-working and entrepreneurial" parents (Juan José Plascencia, aka: Don Tana), Javier started his culinary experience as a child alongside his brothers Juan Jose (aka; Tana), Margu and Julián in the kitchens of the family's restaurants, first at Giuseppis, later at Caesar's (birthplace of the Caesar salad)^[3] and then at Saverios.^[4] In his teens, he began his career as a chef studying in culinary arts schools in San Diego, California (immediately across the U.S.–Mexico border from Tijuana) and upon graduation, he worked in hotels and restaurants in the area. Plascencia told the Times that he would "later travel the world in search of flavors, ingredients and different types of cuisine, before returning to Tijuana to consolidate what would become my own style."

• The Soul of Baja, 2017