What I like about chef Javier Plascencia’s Mision 19 is that it’s in Tijuana, just over the border. There’s something that hop over the imaginary line – seemingly completely unchecked when you are heading into Mexico – does. It’s a weird, wonderful feeling of entering another country even though you were in San Diego twenty minutes before.

Each day, Rancho Valencia’s executive chef Eric Bauer passes by Chino Farm on the way to work. The resort, a modern hacienda set on a 40-acre enclave of rolling hills in Rancho Sante Fe, a short drive from San Diego, has fully embraced a healthy lifestyle with the recent reopening of the 49 private villa suites. A concept that extends not only to championship tennis and golf, but to food. Having Chino Farm, helped made famous by Alice Waters and Chez Panisse, and an abundance of locally sourced, seasonal produce, not to mention flowers and honey from Rancho Valencia, allows Bauer the opportunity that few hotel chefs are given. The following recipe is Bauer’s fresh, nourishing take on the Andean grain quinoa.