Javier Plascencia’s Charcoal Grilled Octopus (Pulpo a la Brasa)

Until three years ago, I wasn’t much of an octopus fan- it was rarely offered on restaurant menus and I still had nightmares from seeing that giant octopus (or was it a squid?) from the old movie Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea. However, that all changed when I visited Finca Altozano restaurant in the Valle de Guadalupe winery district in Baja, California (see my previous post Valle de Guadalupe, Land of Food and Wine).

Finca Altozano is run by chef Javier Plascencia, well-known in Baja and Southern California for his Baja Med style of cooking. This style fuses traditional Mexican dishes with Mediterranean ingredients such as locally sourced olive oils, seafood, feta cheese and tomatoes. There’s also an Asian influence with the use of soy sauce, sake and sometimes lemon grass.

Located 90 minutes south of the US border in Baja California, Finca Altozano is an outdoor restaurant located in a rustic setting overlooking the Valle de Guadalupe wine district. The restaurant has the atmosphere of a family cookout with scores of quail, octopus and beef being barbecued in the open kitchen.

Finca de Altozano- open air restaurant in Valle de Guadalupe, Baja

Quails being barbecued

One of the flagship dishes of the restaurant is Pulpo a la Brasa, char-grilled octopus coupled with Asian flavors of soy sauce, citrus, coriander and peanuts.

According to Javier, many people drive down from the US border just to order this dish which has earned him the nick-name of Dr Octopus! Where could I get this mouth-watering recipe? Luckily for me, Javier recently released his recipe book, The Soul of Baja, which reveals recipes from each of his 8-9 restaurants (the list keeps growing)!  Besides Finca Altozano, Javier and his family also own Caesar’s in Tijuana (home of the Caesar salad), Mision 19, Romesco and Erizo.

Fortunately, I was able to attend Javier’s book signing event in San Diego and saw the recipe for his famed Charcoal Grilled Octopus.

Recipe for Pulpo a la Brasa (Charcoal Grilled Octopus)

Javier states in his cookbook that he wants his readers to use his recipes as an inspiration rather than following his recipes exactly. Therefore, I have made a few alterations to suit my taste, including reducing the amount of lemon juice in the sauce.

First, you remove the head from the fresh octopus and place it on top of some chopped onion and garlic in a large cooking pot.

Add a bay leaf and some salt, then simmer for 45- 60 minutes until the meat is tender. Remove from the pot then peel off the red skin from underneath the octopus.

Soak the octopus in a marinade of soy sauce, lemon juice and chili flakes for several hours, then slice into pieces and charcoal grill for 3-4 minutes (with the lid on).

Make a sauce using Sake, Ponzu sauce and lemon juice then thicken with some butter; add the octopus pieces; garnish with some peanuts and coriander.