La Baja, James Beard Award Finalist Chef Dionicio Jiménez’s new BYOB Mexican restaurant at 9 N Main Street in Ambler, will be soft opening on Friday, August 30.
La Baja features a menu inspired by the food of the Mexican borders (“Cocina de Frontera”). The restaurant’s mission is to share dishes from places throughout the Mexican borders and the stories behind those dishes.
The opening menu will reflect Mediterranean and Asian flavors. Mediterranean flavors are included because they can be found throughout Baja California due to similar climate and soil. The Asian flavors are included because in the early 1920, a large immigration of Chinese and Japanese settled in La Baja and other northern borders, and this influenced the local foods and ingredients.
Highlights on La Baja’s opening menu include:
- RAVIOLES DE AGUACATE CON CANGREJO Avocado, blue crab, bacon, recado
- negro, xnipec salsa. ($18)
- PULPO Grilled octopus, black garlic aguachile, pineapple tatemado sorbet. ($20)
- RISOTTO Hibiscus-Mexican chocolate braised short rib, queso añejo. ($26)
- PANZA DE PUERCO Pork belly, sweet potato pure, recado negro. ($28)
- PASILLA RELLENA Scallops-chorizo stuff dried pepper, green curry, queso asadero.
- ($22)
- BISTEC Chile crust rib eye, grilled carrots, sumac, mint. ($45)
- CARNITAS DE PATO Whole duck, baked plantain, chilacayote, veneno beans, bao
- buns. ($65)
- LUBINA Grilled sea bass, arbol miso. ($36)
The restaurant is BYOB but has an extensive list of non-alcoholic beverages available, including Jamaica, Horchata, and Papalo Agua Frescas, as well as select non-alcoholic spirits from Wallace Dry Goods. They also have formed a partnership launching soon with Stone & Key Ambler Tasting Room a couple blocks away that will allow for wine and cider to be delivered to guests at La Baja via a QR code.
“Mariangeli and I have always considered opening a restaurant in Ambler,” says Chef Dionicio Jiménez. “Back then, the timing was not suitable for both of us. In April, we were contacted about taking over the vacant space on 9 N Main Street and told each other this was the time. We are excited to bring to Ambler food from the Mexican borders that have been influenced by the immigration of cultures that made these borders their home. I am most excited about combining a green curry and queso asadero in one cohesive dish or preparing a delicate sea bass in an arbol miso. La Baja will be a culinary statement on the importance of embracing the positive contributions of immigration and border cultures.”
La Baja’s opening hours will be:
- Tuesday-Thursday: 5 p.m. – 10 p.m.
- Friday-Saturday: 5 p.m. – 11 p.m.
- Sunday: 5 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Reservations will be live on Resy starting on August 30. Walk-ins will be accepted based on availability. Brunch will be available in the future, but not at this time. This will be announced on La Baja’s social media.
The restaurant is accessible via the Ambler train station, close-by lots, and on-street parking.
For more on La Baja, you can check out their Instagram page. Their website is coming soon.
About Chef Dionicio Jiménez:
Chef Dionicio Jiménez is a Vetri alum who helped open Xochitl and El Rey during his first 24 years in the industry before opening Cantina La Martina, his first solo venture, in February 2022. He brought inspiration from states throughout Mexico to create the authentic Mexican menu at his Kensington restaurant. The following year, Chef Dionicio Jiménez became a James Beard Awards Finalist. In 2024, Chef Dionicio Jiménez went on to open La Placita Cherry Street Pier featuring three food concession trolleys at Cherry Street Pier as well as La Placita Fishtown, a Puerto Rican street food concession trolley and community space in Fishtown. La Baja, opening in August 2024, is Chef Dionicio Jiménez’s first restaurant
in the Philadelphia suburbs.