The Rosarito Seafood Festival traces its roots to the Rosarito Beach Hotel, where seafood cookouts held nearly a century ago eventually evolved into one of the city’s signature gastronomic events.
During the 2026 edition of the festival, Hotel Rosarito Board Chairman Hugo Antonio Torres Ramírez looked back at the history of the event and recalled the role played by his uncle, Manuel Barbachano, and his father, Hugo Eduardo Torres Chabert, in promoting Rosarito’s culinary and tourism traditions.
The origins of the event date back to the 1920s, when Barbachano began organizing seafood cookouts at the Rosarito Beach Hotel. The tradition grew during the 1930s as caravans of motorists from California began traveling to Rosarito to visit the hotel and enjoy fresh seafood.
“The origins of this event go back to the 1920s at the Rosarito Hotel, and it became stronger in the 1930s when Don Manuel Barbachano began organizing the first caravans of motorists coming from California to visit his hotel,” Torres Ramírez recalled.
Barbachano also paved the first road connecting Tijuana and Rosarito as the caravans of visitors from California began arriving. He later expanded the road to Ensenada with the support of his friend, then-President of Mexico Abelardo L. Rodríguez.
By the 1930s, the Rosarito Beach Hotel restaurant had become known for its wide variety of seafood dishes.
Historical photographs displayed at the hotel’s museum show the menu of the former Rosarito Beach Country Club Café in 1939. At the time, dishes were offered for as little as $1 and included turtle soup, when its sale was still legal, grilled lobster, scallops, shrimp casserole, corvina and other fresh fish and seafood.
“Manuel Barbachano paved that road and completed it in 1936. Once that infrastructure was developed, the caravans began arriving in large numbers because people enjoyed coming here for hunting, fishing and horseback riding, but basically they were looking for different foods and fresh seafood,” Torres Ramírez said.
During the 1940s and 1950s, the hotel continued developing and introducing new fish and seafood dishes.
From Hotel Tradition to Rosarito Festival
A new chapter began in 1974, when Hugo Eduardo Torres Chabert arrived at the Rosarito Beach Hotel and strengthened the promotion of local cuisine by creating a dedicated seafood festival.
“When my father Hugo Torres arrived at the Rosarito Hotel, he decided to start a new gastronomic program, and that is when he introduced the fish and seafood festival at the hotel,” Torres Ramírez said.
He described the event at the time as more of a summer celebration, inviting Californians and others who enjoyed visiting Rosarito during the summer.
The festival reached its peak in the 1980s, coinciding with the growth of Rosarito’s restaurant industry and the opening of new dining establishments.
In 1989, CANIRAC was established, and the organization took over the festival in subsequent years, allowing more restaurants to participate and expanding the city’s culinary offerings.
Torres Ramírez said the festival continued through the 1990s. After a brief pause in the 2000s, it eventually returned and continued through the successful 2026 edition.
“The festival continued through the 1990s, and there was a brief pause with CANIRAC in the 2000s, but it eventually continued through this 2026 edition, which was very successful,” he said.
Today, the Rosarito Seafood Festival brings together the city’s culinary tradition, regional seafood producers, restaurants and visitors, continuing a tradition that began at the Rosarito Beach Hotel nearly 100 years ago.