Then there are those
of us who live here. Some of us get stuck on a few good restaurants and never
go anywhere else. 2017 is the year to break out of your restaurant rut. When a
new restaurant opens, give them time to work out the kinks. One of the
restaurants on our list below got spotty reviews the first month they were
open. Into the second month, the management worked out the service issues. It’s
one of our favorite restaurants.
When
we walk into a restaurant, we have no expectations. We’re totally open to every
eating out experience we’re fortunate enough to have. In 2016, there were over 600
of them. Eating out is entertainment - someone cooks for you and you don’t have
to do the dishes afterwards. That’s reason enough to celebrate.
Some
people buy art or collect cars; we eat. We eat with all of our senses; we’re passionate about great food. We like cooking at home almost as much as we love going out to eat. We
try to order something different every time we go out. That doesn’t always
work; we have our favorites too. Dishes like Chef Matteo Salas’s duck breast in
champagne sauce at Aperi or Chef Marco Cruz’s blue mushrooms with miso and
mezcal sauce at Nomada cocina de interpretacion feed our soul. We read
cookbooks like novels, research recipes and get excited when we talk about
ingredients. When it comes to getting them, we’re delighted with all the purveyors
that were added to SMA’s source list
last year. We think high-quality ingredients are worth the price; we can taste
the difference.
Some
say its
people and circumstances that make a great restaurant experience and we don’t disagree.
Although we place a great deal of importance on getting good service when we go
out, to tell you the truth, for us, it’s always about the food. The mark
of an exceptional restaurant is one that delivers great food every single time.
We’ve had fabulous dinners in five star restaurants but have also eaten meals
at taco carts and tiny palapas that we believe are some of the best we’ve ever had.
If the food isn’t good, it doesn’t work for us.
After traveling this
past year, we’re convinced that San Miguel de Allende has some of the best restaurants
in the Mexico, some of them world class. Here are our picks
for the Best Chefs and Restaurants of 2016.
Next week, from agave spirits to vegetarian, a list of where to get some of best food in SMA.
Buen Provecho!
Best Chef: Chef Matteo
Salas, Aperi and Jacinto 1930 AND Chef Marco Cruz, Nomada cocina de
interpretacion
Either you have it or you don’t. These
two have it. For anyone who has experienced the pleasure of dining at Chef Matteo
Salas’s Aperi or Jacinto 1930 or at Nomada cocina
de interpretacion with Chef Marco Cruz, the reasons are obvious. Every meal we’ve
had with these two chefs was a sensuous feast, cooked with the very best,
quality ingredients, many of them local. They embrace tradition, applying
contemporary, innovative techniques in their cooking. The results are beyond
ordinary; in most cases brilliant. They are masters; elevating flavors to new
heights. We continue to be fascinated by their method of interpreting
ingredients. The flavor of their vegetables and sauces are like nothing you’ve ever
had before. They’re both risk takers, knowing instinctively what foods
compliment others. Creative and passionate, their staff adores them. Eat with
either one of them and you’ll swear you just had the best culinary experience
in San Miguel de Allende. And you did!
Best Restaurateur: Donnie
Masterton, The Restaurant, Birdie’s Burgers, Taco Lab and El Vergel Bistro and
Market
The expansion of Chef Donnie Masterton’s culinary reach
this past year includes Birdie’s Burgers, Taco Lab – partnering with San
Francisco based pal Joe Hargrave of Tacolicious - and El Vergel Bistro and Market,
teaming up with Houston Harte and Daniel Hernandez. It doesn’t stop there; Masterton
is building another restaurant that will open this year. He’s also planning on creating
a sustainable ranch to provide for his restaurants.
You’ll never get bored with his
food; he changes up the menus constantly. One of the most memorable meals of
2016 was at The Restaurant on Thanksgiving Day. He has trained many of the staff
working at other restaurants and has looked after his own staff – Chef Sandor
Emmanuel Rodriguez Schwartz and Chef Gabriela Hernandez Aguilar have both been
there for years. He revealed his comical side in an amusing video, Chef’s Night
Out. He’s was one of the first Chefs in SMA to work with local farmers,
ranchers, cheese makers and vineyards to seek out the highest quality
ingredients. He planted a rooftop garden where we’re hoping he’ll put in SMA’s
first solo dining experience. The best wine and food pairing we had in 2016 was
at The Restaurant. He’s continually hosting fundraisers and is also an accomplished
DJ. He’s recognized for his pop up dinners around the globe. He and his fiancée,
Angela Lewis Serrano, run one of SMA’s most popular food festivals, Sabores San
Miguel.
Nobody we know has more fun cooking…or
opening restaurants.
Many of the best meals we had in
2016 were in Chef Michael Coon’s kitchen, Casa de Cocinas, including terrific Asian,
which is impossible to find in SMA. Well-known for his famous themed dinners
and culinary tours, Chef Michael Coon has traveled all over the world with many
of the top chefs as former director of the International Travel Programs at the
Culinary Institute of America (CIA). He’s the founder of the Calle SMA Street
Food Festival for Feed the Hungry. He was recently featured – twice - in the
Atencion, SMA’s weekly, bilingual newspaper. His customers love his laid back style and his knowledge of
world food. He’s got the inside scoop
on where to eat in Mexico; one of the many reasons people go on his tours. You
could do the tours on your own but then you wouldn’t be standing in the
kitchens of Chef Eduardo García or Chef Rodolfo Castellano if you did.
Best
Pastry Chef: Sofia Antillon,
Nomada cocina de interpretacion
We’re
convinced that Chef Sofia Antillon has superpowers. One of the most accomplished
pastry chefs in SMA, Sofia is blessed with exceptionally high standards. All of
Sofia’s desserts are exquisitely balanced, applying imagination
with complex flavors and combinations. She continually surprises us with her creations,
some of them whimsical like the one we refer to as her “party on a plate.” A featured chef at the SMA Food
festival last year, she wowed the guests at the chefs table with her Pavola.
It’s our favorite dish too, along with at least two dozen others. She’s managed
to hit every one of our sweet spots and kept us on a sugar high all last year. She
also prepared some of the healthiest desserts during our three week detox last
year.
Best Beverage Director
/Mixologist: Adrian Garcia Evans
The creator of Monkey Mixology, this Welch
born beverage director crafted the imaginative drink menus for Dos Casas, Aperi,
Cumpanio and Jacinto 1930, offering unconventional cocktails, like this Mole
Martini. Want to discover a gin that doesn’t taste like gin?
Adrian came up with an agave based Onilikan gin, a 2015 Gold Metal Winner at
the SF World Spirits Competition. He’s also the architect of the best hot
chocolate we’ve ever had; a combination of Baileys, hot chocolate, cookie
butter and cajeta cream.
One thing for sure: drinking without him would be a
lot less fun.
Best Female Chef:
The Female Chefs of SMA AND The Maestras: SMA’s Culinary Pioneers
We spent the better part of 2016
working on two in-depth articles: The Female Chefs of San Miguel de Allende and
The Maestras: San Miguel de Allende’s Culinary Pioneers.
We
salute all of the beautiful, passionate, strong,
confident, educated, articulate, doubly committed, and accomplished women who taught
us everything about commitment… and the San Miguel spirit.
Gloria Espinosa
Briseno of Tacos Don Felix flashes one of her contagious smiles and you
can't help but smile back. She’s the chef you
want to call a friend. Armed with an abundance of charisma, she’s a
classic cook turned chef who has earned the respect of everyone in SMA. Known for her enchiladas and fish bowl size
Margaritas, the restaurant is currently celebrating its ninth year. During the
week, Gloria and her staff also serve over five hundred meals to local high
school students. My favorite dish,
Enchiladas Gloria (chicken and pork topped in red and green sauce), is named in
her honor.
Keep an eye on Chef Cecy Avarez; she’s
going places! We had a renewed love affair with MiVida this past year. Training
under two of the best chefs in town, Greta Ortega and Davide Giribaldi, we had
at least a dozen meals at MiVida in 2016 and Chef Cecy Alvarez always brought
something new to the table. Tell her to surprise you and you’ll see how
talented she is. On the top of her game, she presents original dishes that keep
us coming back for more. From her appetizers to the desserts, we think her food
is some of the best in SMA.
Being
a chef is in their DNA; father Bricio Dominguez, one of the best-known chefs in
SMA, helped put Guanajuato state on Mexico’s culinary map. Bricio owns five
restaurants: El Jardin de los Milagros, La Canica, neXtia, 13 Cielos and
Pimienta Negra. From Alonso’s Lamb with
mashed membreo, mashed sweet potato, plums, peach, mashed onion, chocolate air
and tamrind sauce to Luis Pablo’s Lechon cooked 12 hours and sealed in garlic
oil with a yam and pumpkin gel and red fruits Mole, their food is both original
and exciting. We can’t wait to see what these two brothers are going to do in
2017. Stay tuned.
He’s a chef’s chef and always on
assignment, unless of course you need something. Last year, he put together a team
of chefs to travel half way around the world to cook at a 10 day wedding in
India. He selected the chefs to present at the SMA Food Festival and will do so
again this year. Chef Prats also opened a new restaurant, OMA, located in the Los Frailes neighborhood, renowned for
the salt crusted prime rib on Wednesday nights. Popular, charismatic,
influential and charming, what makes him authentic is that he’s put in all the years
of hard work. He’s earned respect by serving
it up himself. He’s our pick for SMA
Chef of the Year in 2016.
Plating food is an art but making food taste this good is
magical! We eat with our eyes first so
I am, as a rule, impressed with presentation. Everything that comes out of the
kitchen at Nomada is visually picture perfect. The flavors surprise you; the meal
you’re currently eating is better than the last one you ate there. Chef Marco
Cruz guides a well orchestrated team, alongside Pastry Chef Sofia Antillon and protégé Pablo Nicacio. Together, they
push all the boundaries, using ingredients in ground-breaking ways, like a
slice of cecina in place of an ordinary tostada. A favorite dish, Pork Belly
Ramen, is transcendental. Their
Wednesday night tasting menu is legendary and the Monday night street food
offerings are affordable, inspired and delicious. The first-rate service,
frequently provided by Gabriel Avila, who has also mastered the art of creating
cocktails that rise above the predictable, is some of the best in town. Their
knowledge on the origin of ingredients is astonishing. The entire Nomada team
takes their position in the tiny, open kitchen and delivers food that will
convince you that you do not need to look any further for your favorite restaurant
town. Nomada is it… for the second year in a row.
The year 1930 marked a decade of
reform in Mexico and this restaurant hits all the high notes when it comes to
creating Mexican food that is inspired, marking the cultural diversity of
Mexico. With the first maize station in SMA, Oaxacan born Chef Luvia Esmeralada
de la Rosa, handcrafts fresh tortillas
with incomparable flavors and texture. Chef Israel Loyola, also born in
Oaxaca, collaborates with Chef Matteo Salas to produce a menu that is
authentically Mexican, made with the best ingredients of the region. The drink
menu is exciting. Produced by Welch born Beverage Director
Adrian Evans, it combines the very best of Mexican spirits with European accents.
We think Jacinto 1930 is Chef Salas’s
signature restaurant. The contemporary design and open kitchen are set off by
an abundance of natural light that adds to the character of the space. It’s
equally beautiful at night. Accenting the stunning architecture are the simple,
copper lamps, designed and made by the Chef Salas’s brother Lucca.
Finally, an exceptional Mexican
restaurant in SMA. We love Jacinto 1930 for everything it is…and then some.
With in-your-face
views of the Parroquia, we savor
everything about this beautiful rooftop restaurant, especially the food created
by Chef Gonzalo Martinez. The short ribs are the best in town. His desserts are
textbook sweet and savory; take your pick of a moist corn cake or an attractive
plate of sugar-coated bunuelos. This chef has breathed life into some pretty
straightforward dishes. He’s consistently turning out eye-catching food that
tastes nothing like any of the other spots in town. We like his style and love
the fact that we can’t predict what will come out of his kitchen next. The
service is exceptional; we were impressed when the waiter refolded our napkin
when we got up to take a photograph.
Quince recently finished a gorgeous upper
deck, which is showcased by a table that seats fourteen. It’s straight out of
Martha Stewart and pockets a different view of SMA’s stunning landscape.
Take one look
at this gorgeous place and you’ll want to hang out here forever. It’s one of
the most beautiful restaurants in SMA. Bringing the outside
indoors, the space is full of light, with patios and views that are set off by
the curved glass wall in back. It’s a quick 10 minute walk from town. A work in
progress, your host Gerardo Arteaga, will also be building
a beautiful park near the restaurant. The El Obraje neighborhood continues to
grow; LIVE AQUA San Miguel de Allende hotel, a new luxury hotel and state-of-the-art
complex will be built close by. This restaurant has consistently good food; we’re
especially devoted to the breakfasts, both traditional Mexican and American and
the cream cheese cupcakes for dessert. It’s been a favorite in SMA for a long
time. It’s now one of our favorites too.
Best Restaurant Outside Centro: Trattoria
da Laura a Los Mezquites
Chef Laura Buccheri’s Trattoria da
Laura a Los Mezquites is one of our much-loved sanctuaries in the campo. The
restaurant serves authentic, Italian flavors straight from their garden to your
plate. The dishes will convince you that this is the only comfort food you’ll
ever want or need. The beautiful views of the countryside are secondary only to
the food; from the homemade cocoa tagliolini with walnuts, gorgonzola sauce and
mesquite smoked bacon to the creamy, to the bacon-laden Carbonara (it’s always
about the bacon isn’t it?) and the satisfying desserts. Straightforward flavors
transport you to Laura’s homeland of Sicily. Ask for a one way ticket. Every
time we go, we’re tempted to stay. Not a bad thing but Laura’s husband Justin
Marino is likely to put you to work with the cheese making, sold under their La
Cucina di Afrodita brand. Right now they make thirteen different types of
cheese along with homemade sausages, Italian breads and Limoncello.
Together, they are the best restaurant team in SMA. But
then…you already knew that.
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