There’s a lot to love about San Miguel de Allende. Whether
you’re getting a bird’s eye view from the top of the city’s most celebrated landmarks,
taking it all in from a hot air balloon or jumping inside the pages of a book
filled with SMA icons, you can learn a lot about a city just by altering your
perspective and getting a different view.
San Miguel de Allende is always
changing, constantly escaping your efforts to define it. We don’t even try
anymore because, no matter how many times San Miguel de Allende reinvents
itself, you know it’s the one city that will always love you back.
Local inspiration, we’ve got plenty; take
your pick. Here are the places we rediscovered this month that gave us a
different look at the beautiful city we call home.
Buen Provecho!
San
Miguel de Allende from The Rooftop: Fatima 7
San Miguel de Allende In A Bottle: El Liquor Store
We got an education from Vethzo, the Manager at a new liquor
store in SMA, El Liquor Store that sells unusual brands; its labels emphasizing
Mexican products including spirits, beers and wines. You’ll want to try some of these: a delicious Amazonian
Gin from Peru; Don Papa Rum from the Philippines; Runneght Gin - a non-alcoholic distillate made with
rainwater passed through filtration, evaporation and condensation processes
that purify it, then it’s mineralized and ionized to enhance the properties
with 21 elements that are distilled one by one; Gintol: a Sotol with Gin
Botanics; Bruja de Agua: a small batch Gin using creole corn alcohol, juniper
berries and the spirit of regional plants; Perempitz
Tuxca: a preminum agave distillate using a rustic Phillippine method then it’s fermented
within a volcanic rock pit made with a single agave and it’s partner, Insecto, created
from two agaves - both manufactured in southern Jalisco; Bacur Italian Gin in an eye-catching, metallic copper bottle,
offering something deliciously different for gin drinkers; Nami Mexican
Sake (the lower the number the better the quality) and a Aguafuerte Mezcal, who recently ran out of agave and
will not be producing for another 9-12 years.
There
are plenty of good bar guides on the shelves, like The Curious Bartender by Tristan Stephenson,
who authored four books that will teach you the science behind the art of Mixology.
The store offers cocktail paraphernalia: bar tools, fashion bitters, different
types of tonic, salts, spices and fruits with which you can experiment with at
home or let Vethzo teach you how to make the perfect drink; El Liquor Store is
a totally hands-on store.
One of SMA’s latest restaurants is Oli Tapas.
We tried 10 different Tapas, all of them good – our
favorites: Tortas with Duck, the Croquettes of chicken with Thai Sauce, the
Taquito de Lechon and the Pastel de Chocolate for dessert. The taste of the
chocolate was perfect; not too bitter, not too sweet. It was thick, creamy and
the perfect texture for savoring.
We enjoyed 2 wines, both made by Mexican boutique vineyard, Origo,
from Valle de Guadalupe; a red blend and a rose. The vineyard is also owned by
the family who owns Oli Tapas. The wines are small production; the places
they are being sold are specific and exclusive. The red was IGNIS, with Merlot, Shiraz and Cabernet
Sauvignon varietals. The Rose was delicious; a light bodied wine perfect for
sipping with tapas.
Photo: Food and Travel Mexico
Chef Vincente Torres was awarded with a Michelin star at La Sucursal, in the Valencian Institute of Modern Art and studied under famous chefs Frédéric Anton, Martín Berasategui and Alain Senderens. Chef Torres also owns one of Mexico City's best restaurants, Garum, at Avenida Presidente Masaryk #513 in Polanco.
Congratulations to all
of the chefs who are featured in the book, which can be purchased at many
outlets in SMA including Hotel Nena, Hotel Matilda,
Photo: 101 Caras de San Miguel de Allende
Thank you Daniela Doig and Erik Zavala Kugler for
what is a magnificent documentation of the history of San Miguel de Allende. As
many of you can see when you read through the pages of this historical
publication, these are people who have worked endlessly, every day, to nurture
and cultivate the city that always loved them back.
What’s it like to need
a little sleep? Just ask the girl who never gets any, Maria Pia Rivasplata, the
General Manager at Lima 502, her Peruvian restaurant in Mercado del Carmen. Also
out of studio 316, she’s the manager for Thesanmiguelbook, smap and Casa Mia
Magazine. And she’s a mom.
The team at Lima 502 is
made up of Sebastian Soldevila, a dedicated chef who is passionate about
Peruvian food, Karen Edrei and Chef Abi Andrade. We know Abi from Nomada cocina
de interpretacion, where she trained with Chef Marco Cruz. She recently did an
internship with Chef Eduardo Garcia at Maximo Bistrot in Mexico City.
One of our favorite
dishes is the Linguini dipped in huancaina sauce prepared with Peruvian yellow
pepper, cheeses, milk and egg and served with picana sirloin and shrimp. It
scores over the top on flavors, as did all of the dishes we had including Leche
de Tigre, Causa de Camaron and the most incredible fresh sheets of tuna
in soy, orange and sesame sauce with avocado, cucumber and mango - a Tiradito
de Atun Nikkei.
Eat Well Travel Often is our motto,
with an amazing lunch at Atrio with top SMA Chef, Arturo Sandoval. We love
table #2; request it and you’ll get an in-your-face view of the Parroquia, the
iconic symbol of SMA.
We ordered a pan of
the seafood paella, which was remarkable; as good as the Rib rice paella that
we’ve been raving about for three years now.
It seems everyone is hooked on the
caramelized red snapper, one of our favorite dishes, which we tried even before
Chef Sandoval put it on the menu. It’s one of our 2019 favorites.
The delicious mandarin cheesecake, a dessert that’s been on Atrio’s menu
since they opened, is one of our favorite desserts. With a textbook texture, it is accented with
a flavorful mandarin wrap.
Rancho EL 17 opened up a steak boutique on Salida a
Celaya and now you can cook restaurant- quality steaks at home.
Chefs Esmeralda Brinn
Bolaños and Alicia Wilson Rivero are on a mission to enrich the Guadalupe
neighborhood with their food and they are UNSTOPPABLE!
We had Sunday brunch
at Querencia this past weekend and the restaurant was packed. The Chilaquiles
with Cochinita Pibil and salsa verde with habanero were exceptional. Remember,
Chef Esmeralda Brinn owned a stand in a street bazaar in the Condesa
neighborhood of Mexico City where she sold Cochinita Pibil Tortas. It shows -
this is some of the best we’ve eaten all year.
One of Chef Alicia
Wilson Rivero’s cooking instructors, Chef Gabriel Gabriel Ordoñez, was occasionally
making hamburgers from Short Rib, Chuck and Top Sirloin at Mercado Sano on
Saturday. The burger was served on a fresh potato roll, baked by Mesa Grande, and
was piled high with caramelized onions then smothered in Gabriel’s own secret
sauce. The meat was purchased from KOE across from Los Frailes. Rumor has
it that Gabriel is going to teach a Burger class. I’ll be first in line to sign
up because I’ve never forgotten the taste of that hamburger.
New at Querencia is
the Canada de la Virgen sausage served with Kimchi and homemade sauerkraut. It’s also on the menu with
a poached egg. Turkish coffee was our surprise delight; no sugar needed.
Trazo 1810 is committed to serving great seafood to its
customers; 70% of which are locals. Joining the Buena Pesca program was proof
of that commitment; setting the guidelines to promote responsible
consumption of marine species in Mexico. As part of the package, Trazo 1810 now been assigned their own fisherman,
Juan Sanchez. The certification guarantees
Trazo 1810 a better quality of products even though they’re more expensive;
ordering species that reproduce fast, are not endangered, are not caught by
destructive methods and are not targeting special species of groupers, tuna,
and wild shrimps. This week’s
delivery included gorgeous red snapper and shrimp. Trazo 1810 picks up
their fresh seafood from the Queretaro airport every Thursday morning.
We had lunch there Friday with Trazo's chef, Paco Gonzalez,
one of the most underrated chefs in SMA. A
7-Grain homemade bread was served with a soft butter
laced cumin, cilantro, almonds and salt, a medley of
three delicious salads came to the
table: Burrata with peaches, Beet and Watermelon and
an Aguachile and a perfectly cooked red
snapper that had
just been caught in waters off Veracruz the morning before and was wrapped then
cooked in a Hoja Santa leaf and
served with a slightly sweet
and delicious burnt banana mole.
Hidalgo 8, Centro, 37700 in Casa 1810
Phone: 415 121 3501
Hours: 8:00 AM – 10:00 PM Daily
All photographs ©Susan Knight York unless noted.
Fatima 7’s food is remarkable; some of the best we’ve had
in San Miguel de Allende all year. We enjoyed a dinner of eleven small plates and
tallied six for lunch. There wasn’t anything that Chef JJ Castañeda cooked that
wasn’t surprising, different and well-defined. You wouldn’t find this top
quality food - Mediterranean, International and Middle Eastern - on other menus
in SMA except Café Casa Blanca 7, Chef Donnie Masterton’s other restaurant
downstairs.
The flavors are totally characteristic of Chef JJ Castañeda’s
cooking, incorporating dishes from Greece,
Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Egypt, Italy, Southern France, and
Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya on the menu. That’s a
lot of territory to cover so it gives the chef room for
interpretation when it comes to creating recipes for Fatima’s constantly
changing menu.
And then there’s the view. Where else can you go and
take in 10 historic churches: Templo
de Nuestra Senora de la Salud; Templo del Oratorio de San Felipe Neri; San
Columbano; Nuestra Señora de Loreto; Iglesia de San Francisco; Tercera Orden;
Parroquia de San Miguel Arcangel; Church of the Immaculate Conception of Las
Monjas; La Santa Escuela de Cristo (San Raphael) and La Ermita. You can almost reach
out from one of the on-the-edge tables and touch the churches that line the
sky.
Chef JJ Castañeda has received a lot of recent press this
year and rightfully so. He’s our pick for SMA’s best new chef this year.
Café
Casa Blanca 7 (downstairs) Fatima 7 Rooftop (upstairs)
Juares
#8
Fatima 7 Rooftop Hours: Tuesday
– Thursday 12:00 PM -10:00 PM. Thursday, Friday and Saturday: 12:00 PM - 11:30
PM.
Closed: Monday
Chefs: Donnie Masterton and J.J. Castaneda
Chefs: Donnie Masterton and J.J. Castaneda
Café
Casa Blanca 7 Hours: Breakfast:
8:00 AM – 11:00 AM/Comida: 11:00 AM – 10:00 PM
Chefs: Donnie Masterton
and J.J. Castaneda
San
Miguel de Allende From The Sky: Globo San Miguel
You’re at Mother Nature’s mercy for one of
the most picturesque ways to see SMA - from the sky. We didn’t have much wind
the day we went so we weren’t one of the lucky few to get a bird’s eye view of
the Parroquia. What we did get was one of the most spectacular panoramas of
SMA’s magnificent countryside and a distant view of Centro; reason enough to
book this ride again.
Globo San Miguel owner, Jay Kimball, started his career when
he opened Napa Valley Aloft Balloon in
1976. It was recently voted the #1 hot
air balloon company in America; now operated by his children. An adventure balloon pilot who pioneered many locations
for new balloon companies throughout California, he’s an icon in the world of Hot
Air Ballooning. In 1992, he was the first company to be certified by the
FAA to fly over Cabo San Lucas.
Globo San Miguel, started with his daughter Gretchen
over 25 years ago, is the longest and most experienced balloon company in SMA.
If you want to get a different view of SMA, a flight in
one of Globo San Miguel’s hot air balloons is a must.
Globo
San Miguel
San Antonio 14, San Antonio, 37750
Daily:
9:00 AM – 6:00 PM
San Miguel de Allende In A Bottle: El Liquor Store
There’s a tasting room downstairs for classes and special
events as new brands are introduced. We also met María
Mercurio who is the National
Brand Ambassador for Boodles Gin. Like Maria, more and more female Mixologists
will surface as the popularity of artisanal cocktails continues to
grow.
El Liquor Store is headquartered in the Roma district of
Mexico City. It sets the bar higher for what to expect from a liquor store. A
principal resource for local Mixologists, you’ll find plenty of new cocktails
on the bar menus in town when El Liquor Store opens in two weeks.
El
Liquor Store
Zacateros
81a, Zona Centro, 37700
Daily
11:00 AM - 9:00 PM
San
Miguel de Allende Inside the Glass Restaurant: Oli Tapas
We have always loved the Oli Tapas space, with many good
memories of sharing food there. The centerpiece of Doce 18, in 2016, Chef
Matteo Salas introduced SMA to authentic Mexican food. It’s also where former
Chef Israel Loyola cooked with Casa Oaxaca owner, Alejandro Ruiz. It’s only fitting
that it should now be occupied by a Michelin star chef.
This eye-catching, glass restaurant will soon get plenty
of natural light when a retractable ceiling sets off SMA’s bluer-than-blue sky.
The chef, Vincente
Torres, was named Top Millesime Chef of 2011, where Chef Marco Cruz of Nómada
Cocina de Interpretación cooked last year and Chef Marcela Bolaño of Marsala
cocina con acentos cooked this November. Chef Torres was a guest chef in
SMA back in 2017, when he was part of the Weekends event at L'Otel.
Chef Vincente Torres was awarded with a Michelin star at La Sucursal, in the Valencian Institute of Modern Art and studied under famous chefs Frédéric Anton, Martín Berasategui and Alain Senderens. Chef Torres also owns one of Mexico City's best restaurants, Garum, at Avenida Presidente Masaryk #513 in Polanco.
We were surprised by the menu with many
interesting dishes priced at less than $200 pesos which makes it a great choice
for lunch. Paella is on the menu every weekend when the chef is in the house.
Oli
Tapas
Relox
18, Zona Centro, Colonia Centro, 37700
Monday
– Thursday: 1:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Friday
– Saturday: 1:00 PM – 11:00 PM
Sunday:
1:00 PM – 7:00 PM
San Miguel de Allende Inside THE Book: 101 Caras de SMA
San Miguel de Allende Inside THE Book: 101 Caras de SMA
We know you recognize
faces but how about hands - a chef’s most creative tool? Here, cooking "hands
on" are three of the chefs in the book: Chef Donnie Masterton (#60) plating
his famous burgers at the Outstanding in the Field dinner in 2019, Chef Armando
Prats (#74) creating sandwiches from the whole pig he cooked at Oktoberfest
2019 and Chef Marcela Bolaño (#19) arranging her homemade scones at Sunday brunch
in Marsala cocina con acentos.
Bovine, Dôce-18, Casa
R, Café La Ventana, Luna de Queso, Algarabia Fábrica La Aurora, Veinte Once
Fábrica La Aurora and Petit Four.
There is a sense of purpose that comes with landing
between the pages of this book that will never leave me, especially as a
foreigner who did not grow up here but came to love San Miguel de Allende as my
own. I am honored to be listed with all of you.
San
Miguel de Allende From A Tiny Kichen: Lima 502
Pia was born in Lima,
Peru and lived there for 13 years until her parents moved to Guatemala City. She
has great memories of her childhood in Peru; living near the sea and enjoying
delicious food prepared by her father and his brothers, which always turned
into an animated competition. Although the family left Peru when she was very
young, they always returned at least once a year. “It's amazing how you learn
to value your country – it’s culture, people and food - when you're away from
it”, Pia said. When Pia and her sisters started traveling to different countries,
the first thing they did was to see if there were any Peruvian restaurants near-
by. There were occasions when they drove long distances just to eat the food
they grew up with. Her twin sister, Maria Gracia, opened two Lima restaurants
in Guatemala City and in October 2018, Maria
Gracia and Pia decided to open a third spot in San Miguel de Allende.
This was one of our
favorite meals this year.
Lima 502
Pila Seca 19
Tuesday – Thursday: 1:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Friday – Saturday: 1:00 PM – 10:30 PM
Sunday: 1:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Monday: Closed
San
Miguel de Allende from the Parroquia Seats: Atrio
San
Miguel de Allende From The Corral: Rancho EL 17 Steak Botique
Since
the beginning of its operations in 1991 in Hermosillo, Sonora, Rancho 17® has
produced unique quality beef, gaining recognition for its quality in Mexico and
other countries around the world. Rancho 17 provides meats to some of the best
restaurants in Mexico with three different qualities: Premium, Select and
Choice.
I
always thought a BBQ grill was one of the essential tools for cooking a steak
but I can be convinced to
give up my Weber for a cast iron pan; at least when it comes to steaks and
chops. I was so impressed with this cooking method that I cooked both a steak
and a pork chop just to be sure; you just have to adjust the cooking time. The
results are always perfect.
The recipe is from Prime
Steakhouse in Las Vegas and was featured on the cover of Saveur Magazine. It’s one of our top ten recipes of all times.
1 2” thick porterhouse
steak
Sea salt and fresh
ground pepper
2 tablespoons Canola oil
4 tablespoons unsalted
butter
6 sprigs thyme
1 lemon
Season steak with salt and pepper and let sit 30
minutes.
Heat oven to 500 degrees.
Heat a cast iron skillet on your stovetop on high.
Add canola oil and when the pan almost smokes, add the steak and cook 5
minutes.
Flip the steak and place it in the oven for 7-10
minutes.
Pour off the pan drippings and return to the
stovetop. Melt butter. Add thyme and lemon and brown for about 4 minutes. Serve
the butter and lemon over the steak.
Rancho
EL 17 Steak Botique
Salida
a Celaya #25
Daily:
10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
San Miguel de
Allende Up Close and Personal: Querencia + Pura Vida Kitchen + deliQ
With a larger place
for Chef Esmeralda Brinn’s restaurant, Querencia, a take-out deli and Chef
Alicia Wilson Rivero’s cooking school, that boasts 10 chefs - Gabriel Gabriel
Ordoñez, Andres Jordan, Vanessa Romero, Jorge Catalan (nutrition), Esmeralda
Brinn Bolaños, Marina Mellino - the Spice Chica (pasta), Eliana Ortega Calderon
(plant based), Eduardo Villers, Fernando Echeverria (bread making) and Alicia
Wilson Rivero – they have jumped into their commitment to the community of
Guadalupe and SMA head on.
Look for updates as
deliQ and Pura Vida Kitchen start their regular hours shortly. A class schedule
for the cooking school will be posted soon.
Querencia + Pura Vida
Kitchen + deliQ
Margarito Ledezma # 6A
Colonia Guadalupe, San
Miguel de Allende
Querencia hours:
Monday – Friday: 9:00
AM - 3:00 PM
Sunday: 9:00 AM – 2:00
PM
San
Miguel de Allende from the Docks: Trazo 1810
This was one of our
favorite comidas of the year; also one of the healthiest.
Trazo 1810Hidalgo 8, Centro, 37700 in Casa 1810
Phone: 415 121 3501
Hours: 8:00 AM – 10:00 PM Daily
All photographs ©Susan Knight York unless noted.