What’s
my favorite thing to make after having 90 days to think about it? RESERVATIONS!
It seems like a lifetime ago when I last had a restaurant meal and although
delivery is a welcomed extra these days (60+ restaurants in SMA now deliver,
including La Parada, who added delivery service last week) I’m also done with
cooking. My thoughts after three months in isolation:
there’s absolutely nothing better than eating out at a restaurant. I would say
it again but you’re probably already thinking it.
For takeout and delivery this past month, our list was long:
Chef Armando Acosta’s fabulous ribs;
Buenos Aires Bistro’s delicious Sweetbread and Pork Belly
sandwiches;
Birdies Burgers always fabulous Brisket sandwich with Mac and Cheese;
Chikatana’s bag
loaded with ingredients to make our favorite ethnic dish: Bibimbap;
Costco for,what else, a hot dog fix;
The
Restaurant for weekly produce; always fresh and just picked from the garden;
The best souhern chicken in SMA: Kenten’s Fried Chicken (KFC) with all the sides;
Lizette Angel’s Lolita Cocina Mexicana and Bar for a one pound
burrito;
Marsala, cocina con acentos for a Cuban Sandwich and her famous Carrot Cake;
Moxi
at Hotel Matilda for take-out bags to make Lobina
and cheesecake;
Nómada cocina de interpretación for a steak and salad with a delicious apple, sea salt caramel and cinnamon crumble;
Panio for a brunch box (which included Chocolate
Croissants, Brioche with cream cheese, Kouign Amann, Ham and Mushroom
crepes, Fig mermelade, Macarons in a variety of colors, a loaf of sourdough and
Pinelli Cuvee Brut Prosecco);
Chef Armando Prats for Mexican Aguachile Tostadas and Ensenada Fish Tacos; some of the best around,
Ruby Joy for Chopped Salads, Fried Chicken and tasty Orange Chicken with eggrolls;
Rustica for the works: Chicken Milanese, Canada de la Virgen beef sandwich, brownies, cookies, Buenforno’s
Almond Croissants and ice
cream;
and the best BBQ Brisket and Ribs from Smoked N' Low;
Chef Laura Buccheri's Cocina di Afrodita for Caramel Cheesecake
and Sea-salt, caramel and chocolate tart with caramelized
almonds from Chef Isabelle Ortega at
Madame la Lune.
We also got lost in the vineyard one afternoon at Los Senderos for a brief distraction from reality.
What did we cook at home? Easy dishes, like Yogurt, fruit and
granola; Chicken Soup; Iced Coffee;Baked Oatmeal; French Toast; Chicken Stir
Fry, Biscuits; Potato Soup with Ham and Green Beans; Spaghetti Bordelaise –
with and without pancetta; Baked beans and Smoked
Blue Cheese Potato Salad, not to mention an overkill on Costco tuna.
I’ve decided that I’ll leave the home-cooking to Jana
Koplen, Franklin Terry and Mark Bastian; the real superstars of the SMA home kitchen
during the pandemic.
Have you looked at the Facebook posts of Chef Linnea Rufo (above) these past few months? Just who makes a Salmon Belly Caesar Salad, Chicken
thighs with peppercorn cream and Cognac sauce with mushroom, asparagus and
shallot hash or a Chicken Pot Pie that looks like it just graced the cover of
Bon Appétit? Whatever her plans are for the future, we’re in them.
Good service in a restaurant is a glorious thing and there’s
something about getting it from a recognizable staff. You really appreciate
them now; the tribe who knows you by name and brings your drink before you even
get a chance to sit down and order it. You want to taste every dish that was created
by the chefs during the pandemic, because they finally had time to make them,
but all you really want right now is a taste of the familiar; the comfort foods
that take you home to the SMA you know and love.
We
celebrated with some of our favorite restaurants once they reopened: we were
there for the opening of Atrio (above)
Marsala cocina con acentos
and The Restaurant.
We also savored the traditions
that define Rustica (above)
Luna Rooftop at The Rosewood (with Rosewood staff: Chef Emma Romero, Gustavo Vidargas, Theresa Garcia and Luis Moreno). Try their new lighter-than-light Almond Croissant.
El Vergel
Lavanda
Nirvana and 3 days of retreat in the country with Chef Patsy Dubois at Patsy's Place.
With strict protocols in place, we felt safe dining in every restaurant
we went to.
Some people say the expectation of going somewhere is often better
than the actual experience but in this case, it wasn’t. And if you think we
were excited, just look at Chef Donnie Masterton (The Restaurant), Chef Arturo Sandoval (Atrio) and Chef Marcela
Bolano at Marsala, cocina
con acentos.
How can you find out if a restaurant is
certified by the city? Here’s the current list. For those who don’t speak
Spanish, push the link and "Conoce aqui la lista de establecimientos que
cuentan ya con el Certificate Primero la Salud" will come up in large
letters. Press on the letters and it will go to an automatically, updated list
of restaurants and shops that have been certified. http://coronavirus.sanmigueldeallende.gob.mx/primerolasalud…
Do Eggs Benedict taste better with a 360 degree view of city?
You bet, especially when you haven’t seen this panorama for what seems like forever.
I was mesmerized by the view and if you want to fall in love with the city all
over again, Luna is the perfect place to go. It’s entirely al fresco dining
now; Luna is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner from 8:00 AM – 10:00 PM. 1826
remains closed for remodeling and will open with a new menu. There’s also a
major surprise; to be announced before the end of the year that will delight the
locals. In fact, many of the restaurants in SMA have embraced locals; offering new
menus, along with attractive prices and specials.
Chef David Jahnke’s online cooking classes filled a void but
ZOOM forgot the sniff button; we really missed the aromas of his cooking. Chef David Jahnke Cooking Classes Lab is the top cooking
school in SMA and was recently voted one of the best cooking schools in Mexico.
As SMA slowly opens up, there are things we’re looking forward
to,like Mui at Hotel Marilda; a new Ramen bar (photo by Hotel Matilda) that will serve many delicious varieties
of ramen, all priced under $200 pesos. Expect a lot of changes over the next six months as restaurants
adapt to the new normal.
For now, SMA has made progress - you can now get creative
cocktails delivered to your front door, along with a bottle of SMA’s premium
tequila, Casa Dragones. There’s also a new cocktail book coming out shortly from
SMA artist, Jane Dill and her husband, Roger Adell, featuring the 50 quarantine
cocktails they created during lockdown; a really fun project for everyone who
followed them. The photo above is from Jane's Facebook page when she was reshooting the cover with her iPhone.
We also love Panio’s new bread subscription - $450 pesos for 4
weeks/3 boulangerie + a special treat every week.
You’ll see limited menus but all of the restaurants are offering
a short and sweet list of their best dishes. Hours will also change.
There’s a plan in city government that will allow some restaurants
to utilize their outdoor spaces, including streets and sidewalks; hopefully expediting
permits and helping the restaurants breeze through the process in order to
increase the capacity of their now, limited dining rooms. Let’s hope it will
get approved soon because all people want to do right now is dine outdoors. In
fact, rooftops and restaurants with outdoor patios will definitely have the
advantage.
Mask up and take your seat; you’re favorite restaurants are
still the same, only now they have stricter protocols in place. Also, continue
to support them by ordering take-out and delivery.
Make sure all your favorite restaurants survive. If you want to
return to the food scene the way it was prior to 2016, stay at home and cook.
We know you’re a great cook but what are your thoughts if cooking at home is now
your only option?
Buen Provecho!
