TACOS RAMIREZ

There’s lots of great food in SMA for a good price; you just have to look for it.

Undeniably THE BEST SANDWICH IN SMA is an overstuffed Torta with beef steak cooked over charcoal. It had such a delicious aftertaste, I could not get it out of my head all day and even went to bed last night thinking about it.

The cost: 30 pesos/$1.69 USD.

This is high on our list of the best street food in SMA. Trust me, you’ll become addicted.

Tacos Ramirez

Central De Bomberos Fire Station

Arcos de San Miguel 37740

Open Daily: 11 AM - 11 PM

Panio Introduces Ticuchi

Say hello to Katrina Arellano from Ticuchi in Mexico City.

Renowned Mexican chef, Enrique Olvera, is behind this restaurant/bar and Katrina Arellano was my starting point to discover some of the secrets of this restaurant…and there are many. Located in the old Pujol space, the draw is definitely the food with a vegetarian focus; corn being the star.  

Mexico's jalapeño-infused version of ceviche, this dish, Aguachile de Coco con Pina Tatemada, was one of the best we’ve had all year. It was made with two simple ingredients: pineapple and coconut. The flavors woke up our palates; another great dish we’ll travel for.

The lunch at Hortus, Panio’s new restaurant in San Miguel de Allende, was also sponsored by Campari and Paladar and took us through some of the magical corners of Oaxaca. With pairing cocktails, there was a tostada with grasshoppers, a memelita with green mole, black mole with fried plantains and a Tres Leches cake. The finishing cocktail was a Red Dragon x Hortus  with Casa Dragones Blanco.

We loved everything about this meal… especially the company.

Ticuchi

Petrarca 254

Polanco, Polanco V Secc, Miguel Hidalgo

11560 Ciudad de México, CDMX

Hours: Daily 6:30 PM – 11:30 PM

Closed Sunday

Phone: 55 2589 4363

Reservations: ticuchi.mx

 

Hortus

Portal de Guadalupe 12, Centro

8:00 AM – when the last customer leaves.

Last seating for dinner: 9:00 PM.

Executive Chef: Omar Henriquez

PANINA

When you suddenly get a whiff of sourdough bread being made, your morning comes together and you instantly get that high that can only come from a SMA bakery. This bakery does it to me every time.

Chef Paulina Carreno’s baked goods are a morning revival. We usually get there late and know the drill so it’s hard to decide what to go for when you get there early enough to choose from the cream of the crop.

Thanks Chus, Chema and Luis for that morning pick me up, which included a cup of specialty coffee from Veracruz, Puebla and Oaxaca. Like everyone else, we’re crazy about lemon so ordering the lemon filled doughnut with Pistachios is a given. You don’t need our permission to lick the plate; it’s that last taste of lemon that’s always the best.

Paulina said they’re officially in the expansion phase right now so watch for plenty of positive changes in the coming months… as if this bakery could get any better.

Panina

Stirling Dickinson 3, San Antonio

37750 San Miguel de Allende, Gto

Daily: 8:30 AM – 2:30 PM

Closed Monday

Phone: 415 107 6825

La Dona

 

Chef Juan Manuel Galvan Lopez

Five years ago, San Miguel de Allende was a tough place to find a good, vegetarian dish, other than beans and tortillas, but now, things have  changed as the city’s best chefs are putting new and exciting dishes on their menus; many of which are vegetables.  

Chef Juan Manuel Galvan Lopez has a new menu at La Dona and many of the dishes we tried were vegetarian… and really delicious. Remember, this chef was the first one to put roasted cauliflower on a menu - in a wood fire oven marinated in dehydrated tomato chimichurri with seasoned Gorgonzola cheese dressing. It’s still the best cauliflower in SMA.

Our favorite new dishes were many - the Portobello mushroom tartare, mushrooms and roasted shitake lined with vegetables from the garden with Pineapple, avocado and citrus sauce; the picture-perfect calamari with a shrimp stuffed pasta – an unexpected flavor that surprised and delighted our palate; the Buffalo Burrata on tomato jam with roasted cherries, balsamic honey, praline seeds and baby arugula and the San Mike salad: a mix of organic lettuce lined with Jamaican reduction, strawberry sorbet, blackberries, roasted peaches, sliced ​​almonds and slices of provolone cheese.

La Dona’s partner, Miguel Sacal Micha, says if you plan to serve great pastries, you need a pastry chef and we totally agree. La Dona’s new pastry chef is Liliana Ofelia. Some of her new dishes included a plantain semifreddo covered with campechanas, dulce de leche, banana sauce and caramelized cashews and an Oreo cookie brownie filled with rich, dark chocolate ganache, raspberries, grain salt with gelato and oreo cookies.

We’re also a meat lover too and can’t get enough of La Dona’s Pork Chamorro cooked for four hours over low heat, barbecue style accompanied with rustic mashed potatoes. And of course, we also like the lamb chops; a specialty dish of La Dona.

Several of chef Juan Manuel Galvan Lopez’s dishes will be on our new restaurant list at the end of May - a special section at the end called What’s New on the Menu, which features new dishes that chefs will be adding to their menus this summer. Stay tuned.

La Dona

San Francisco 32, Centro

San Miguel de Allende 37700

Sunday 1:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Monday – Wednesday 1:00 PM – 10:00 PM

Thursday – Saturday 1:00 PM – 11:00 PM

Phone: 415 688 3131

Chef: Juan Manuel Galvan Lopez

Pastry Chef: Liliana Ofelia

 

 

Tuesday Market Feasts

 

Rise and Shine…we have certain rituals and breakfast at the Tianguis is one of them.

One thing for certain is that Mexicans do not lack imagination when it comes to breakfast and at Tuesday Market, you have unlimited options, including fish and pizza. I can eat a lot of things for breakfast but I’ll be the first to admit, I’m still working on the fish.

We get there early so we can grab a seat at the breakfast table but no matter how early we arrive at Don Santos, the line is always long…really long. I remind myself that patience is a virtue - the line moves really fast.

Our Tuesday morning breakfast cheat this morning is two Don Santos Tacos de Costilla (Don Santos also has the best beef tacos in SMA) followed by dessert - two Churros Bonfi. Churros Bonfi has always made their churros hot for us (all you have to do is ask) and lightly sugars them…sweet but not too sweet. On the way out, Bautista Brothers is our first choice for a take home torta, piled high with Carnitas and sauce on the side.

It’s easy to get lost if you don’t know the ropes so take a tour of the market by contacting Chef David Jahnke, who will show you the best vendors and places to eat – like Tacos Don Santos, Bautista Brothers Carnitas and Churros Bonfi.

Chef David Jahnke has been doing tours at the Tianguis – the size of 6 football fields - since 2017 and knows most all of the vendors in the market. He explains how the market works, where things come from and how they are distributed. Much of the produce is picked that morning and some vendors sell at prices substantially cheaper than in some of the stores. You can save a lot of money in the long run just by taking this tour. Phone Chef Jahnke at 744-136-3963 or email him at david.jahnke@gmail.com.

Tianguis de los Martes – La Placita – Tuesday Market or whatever you want to call it, it’s one of the best markets in SMA for that real, Mexican experience. 

Tacos Don Santos

Bautista Brothers Carnitas

Churros Bonfi

Opens: 9:00 AM… mas o menos

Tacos Don Santos and Bautista Brothers Carnitas are located in the front, middle section on the parking lot side. Churros Bonfi is also in the middle section on the side by the highway.

 

 

 

Celebrating Chef David Jahnke

 

When Chef David Jahnke told me he was cooking his own birthday dinner, he said he was going to make all of his favorite things for many of his favorite people. Little did I know that they were going to be 3 of my favorite things, too: Lobster, Blue Crab and BBQ Ribs. 

The lobster was blanched in a French-style broth and then baked with garlic butter. This best version of lobster was perfectly cooked and had an insanely sweet aftertaste.

The blue crab was cooked Mexican-style with smoked chilies, epazote, roasted onion, garlic and more then served with a homemade truffle/ saffron mayonnaise. It literally melted in your mouth.

The sous vide cooked beef ribs had a BBQ sauce that was based on organic ketchup plus 20 more ingredients including charred onion, oranges, mesquite, maguey honey, ginger and more. It was impeccably spiced to compliment the meatiest ribs I’ve seen. The bulk of the ingredients were purchased at City Market where David has a relationship with the butchers.

Pair this holy trinity with blanched white, purple and green asparagus, the best potatoes cheese gratin, herbcrepes rolles stuffed with garlic cream cheese and smoked salmon, steamed crawfish and jumbo shrimp, cold served with a truffle/ saffron mayonnaise, black forest cake and the most divine egg free, no baked lemon cheese cake with a gluten-free almond pie crust.

We think Chef David Jahnke needs to add a “How I Cooked my Birthday Dinner” class to his culinary curriculum. My goal this year is to master those lobsters; they were the best we’ve eaten in SMA.  

Chef David Jahnke Cooking School

C. Del Tesoro 23

San Antonio

San Miguel de Allende, GTO

Open: 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Closed Sunday

Phone: 744 136 3963