Altar

One of the best places to go in San Miguel de Allende in 2025 is Altar, the new rooftop at Doce 18 that was two years in the making and finally opened last Friday. The project was a technically difficult one from the very beginning, a work in progress, and long delays caused the original chef to back out. Thank you Majo Casas for seeing us through when in November,2024, the vision was resumed and Chef Jorge Avendano was selected as the Executive Chef; a popular choice since his cooking is well known at his other SMA establishments: Salvajes Brasserie and Bastardo Restaurante. Chef Jorge Avendano is one of the top chefs in SMA; we’ve followed his rise since 2020. Altar is his first dance with Mexican food and undoubtedly will prove to be his best restaurant yet. Jafet Flores, the former baker at MAEH Panadería and Roberto Hegel, his former Sous chef at Salvajes Brasserie make up part of his growing team. He’s still looking for qualified staff so contact rohegel@gmail.com for additional information if you’re interested. Chef Jorge Avendaño made his mark when he started cooking with French and Spanish chefs all over Europe. A graduate of Le Cordon Bleu Mexico, he worked for over 20 years in restaurants and hotels around the world. In Mexico, he was the Executive and Creative Chef at Parker and Lenox, Puebla 109, Corredor Tonala and Catalina, among others. His career changing moment was when he worked with Chef Rene Redzepi, owner of the three-Michelin star restaurant Noma in Copenhagen, Denmark. At Noma, he became an expert in many things, including fresh, seasonal produce. The dishes he creates today are unquestionably Michelin class. At Altar, there are 26 modern Mexican dishes on the menu of which 10 are vegetarian and 6 are desserts. We had lunch on opening day last Friday and were honored to be one of his first customers. In addition to the Corcholata Amuse-Bouche, we had Roasted Cauliflower with perfect Mole Coloradito, Grilled Ranch Cheese with Olive Oil and Gajillo Chile with a Drunken Sauce and mustard leaves, Drowned ShortRib Flautas with Morita Chile and Green Tomato Sauce, an exquisite Heirloom Tomato Salad with Clementine Tomatoes from Chinaberry Farms with an over the top, local blue sheep cheese made by Quesos del Rebaño from Peña de Bernal; one of our favorite producers. We also had a Pulque bread; a mild alcoholic drink made from fermented agave juice. Pulque is the main ingredient used to help soften and lighten the bread during the cooking process. Altar’s pulque bread comes with an addictive blend of butter and Hoja Santa; all locally sourced. For dessert we had a Flan; a wonderful recipe from Chef Avendaño’s mother Annie, to which the chef added a mound of 70% Tabasco Chocolate Ganache. The chocolate reminded me of the Tortino I fell in love with in Merida. It was the best chocolate we’ve ever eaten a second time around. We also had one of the delicious homemade ice creams: Lemon Pie. The entire lunch was cooked personally by the chef and was a fabulous end to the week. The following Monday, Chef Michael Coon and I shared another tasting of Pork Belly Tacos ($95 pesos each), green fava bean hummus with pitas (absolutely one of his best dishes that is vegetarian), the drowned Oaxaca Cheese Flautas with Morita Chile and green tomato sauce (which I liked better than the one stuffed with Short Rib; a total surprise for me to pick cheese over meat) and a crunchy Bunelo de Viento with both Guaba Pastry Cream and Guaba Ice Cream. There are 2 beautiful open air lounges in back you can reserve for groups of 12-15 people that also provide a glorious sunset view. The nighttime views are divine, perhaps the best in Centro SMA, and the daylight vistas may result in the longest lunch you’ve ever had. Four hours in, I was still working on dessert and counting the colonial churches on the skyline. If you hadn’t claimed it as your hometown yet you certainly will after you see these inspiring views. We’re still amazed that Chef Jorge Avendaño could put all the pieces of Altar together in less than 90 days. And when we finally convince him to take a victory lap, grab a Margarita and declare the win, we’re headed back to his kitchen to try the 16 other dishes we missed. Altar Rooftop Doce 18 Concept House Relox 18, Centro San Miguel de Allende 37700 Open daily 2:00 PM- 1:00 AM Closed Tuesday Phone: 415 216 6082 Chef: Jorge Avendaño Reservations are suggested