I’ve been on an eating binge for 2 months now and richly rewarded for my determination to stick with it because if anyone wants an actual list of What’s New in SMA, it’s you. With the list narrowed down from 424(and we know there’s a lot more) to 50, we are happy to talk about the restaurants who consistently, day in and day out, do it right.
San Miguel’s gastronomic offerings are now as vibrant as the city itself. Just ask Chef Donnie Masterton whose remarkable 18-year influence on the city’s culinary scene continues to grow. Through his charity, Let the Kids Cook, 10 new students will attend culinary school in the next session. In October, he will give a TEDx talk by Klaudia Oliver, on mentoring—a fitting subject for someone who has spent a lifetime opening doors for others. Congratulations to Donnie and President, Jenny Reichert, Nicole Kaplan, Rhoda Kibler and everyone at Let the Kids Cook for an enormously successful first year.
Apparently, the shortest distance between what’s left of September and January 6 is through your favorite restaurant - great news for the #1 City in the World, who first and foremost loves to eat. Every day, someone sits down at a table to discover what the rest of us have known for years. This city doesn’t just have great restaurants, it has chefs who keep surprising us with menus and dishes that change up, turning even the most disciplined diner into someone who orders lunch while still discussing dinner.
I found one of the best tacos at Mario’s in San Antonio the same week I discovered the $390- peso lunch at Bacco and the 5- course dinner tasting menu for $550 pesos at Local. Whoever said that SMA is too expensive isn’t looking for the deals because they’re everywhere, including these three hot spots - all of them offering a plan that everyone can understand: eat better and spend less.
Apparently even obsessive menu readers have blind spots because my friend Rhoda ordered a dish yesterday that had been on the menu at La Azotea for 8 years; hiding in plain sight between the infamous Jicama Tacos and Bao Buns. Anything can be missed if you only order your favorites and not become the adventurous eater you actually want to be. Just in case you change your mind, order the Sea Bass Tiradito - the best new addition to the menu at Atrio.
New dishes and price adjustments have put Garnacha - one of my favorite restaurants - back on track; proving once again that the smartest restaurateurs in SMA are the ones who listen to their customers. The result is a menu that is more interesting, better balanced and much easier to enjoy without studying the prices longer than the food. Six restaurants later, they’ve clearly got it figured out. Last week’s successful GEMA Festival dinner at Garnacha was further proof of what they’ve created there. Garnacha was filled with great food, terrific energy and lots of people—exactly the kind of evening that both the owners, Tono and Andres Aranda LaValle, do so well.
As part of this pre holiday celebration, we’re also celebrating the chefs who have been around for a long time; like Chef Paco Cardenas of Petit 4. Why does a healthy breakfast always taste better when it’s this good-looking? Paco remains in charge of all the magic in his kitchen at Petit 4 because anyone who has 28 years of experience in French pastry really doesn’t need to explain why everything on his menu tastes so good. It’s a lot like Cristina Gerez of La Estrella who has been making cheese in SMA for over 25 years. You can taste every one of those years in each and every bite of her cheddar peppercorn cheese or Celina Ramirez Agundis, who made the first flour tortilla 40 years ago at Los Burritos. Never mind that she’s Bola’s baby sister and Chello’s niece. Experience trumps everything because talent knows how to begin but experience knows how to finish.
We love the fact that Celina has fed the masses in San Miguel for over 40 years and got reviews from people like Nick Gilman at Good Food Mexico City. But there’s no need to launch an “I Love Celina” campaign. Judging by her many fans, it’s already well underway. I would ask her why it took me 14 years to try one of her flour tortillas - truly the best in SMA - but we figured out a long time ago that the best tastes of Mexico are always worth waiting for.
With over 50 restaurants, the list is long and whoever decided that one lunch a day was enough clearly doesn’t live in San Miguel. From my table to yours, we’re starting with the details tomorrow on two of the best restaurants in SMA: BACCO, who opened July 18 this year and LOCAL, who was our pick for the Best New Restaurant in 2025.
We’d serve up all 50 restaurants right now, but even a tasting menu knows when it’s gone too far.
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Buen Provecho!
