Thursday, May 25, 2023

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

Phone55 2589 4363

Reservationsticuchi.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

 

 

Monday, April 17, 2023

If you didn’t get the memo, the hottest seat in the house right now is  Aldama 53. 

Chef Vicente Torres has officially taken over the kitchens of Moxi and Bovine, changing the menus and teaching new techniques to the staff. Of the six dishes he served at lunch today, we loved every one of them including the Pulpo with an exquisite Ink Emulsion, thick and beautifully seasoned. Chef Vicente Torres food touches on the Mediterranean, using the best local ingredients.

Chef Vicente Torres was awarded a Michelin star at La Sucursal, in the Valencian Institute of Modern Art in Spain and studied under famous chefs Frédéric Anton, Martín Berasategui and Alain Senderens. Millesime named him their Top Chef in 2011, where some of SMA’s best chefs, Marco Cruz of Nómada Cocina de  Interpretación and Chef Marcela Bolaño of Marsala cocina con acentos, also cooked.

His SMA History… Chef Torres was a guest chef back in 2017, when he was part of the Weekends event at L'Otel. In November, 2019, he briefly opened Oli Tapas here in the old Jacinto 1930 space in Doce 18. The food was Spanish, a tapas restaurant, but then along came Covid and it disappeared as quickly as it came.

Our passion for this chef’s creations began when we were a guest at GARUM, his restaurant and one of Mexico City's best, back on March 5, 2020. Weeks later, Covid shut down many of the restaurants in Mexico City but Chef Torres remained loyal to both his craft and customers. He chose a delivery option and remained open during the entire pandemic..

In his absence, Chef Claudio Castillo will be cooking at Moxi, under his direction, as part of the evolution of these prestigious restaurants.


Making the meal an unforgettable one was the staff from Bovine - top SMA Mixologist, Uriel Jonathan Frausto Tabares and his apprentice, Alex Cotes, (who keeps his I.D. in his pocket just in case) and always-on-his-game, the chief concierge, Aaron Garcia Luna. Besides the over-the-top food, the pairing with two exceptional, Mexican brands -  the fine wines from Casa Madero, the oldest winery in the Americas, and the superior Tequilas from Casa Dragones - made it the best meal this year. It was truly a winning combination.

The meal…



Tomatoes + Peaches is my favorite Bovine salad and this one was an organic tomato salad with a variety of Basil, Stracciatella and Pinion and was slightly more incredible with all the added extras. It was paired with Casa Dragones Joven, made from blanco and extra anejo tequilas, with the flavor of vanilla, a bit of spices and balanced with a trace of pear. 

Next, one of our favorite courses, the Green Aguachile made with Crab, Tangerine, Pickled Carrots, and Ginger Air with a beautiful, green sauce of parsley and spinach that was ever so slightly sweet. A pan of delicious, homemade bread was not enough to sop up the flavors so we ordered another and also indulged in a plate of delicious, homemade crackers; impressed with the fact that the kitchen also does their own bread. We can’t say enough about the Crab – one Aguachile we never tried and hardly ever get that often. The dish was paired with a light, spring Casa Madero V Rosado Shiraz with notes of Peach, pink guava, melon, nectarine and papaya with honey and pink grapefruit. 


Chef Michael Coon, who was also impressed with this dish, was pickling and candying carrots in his kitchen early the next morning, trying to recreate the flavors of this Aguachile. It’s so inspirational when chefs inspire other chefs.



Next was a divine, Butternut squash soup with Pumpkin Seed Praline, flower ravioli and marinated Yolk. This is now our favorite soup in SMA; its complexity simplified by using really, exceptional ingredients. The soup was paired with a full-bodied, Casa Madero Gran Reserva Chardonnay – in French and American oak barrels for 6 months with the aromas of fruits, white flowers and nuts and had a creamy, elegant finish. We’re a Chardonnay drinker and this is one of our favorite, Mexican wines; manually harvested in the early morning to maximize the concentration of aromas.

The next course, Pulpo with grilled Piquillo sauce, was complimented by the Ink Emulsion, guillio Chile sauce and green, mashed potatoes. This dish was paired with a Casa Madero Cabernet Sauvignon Organico; a gold metal wine with notes of blackberries and blueberries, oak, vanilla, chocolate, rosemary and cinnamon as well as roses and violets.



Next came the Tajine style lamb – one of the best ways to cook meat because the food comes out moist, tender and full of concentrated flavors. It was accompanied by sesame pure, Kalamazoo Olives, Orange and Honey and paired with our favorite Casa Madero; the intense Gran Reserva 3V with an expression of fresh red fruits. Casa Madero celebrated its 425th anniversary last year by creating a special, limited edition of their most iconic wine; a blend of three grapes: Cabernet Savignon, Cabernet Franc and Shitaz, with two years of aging in the barrels and 12 months of aging in the bottles.


He closed out the meal with a Cheesecake of Ocosingo Cheese - produced in Chiapas - red fruits and Cherry Ice Cream. It was served with Casa Dragones Anejo for the signature taste of floral with hints of figs and almonds and flavors of nutmeg, macadamia nut and blackberry.



Chef Torres is committed to making Moxi and Bovine two of the best restaurants in SMA and with so many eating places here, he’s unquestionably raised the bar a whole lot higher. Some have come close but this was one of those meals of the decade you just can’t forget.

Some 10 years and 5,700 seating’s later, we can’t wait to sit at his table again. Chef Vicente Torres is the new chapter for San Miguel de Allende.

Buen Provecho!


Moxi Restaurant at Hotel Matilda

Aldama 53, Zona Centro 37700

San Miguel de Allende, GTO.

Phone: 415-152-1015

Hours: Daily 7:00 AM – 11:00 PM

Chef: Vicente Torres

 

Bovine

Canal #16, Zona Centro 37700

San Miguel de Allende, GTO.

Phone: 415-121-6787

Hours:

Tuesday: 7:00 PM – 10:30 PM

Wednesday – Sunday: 1:00 PM – 10:30 PM

Closed: Monday

Chef: Vicente Torres