Who said you can’t find great Italian food in San Miguel de Allende?

Opening on May 7, 2019 Cien Fuegos has been a long time in the making with a hiccup called Covid 19 in the middle of the mix. Cien Fuegos has finally landed in the top spot for good Italian food in SMA through a long history of cooking, starting at just 14 years old.

Growing up in Imperia Liguria county, Davide Giribaldi worked in 4 and 5 star hotels in different places in Italy and Switzerland to learn the principles of classic cuisine. Chef Davide Tacca, one of his Masters, inspired him and he began to travel in Europe, working in Italian restaurants in Norway, Finland, France and London. At age 26, he returned to Italy to work for Michelin star chef, Maurilio Garola at La Ciau del Tornavento in the middle of the famous Piemontese langa, a place of great wines and rich, gastronomic culture. A year later, the young chef landed in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, where he worked at the Glass Bar/Di Vino restaurant. He moved to SMA and after 8 years at MiVida, where I first met him years ago when he was preparing for a food festival with Sous Chef Cecy Alvarez,, he opened Cien Furegos and hired Chef Luvia de la Rosa; a Oaxaca born Mexican chef with an Italian soul.

Cien Fuegos focuses on Neapolitan pizza. Early on in Chef Davide Giribaldi career, he was trained at pizzeria Mastu rafe, where his teacher, Ciro Gentile, took his dough to a whole different level.

PORCINI mushroom are in season, giving Chef Davide Giribaldi the perfect excuse to prepare a Porcini mushroom pizza and a creamy Porcini pasta. Porcini mushrooms are one of the prized ingredients in Italian cuisine. Food connoisseurs praise the mushroom for its amazing flavor and texture. The wild mushrooms are a prized find for foragers – these from near Valle de Bravo. Considered one of the most delicious varieties, they are best when fully developed but still young; often described as having a umami sixth flavor.

The pizza had three high-end cheeses – Ricotta, Gorgonzola Dolce and Mozzarella - making it the perfect combination to compliment the woody and earthy flavor of the mushrooms. We all agreed that it was one of the best pizza’s we’ve eaten in SMA. We also threw out the rules and had a salad with beets, goat cheese and cauliflower.

The pasta was made fresh with flour and eggs, Porcini mushrooms, garlic, truffle oil, butter and olive oil and finished with the Mantecatura process carried out at the end of cooking, allowing all the ingredients to bind together by draining the pasta when it’s al dente and then blending it in a pan with the sauce, a drizzle of cold olive oil and a small ladle of the pasta’s cooking water.

What better way to measure the quality of the Italian food than to bring in your own expert tasting crew: Gilda Carbonaro, owner of Culinarian Expeditions, her husband Fulvio, a certified Naples pizza maker who eats his pizza like any good Italian- folded with his hands.

Fulvio was born in Naples, later moving to Venezuela where he attended Italian school and received the first Masters in Computer Science from the University of Houston, where he met Gilda. They always traveled to Naples but in 2002, they started traveling to Florence, bought a place and now spend the fall and spring seasons there where Gilda does her tours and cooking classes. In the summer and winter, they live in SMA where Gilda also teaches cooking and and conducts tours. Gilda wrote her first cookbook, A Tiny Kitchen in Florence, during the pandemic.

All of Cien Fuegos high-end Italian supplies come from Pinko Paulina, which means Joe Blow in Italian, getting more than one laugh from Fulvio and Gilda. The biggest surprise of the day was back in the kitchen…

In July of 2016, I did a profile on the Female chefs of SMA. One of those chefs, and always one of my favorites, was Chef Luvia Esmeralada de la Rosa, who, at that time of the interview, was a chef at Jacinto 1930. Chef Luvia Esmeralada de la Rosa studied at the Instituto Universitario de Oaxaca and loved the aroma of freshly ground corn. In particular, we adore her passion for cooking and today, she was cooking Italian food like she was born to. Her teacher, Chef Davide Giribaldi, has given her every opportunity to shine in the kitchen and she has, like she did when she worked at Jacinto 1930 with Chef Matteo Salas and Israel Loyola Espinosa.

According to food historians, the Italians had a greater influence than the French on Hispanic cuisine. In 1882, families from Veneto, a region in northern Italy, founded Chipilo, about ten miles west of Puebla. Restaurants there serve Italian food with a Mexican twist.

As many of us love Italain food and have an insatiable curiosity to know all things Italian, I’m in if chefs Gilda Carbonaro and Davide Giribaldi decide to lead a tour to Chipilo this next year.

Cien Fuegos Carretera San Miguel de Allende – Dolores Hidalgo km 7.5 San Miguel de Allende Phone: 415 114 7275 Hours: 1:00 PM – 8:00 PM Sunday Monday, Wednesday – Saturday 1:00 PM – 7:00 PM Tuesday: Closed Chef: Davide Giribaldi and Luvia Esmeralada de la Rosa

Delica Mitsu

We were sad when Delica Mitsu pulled out of SMA a few years back. They had some of the best Japanese food in town; good food at great prices but now they’re back, across the street before you get to Marsala Cocina con acentos on Hernandez Macias, down from Hotel Sautto and Bacco Ristorante.

It’s one of our favorite neck of the woods in SMA; also close to a little tienda on the opposite side of the street where we use to buy Magnum Ice Cream bars – the best ice cream with chocolate coasting on the planet. There are loads of things to explore on that end of Hernandez Macias, including the new Los Suenos Consignment Boutique and Casa No Name, who has the best Martini in town.

We weren’t super hungry the day we went and wanted something light so we ordered a dish we loved years ago - the Asian Peanut Pasta Salad (Pasta Adiatica de Cacahuate).

This is another dish that tops the list of things you can get in SMA between $100 - $200 pesos. With a full menu of Japanese food, there are rolls, salads, bento boxes, vegetarian, sushi and other healthy items on the menu.

Delica Mitsu Hernandez Macias, Calle del Dr Ignacio Hernandez Macias 47, Zona Centro, 37700 San Miguel de Allende, Gto. Phone: 415 688 7277 Hours: 12:00 Noon – 8:00 PM Daily except closed Monday

Paella with Chef Magda Pablos

Chef Magda Elisa Pablos has always had a fondness for cooking paella and the people who love to eat it– in this case 12 hungry students who were totally mesmerized by the entire process from start to finish.

Three chefs are better than one so Magda called in David and Alejandra Oliver from Queretaro to help teach the class. Some tricks we learned: add enough but not too much water to reduce everything so the broth takes on all the flavor of the dish; never cover the paella when you’re cooking it to help retain its “al dente” texture; don’t stir once the stock is added to ensure the socarrat (golden crust) forms on the base and use a spoon, not a fork, to eat it. A bowl or a plate is totally your call.

Paella is a Sunday lunch dish and following class, lunch was served on the spacious lawn at Chef Magda’s home in Atascadero, complete with wine.

Chef Magda Elisa Pablos’s next class will be on making Mole Rosa de Taxco, a traditional sauce from Guerrero, on Wednesday, October 5, 2022 from 3:00 PM – 7:00 PM. Meal is served with Spiced Rice and Orange-Cointreau Flan. Call or WhatsApp to book +52 777 523 8741.

Camila, Una Boutique de Libros

A local bookstore is an oasis and one of our favorite places to go in SMA is the new Camila, una boutique de libros, owned by Camila Sanchez, daughter of Chef Marcela Bolano.

Camila, una boutique de libros is a magical place filled with books that remind you why you love books in the first place. Camila’s has many of our favorite and soon-to-be favorite titles in both Spanish and English.

Since she was a child, Camila Sanchez has always wanted to own a book store and just like in the books, we love happy endings.

Camila, una boutique de libros, is located in front of Restaurante Marsala, cocina con acentos, at Calle del Dr Ignacio Hernandez Macias 48, in Zona Centro.

Are Three Chefs Better Than One? …

Only when they are three of the best chefs in San Miguel de Allende and your guest is another chef, Magda Elisa Pablos.

Tene’s brunch this particular Sunday featured Chef Irving Cano paired up with none other than Chefs Jorge Avendaño of Bastardo and Christian Herrera of As De Guia - the dream team trio who created one of the best meals we’ve eaten.

Our best bites were an amazing tostada with tuna and bone marrow, prepared by Chef Irving Cano, a perfect pollo al carbon, just like our favorite chicken at Bastardo made by Chef Jorge Avendaño and a super fresh tuna steak prepared by Chef Christian Herrera of As De Guia.

From Tene’s on-site bakery, Dulce 1810, was what we consider to be one of the best croissants in town: a soft chocolate croissant with pistachios.

You can’t get fish any fresher than this unless you catch it yourself. Chef Christian Herrera gave us all a lesson in filleting this enormous fish, which was half the fun of the brunch.

Watch for regular postings on Tene’s Facebook page. Chances are you’ll find Chef Cano cooking with another one of your favorite chefs in town; they change up guest chefs every brunch.

Tene Restaurant/Casa 1810 Parque Hotel /Dulce 1810 Bakery Codo 3, Zona Centro, Centro, 37700 San Miguel de Allende, Gto. Phone: 415 688 6891 Hours: Daily 8:00 AM – 10:00 PM except Sunday Brunch: 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM Mixology Special: 1:00 PM – 9:00 PM Chef: Irving Cano Facebook: Tene Instagram: tene1810sma