Restaurant Recs for San Miguel de Allende

[glossyp]

Hello everyone. I looked for a thread with specific restaurant recs for San Miguel but didn't find anything though I did see the one for the various markets. The visit is brief (only about week) so some guidance from the friendly and knowledgable egullet community would be deeply appreciated!

[caroline]

Hello Glossyp, Delighted to try to help, specially for a fellow friend of Hawaii. I'm not sure what kind of restaurants you are looking for. SMA is bursting with restaurants. When you get there pick up the local gringo rag, Atencion. Front page, Berlin, the most exquisite German recipes, Harry's fine cajun and creole, Villa Jacaranda Mr Chips Fish and Chips, La Grotta Italian cuisine, etc.

Should I guess that this is not what you are after? I don't live in SMA anymore and thus can't guide you to great places. Nickarte lives there but is overseas right now. Bugambilia is the oldest "Mexican" restaurant in town but gets mixed reviews. Otherwise it's not mainly Mexican though most places have Mexican touches and I believe that many of the newer restaurants are excellent.

In the traditional Mexican line, the Tuesday market on the outskirts is well worth a visit. There's a little shop at the start of Ancho San Antonio that sells Mexican sweetmeats including SMA's trademark tumbagones which are delicate and delicious with coffee (and aren't going to survive much longer because they are so labor intensive). On Saturdays (and Sundays if the meat lasts), there were great carnitas at La Cruz del Perdon about eight miles north of town on the road to Dolores. My friend, María Solórzano, gives what I believe to be some of the best cooking classes in Mexico though her establishent is a humble one.

www.traditionalmexicancooking.com.mx

It's a great place to spend a week--good weather, great artesania, lots of interesting buildings, etc. pm me if you want more ideas. I'm just an hour away in Guanajuato capital.

Rachel

[glossyp]

Thank you so much Rachel! I enjoy your posts over in the Hawaii forum. This trip to Mexico is my first in over fifteen years. When I was growing up we traveled extensively in Mexico and Guatemala and my parents would often spend a month or two in either Guadalajara or SMA so I am truly looking forward to it. I will definitely try the German restaurant, Berlin, and the carnitas up the road. Otherwise, I'll just snoop around and see what I find. This is a family reunion of sorts so I'm not sure of my schedule (my brother is the producer of this event as it were!) but if the opportunity arises I will certainly get in touch with you. Thanks again.

[lovebenton0]

It has been several years since I lived in SMA, sadly for only a summer. I loved it there and was reluctant to make the necessary journey back home. Because of the time span my memory fails me on names of restaurants (and I can't locate my journal right now). However Trattoria for Italian on San Antonio St is a very good place if you're in the mood for that. The restaurant is located in a wedge at the end of a building where streets converge -- if that makes sense to you. It is fairly close to the Posada d'Allende, in towards the center of town.

There is also a restaurant -- damn my memory! -- just down the street, opposite direction, almost next door to the Posada d'Allende that I would recommend. It is across the street from the Instituto d'Allende.

Tacquerias are a must when exploring around town. The sights and smells will tell you which is best -- I'm sure you remember that. For me nothing was better than a piked pork roast or bifsteak on a little corn tortillas with fresh abundant salsa on the counter. And lime chili corn -- eote! from a street vendor hauling hot ears, with a bucket of slathering goodies.

Besides that I would seriously recommend snooping the street scene. Some of the best classic interior Mexican food can be found at those vendors. Some around the Iglesia area were very satisfying. For local cuisine you might follow the golden rule -- eat where the locals eat.

Sorry for the vagueries, but do hope you have a great time. When you return perhaps you can post where you did eat.

[shelora]

There's a little shop at the start of Ancho San Antonio that sells Mexican sweetmeats including SMA's trademark tumbagones which are delicate and delicious with coffee (and aren't going to survive much longer because they are so labor intensive)

I'm sorry, but I can't let this just go Caroline. What is a tumbagone?

Not having eaten in SMA, only shopped, my take on it is to sign up for some cooking classes with Maria Solorzano. What a great way to introduce yourself to the foods of the region - you get to shop for ingredients in the market and study with a gifted cook.

s

[caroline]

A tumbagone, Shelora, is about the size and shape of a brandy snap if you're familiar with brandy snaps. But it's much more fragile. I've never tried making them because they look like the kind of thing you need years of practice it. You beat 10 egg yolks, add 1/4 kilo flour, moisten with a touch of alcohol and water cooked with the husks of tomates and tequisquite until you have a "pasta dura y tersa." Let it rest, roll out, form into tubes, glue long sides together with egg white, fry in lard, and sprinkle with icing sugar. Ethereal.

And Judith you'd be saddened to know there is no longer any street food in the center of SMA. All the stands were moved out to a street off Ancho San Antonio where of course it's hard for them to drum up much business. So you have to go to the regular market or the Tuesday market.

And if you're going, although Nancy Zavlafksy's book is really useful and she spends each summer in SMA, the Tuesday market has also been moved since she wrote and it now just past Gigante on the road out of town to Querétaro.

Rachel

[shelora]

Wow, that sounds very amazing, Caroline. I have heard the husks of the tomatillos are used as a leavening agent, is that how it is used in this case? I've forgotten what tequesquite is, can you refresh my memory?

If the process of making tumbagones is disappearing fast would you be documenting it?

s

[lovebenton0]

A tumbagone, Shelora, is about the size and shape of a brandy snap if you're familiar with brandy snaps.  But it's much more fragile.  I've never tried making them because they look like the kind of thing you need years of practice it.  You beat 10 egg yolks, add 1/4 kilo flour, moisten with a touch of alcohol and water cooked with the husks of tomates and tequisquite until you have a "pasta dura y tersa."  Let it rest, roll out, form into tubes, glue long sides together with egg white, fry in lard, and sprinkle with icing sugar.  Ethereal.

And Judith you'd be saddened to know there is no longer any street food in the center of SMA.  All the stands were moved out to a street off Ancho San Antonio where of course it's hard for them to drum up much business.  So you have to go to the regular market or the Tuesday market.

And if you're going, although Nancy Zavlafksy's book is really useful and she spends each summer in SMA, the Tuesday market has also been moved since she wrote and it now just past Gigante on the road out of town to Querétaro.

Rachel

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Oh Rachel, yes, that is sad. I think that SMA must have changed much since I was there.