Cheap Eats
By Carol Schmidt
October 3, 2008 San Miguel de Allende

Unclear name, but clearly good

Does it have a name, or is Rica Comida Casera (tasty homemade food) its name?

It doesn’t matter. Once the yellow metal sign goes out in front of the otherwise hidden home on Salida a Celaya (two doors north of Telmex and next door to Casa del Sol, which does have three big yellow signs out front), Mexicans start to pour into the small restaurant. It is open around noon to 4pm weekdays. 

There are a couple of parking spaces out front, or if they are full you might find a spot on the street. We often stop in when we’re walking down to Telmex to pay our phone bill.

Go early. Later in the afternoon the menu items are crossed off the board one by one. When they are all gone, even if it’s before 4pm, the sign comes back in and the storefront is just another indistinguishable stone home set back from the street, shaded by trees and covered with ivy.

A woman named Carmen puts together six or eight choices each day for 35 pesos each. The plate includes rice, beans, and a steamed veggie as well as chile relleno, meatballs, red or green enchiladas, chunks of tender pork in tomatillo salsa, or milanesa chicken or beef filet, beaten thin and then dipped in flour and fried 

Fried fish filets are 40 pesos; we found ours hard and dry the one time we had them, so we stick to the other choices. There’s a hearty beef soup on the menu for 20 pesos, a favorite of many of the Mexican laborers who come in for comida.

Carmen makes her own fruit juices as well as offering Pepsi, Diet Pepsi and other soft drinks. Nothing fancy, just abundant, cheap, delicious homemade lunches: rica comida casera. Barata, too.

House & Garden Tour

City festivals on the October 3–5 and 10–12 weekends preclude a House & Garden Tour on those Sundays. The next scheduled tour is Sunday, October 19.