House & Garden Tour
By Jennifer Hamilton September 19, 2008 San Miguel de Allende

Spanish Baroque, Chinese bride’s coat, a Guatemalan huipil

House & Garden Tour
Sun, Sep 21, noon
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
US$15 or 150 pesos
Breakfast at Café Santa Ana starting at 9am

1. Hidden on a small, tree-lined street in fraccionamiento Villa de Los Frailes, this charming Spanish Baroque colonial reflects a blend of Greek, Roman and Asian influences. A beautiful courtyard and fountain greet visitors upon entering, leading into a spacious sala with beamed ceilings, large glass doors, gaming tables on the left side and breakfast area to the right. A private office contains a living area filled with books, plants and color. Outside, a small garden houses a Jacuzzi and fish-shaped cantera fountain. Many of the rooms have deep, glass-backed nichos filled with charming and diverse sculptural pieces. Unusual for San Miguel, the property contains a stone basement which houses a wine cellar and entertainment room. Above, a 360° view encompasses the mountains and lake and offers visitors dazzling views of sunrises and sunsets. 


2. Wanting a home built on one level, these owners constructed a delightful, art-filled milieu. Every room in the house has a bóveda ceiling and an impressive art collection. The sala is filled with extraordinary art including a stunning painting from Brazil, and deep, comfortable seating areas. A carved wood cabinet is on the wall to the right. An antique tapestry in the music/library room was taken from a Chinese bride’s coat. The guest bedroom contains a rare icon from Colombia, the only one in a private collection (the other icons hang in a convent in Chicago). The master suite with its carved iron bed frame contains a Civil War tapestry found in the Governor’s mansion in Atlanta and was bought in the fifties when the mansion was sold. On the far wall are three Iranian silk prints. The owners enjoy summer evenings on their outdoor patio with its gas heater, barbeque and plantings. 


3. In 2005, the owners asked local artist Michael Sudheer to furnish and paint their home in the Mexican style. What a job he did! Rife with color, almost every wall and every piece of furniture is hand painted in different eye-catching hues, yet they blend beautifully, flowing from room to patio, roof garden to bedroom. Anado McLaughlin, another prominent local artist, created two collaged mirrors in the living room and stairwell. A heart-shaped sculpture surrounds the Virgin of Guadalupe on the fireplace. Sculptural tin faces cupboard doors to add yet more drama. An iguana-tiled fountain separates two outdoor entertainment areas. A Guatemalan huipil adorns a wall in the guest bedroom with its metal bed and view of the patio and fountain downstairs. The master bedroom contains a bed made locally to reflect the pattern of the two modern lamps from Guadalajara at its side. A circle cut into the bóveda ceiling and fitted with glass adds extra light. A large roof terrace is rampant with plants and flowers adding 
yet more color to this fabulously fun yet comfortable home. Both Michael and Anado’s homes are also House & Garden Tour favorites.

Food & Wine / Cheap Eats
By Carol Schmidt

Low and slow

Longhorn Smokehouse
Tue–Sat, 1–5pm
Calle Nueva 8

Brit Keith Thompson, transplanted to San Miguel by way of Houston, serves the best Texas low-and-slow smoked meats in San Miguel, bar none.

The thick, coarse, tasty dry rub (he won’t tell you the ingredients) goes on top of a coating of mustard to make it adhere. Then the meats smoke overnight on the BBQs at the rear of Longhorn Smokehouse, Original Texas Style Barbeque. It’s tucked behind La Palapa fish tacos on Calle Nueva 8, around the corner from Espino’s grocery store. I would hate to live in that neighborhood and be tempted by those luscious aromas every morning! I’d never want to eat anyplace else.

He’s open Tuesday through Saturday, around 1 until 5pm. Usually there will be a table of good old boys and girls chomping down, and you'll find Angelenos and New Yorkers with their elbows up on the red-checkered oilcloth licking their lips, too. Conversation flows freely among the tables. The walls are laden primarily with T-shirts and other memorabilia of Texas and Canada. Keith is a congenial host who makes the rounds himself to be sure you’re happy.

You can get a beef brisket, smoked sausage, or a combo platter with two sides (BBQ beans, potato salad or coleslaw); a hefty grilled smoked chicken breast; or overflowing sandwiches of chopped beef, pulled pork, chicken, or sausage with beans and potato chips for 60 pesos or less.

A full slab of pork ribs with three sides, which ends up being three or four portions considering the size of these slabs, is 210 pesos. When he has available one of his fluffy baked potatoes (not the usual soggy mess that usually results from attempts to bake most wet Mexican potatoes), they’re another 25 pesos. 

You can get a pound of sliced or chopped beef brisket to go for 90 pesos to make the centerpiece of a family meal at home. Who'll know you didn't cook the brisket yourself? Anyone who has ever tried to make a good brisket—that's who. 

Keith also does catering and I've seen 30 people at a party stuff themselves beyond any amount they expected to eat when faced with platters of his BBQ. Fear not, vegetarians: he even makes a mean grilled smoked veggie sandwich!

Carol Schmidt and her partner, Norma Hair, wrote Falling...in Love with San Miguel: Retiring to Mexico on Social Security (Salsa Verde Press), and their website, www.fallinginlovewithsanmiguel.com,  includes their blogs, photos, SMA FAQs and forums.