Good Food in Mexico City
By Nicholas Gilman September 26, 2008 San Miguel de Allende

Tortas blend two cultures

The torta, Mexico’s version of the sandwich, is the quintessential comida capitalina: fast food that is a blend of cultures both European and truly Mexican. The story goes that they were invented at the turn of the 20th century by one Sr. Armando, an Italian immigrant, as his riff on the Italian panino, adapting it to available ingredients and the locals’ penchant for avocado and chili.

(His family restaurant still exists, although I find their tortas soggy and insipid—perhaps Don Armando took the recipes with him to the grave.) Prepared by a specialist called a tortero, a soft roll called a bolillo or telera is filled with a wide range of ingredients. The most popular choices are milanesa (a thin, fried cutlet), pierna (roast pork), choriqueso (cheese and sausage), bacalao (salt cod) and pavo (turkey), but the variety is endless. A shmeer of refried beans is applied to one side of the bread, then the garnishes, which can include tomato, onion, avocado, lettuce and, of course, jalapeño or chipotle chile. Anot
her torta variation, pambazo, is filled with chorizo and potato then dunked in salsa and fried (a bit on the heavy side). Even weightier are tortas made with tamales—starch-on-starch, but delicious, according to our friend Stan.

In Puebla, tortas are called cemitas. They are larger and sometimes filled with jellied pigs’ feet or tongue, while all over Guadalajara tortas ahogadas, “drowned” in salsa and served with a spoon, are popular. Although typically “Defeño” (of the Distrito Federal), tortas are now found all over the country. Some of the best tortas I’ve had in Mexico are right here in San Miguel, at Tortitlán,

which has branches on San Francisco and Ancha de San Antonio.

In the big city I recommend the following spots for tortas:

Tortas Poblanas, Ayuntamiento 25 (near Mercado San Juan), Centro A tiny storefront that serves simple tortas of freshly baked pierna or pavo. La Texcocana, Independencia 8-A, near Balderas and the Museo de Arte Popular, Centro Branch: Hamburgo 281, between Toledo and Sevilla, Zona Rosa

These are small bars with stools, serving only tortas, and have been doing so for decades. They offer a very unusual sardine torta, queso fresco with avocado (a good vegetarian option), and tortas of bacalao and carnitas.

Don Polo, Felix Cuevas 86 (near Av. Coyoacán), Colonia Del Valle

A beloved institution in Del Valle, a residential neighborhood south of Centro, this huge place serves great tortas of pavo or pierna, among others, accompanied by licuados made with your choice of fresh fruit. There is counter as well as take-out service.

Tortas El Cuadrilátero  Luis Moya 73, near Ayuntamiento, Centro Owned by a retired wrestler named El Super Astro, this fonda (small restaurant) specializing in tortas is decorated with lucha libre (wrestling) paraphernalia such as masks, photos and prizes.

The torta “Gladiador” weighs one kilo—order it at your own risk. Other options are more reasonably sized but are also large enough to share. 

La Barraca Valenciana, Centenario 91, two blocks up from the main plaza, Coyoacán 

This modest tortería, with a Spanish/Argentine influence, serves unusual vegetarian choices. There are mushroom and eggplant tortas, as well as the house special, chopped calamar dressed with chimichurri, an Argentinian condiment of parsley, garlic and olive oil.

Nicholas Gilman is author of Good Food in Mexico City: A Guide to Food Stalls, Fondas and Fine Dining, available from all online booksellers. His website is www.mexicocityfood.net.

Warm wishes from Veracruz
By Silvia Bernardini

I came to San Miguel in June 1997, with my two sons, 4 years and 10 months old, straight from Milan.

Italy was not a good place to raise kids, Milan in particular, and Mexico seemed the right place for me. I immediately found a very open and friendly community. I could hire wonderful people to help me with the kids, and very soon I opened a little take-out store with Italian food.

Some San Miguel residents helped me very much in finding my first clients, spreading good comments about me and my work, and I really would like to thank them all. The list would be very long, so I decided to write a little note for the whole community.

I knew I had to move eventually to be able to give more school opportunities to my kids, and it was time for them to live in a city. We found a fabulous opportunity in Veracruz. It is a big city, right on the beach. We started looking for work opportunities and found a great little hotel working, like us, with the philosophy of Slow Food. Their restaurant was vacant and we decided to take the adventure.

We moved L’Invito exactly as it was. We put everything on a big truck, and last Friday we opened 10 minutes from the city on a beautiful, unspoiled beach. We have horses, donkeys, chickens and goats, and soon we are going to start our production of mozzarella and other cheeses as well as our sausages and prosciutto with meats raised in this area.

We added a lot of seafood to our menu and are having fun discovering the small communities of the Sierra that produce all sorts of goodies to serve at the restaurant.

Most of our friends from San Miguel have never come to Veracruz. When Cortez touched land in La Antigua, he found an incredible civilization, and in Zempoala—today an interesting archeological site with a good museum—he signed the alliance that would help him conquer the cities of the highlands. 

In Veracruz there are more than 4,000 archeological sites, most of them not visited by throngs of tourists: the pyramids of El Tahin, the mural paintings of Las Higueras and the fortress of San Juan Ulua, to name a few. What I find interesting also is that the state is oriented toward ecological tourism: rappelling, rafting and mountain activities are well organized in the mountains of the inland.

The archeological museum of Xalapa, the capital, has a fabulous collection of artifacts from the Olmeca culture and is as famous as the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City.

To drive to Veracruz from San Miguel, take the highway to Mexico City and exit onto the Texcoco highway, following the directions to the airport and then following the signs to Puebla. If you have clear weather, after you pass the national park to the east of Mexico City and descend to Puebla you can see the three volcanoes: Popocatépetl, Ixtazihuatl and the Pico de Orizaba.

Contact us for more information at linvitoristorante@gmail.com  or sbernardini@mac.com. 

Casa de Sierra Nevada names new food and beverage manager

Casa de Sierra Nevada has appointed Hector Zatarain to oversee all food and beverage operations at the hotel. Zatarain grew up in Gómez, Durango, and after high school entered Universidad Autónoma de la Laguna in Torreón, Coahuila, where he earned a degree in tourism administration. He first knew he wanted to dedicate his studies to hospitality after working at a well-known hotel bar in Torreón. 

Zatarain spent 10 years working at the Ritz-Carlton in Cancún, where he began his tenure as a waiter and later became the supervisor of the Ritz-Carlton Club. He spent the last two and a half years working at sister Orient-Express property Maroma Resort, where he was restaurant manager and then assistant food and beverage manager. 

Casa de Sierra Nevada is a boutique hotel spread over four colonial buildings on Calle Hospicio and one at Parque Juárez. Its 31 rooms and suites include a 17th-century fort and the former residence of San Miguel’s archbishop. 

House & Garden Tour
By Jennifer Hamilton
Dream house brought to life; a soft, romantic glow at night

House & Garden Tour
Sun, Sep 28, noon
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
US$15 or 150 pesos
Breakfast at Café Santa Ana starting at 9am

1. Local architect Juan Carlos Valdéz built this modern hacienda on five acres in a new subdivision, bringing the owners’ dream house to life with its curved gravel driveway leading to solid mahogany entrance doors opening onto a large patio with cantera columns. Covered seating areas, verdant plantings, a fireplace and local artwork provide pleasant outdoor living. Two guest rooms with vaulted ceilings, fireplaces, spacious bathrooms and country vistas are furnished with leather furniture reminiscent of the British Raj, but made near Guadalajara. A fireplace sitting area and a mahogany walk-in closet accent the master suite which opens, along with the living and dining rooms, onto a 100-foot terrace with stunning views of San Miguel and the lake. Most impressive are the enormous living and dining rooms—the former with sofas, leather chairs, rolltop desk and stone fireplace and the latter with book-filled shelves and locally carved mesquite chests. A custom brass chandelier hangs above the antique walnut dini
ng table. Most delicious of all is the huge kitchen with a sink in the middle island, an enormous chef’s stove with a copper hood, a cozy breakfast area with equipale chairs and spacious tiled work areas. Antique cabinets display family china. A two-bedroom guest casita was added recently a few yards away from the main house.



2. This captivating new home at the northern end of calle Reloj is entered through a large light-filled room which contains the sala, dining room and kitchen. The sala’s tranquil seating area faces a carved cantera fireplace. The dining room is filled with comfortable wicker chairs and a glass table with incandescent lights set into the ceiling for a soft, romantic glow at night. Chandeliers, like many of the hand-crafted items throughout, were made locally. Truly a gourmet’s dream, the open kitchen with its granite countertops contains a beautiful carved cantera arch over the stove, shelves filled with charming bric-a-brac and a double sink in the center. A stone-arched room used for outside entertaining leads to the patio with its fish fountain and plants. Mirrors abound, adding even more light to some of the darker areas, reflecting the elegance and beauty of the rooms in front of them. A downstairs bathroom contains sensational tilework, a small bath and shower area, copper sink and a triangular mirror wi
th tragaluces placed on the wall and ceiling. An arresting curved stairwell with lighting embedded into the walls and a nicho halfway up the stairs leads to an office containing an antique telephone, then proceeds to a romantic bedroom with chapel-like shaped closets backed with mirrors, a sensual four-poster bed and an enchanting seating area in front of the fireplace. The master bath contains a free-standing copper bathtub and huge mirror. Ascending the wood and iron caracol staircase, visitors are treated to two rooftop gardens with unparalleled 360° views over the city, encompassing San Miguel’s most prominent church domes and surrounding hillsides.





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