A wonderful source for inexpensive restaurants in San Miguel de Allende, this comes from www.fallinginlovewithsanmiguel.com.
" Is it possible to eat out frequently even in San Miguel de Allende, and even if you are on a budget?Yes, if you choose from among these 70+ restaurants and stands where many main dishes—if not the entire meal—cost less than 60 pesos, or under $6 USD, before drinks. And these are just the ones I've discovered so far. Originally this list was of restaurants with meals under 50 pesos, but too many of my favorites have raised their prices slightly this past year and so I raised my limit to 60 pesos. Food prices are rising worldwide.
You can often get a taste of even an expensive restaurant if you look for their breakfasts, lunches and soups for a light meal under 60 pesos.
San Miguel can be divided into north and south of the Jardin, and I’ve arranged my favorite inexpensive eateries that way. I include some street stands that we eat at a lot and feel we can trust. (But Norma has gotten food poisoning from some of the best restaurants in the world, including an expensive Parisian Greek restaurant so that she spent a birthday in the bathroom. There are no guarantees.)
Criteria to consider for a street stand: Is there a line of locals who obviously know a good thing? Does the stand just come out for a few hours, or does the food hang around all day with no turnover? Is there sufficient heating and/or cooling? Is raw food kept separate from cooked foods, i.e., the same tongs aren’t used on both raw and cooked meat, and juices from cooking meats don’t drip on food going onto plates? Is the same person handling food and money, or switching to using a plastic wrap glove to pick up money?
Five years ago I wouldn’t have dared to try any street stand. I coveted in particular the ears of corn slathered with mayonnaise and rolled in grated cheese, then sprinkled with chile and lime, until finally I decided that if the mayo was just opened and the corn just coming out of boiling, it’s safe. I haven’t gotten sick after an elote yet.
Now a favorite lunch is a 12-peso elote and a 15-peso cone of ice cream from stands in the Jardin. My favorite flavor is mantecada--dried prunes and pine nuts in a rich vanilla base. Don't knock it until you've tried it.
The street vendors around the Jardin have been given instruction in food handling, and they were required to switch to stainless steel stands a couple of years ago, to clean up for the increasing tourist traffic. Many expats join the lines of Mexicans for the hamburgers and hot dogs cooked at the Umaran-Cuna de Allende corner of the Jardin most nights. It has to be the most popular hamburger stand in San Miguel, maybe surpassing even McDonald's at the mall.
We like another street stand on Mesones just west of Plaza Civica that only sets up after dark. Juicy carnitas tacos are 6 pesos each. Crowds of Mexicans eating on the sidewalk nearby attest to the food safety as well as the popularity.
One of our favorites north of the Jardin is La Media Naranja, up the stairs next to the pharmacy on the southeast corner of Hidaldo and Calzada de la Luz. Two expats own this little gem which features healthy meals like vegetarian lasagna, homemade lentil soup, bagels with smoked salmon and cream cheese, and scrumptious omelets filled with red peppers and goat cheese served with hash browns. I have a photo of that omelet on our website photo alums--check out the "Food Scenes" album for many illustrations of the meals described here. They're closed the summer of 2008, to reopen in October, as the owners visit New York.
Reappearing in San Miguel, now on Aurora on the west side of the street closest to the corner of Calle Maria Greever, is a new Vicente's Carnitas! The nine-restaurant family-owned chain in Dolores Hidalgo tried to make a go of it in San Miguel on Ancha de San Antonio before but the rent went too high.
Now they're in a no-frills small place that is already full of Mexican customers who have heard their ads on the radio. A large roll stuffed with lean pork, served with a cup of bean/bacon/hot dog soup and avocado slices and salsas, plus a soft drink, is under 30 pesos! Or you can order a kilo of the shredded deep-fat-fried pork with tortillas and condiments for abut 180 pesos, enough to feed three or four. Ask for suave, the smooth pork, not the regular that has more fat, skin and bones (actually tastier but most expats prefer the leaner pieces). I've got a picture of one torta we split along with the soup, and their still-unfinished exterior, on our Food Scenes album.
Out on Aurora just north of Calzada de la Luz is a small shrimp cocktail restaurant, El Camaroncito, owned by Miguel Angel Vazquez and his family. Even better than their famous shrimp cocktails are their shrimp tostadas, 30 pesos each. with only a few seats. The grande shrimp cocktail is 70 pesos, just over our 60-peso limit, but it can serve two as a small meal. Mexican shrimp cocktails are a bit too sweet for us, so we add lots of lime and salsa. Don't look for a name on the outside, you have to peek inside. I put a photo of it on our Food Scenes album to help you find it. It's on the east side of Aurora about a short block north.
The Broasted Chicken place on the corner of Aurora and Calzada de la Luz (also one on Ancha de San Antonio) offers two pieces of fried chicken or a hamburger, French fries and a soft drink for under 50 pesos. It tastes the closest to KFC you’ll find in SMA. Check to make sure the thicker pieces are cooked to white all the way through. We’ve sometimes brought our orders home and stuck them in the oven for additional protection, on all kinds of foods. I've got a picture of their wall menu in our gallery.
Across the street from it on Calzada de la Luz is a new inexpensive pizza joint that we're hearing good things about, though we haven't eaten there yet. It's called Pizza Marconi, and the tall young Italian owner used to work at Vivoli Cafe. He says his pizzas are the best in town, and most of his individual sized pizzas are around 40-50 pesos, with one with homemade Italian sausage at 80 pesos. He also makes all his own fresh pastas, including fettucini, ravioli and lasagnas--watch him cooking as you eat. Look for my photo of this place in our gallery.
Inside Fabrica Aurora, the renovated fabrics mill that now hosts probably 50 art galleries and shops, the Food Factory and the wine bar are out of our budget but the outdoor cafe deep inside the complex has some sandwiches in our range, and you can't beat the setting.
Tucked behind Fabrica Aurora is La Fonda Escondida, Casa 4, phone 152-6110, opwn 12-4 Thesday through Friday. To see a map to the house, go to http://www.gerardoruizart.com/mapa.html. Owner Alicia Rivero also sells organic fruit on Thursdays. Ask to be put on her mailing list of weekly menu specials--aliciarivero123@gmail.com.
La Enchilada, on Relox 40A almost to Insurgentes is a walk-in restaurant with a pleasant upstairs dining area and some dishes under 60 pesos. We order their chicken enchilada platters.
North of Insurgentes at Relox 37 is Café Etc., Juan’s coffee bar/internet café, and pleasant patio luncheon spot. A dozen breakfasts, sandwiches, soups and salads are in this price range. It's also a meet and greet site. He's not afraid to mix unusual flavors--a tomato/basil/orange/cinnamon soup, chunks of grilled pineapple and plaintain in a lentil soup, a camembert and mushroom soup. The quiche Lorraine is particularly good, and the menu has an entire page of gourmet teas as well as a full list of coffees and frappes.
Aqui es Mexico/La Fonda on Hidalgo 28 almost to Insurgentes on the second floor offers three comida corridas (fixed price complete meals) for 45 pesos: chile relleno or chicken with a small salad and a big bowl of excellent chicken rice soup, or a large mixed salad with the soup. This place has a charming rustic Mexican atmosphere and is quiet, perfect for a dinner with friends also on a budget.
In the same block of Hidalgo is a new restaurant, Donovan's, that has good breakfasts in the 30-35 peso range, many entrees in the 50-peso range, and the 12-peso coffee is excellent. The restaurant is a pleasant peachy color inside, and don't let the small dining room view from the entrance fool you--there's more dining space in back.
A block west on Hernandez Macias at Insurgentes is Hambuergesas de Hamburgo, says the sign outside, but inside it's called St. Pauli Hamburgers. Opened in August, the small gourmet restaurant has six items on the menu under 60 pesos, including a "petite" burger for 45 pesos that isn't petite. It's almost five inches high as are the other burgers. We had a Salisbury steak that must have been four inches in diameter and an inch and a quarter high, the lean patty wrapped in a thick bacon slice, cooked to order, and served with a luscious gravy and a small side of fries or potato salad. They're open Mondays through Saturdays 12:30 to 10 pm. One of the two partners, who have considerable restaurant experience, trained with Cordon Bleu. A whiskey flan sounds inviting, and we liked the looks of the salads and soups we saw around us at the five-table establishment, stylishly decorated. I have photos of the decor and the food on our Food Scenes album.
Café Santa Ana upstairs in the Biblioteca on Insurgentes and Reloj has complete breakfast packages until noon for 50 pesos and many other items throughout the day that qualify as "cheap eats.”
Around the corner on Insurgentes and Relox, across from the Biblioteca, is one of the many Mexican restaurants in town with no name. Look for the gorditas on a grill extending out onto the sidewalk. Choose among a dozen fillings, 11-13 pesos. I like the steak and potato filling with guacamole, Norma gets scrambled egg and chorizo. Sodas are in the cooler and the bottle opener is on the wall.
Many expats like Café Colon and El Infierno on Mesones just west of Plaza Civica but they’re too bland for us. Others tell us that we must have eaten there on off days, but with so much else to choose from, we haven’t gone back. Café Colon in particular is a favorite with many expats.
Tortitlan shops on Juarez 17 (and also on Ancha de San Antonio 75) are busy all the time. They deliver delicious sandwiches. They faced fierce competition from the new Subway that opened in 2007 at Juárez 3, a few doors away. When the Subway opened, the Mexican owner and his Mexican employees were heckled by a few gringos who said the chain harmed Centro. The signage is certainly unobtrusive, a 2x4-foot sign of burnished metal over the door, no screaming yellow and green banners. So far, Tortitlan is winning. Their menu is much bigger, too. But some days we just have to have a taste of the Old Country and get a Subway Italian BMT Classic.
We rave about the Los Burritos Tortillas de Harina place on Mesones between Hidalgo and Relox, though it’s only open from around 10:30 am until around 3 or 4. Order four burritacos and a Coke for 28 pesos total. Look for one of the few seats while you point to your choice of a dozen fillings to go into your soft flour tortilla. We like pollo verde, a spicy green-sauced chicken. Their sign with the cute burro cartoon is in our Food Scenes album to help you find it.
The tacos al pastor on Colegio four doors north of Mesones are tasty, around 5 pesos each. Textamal, our favorite 5-peso tamale stand, is at the end of Insurgentes by Plaza Civica at the Oratorio church most mornings and evenings. These are mostly well-seasoned moist masa, not much meat, but we like them a lot. Add a cup of steaming atole, a corn-based drink that can be sweet like hot chocolate or more like a Postum. I snapped a shot of our order being dished out, in our Food Scenes album.
Apolo XI on Mesones 43 just east of Bonanza is a favorite in-town carnitas place. You can order a quarter kilo of pork served with tortillas and salsa and leave very happy.
One of our most favorite "Cheap Eats" is Tacos Don Felix in Col. San Rafael. He did have a white-tarped stand on Independencia but has moved the restaurant into his spacious home. Take Avenida de Independencia and turn left at Ignacio Cruces, go three blocks, and turn left again. The well-marked restaurant is mid-block. The streets aren't marked and the numbers are erratic, so just follow these directions. It only opens Friday and Saturday at 6 pm to midnight and Sundays from 2 to 9:30 pm. Their website is at www.tacosdonfelix.com with a map and the menu.
A platter of four chicken enchiladas for 48 pesos is particularly delicious. They have all kinds of soups and salads and other dishes within our budget limit. Besides soft drinks and beer, they serve a wonderful horchata, the drink that tastes like creamy rice pudding. It’s great for cooling that burning sensation if you get too much hot sauce. Bring your own wine and they’ll uncork it for you.
Over our limit but worth mentioning because it's large enough to share is the sampler plate of seven kinds of tacos for 70 pesos--maybe pollo verde, chorizo, shrimp, arracherra, pork, carnitas and huitlacochle. I even tried the huitlacoche, a corn fungus, which had a kind of scrambled egg texture. And it was black. It’s a Mexican favorite but now I ask for a substitution. I have a photo of the taco platter in my photo gallery in this website.
A few things at the Hotel Quinta Loreto dining room on Loreto are under 60 pesos and are very much comfort food. Vegetarians like El Tomate Café on Mesones 62B. Meson de San José on Mesones, across from Plaza Cívica, displays its menu on a wooden stand depicting a waiter, to lure you into the courtyard and toward the restaurant in the rear, where you can find bargain meals.
Gombo’s Pizza, in Col. Guadalupe, Tata Nacho 2 (same pizza as at its sister restaurant, Casa Blanca, at Hidalgo 34), offers some dishes and small pizzas that fit our criteria. We think the pizza does not have a traditional taste we're looking for--no pepperoni, but shrimp topping is available. It has many fans, though.
Now, on to inexpensive restaurants and stands farther south of the Jardin. In the first block of Cuna de Allende, the street that starts from the southwest side of the Parroquia, are two of my favorites: Ten Ten Pie, very visible on the corner of Cuadrante, now with an outdoor dining area across the street, and La Posadita, a few doors north of Ten Ten Pie, up a narrow flight of stairs.
Once you reach La Posadita, go up another flight to the roof, where the view is better than that of the much more expensive La Capilla across the street. You can wave at those in the high-priced seats and enjoy the live music from their roof. The spinach burritos (listed as a salad), the flautas and the best pozole in town are around 60 pesos, though the rest of the menu is now higher. Two can split their excellent large flan for dessert.
Over on Hernández Macías, parallel to the Jardín, are two coffee shops that still have some items under 60 pesos, though they've gotten pricier lately: El Cafecito in La Buena Vida Bakery, in the same Las Golondrinas courtyard as the U.S. Consular Agent, and Las Musas, inside Bellas Artes across the street. These two are nice settings for sitting and talking outside, too. At El Cafecito, pick up two small, orange-glazed doughnuts to go for seven pesos and an excellent loaf of bread from the bakery afterward, or have one of their 18-pesos ham and cheese empenadas and a health juice drink for breakfast on the patio.
La Finestra is tucked in the bend of the inner walkway that is Plaza Colonia, a shortcut between Hernandez Macias and Canal with entrances on both streets. Its dinners are out of our range but they have a nice cazuela, a baked egg dish in a casserole that is popular in Mexico.
At the corner of Mesones and Hernandez Macias, the Teatro Angela Peralta has added a new sidewalk cafe that serves light lunches and desserts along with their gourmet coffees. A mocha cappuccino frappe is only 24 pesos there, compared to 48 pesos for the same size at Starbucks.
One of the most popular restaurants in town is Café de la Parroquia, Jesus 11, open until 2 pm Sunday and until 4 pm Tuesdays through Saturdays. I counted 32 breakfast and lunch dishes under 60 pesos on our last visit. We always get the tamale casserole and chilaquiles, which includes a bowl of homemade beans, corn tortillas and a chunky avocado salsa along with the bread basket. La Brasserie, which opens in the same location at night, has higher prices.
On the same street on the north end is La Piñata, famous for its juices--they'll blend up almost anything--but they also have omelets, tacos, enchiladas, etc. It's a small, plain restaurant with a limited menu and it has devoted fans. And on the south end of that block of Jesus is Kris Rudolph's El Buen Cafe, which has gotten so popular that many of its items are off our budget, but if you pick carefully you can eat well there for little. The bakery items are sold to go as well.
Torta Mundo, on Umarán 29 near Zacateros, has good hamburgers and sandwiches starting at 12 pesos. Many expats will not like head cheese, queso del puerco, on any menu in town, though my farmer relatives made it themselves in rural Michigan to use up all the small pieces when slaughtering a pig. I ordered the queso del puerco myself my first visit to Torta Mundo by mistake. Now I stick with the hamburgers or ham and cheese.
East of the Jardín are four good places on Correo, starting with the Bagel Café on Correo 19, and El Correo restaurant at 23. Jennifer Butz recently purchased the Bagel Cafe and turned it into one of the most popular spots in town. She even serves a pretty good Reuben, though it's 65 pesos. Many dishes are in our range, however. Her soups and chili are to die for, 50 pesos for a large meal-sized bowl.
Café Montenegro on Correo 14 has meal-sized croissants, bagel sandwiches, and what many call the best gourmet coffee in town. A little farther east on Correo 45 is El Burrito Bistro—their burrito grande really is. The US-style nachos here are quite enough for a meal, too. They have several international choices as well, including a good Middle Eastern platter. We've added photos of both places to our Food Scenes album.
We now have two inexpensive Lebanese restaurants in San Miguel, the old-timer being El Harem, at Murillo 7, on the corner of Correo. There is only one table on the ground floor, but do take the narrow stairway to the patio dining area, where you will be surrounded by vivid oil paintings and a good view to accompany your hummus and stuffed grape leaves. The newer Lebanese restaurant is El Maison de Terraplen, on Jesus and Terraplen, and friends are saying I have to try it soon.
La Alborada at Sollano 11 is a hidden delight. I haven’t tried their pozole, but it’s supposed to rival La Posadita’s. They have a breakfast concoction similar to what I throw together some mornings, layering corn tortillas, a fried egg and salsas. About the only meal you could get under 60 pesos at Arte Vivo on Sollano 28 is the nachos appetizer, but you might find it worth it to eat upstairs on their roof.
On Zacateras before it turns into Ancha de San Antonio is a Chinese restaurant with many filling dishes under 60 pesos, though most entrees are more. I could make a meal of the big bowl of hot and sour soup, which otherwise could be split three ways for an appetizer. That's the only thing on the menu Norma and I can agree on.
Continuing south on Zacateros toward Ancha you'll come to Oliver's, open for dinner, which features many popular hamburgers for 50 pesos. Considering all the possibilities for buns, fillings and cheeses there must be 25 burger choices. They have a Philadelphia cheesesteak sandwich and a chimichanga (a deep-fried burrito) on the menu as well.
Almost to Ancha and also on the west side of the street is Cafe Monet, considered one of the most beautiful eating spaces in San Miguel. It advertises "Unhappy Hour" from 7 to 10 am, with 25-peso breakfasts! Be prepared to wait for service, though. They have live jazz sometimes. Across the street on Zacateros is the vegetarian/vegan restaurant called Naturalismo, which will adapt its selections for you.
Right around the corner from Espino’s on Ancha de San Antonio at Codo are two street stands many have recommended to us. But íf we're that close we're headed to La Palapa on Calle Nueva 8, for the fish, chicken, arrachera or shrimp tacos and the turkey chili dogs for 15 to 20 pesos. Crunchy cole slaw is another 5 pesos, and don’t forget their famous homemade carrot cake. Across the street Natura health food store will serve any of its take-out dishes in the tiny patio in the rear, including, I hear, good veggie hamburgers.
Hecho en Mexico in the northern part of the Instituto Allende block of Ancha doesn’t really have much under 60 pesos any more, though it still has a reputation as inexpensive and reliable. They do have four meal-sized salads, including a Greek and a beet and spinach one, that fit our category, though if you add a grilled chicken breast that's another 32 pesos.
Los Faroles, now open for breakfast and lunch all day long as well as late into the evening, in a much larger space with outdoor dining, is in the same long block as the Instituto Allende, almost to the southern end of the stone wall. Gringos have discovered this Mexican taco hideout, but the prices are still low. You can split a kilo of carnitas with three more people and have a feast with all the come-withs. They now have live music some nights.
Turn west on Orizaba and first you’ll come to Juanita’s Pizza at Orizaba 19. Turn north on 28 de Abril for Cha Cha Cha, and hit El Rinconcito on Refugio 7, all favorites for the Col. San Antonio crowd. Mariscolandia for seafood is also on Refugio but the street splits near the north end so you may have to ask directions locally. Leo Chow has added a taco stand, Tako Skina, on Orizaba and 28 de Abril next to his Scorpio internet cafe. El Capricio Italiano recently opened at Orizaba and 20 de Enero, and a large pizza for two is 95 pesos. It also serves pastas and salads in our zone, and I have a photo of their pizza and of their charming patio dining on our Food Scenes photo album.
Tortitlán sandwich shop chain has a second restaurant on Ancha de San Antonio. Nearby on Ancha is another Broasted Chicken, where two pieces of fried chicken or a hamburger and fries and a soft drink were in our price range last time we were there. We don’t like Domino’s and Pronto pizzas on Ancha, but they fit the price range, and many Mexicans crowd into Pronto for their budget all-you-can-eat buffet of pizza, salad and spaghetti. The buffet spreads looked more like quantity than quality to us. Prontos seem to be tucked throughout SMA but I’ve never paid much attention to them. At Mexican pizzerias you may find Worchestershire sauce, catsup and salsa on the table to top your pizzas, and the green pepper will be jalapenos, and you might find sliced hot dogs instead of the sausage you're expecting.
Los Bisquits on Ancha and Stirling Dickinson has a breakfast combo that will fill you for the day, and I’m including it even though the price may have gone up from 60 pesos because the combo includes coffee or a fruit drink, a very large homemade biscuit with butter and marmalade, and a fresh fruit juice such as their homemade cantaloupe or papaya drinks. You can get eggs any style served alone with the biscuits, definitely in our budget range, or order such favorites as red or green chilaquiles or huevos rancheros. They’re only open in the morning and early afternoon, and there is parking on the side street behind the restaurant. In the afternoon you can get sandwich combos. A few doors farther south is Pollo d'Daniel rotisserie chicken that is much cheaper than Pollo Feliz and you can eat on their patio.
Orien-Thai on Ancha directly across from Los Bisquits has an unimposing exterior and interior, and the food is fairly average for a Chinese restaurant. But neighbors who are frequent customers swear by the 50- to 55-peso combo meals of spring roll, rice and entree, and the portions are big enough to take home for tomorrow's lunch.
Turn west on Stirling Dickinson to #5 and you'll come to El Chimichurri, an Argentinian parilla restaurant that is mostly out of our range but there are few inexpensive items among their grilled meats and veggies, hamburgers, salads, stuffed baked potatoes, and desserts. It's open Tuesday-Saturday, 12:30 to 9 pm, and Sunday 12:30-7 pm. Owners are Verónica Landini de Favero and Yves Maurice Vincent.
Back on Ancha after it turns into Salida a Celaya, Barbecue Bob’s by the Pemex at Salida a Celaya #6 has been sold to Keith J. Thompson, who owned the Longhorn Smokehouse, our favorite "Cheap Eats" restaurant behind La Palapa. But now Keith has moved and expanded to this much larger facility. The new name will be Longhorn Bar and Grill. He'll still sell fresh, organic veggies along one wall of the combined facility that now holds a dozen tables plus a dozen seats at the bar.
Keith still has the best "low and slow" pork ribs in town, and a few combo plates and sandwiches will remain in our price range, but most items have gone up. Close but not "cheap eats" are his all you can eat spaghetti and meatballs special after 6 pm Saturday for 70 pesos and his chili and chili dogs specials for 65 pesos Monday nights. (Thursday evening's special is filet mignon for 99 pesos.) Phone is 153-8983 to check on the latest changes as this restaurant evolves. So far he plans to be open 1-10 pm every day except Sunday for the restaurant and 9-5 pm for the organic store.
Continuing south on Ancha de San Antonio is Café del Sol, Salida a Celaya 34 near Telmex--enjoy wonderful breakfasts and pastries as you use their free internet--and the highly recommended but secretive no-name Mexican restaurant next door. When it is open, usually around noon to 4 pm, a yellow sign goes out saying Rica Comida Casera, tasty homemade food. This is another of our very favorite "cheap eats" in San Miguel. I have a photo of both the exterior of the restaurant when the sign comes out and you know they're open, and their enchilada platter on this website's photo gallery.
A platter of rice, beans, a steamed veggie, sliced lettuce and tomato, and tortillas comes with the entrees. Meatballs, enchiladas, chile rellenos, and a thin slice of milanesa, breaded and fried chicken or beef (think chicken fried steak) are all 35 pesos. The hearty beef soup is 20 pesos and many local Mexican employees choose it during the 2-4 pm siesta hours when their own shops are closed. As each entrée runs out for the day it is erased from the chalkboard. Get there early.
Just north of El Maple, the excellent Canadian bakery across from TelMex (and now you can get meal-sized items like pizza to go for under 50 pesos), are two blue-tarped Mexican stands. The one closest to El Maple is not open often, usually just weekends in the mornings and at night, as most tamale stands are—and it’s our favorite when the TexTamal stand can’t be found by the Oratorio. The other stand is open most of the time, and it specializes in seafood cocktails.
New to the building next to El Maple is Love, Revenge and Cappuccino, a gourmet coffee shop that recently moved from Mesones and has breakfasts and lunches. Or, buy some goodies at El Maple and bring them over to the coffee shop to eat with a frappuccino. Friends say we have got to try their breakfasts.
Friends also say that there is a new coffee shop in La Lejona where you can get an entire meal in our price range--turn right into La Lejona colonia immediately past Mega off the Libramiento and follow that street halfway to the El Encanto condo complex to find it. It's called Angels Garden Cafe, Vicente Araiza #12. A forum member wrote it has "frappuccino and mochaccinos for 30 pesos, and the usual array of hot tea and coffees, smoothies and italian sodas. There is a small selection of sandwiches, pastries and salad. WiFi connection, photocopies, fax service and Mexican tax prep--one stop shopping!"
Back to Ancha, which changes its name to Salida a Celaya at Stirling Dickinson, continue south toward TeleCable and you’ll come to a green-tarped place that is usually only open weekends, with big crowds for its roast pork dinners. On the TelMex side of Ancha de San Antonio you’ll see two new, small restaurants, one specializing in Brazilian and the other in Uruguayan grilled meat platters, that friends have tried and recommend highly. They’re both on our list to visit soon. Kafé and Chocolat is another of those gourmet coffee places tucked into that same stretch, and many of our friends say they are already addicted. I added a photo of that one to our Food Scenes gallery, too.
Keep heading toward Mega and you'll come to El Chai Ecommunity Cafe, Salida a Celaya 24, 185-8314, cafeelchai@yahoo.com, open Monday to Saturday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. for breakfast and lunch. Artist Arlete Jeziorska, also an acting and tai chi instructor, offers Polish pierogis on her menu!
When you reach Mega, Bocatta coffee shop inside offers a big slice of pizza and a soft drink for 39 pesos, a breakfast special for 39 pesos, and my favorite, the Oslo, a smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwich on a very nice roll with either salad or French fries and a soft drink for 49 pesos. Don't hold me to these prices--they keep going up at Bocatta in particular. The big pizza slice and Coke were only 22 pesos last year. They just added a grilled hot dog as well that may be the same as the ones sold at Costco, the chain affiliated with Mega and Comercial Mexicana.
Over at their Starbucks-like Grand Cafe, Mega serves two small sweet rolls along with all kinds of coffee specialties, including my favorite, the cappuccino mocha frappe, for 30 pesos. It’s a lunch in itself, if not the most well-balanced meal you’ll eat that day, and you’ll meet the friendliest people who stop by after worshipping at the center gourmet aisles.
Another of our most favorite "cheap eats" is Pollo Feliz across from the Mega at the El Pipila glorieta. For 120 pesos, you get an entire, very large rotisserie chicken, quite tasty, plus the salad bar with unlimited char-grilled jalapenos, iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, onions, carrots and cucumbers, thousand island salad dressings, fried tortilla chips and fresh red salsa. It's certainly enough for two and possibly even four, if a quarter of a chicken plus all those salad bar fixings could be a meal for you. Just the half chicken and all those sides is 60 pesos.
It is usually jammed with Mexican families—don’t even think of trying to get in on a Sunday afternoon or when buses of churchgoers unload--and very few gringos. The big children's play area is entertaining to watch in itself. The noise can be loud and it can be chilly inside--I think they even have air conditioning. They recently added a big hamburger and fries platter for 35 pesos, and the 20-peso quesadilla oozing almost a quarter pound of cheese is excellent, especially if you stuff some of the chicken meat inside. On Wednesdays if you order a whole chicken takeout, they'll throw in another half chicken for free.
Across from Mega to the west are two new restaurants in the Oxxo/Curves/Radio Shack strip mall which I just found out is called Plaza Alhondiga. One is the second Italian Coffee Restaurant to hit San Miguel, the other is Bové, which is decorated with a cute cartoon of a cow, at the rear of the Banamex.
As I say in the description of the first Italian Coffee restaurant in San Miguel, at La Luciernega mall below, you can maneuver a low-cost meal at Italian Coffee Restaurant if you stick with a simple sandwich and a small American coffee. I suppose the same could be said of the Starbucks on the Jardin, but you'd have to work really hard to keep under 60 pesos.
Bové might also be considered part of a chain--it's run by the same Cordon Blue chef, Gerardo, who owns and operates St. Pauli's Hamburgers on Hernandez Macias described earlier. Among the offerings are a spinach salad with cashews, chicken, mango dressing, and a delicious garlic-herb aoli; and a pibil, like the traditional cochinita pibil, but made with chicken instead of pork, served with pickled onions, beans and tortillas, each for about 55 pesos. Of course the store also sells dairy products. Gerardo plans to open a "Mexican sushi" (more local ingredients like avocados and chicken) restaurant in the same plaza.
A few doors east of Mega on the Libramiento is La Casa del Matador, known for its large inexpensive hamburgers.
On the southeast outskirts of SMA is La Luciernega mall, with a SuperGigante, Office Depot, MMCinemas with eight screens, and a major department store, Liverpool, which have certainly changed SMA life. McDonald’s is obviously a "cheap eats,” though you could spend 85 pesos on a meal there now if you went for the “Big and Tasty” grande combo and added a McFlurry. Not that I would ever do such a thing, you understand. A large tossed Caesar salad with a slab of grilled chicken is 60 pesos for our sane days.Across from the McDonald’s is a Sportorta, another chain sandwich shop that has many meal-sized (or enough to split) sandwiches in our price range, with every combination of half a dozen fillings imaginable. They’re served on very large round miche buns, not the smaller oval bolillos that usually are the base of a torta.
Itacate Mexican Grill has opened a couple doors from McDonald's in the food court. Burritos (large flour tortillas, the kind of burrito we think of in the US), tacos (three small flour tortillas the way Mexicans tend to think of burritos), and bowls with the fillings and no tortillas (great for carb counters) are 50-60 pesos. The veggie meals in particular make it onto my "Cheap Eats" list.
The main ingredient can be meat or veggie, and the additional fillings include rice, beans, lettuce, cheese or sour cream, and several salsas including their house pineapple salsa. The meats include norteno (dry salty grilled meat), emplumado (marinated grilled chicken), itacate (marinated pork pastor), and ranchero (arrachera, marinated lean thin strips of beef). Extras are all 5 pesos--corn, guacamole, sour cream or pineapple--and sodas and bottled water are 10 pesos, beer is 15-40 pesos.
Also in La Luciernega food court are Sunshine, a Chinese fast food restaurant (photo of one of their combo meals is in our Food Scenes album); a California Sushi restaurant; a natural foods restaurant that has excellent yogurt smoothies, and a salad bar restaurant. You can manage to put together a meal for under 60 pesos at any of them, though at the sushi place it would be most difficult, just side dishes. The salad bar is a la carte, adding an ingredient here, another there, so that the price soon adds up.The Italian Coffee restaurant serves ham and cheese croissants for 20 pesos and a half dozen paninis (grilled sandwiches) are 54 pesos or less. Their mocha frappuccino includes an Oreo cookie on top and cookie crumbs throughout, for 34 pesos, which you could couple with a croissant sandwich for a "cheap eats" lunch. I suppose you could eat for under 60 pesos at the MM Cinemas snack bar whch also has paninis and fancy coffees as well as pizza. And there is a Hollanda ice cream shop in the food court if you can make a meal out of ice cream. Add a burger from McDonald's to one of their sundaes!
Liverpool in La Luciernega opened a restaurant in June but everything except some breakfasts are out of our price category. It's open 9 am to 9 pm and has extensive buffets for both breakfast and comida. It's great if you're driving around and looking for a place that includes parking nearby.
We have only begun to explore all the inexpensive eateries in San Miguel in our six years living here. So many restaurants, so few calories, days and pesos to spend. If I’ve left out one of your favorites, or if one we've listed goes downhill or disappears, please let me know! Consistency is the big problem with all non-chain restaurants, especially, it seems, in San Miguel."
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