We took the bus down to Centro last night. If you take San Miguel buses, you’ll know that often they come complete with a little showbiz, usually a guy and a guitar who, as the bus rocks and rolls over the cobblestones, finds it more difficult to stay on his feet than to stay on tune.

It seemed apropos to take the bus to Centro because we were going to see a guy and a guitar who once worked the buses on his way to becoming one of Mexico’s finest musicians. The place was Mi Casa and the musician was Gil Gutierrez.

Gil Gutierrez was born in Oaxaca and, by the age of fourteen, had already begun playing classical guitar in local restaurants. At age seventeen, Gil’s potential was spotted by Wolfgang “Lobo” Fink of Willie & Lobo and he arrived here in San Miguel de Allende with, in Gil’s words, “100 pesos and a guitar”. When Lobo returned to Germany, Gil went to Mexico City to study jazz and it was there he began busking on city buses.

Today Gil Gutierrez is the most celebrated musician living in San Miguel. His fingers have made love to nylon strings in Spain, in South America, at the Kennedy Center in Washington, with the Minnesota and Florida Symphony Orchestras, at Carnegie Hall, to a crowd of 10,000 at Millennium Park in Chicago, and, last night, for just a few dozen of us in one of my favorite San Miguel venues.

Mi Casa has been around for quite a few years now. And, for almost all of those years, it’s been a restaurant that has had success primarily from stimulating the one of the five senses that’s least associated with food. Mi Casa has always been more about what goes in your ears rather than your mouth. It was always about the live music. Never about the ho-hum food. Never about the haphazard service. But now that’s about to change.

Mi Casa is located in what locals call the Instituto. It’s an 18th Century palace that was once the second home of San Miguel’s wealthiest family and, for the last sixty plus years, has housed a visual arts school. We walked through the main courtyard (stopping for the obligatory happy snap in front of one of the murals) to a rear courtyard that’s overlooked by Mi Casa which, in turn, has a great view of San Miguel.

When we arrived, we were greeted by the three owners. Anders Litzen and his wife Kaysa have been in San Miguel for about six years now, first running the restaurant at Los Senderos, then their catering business Dos Suecos (which translates as two Swedes and also tells you what country they’re from), then the very popular Tapas SMA, and, as of a couple of weeks ago, Mi Casa. And the third owner? None other than that kid on the bus, Gil Gutierrez.

Anders runs the front of the house (which as any maitre ‘d will tell you includes furniture rearranging). Kaysa is the restaurant’s chef. Gil is in charge of music and, if you’re worried about him not having restaurant experience, consider that he and his wife own Zandungo, San Miguel’s most successful Sunday brunch venue, located a few kilometres outside of town.

Gil was appearing with Media Luna, five young musicians that feature an enormously talented 26-year-old violinist and 21 and 23-year-old guitar playing brothers that were recently discovered by Gil Guttierez. “I found them all”, Gil told me, “on the street”.

Watching them perform together was like watching the master and his apprentices, the shepherd and his flock, the father and his sons. The music styles flowed from Latin jazz to flamenco to gypsy jazz to classical to even a hint of Santana style rock.

Bonnie Boden, the most musical member of the group I was with, wrote on Facebook the next morning, “All that I can say is, from the moment they began playing, until the second they stopped, I was captivated and in awe of beautiful music that I shall never forget. I had a serious smile on my face that was frozen for over three hours. It was pure joy.”

And the food? Much, much better than in the past. Kaysa Litzen has put together a tight International menu of four starters, five mains and two sweets. The list is particularly heavy on food from the ocean with Swedish shrimp toast, scallops in a cauliflower puree, seafood stewed in garlic and Mezcal, and a seared catch of the day.

Highlights were a roasted tomato soup, swirled with pesto on a base of crispy Serrano ham, a nicely spiced and very juicy cheeseburger, and a brownie with salted peanuts and caramel.

Anders Litzen has put together a wine menu that splits the choices almost equally between Chile, Argentina, Spain and Mexico. “I’ve then added a couple of selections from both Italy and France to what I’m calling the Sommelier’s choice,” he told me. I particularly enjoyed Contraluz, a cheap and cheerful Cabernet Sauvignon from Argentina.

Sound carries well in the magnificent room with its 20 foot high ceiling though the layout isn’t visually the best for an entertainment venue. One person told me they felt “a little lost” at the bar at the back. Like all restaurants that focus on music, orchestrating the service is a challenge. Everybody wants to arrive shortly before the music starts and everyone wants to leave shortly after the music ends. Anders, who seems to get a little more charming every time I meet him, was doing as good a job of conducting his band of seasoned servers as Gil was conducting his up and coming stars on the stage.

There are still a few cracks to mend in the food and service but it’s still early in the life of the new, improved Mi Casa and, seeing what the Dos Suecos have done with Tapas SMA, I expect it to be a work in progress. And the music. As good as you’ll find anywhere in San Miguel de Allende. No, let me change that. As good you as you’ll find anywhere.

Mi Casa is located at the rear of Instituto Allende, Ancha de San Antonio #21 in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. The restaurant is open from Monday to Thursday from 5:00 pm to 11:00 pm (the space is used as an event center on weekends). Check local media for scheduled acts or email 2suecos@gmail.com and ask to be added to the restaurant’s mailing list.