I don’t remember their exact words. But it went something like this.
“I don’t get Trip Advisor. A little hole in the wall like El Pato is constantly in the top ten and a gorgeous place like Bovine is down in the 200’s.”
I could have taken it a step further. How can Bovine be one of the 120 best restaurants in all of Mexico according to the Guía México Gastronómico and not even be in the top 120 in San Miguel?
I have an answer. And I think it’s a definitive answer. Bovine has the super chef Paul Bentley but El Pato has the super charmer, Pilar Ortiz.
Since his appearance at the opening, I have never once seen Paul Bentley at Bovine. At El Pato, I’ve seen Pilar Ortiz and/or Jose Luis Ortiz every time I’ve been there.
If Chef Jose Luis, the other half of both El Pato and Pilar Ortiz, spots me from his open kitchen as I’m walking down the bleak and dusty road that leads to their restaurant, he gives me one of those hand-twisting royal waves. If Pilar sees me from the dining area, she rushes, almost runs, to the door, arms open wide to welcome me.
Is it because she knows I have a food blog? Sure, that’s part of it. But when a couple arrived just after us last week, she was quickly out in the parking area and helping them out of the car. Pilar Ortiz calls me honey, she calls me dear, she makes me feel special. She makes everyone feel special. And making you feel special, making you feel that you’re having an experience you won’t have in your own home, is what takes a restaurant to the top of Trip Advisor.
El Pato is a barbacoa joint…and, yes, I like joints. Every night except Monday, Jose Luis Ortiz preps a whole young lamb, spices it, wraps it in agave leaves, puts it into a pit with hot coals and, eight hours later, brings it, the juices that have dripped into the pan under it, and Pilar Ortiz to El Pato.
Then, it’s time for Pilar to work her magic. She tells you how happy she is to see you, how much she’s missed you. And I really think she has missed me because I know I’ve really missed her. And, of course, I’ve missed her barbacoa.
I tell her I like the way her hair looks these days and Pilar’s hands go up to her face.
“Do you think so? Do you really think so?”
Is she really this shy, this bashful? I think she might be.
Pilar then leaves you alone. Leaves you to sit where you choose to sit. She gives you a couple of minutes to settle in. Then chugs across the gravel floor. She tells you once more how much she’s missed you, asks about your family and asks what she can bring you.
“Barbacoa? Mixiotes (that’s the juices that dripped into the pan)? Middle of the table? And to drink, dear?”
El Pato doesn’t stock Casa Dragones tequila, doesn’t offer Pellegrino water (almost essential if you want to make it into the Guía Gastronómico).
“We have Coca Cola. We have Coca Lite. We have bottles of water. Sorry we don’t have very fancy drinks.”
The beverages arrive. The toppings arrive along with a heat warning with the one with the chunky red bits. The bowl of rich lamb arrives. The mixiotes arrives. The tortillas arrive.
“Be sure to let me know if you want more tortillas, love. I can make you more.”
I’m able to walk to two good barbacoa joints from my home. It takes wheels for me to get to El Pato. Do I choose El Pato because they’ve got better barbacoa. No, I do it because they’ve got Pilar.
Pilar Ortiz isn’t the only person to make me feel special in a San Miguel restaurant. Marco makes me feel special at Casa Nostra. Mario makes me feel special at Mario’s. Tua makes me feel special at Inside Cafe. Dila makes me feel special at Dila’s.
And they’re all at or near top of Trip Advisor’s rankings. And not one made it into the Guiá Gastronómica.
With less than proper table manners, I drain the final juice from the bowl of mixiotes. We pay the ridiculously cheap $240 bill.
We walk to the door. Jose Luis and Pilar follow behind us. Pilar tells me once again how much she missed us. She calls me her angel. I feel very, very special.
El Pato Barbacoa y Mixiotes is located just south off Calzada de la Estacion down a signless street that’s just east of the bus station. It’s worth the struggle to find it. The restaurant is open every day but Tuesday from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm but might close earlier if they run out of lamb.
Él Pato is our go to recommendation for any guests visiting us. A few years ago, I took some younger friends on my own walking food tour, first stop El Pato. I recommended that they start a food tour as there were so few in SMA at the time. They started one, and Pilar went out of her way to make the guests feel so welcomed. The food and the owner make you feel like you are at home – warm and comfy.
With all due respect, there might be a different angle to this story. I too did the exploratory trip to the Pato and experienced the warmth of Pilar. It deserves the accolades and applauses for turning a modest joint into a place with a cult like following. Yet, it also provides a clear indictment of the absolute silliness of TripAdvisor that is mostly fueled by the herd that visits SMA once and decides to share their deep knowledge. That’s why TripAdvisor has been known to list among its best restaurant this Pato and a few more breakfast joints. Sometimes 1-2-3 in the ranking. There might have been a modest attempt to categorize the type of establishments but the overall ranking still suffers from the same drawback that is the blind following the one eyed in the desert. It results in a completely misleading affair. El Pato is great in its genre but it’s in a different category and should come with a caveat: they only serve one type of protein and not every one is a fan of lamb or goat. Caveat emptor
I couldn’t agree more! Being welcomed and recognized so adds the pleasure of dining out. At the top of that list is Hanks. We were gone for two years and when we walked in for our first Taco Tuesday you would have thought it was Mardi Gras there, the entire staff seemed to rejoice. Their food is excellent, the service is excellent and the welcome you get, well, I actually had tears in my eyes. It was a long two year journey for us to get back to SMA and that welcome was emotional for us.
We choose intimacy and that sense of personal recognition over big, fancy Mexico City restaurants every time.
New honorable mentions in that category are Terraza La Vista, the gorgeous rooftop restaurant in the boutique hotel Golpe de Vista, and Hierba Santa, the six table back alley restaurant near Fábrica Aurora owned and delicious ly operated by a husband and wife formerly with Nomada.
As they say, kindness and friendliness go a long way 💖
Glenn, thank you for the map. I think there must be 3 barabcoa places along Estacion so I never knew which one to try. I know – try them all!
Lovely people with lovely food with lovely smiles with lovely manners… good reminder that it is time to go back – thank you Don
You are “right on” about this, Glen! We LOVE Pilar and Jose Luis. But in addition to the stellar hosting, I must also say that, although there are so many barbecue resttaurants around, their lamb specialty is THE Best and my favorite. I love their mixiote. What a treat! We had it delivered during the pandemic, and love going over there now that we can dine out once again.
I’ve known Pilar & Jose Luis for many years…and always experienced exactly
what you describe here! Every time she saw me, she made me feel like the only
most special person in the world! In her world, at that moment, I was! Often,
I actually felt her presence and warm energy when I thought of her. And I know
they apply the same dedication to the quality of their products/food.
You quoted that right as there’s POWER in this couple’s charm! I love all of your articles Glenn, but this article, in particular, is spot on. Both Jose Luis “El Pato” and pilar are darling, polite, and… “tasty” when it comes down to their second to none “barbacoa” in town. And, personally… I couldn’t care less about them not offering well-known tequilas nor hard to pronounce water brands. If you ask me, my favorite combination is the guava “Boing” or the quintessential “Coca” to go along with a yummy “quesadilla de sesos”, a succulent “consomé” or any number of “tacos de maciza”. I strongly recommend your readers to go over their 5-star rating on Tripadvisor. Cheers!
When we were first scoping out SMA in early 2018 and knew no one in town, we turned to Tripadvisor for guidance. El Pato was high in the ratings. The review said “we must go early because they may be sold out by noon and we may not snag a portion of their lamb barbacoa. That “everything is made fresh for the day and when it’s gone, it’s gone.” We didn’t know the town and used a map to find our way to what seemed way out of town at the time. We arrived at eleven in the morning and managed to score one of the last bits of lamb and luscious broth. We had been to several Centro restaurants that were more aesthetically pleasing, had very good food and high dollar signs. Pilar was the first real person that made us feel appreciated. She was lamenting about something to us as though we were her long lived next door neighbors. She wanted to know where we were from and how we found out about her place. Realizing that we had never had barbacoa, she gave us the run down of how to eat it and how hot the sauces were. She made us feel as though we could fit into another place in another country. We went in looking for lunch but walked out with new hope that we had found a home away from home. We have gone back several times.
Thanks, Don. This is a great article and much more important than reviews of fancy restaurants because it is through connection with wonderful locals like you mentioned that we experience the real Mexico.
That’s nice!
I wonder if restaurants get business from TripAdvisor? I know I sure don’t with tours since they switched business models to a ticket buying service. Still, a nice place to load your reviews.
You are spot on Don. A few months ago after we we finished there and were ready to leave there was a downpour. Since it was near the end of her day Pilar insisted on driving us home. She would not hear of us calling a taxi or of us paying her. Yes, we go for the babarcoa and we go because of Pilar.
Bravo!!!! So true. Pilar is a true gem. She worked with years ago as a hostess and I was sad to see her go.
Pilar is one of the treasures of San Miguel and every time I visit I have to visit her but I agree with another commenter, she is the soul of the restaurant and a fantastic hostess but it is her (and Jose Luis’ barbacoa and mixiotes that ensure you return time and time again. As
For the comment that they only serve one type of protein, fer petes sake, duh. And Pollo Feliz sells chicken.
Go figure.
For the record I have eaten at Bovine multiple times and, meh, only fair at best.