It was mostly memories not tacos that took us to Restaurant Del Parque. There on the page dedicated to the restaurant on the Casa de Sierra Nevada website was a photo of “our table”, the exact place where we sat several times, starting over twenty years ago, in what was then the classiest restaurant in San Miguel de Allende.

Over the last few years, the restaurant has been mostly forgotten. By us. And by most San Miguelenses. I can only suggest three good reasons why: location, competition and location.

Deeper into Sierra Nevada’s website we saw a promo for Tacography. “A unique culinary pop-up in celebration of the humble taco,” they called it.

Now I do think that tacos are the food of the street not the fancy-dan dining room. But I also think a restaurant chef can take tacos in a slightly different direction without destroying tradition. And I don’t know of any San Miguel street cart that puts a soft shell crab inside a corn tortilla.

We made a reservation and off we went, chatting in the cab about the cream of poblano and squash blossom soup that, sadly, had slipped off Restaurant Del Parque‘s menu a few years ago.

The restaurant hadn’t changed. The same flashy art at the entrance, the same views of the delightfully overgrown garden, the same gurgling fountain, the same leather barrel chairs where we had sat two decades ago.

The charming Ernesto, who looked more like a surgeon than a server, explained the Friday night Tacography special. Four of our choice, a stuffed poblano plus a beer or mocktail for $395.

We ordered drinks, an almost reasonably priced Pinot Grigio for Don Day’s Wife, a lavender margarita (couldn’t help it; I was sitting next to a lavender patch) for me, and we perused the menu.

The starters and mains are all quite traditional, very Mexican, with a short nod or a deep bow to many regional specialties, some often found, some seldom ever seen, in San Miguel.

Don Day’s Wife decided we’d split the aguachile while I hummed and hawed about the mole tasting.

“We’re here for the tacos”, she reminded me and I walked over to the special table that they set up for Tacography and, courtesy of Rufina Tapia, had a guided tour of the possibilities.

“I’ve decided to explore the Tacography”, I said to Ernesto.

“Then I’ll order from the menu”, said Don Day’s Wife. “I’ll have the crab taco.”

As we talked about how quiet the restaurant was and how staff probably outnumbered patrons, one of those staff, Ernesto, re-emerged from the kitchen, first with a crispy tortilla topped with perhaps a tribute to Mexico’s colors, then with a cart topped with bowls of we weren’t sure what.

“What are you doing, Ernesto?”

“I’m making a salsa.”

“From scratch?”

“From scratch.”

Now I am a big fan of tableside showbiz. A very big fan. With a little flash and dash, a Mexican dish called Caesar salad made a guy already in his twenties appreciate lettuce for the first time in his life.

Ernesto is a master at tableside prep, particularly with the repartee. As each ingredient was added, slowly and deliberately, there was an origin, a description, an accreditation. Words like cascabel and pasilla were dramatically drawn out. All leading to the finale. Where Ernesto picked up the tejolote and twisted and twirled, pushed and pounded it into the molcajete.

The ever-nervous-about-spice-levels Don Day’s Wife was the first to try the salsa. She bit into the chip that she had topped it with, paused and double dipped, then nibbled, rolled her tongue around her mouth and paused again. A smile, a big smile shone across her face.

“It’s worth coming here just for the salsa.”

The aguachile with shrimp, grapefruit and avocado was giant-sized. Only order it if you have someone to share it with or aren’t planning a main.

There was lots of lightly-battered meat on the soft shell crab along with cucumber, tomato, onion, cilantro, beans, chicharron and a spicy mayo.

“Too much for me to eat”, said Don Day’s Wife. “You’re going to have to eat one.”

I obliged, gladly.

Over at the Tacography table, Rufina was rolling masa in her hands, pressing it into tortillas and fanning the comal to raise the heat and toast them. In the kitchen, Maricela Luciano was putting the finishing touch on the goodies that go inside them.

Later, Chef Samuel Ruvalcaba shared how Tacography pays tribute to the regional tacos of each of the Mexican states and selects a different one each week. This week, the stewed meat and vegetable “guisado taco” of Mexico City was being featured.

“Every Friday, we change the taco but always emphasize the traditional flavors of Mexican cuisine which is something emblematic in our restaurant,” Chef Samuel told me.

The CDMX guisado was just one of the fat tacos that arrived on my plate. There was also a chicken with chile guajillo marinade, a vegetarian zucchini with poblano chile rajas and an arrachera steak with bell peppers. On the side was a king size, deep fried jalapeño stuffed with Oaxaca cheese.

Talk about stuffed, we were.

We said our thank you’s to the staff, told them we’d be back for a mole tasting and shuffled down past Parque Juarez and waddled off to the Raindog Lounge for a little Steven Jaymes.

“And would you like to see the food menu”, asked the waiter there.

“No, I don’t think so,” I replied.

Restaurant del Parque is located at Santa Elena 2 in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. The restaurant is open for breakfast from 7:30 am to Noon on Friday, Saturday and Sunday; lunch and dinner every day except Tuesday from Noon to 10:30 pm. Tacography happens on Fridays from 2:00 to 8:30 pm. Reservations are recommended and can be made at https://www.belmond.com/hotels/north-america/mexico/san-miguel-de-allende/belmond-casa-de-sierra-nevada/dining