There were four reasons I was so anxious to eat at Cocina Apapacho: Erik, Ramiro, Mariana and La Comer.

The first three are all in the restaurant biz and have all been favorites of mine for quite a while. There’s a long list of stops on their resumés some with quite short stays but the only time I could remember them working together was at San Miguel’s Quince. Most recently, Erik and Mariana ran Don Valente, Ramiro was at Rustica. Now, they’re all back under the same roof, less than a block from a place with a very big roof, that fourth reason, La Comer.

Cocina Apapacho was so new that there wasn’t even a sign on the door when “the gentlemen who lunch” arrived. We barely remembered it from its El Matador days, where 20 years ago, it was considered “the place where chefs eat”. The dishes on the menu might well bring a few of them back there.

Top of the list is pozole, perhaps the most ancient of Mexico meals. Cocina Apapacho (my probably not very good translation is cuddly kitchen) offers a choice of the red or green pozole (I’ve never understood why any restaurant bothers to serve the third version, the white) with a choice of pork or chicken.

I chose the pork and the green sauce.

Chef Erik Rojo showed off the cauldron of red sauce that has an ever present burner on the open kitchen’s stove.

Next up was the highlight for me. Mexican butchers have a way of trimming a pork shank unlike any other country. It’s called the chamorro and Chef Erik told me he simmers his for a minimum of eight hours at a low temperature with Guajillo chiles, cumin and oregano in the sauce.

The juicy meat fell off the bone. The only difficulty was choosing which of the sauces to top it with (it didn’t really need any) before wrapping it into a tortilla.

I’m a glutton for tradition and Cocina Apapacho follows one that’s very rare to see any more. Almost every Mexican restaurant makes their own tortillas rather than buying them at a tortilleria (or supermarket). But almost every restaurant buys the masa or corn dough to make them.

Cocina Apapacho takes it one more step backwards (or forwards depending on your attitude). They purchase corn kernels, slake them with lime and boil them for hours to make their own masa.

“It takes someone getting up at 4:00 am”, Chef Eric told me, “but it’s worth it”.

The process is called nixtamilization (yes, I checked the spelling) and produces wonderful smelling tortillas that were stuffed into quesadillas with various combinations of pork rind, tripe, beef and chicken. The sauces that I didn’t get to try with the chamorros, I used to decorate the quesadillas.

We were full, very full, until Ramiro Ramirez, the man with the mile-wide smile, told us, “You have to have the panuchos, they’re topped with cochinita pibil.”

Now if you’re not familiar with panuchos, they’re a small tortilla that is deep fried to a crisp to bring out the dough’s rich corn flavor. They’re a specialty in the Yucatan as is the pulled pork marinated in achiote and sour orange juice that topped it. What made the panuchos extra special for me were the sweet but tart morsels of pineapple that decorated the top.

I mentioned four reasons to go to Cocina Apapacho (besides of course the superb selection of classic Mexican dishes). The third was Mariana Carrillo and, yes, she was there. Not quite as active with Valentina, her new babe in arms, but always as warm and welcoming.

And that fourth reason to go, that one that may have puzzled you. Why La Comer, the supermarket that’s just a hop, skip and a you know what away?

Well, Cocina Apapacho is not exactly what I would call a “destination” restaurant. With the noise of the traffic speeding by on the libramiento, it’s not a place I’d highly recommend for a romantic rendezvous. But if, like me, every once a week or so you go to La Comer (or City Market), it will sure make a good place to stop for a very good and very reasonable lunch or dinner.

Cocina Apapacho is located at Libramiento José Manuel Zavala 13 in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. The restaurant is open from 1:00 to 9:00 pm every day but Monday.