With thanks to Cynthia Blanton, Marshall Postnikoff, Dian Boadway and Lou Campese for their photos.

It had been three very long years since we’d gathered for the dinner, cancelled mostly by that nasty Covid (please tell me it’s almost gone) but there we were back at Firenze, the most celebrated of San Miguel de Allende restaurants and the most recent winner in what seemed way, way back in 2021.

It was time for the SMART Awards, the time when we honor and toast the San Miguel restaurants that subscribers to Don Day in SMA vote as their very best favorites.

It’s also the time that I have to consider wearing a suit jacket (but never do) and stand up and speak, shakily trying to sound somewhat witty and slightly intelligent as I do the countdown to number one.

I waited until Chef Antonio had served first the carpaccio and second the cavatelli and guests had downed one, perhaps two glasses of wine before I nervously did my “whoooooaaaaa” to quieten the audience.

I started with the restaurants that didn’t quite make the top ten but, with 83 different restaurants getting votes, I suggested that “they should still be considered extraordinary” in a town that’s so very competitive to get almost anyone to walk in the door. There were six also-rans: Nirvana, Cha Cha Cha, Gigi’s, Salvajes, Ancestro and La Frontera.

After a sip of wine to calm my nervousness, I started the countdown.

In tenth place was a restaurant that just might be the most successful in San Miguel. It’s not the most fashionable; it’s not the most innovative, it’s not the most classy, it’s not the most comfortable; it’s not the most cool; but on a lot of evenings it’s the most full. Can there be any better measurement of how good a restaurant is than how many behinds are in chairs? In tenth place was Hecho en Mexico.

In ninth place, was the newest of all of the top ten restaurants. The food is mostly Chinese with a nod to a lot of other Asian cuisines. Franco, the owner and chef, received as many accolades as the food. Next in the top ten was Asian Orient Express.

In eighth place was a restaurant that’s been in San Miguel almost as long as I have and is owned by a guy that’s almost become an institution, a legend in this town. He’s been involved with a few places that have come and almost as many that have gone but he’s always extraordinarily respected and most often envied by his peers. His first ever endeavor in San Miguel de Allende is still surviving and, hopefully still thriving. His name is Donnie Masterton and the restaurant is called The Restaurant.

We had two separate courses of protein, a sweet and juicy duck breast then a tender picaña steak before I again stood up and did my “whoooooaaaaa” to try and quieten the crowd, now loosened up by my and perhaps their third or fourth glass of wine. I decided that, before going back into the countdown I would pay tribute to a man we lost recently, a man who I considered the most exceptional, the most brilliant restauranteur in the history of San Miguel wining and dining, a guy who was not always liked but always respected by everyone who met him. His restaurant was the one I have spent more time in than any other in this town and I can’t think of any other measurement standard more important than that. 

One of his greatest supporters was a guy called Lou, a guy who helped lead a campaign to get this man’s restaurant more accolades via the SMART Awards. I quoted from something Lou Christine wrote:

“I’m asking more for a vote for the man, a champion of the underdog, a man who in 20 years I never witnessed rejecting a person asking for comp dinners or a donation for a worthwhile endeavor, a man who lifted the spirit of this town, who made things happen, who learned Spanish, a generous man who some people may not have understood because of his bubbling confidence. Nobody ever gave away more than Bob, picking up tabs, often springing for a round of drinks for the entire restaurant, He was a man respected by his employees (they got paid during the COVID shutdown) and on countless occasions a man who came to their aid emotionally and financially. A man you would want in your lifeboat or foxhole.”

I asked everyone to please raise their glass to the man who made Hank’s, the late and great Bob Thieman.

It’s difficult to follow a man like Bob Thieman but that task went to the seventh place finisher in the SMART Awards. 

A voter called Jeff Bergler said this about the restaurant, “Probably just seeing it from the street one might not venture in” and it’s so true. It’s not a big place. It’s not a fancy place. Sometimes it’s a little too crowded. In recent times, the place has been so successful I haven’t even been able to get in the door. Every time I have though the food has been both delectable and affordable. In seventh place was Tostévere.

Now I would consider it very difficult, almost impossible, for a restaurant that serves only breakfast and lunch to be considered special enough to be in the top ten and there’s only ever been one. They debuted there in the last SMART Awards and they are still there in 2024. In a tie for sixth position was the much-loved Rustica.

We have had restaurants with the same owners in the top ten before. It has happened again this year with the sister restaurant to Tostévere. I’m a big, big fan of their North African dishes. That and a delightfully casual ambience are the reasons why it was one of the three restaurants that received my personal vote. Tied for sixth was Bocaciega.

What if we had a contest for the best chef in San Miguel de Allende? I would give some very big odds that Arturo Sandaval would be at or near the top. He gives lots of space to seafood on his menu and his mix of Mexican and International cuisines always has that one little touch that is uniquely innovative. There are not too many restaurants that have been able to balance their appeal to both the tourist and the full time residents. This one has done it brilliantly. I like what a voter called Eddward (yes it has to d’s) Ballinger said about our fifth place finisher: “If you have one night of your life in SMA, eat at Atrio.”

Our fourth place finisher has been around for quite a while but had never made it to the top ten before. I think I know why. This restaurant is better than when it first arrived and just keeps getting better. They’re the only restaurant in the top ten that I’ve eaten at more than once in the last month. Their pastrami sandwich is like a magnet to my tongue. In fourth place was Pork Belly.

Those betting sites that have replaced fast food restaurants as the biggest TV advertisers could have made a pile of pesos on who would finish in the top three and even more money if they predicted in what order they’d finish. There was that kind of buzz going from table to table as we savored the postre, the Torta de Nonna.

When I stood up again, I shared some extraordinary statistics about the top three finishers. I couldn’t believe it as I opened the emails that arrived. At least one of the three restaurants appeared in an astonishing 63% of all of the voters ballots. There were more votes for just these three restaurants than the votes for all of the 80 others combined.

I was ready to announce the top three.

I’d noticed that in San Miguel like in the rest of the world, an important ingredient in almost every dish in almost every great restaurant is the presence of an owner with what I’ll call a vibrant personality. They might be the chef; they might be the front of house; they might be both. When I flipped through the voters’s comments for the number three restaurant trying to choose one person to quote, I noticed that almost every one of the voters used the same word in what they said. The word was a proper noun. The word was always Marco and occasionally it was followed by the word Massarotti. In a very strong third place was Casa Nostra.

We were down to two. I was a bit dumbstruck as to what to say. I fumbled for my notes. I found a quote from a much respected guy in San Miguel, a guy called David Bossman. He summed up the pleasures of wining and dining at this establishment in four words: “…because it has everything…”. He was talking about that extraordinary restaurant that Bob Thieman built. He was talking about Hank’s.

We were down or I guess, better said, we were up to number one. I don’t think there was anyone in the place who doubted which restaurant was number one in the SMART Awards. I thought of doing a little teasing. Then I thought better of it.

I asked every one in the restaurant to do a countdown…or maybe that’s a count up…with me. I asked them to join me as I did the count from ten to one and when we got to one to shout out the name of the restaurant that they thought was the grand prize winner.

The numbers went, “ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one…”

And then there was a universal and very loud, “Firenze”. I thought what more can I say and elbowed my way through the crowd to get in line for a celebratory hug with chef/owner Antonio Arrieta.

Firenze is located at Callo Recreo #13 in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. The restaurant is open from 5:30 to 9:30 pm, Monday to Saturday. Call +52 415 121 0763 for reservations.