It’s a spectacular setting. With a view that’s quite different than most San Miguel rooftop restaurants. Plus it’s a less than ten minute taxi ride from prime Centro. Yet I’ve never once seen it busy. I think the prime reason is because the hotel just can’t seem to settle on what they want to be when it comes to food and drink.

It’s been open for less than five years but the main restaurant at Hotel Amatte has already gone through a lot of changes, perhaps a few too many changes.

The roof started with and still is divided into what the hospitality biz calls “stations” with six or seven different areas for eating and drinking. Overall it’s called Amatte Wellness Community Club. The main area used to be called Hacmans and the menu was modelled after Deckman’s in Valle De Guadalupe with chef Drew Deckman acting as the restaurant’s “advisor”. The focus was on sustainable farming and cooking almost everything over a wood fire. The connection to Deckman’s then seemed to have been dropped and the words Cocina a la Neña (neña is firewood in Spanish) were used. These days, the word Hacmans appears to be also gone and the main menu goes under the name La Baha. The emphasis on open fire cooking though still remains.

Confused yet? If not, you probably will be when you board the elevator. On its wall, in addition to La Baja, you’ll see plugs for four other attractions on Amatte’s roof. Last Saturday, we were there for the one on the right, the one called Canton Birriamen.

If you tell whoever greets you at the elevator that you’re there for birriamen, they’ll probably direct you to a cozy little bar. If there’s no one there (there almost always is), look for the burgundy red flags and the Canton Birriamen logo. If bar stools aren’t your thing, you can sit in a comfy chair almost anywhere on the roof.

But before I tell you about the birriamen at Amatte, I should make sure you know what birria is. If you do know, just skip the next link. If you don’t, Here’s where you hit to read something I wrote a few years ago.

Birria is all about meat and gravy and I love meat and gravy but sometimes I think birria is a little too much meat and gravy (did I just write that?). I’ve always imagined it might be better with a little starch. Sure you can balance things out by using tacos to mop up the juices and scoop up some fall-apart chunks of beef. But what about pairing birria with potatoes? Maybe chick peas or fava beans? Or plain old rice?

I found the answer a few years ago in a little place called Birrieria Jonacho on Hernandez Macias. A woman there called Livier was marrying Mexico with Japan. She was pairing her birria with ramen noodles. They were the ideal couple.

Livier didn’t take credit for the invention. She gave all of that to another member of her family when she told me, “It’s my brother’s recipe. My brother’s a chef, a TV chef in Mexico. This is one of his specialties. It was his idea that I open Birrieria Jonacho.”

Birrieria Jonacho didn’t last long and I hadn’t thought much about the place until I saw that sign on Amatte’s elevator with not only Canton Birriamen but a seafood station called Doña Livier. Could there be a connection?

I asked Amatte’s new food and beverage manager, Ariel Gomez, who is Doña Livier?

“He’s our new executive chef”, said Ariel. “Antonio de Livier. He’s a judge on Top Chef. He’s got a chain of restaurants in Mexico City. He’s redesigned our menu. That birriamen is his dish. I think he may have invented it.”

We headed for the red flags and stools and were greeted by a very enthusiastic woman behind the bar by the name of Rosi.

We admired the look and practicality of the Asian spoons and put on our gimmicky bibs.

Rosi confirmed that, yes, this was the best place on Amatte’s roof for the birriamen and showed us a simmering pot.

“¿Un plato para los dos? ¿Empiezo con unos taquitos?”

We ordered a bowl of birriamen each plus, on Ariel’s recommendation, tiny little tacos topped with pork rinds.

Rosi told us how Chef Toño (Antonio de Livier) had taught her all about birria and we asked for details.

She told us that short ribs and shanks are his preferred parts of the cow. Pasilla and guajillo were chiles that were included. There was cloves, all-spice and cinnamon in the spicing.

When I had my first ever birriamen at Birrieria Jonacho, Livier Ruiz used dried pasta. Rosi was now using fresh.

Don Day’s Wife told me she was quite amazed. She reminded me how difficult it was to get good fresh wheat noodles in San Miguel. She asked Rosi where they came from.

“From the kitchen”, said Rosi. “We don’t buy them we make them.”

The birria was good. Teamed with the pasta to create the birriamen it was lift the bowl good.

We decided the bibs were not so gimmicky when we saw the exclamation mark spots on Don Day’s Wife’s.

We talked about how walking down Amatte’s 71 steps would be a lot easier than walking up them then headed to the elevator. We looked at the hype on the elevator wall again. We wondered what Cantina Contemporánea might be. Then decided we’d just come back for that birriamen.

Canton Birriamen is located on the roof of Hotel Amatte, Salida Real a Querétaro 168, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. The birriamen and taquitos are available from 1:00 to 5:00 pm from Wednesday to Sunday.