It was the night of the 13th Annual Smart Awards dinner, the celebration of a little competition I started back in 2014 to give some deserved recognition to the places where you and I most like to break bread here in San Miguel.
My ultimate and, hopefully successful goal was to help put a few more bums on a few more chairs and a few more pesos in a few more tills. In that way San Miguel’s best restaurants would still be around as long as I’m still around.
At these dinners, my standard routine is to simply do a countdown of the top ten. No sparklers, no streamers, no music, no jokes. Just good food, very good food.
Preparing that very good food in Firenze’s kitchen was Chef Antonio Arrieta and his crew who were given that honor based on Firenze being the top vote-getter in 2025. I was sure I wasn’t giving away any surprises when I shared with the diners that, once again, Firenze was in the top ten. I thought it would be a good time to share with them and now you some of this restaurant’s extraordinary prior accomplishments.
The first year for the SMARTs was 2014. There were just 271 voters for only 48 restaurants that year. Firenze came second, losing out to La Posadita.
In 2015, the voter numbers were up to 391 and the number of restaurants 73. Firenze celebrated its first ever year as the top vote-getter as it was crowned number one.
In the next year, 2016, the number of voters reached 626 and the number of restaurants receiving votes grew to 81. Firenze, however, fell back to second, nudged out by the late, lamented Aguamiel.
But from then on, from 2017 right through to 2025, Firenze has been the readers of Don Day in SMA’s top choice every single one of those years.
There are over 600 restaurants in this town according to Trip Advisor. In reality, there are probably less than 500. Either way, to be the top choice for so long is, I think, an extraordinary accomplishment.
In the SMART Awards, in addition to the top three vote getters each year, we also herald the achievements of a restaurant that’s still in its first year in the competition. We honor the rookie that receives the most votes.
We had finished our first course, a pasta, perfectly prepared al dente, with peas and asparagus for a garden freshness and guanciale for a crispy crunch. It was time to switch to 2026 and the numbers for this year. There were a total of 679 votes spread amongst 101 restaurants.
Before I stood up, I shared some names at one of the tables of four restaurants that scored a lot of votes but didn’t quite make the top ten. I called them our honorable mentions. Getting double-digit numbers but just missing the honor roll were Hecho en Mexico, Napoli 39, Da Carmela and one that, seeing it closes at 3:00 pm, I definitely think deserved a mention, Cafe 1910.
Now it was on to the top ten. In tenth place was last year’s rookie of the year, the winner of the 2025 favorite new restaurant award. In tenth place was the very beautiful Ziracco.
The 2026 favorite new restaurant finished on the next rung of this year’s ladder, in ninth place. There was quite a lot of competition for the new award this year with five different new restaurants all receiving a considerable number of votes. Kokumi, Romeros, Munay and Local didn’t quite make it.
The favorite new restaurant for this year and in ninth place overall was a restaurant that voter Margaret Bowman said is located in a “charming countryside setting”. In ninth place was Trino.
I’ve always liked the way Firenze prepares their seafood. They let the taste of the fish speak for itself, never burying it in sauces. The flaking texture of the SMART Awards night’s salmon was a result of it being perfectly cooked. The mango salsa was kept mostly on the side to enhance, not overpower the fish. I took a good gulp of my Sauvignon Blanc, stood up again and continued the countdown.
For the eighth place finisher, I quoted a voter called Charles Friedman: “Delicious, flavorful food, always consistent.”, and then, in upper case letters with multiple exclamation marks, “THEY NEED A LARGER VENUE!!!” I paused knowing someone would yell out the name with that description. They did. In eighth place is the restaurant I struggle like everyone else to get into. In eighth place was Tostévere.
I quoted another voter when I announced the restaurant that was in seventh place. This restaurant has been in San Miguel longer than I have and has hardly changed at all in those 20+ years. It’s been on the SMARTs and off the SMARTs, up the SMARTs and down the SMARTs. Voter Rae Miller recently celebrated their anniversary there and said, “…just as we remembered from years ago. Excellent food, service and atmosphere for a reasonable price.” In seventh place was Chamonix.
Moving up the ladder another rung, we arrived at a restaurant where almost every comment from voters praised a certain person. I like the word that Joy Levine used to describe him. She used the word “gracious”. The man is Marco Massarotti, the restaurant is Casa Nostra and it finished in sixth position.
I must say I was a little shocked at who finished fifth. I love this place but I know there are longterm residents who don’t even know it exists. It’s another San Miguel de Allende classic that’s been around forever. It made it to the SMARTs top ten a couple of times in the late teens and then drifted off. This year it made an extraordinary return to the list. A bit of a hidden gem up in Colonia Independencia, in fifth place was Tacos Don Felix.
Moving up another rung we arrived at the restaurant that San Miguel goes to when they want comfort food. At least it’s where I go. From muffins to macaroni, this place has it all. Judy Jagdfeld called it “a definitely don’t miss when coming to SMA” with her vote and I agree that it’s a must for visitors. It made its debut on the SMARTs Awards list back in 2016. It reached its highest ever position this year. In fourth place was Pork Belly.
Next, we went from pork to beef. It was time for me to take another break. The main course was being served. It was a New York striploin. It’s a bold choice for a chef. People don’t get much pickier than they do over steak. One wants medium rare, another wants medium well, and one’s medium rare is another’s medium well. Plus there’s the complication of cost for the chef. He can pay $100 for a NY strip. He can pay $1000. Obviously, when you’re serving an entire multi-course dinner for $900, you have to source something that’s near the bottom of that price level. To serve something at that price level with an acceptable texture, taste and tenderness is a task.
Chef Antonio nailed it.
There were three restaurants left on the list and the room was buzzing with guesses as to who they were and in what order, particularly who was number one. I stood up and started the chatter again.
In third place on the SMARTs list, there was another new addition though one that was not eligible for the best new restaurant award as it’s been around in a couple of different locations for a couple or more years. The chef though is not a stranger to being in the top three or being awarded with the best new restaurant trophy.
Not that long ago and not that far away…I think it was 2019, I know it was a place called Casa Blanca…JJ Casteñeda thrilled people with his North African/Middle Eastern cuisine and was awarded the best new restaurant award and earned a top ten standing.
A lot of those dishes are now available as JJ’s restaurant keeps getting bigger and better. Jeff Gorman said it perfectly when he wrote “everything on the menu sparkles”. In third place was Mesa Marrakesh.
This is where things got a little difficult. I wanted to add a little more suspense, a little more drama, but if I gave any details about who was number two, they might guess who was number one so I kept things a little obscure for a few seconds more. Meanwhile Chef Antonio and Sous Chef Lupita looked happy as they stood in anticipation in the doorway.
I shared with everyone that restaurants #1 and #2 dominated all of the other restaurants in the voting. They were San Miguel’s favorites by far.
I shared the actual numbers I had on my iPad. Mesa Marrekesh, our third place finisher had narrowly nipped the fourth, fifth and sixth finishers with a very respectable 42 votes. Our second place finisher, San Miguel’s second best favorite restaurant had 64 votes. Our favorite San Miguel de Allende restaurant had an absolutely amazing 95 votes.
Finishing second in the SMART Awards voting was Atrio. Our favorite San Miguel de Allende restaurant was, once again, Firenze.
In all of the years that Firenze had finished first in the SMART balloting, I don’t think I had ever seen chef/owner Antonio Arrieta look so proud, show so much emotion.
It was now ten years in a row. It was an extraordinary accomplishment.
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