Jorgé Lopez was born in the food biz. His grandparents owned the legendary San Miguel restaurant/bar El Infierno on Calle Mesones. His uncle owned La Pamplonada around the corner on Juarez, still the SMA place to go for a giant-sized arrachera. Jorgé Lopez has spent most of his thirty or so years never far from a kitchen.
After a short stint at Restaurante 58, an ambitious project that you might remember on Calle Mesones, Jorgé continued to work with chef Gabriel Ordoñez, mostly doing home catering, then headed off to Tulum and Puebla, and travelled to Europe.
“It’s there that I became exposed to things like tiramisu, sacher torte, and Basque cheesecake”, Jorgé told me.
Last year Jorgé and his wife, Yamila Robinet, turned that knowledge and experience into their own business. It’s called La Crema and what they make and sell tastes quite wonderful.
On one joyous evening last month, five of us celebrated our upcoming birthdays. It’s the year we’re all having the word “octogenarian” added to our accomplishments and, on birthdates that end in zero, you get treated extra special. One of those treats was choosing our own cake. I chose a Basque cheesecake. That cake, as well as all four of the others, came from Jorgé and Yamila’s La Crema.
Why a Basque cheesecake?, you might ask. Well, for me, it heralded an important transition in my eating habits. Until I was in my late twenties, my favorite desserts were always the sweetest, creamiest, fruitiest. The Dairy Queen’s banana split was an addiction.
Then, one evening, I went to a trendy Toronto restaurant called Maison Basque. Their only dessert was their gateau Basque. It changed my entire dessert diet.
And how was La Crema’s birthday Basque cheesecake? As good as any I’ve tasted. As was the chocolate cheesecake that one of the other birthday celebrants chose. I made my mind up then and there that I had to pay a visit to their shop on the Ancha. It’s very conveniently located for some, but not so convenient if you have to find somewhere to park.
“Almost all of our customers are locals, residents not tourists, from Guadiana, from San Antonio, further into Centro. I’d say it’s about 70/30, expats versus Mexicans.” said Jorgé.
“We’re now making many different cakes. There’s the Basque and the chocolate cheesecake, the Tallegio (an Italian cheese), the pistachio, the vanilla bean, the coffee and the Oreo”, Jorgé continued. “If you want to be sure we’ll have the exact one you want, you can order ahead. The cakes are also available in single-serving circular minis.”
In La Crema’s fridge was a tiramisu cake, on the counter were brownies, two more goodies that are on Jorgé and Yamila’s menu.
In just a few months, their baking business has come a long way. I asked about a Ninja oven on a shelf, only about half as big as the oven in our kitchen.
“That’s how it all started; we did everything in that”, Yamila told me. “Now we have that big beauty in the corner.”
You need a spacious oven to handle the other part of La Crema’s business, the restaurant business. Slices of La Crema’s cakes are now available at Nudol and five or six other restaurants that Jorgé listed for me.
I asked Jorgé what makes his cakes special, what makes restaurants want to put them on their dessert menus?
“The best ingredients make the best cakes”, were his words and he took me through what goes into each cake including Turin, the chocolate and cocoa that many people mistakenly think is Swiss or Italian but originated in Mexico way back in 1928.
“And in the future”, I asked, “where do you see La Crema going in the future?”
“I’m not sure”, said Jorge. “I know I like where it is now. It makes us very happy to be a small part of the special celebrations in this town…the birthdays, the anniversaries…I’d just like to do more of that.”
La Crema is located at Ancha de San Antonio #32C in San Miguel de Allende. To order in advance, telephone 415-149-1427 or 442-406-7065.
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