By Bernardo Moreno
Perhaps in Mexico there is no more typical way of eating than making tacos with flour or corn tortillas. Here in the Bajío region corn tortillas predominate. Knowing this, we organized an itinerary. We did not find the census of how many taquerias open to the public there are in the municipal capital of San Miguel de Allende—no doubt at least a hundred.
In the morning, you can find tacos de guisos. A tasty option is on Nemesio Diez street—that’s the street where the Rosewood hotel is located. Right in front of the Sautto cava, almost on the corner with the wide San Antonio street, you will find four different taco stands. I may be wrong, but the one who has been in that area the longest is La Güera. She has at least 15 different stews, and you can order a corn tortilla taco or a flour tortilla quesadilla with cheese and stew. We are not going to list all the stews, but we can recommend the potato stew with our eyes closed. These are sliced potatoes sautéed with onion and seasoned just like Güera knows how to do it. The next stew for a good taco would be the rajas with pieces of panela cheese—delicious! We must accentuate the accompaniment of these tacos with the mortajada sauce. La Güera’s tacos are good enough to cover breakfast with a couple.
Continuing with the morning tacos, there is a wide variety in town: tacos sudados (potato, bean, chicharrón or shredded meat tacos, in corn tortillas, lightly dipped in oil, wrapped inside a basket); flautas (fried rolled tacos usually with potato or beans); tacos de carnitas (pork meat cooked in its own lard); and barbacoa (lamb meat slowly cooked in the oven wrapped in penca).
By the time the sun starts to set, the typical taquerias begin to open. There are corner tacos, street stand tacos, and establishment tacos. One of the best known taquerias in town is Brasimix also called Brasilia. It is located on the exit to Celaya, almost in front of the gas station. It is a large establishment with a huge taco stand inside and perhaps the best service, extensive menu, fresh water, and a variety of sauces. There, the classic is the order of tacos al pastor with potatoes taken from the grill wrapped in aluminum foil. Unbeatable!
Now we’ll mention a taco stand that has been going for a long time in front of Fábrica La Aurora next to the truck stop—Tacos Los Pájaros. Depending on what time of night you go, you may have to wait in line and eat the tacos standing up, but that just means they are excellent tacos of course. As in many stalls, you will find: steak, longaniza, campechanos, pastor, and costilla. You can order them in taco, gringa, sope (it’s not normal for taquerias to have sopes, but oh well!), volcanoes, and a great surprise and specialty of Tacos Los Pájaros—the juanas. It is a large flour tortilla taco with beans, cheese, and the meat of your choice.
Here we just mentioned some taco stands or establishments, but I assure you that very close to your house there must be great tacos. So, to use the wisdom of the people: good tacos are the ones you like.
