You’re certainly not going to struggle to find a decent Tex-Mex restaurant in Dallas, Texas.  Just about every strip mall has one and the Rodriguez family alone has, what, like 2000 now??  And, hey, we’re thankful for this greasy and cheesy saturated fat saturation.  It’s a big part of the lives we Texicans lead and, honestly, is there a better cure for a hangover than a plate of cheese enchiladas?  Better way to make a bad day better than a top shelf rita on the rocks?  Anything better than a really crispy chip dipped in a vat of super creamy queso?  No, no, and no.  Honestly, if the government officials in Mexico wanted to play hard ball on this whole border fence thing all they’d really have to do is threaten to take back Tex-Mex and it would be game over.  Visas for everybody!

But as anyone with even the slightest knowledge of Mexico will tell you the vast majority of what Texans consider Mexican food is nothing close to the varied native cuisine.  Sí, sí.  Just like we’ve done to Italian, what we in the states consider to be Mexican is really just a bastardized version of the original cuisine with stupidly large portions and grandé amounts of lard, cream, grease and processed cheese surrounding the food.  Again, we’ll tread lightly on throwing burritos in glass casas because if there’s a comfort food that is a permanent fixture in the snootyfoodie household, T-M is it.  And we know the demand for Tex-Mex is seemingly endless and that the food and labor costs on a T-M restaurant are low and locations don’t seem to matter all that much.  So, we understand that’s a pretty solid formula for turning queso into pesos.

But, it has never ceased to amaze us that with the concentration of Mexican influence in this area, we have very few true Mexican restaurants.  Why oh why is that so hard to find in a city where ATMs ask you if you want instructions in English or Spanish?  Oh how we long for the delicious fare we’ve tasted on our visits to Mexico.  Fresh fish with lime and garlic, earthy molé sauces, freshly made corn tortillas filled simply with meat or fish, and fresh guac with cotija cheese – essentially the clean and simple flavors of this cuisine instead of an atom bomb of cheese and spice. 

Now we’ve heard from many of you brainwashed pretender foodies that Mexican fine dining is as dumb as Italian fine dining – neither cuisine is refined enough to warrant anything more than $10 for an entrée and really belongs on a buffet line.  I guess there could be a dumber culinary thought process out there but we can’t quite come up with one right now.  Until we do, for you poor lost souls that view your Mexican dining experience as a race to see who can ingest the most processed cheese and determine “value” by the portion size, we’d like to direct you to 1-800-PAN-CHOS.  Go ahead and leave on the cut offs and wife beater; they won’t mind.  No doubt it’ll be the best $5.99 dinner you buy all week.  For those that have a little less of that American arrogance and are open to the idea that a country with 110,000,000 people might actually have a cuisine a tad more original than our Texified version of it, grab your culinary passport and steer your ride over to Café San Miguel. 

There’s a reason the website for Café San Miguel is www.pomerita.com.  Their signature drink is a pomegranate margarita – a refreshing blend of pomegranate juice, fresh lime juice and Antigua Cruz tequila.  We’ve been reading recently about all of these wonderful medicinal purposes of pomegranates so we’re naturally drawn to this health conscious version of the traditional rita.  It’s all about making better bad decisions people.  Served frozen, don’t get concerned this is a fruity sugar bomb that is only for the ladies.  It’s a perfect balance of sweet and sour and, um, go-go juice.

Onto the appetizers, we can’t say enough about the guacamole.  It comes with the traditional onion, cilantro, and lime juice but CSM adds a velvety helping of roasted garlic in theirs.  Without being overpowering, the garlic gives another flavor profile to dip your chip into.  And you won’t get that pre-formed ice cream scoop guacamole whisked out to your table in 30 seconds - a dead giveaway it’s been sitting in the fridge with saran wrap over it.  Nope, they mix it up fresh at Café San Miguel when you put in your order.  And speaking of the chips, theirs are made in house and come out hot with a perfect little sheen and great crispiness.  There’s nothing more disappointing than a soggy or stale chip, right?  Hand made corn tortillas and their ultra fresh salsa molcajeteada (a blend of regular tomatoes, tomatillos, and jalapenos) also accompany the guac.  And, avocados have been linked to everything from lower cholesterol to reducing the risk of heart attacks and strokes to preventing breast cancer.  Hey, that’s 2 menu items and 2 healthy recommendations at Café San Miguel!!  (Sorry, Dr. Snootyfoodie isn’t accepting new patients at this time)

Their ceviché is also remarkably fresh and delicious.  Served up in a huge beer scooner, it’s a perfect combination of tilapia, citrus, cilantro, and jalapeno nuggets.  We also love the empanadas Cozumel.  These hand made turnovers are stuffed up with blue crab, black beans and Asadero (very similar to Oaxaca) cheese.  There’s enough in there to meld everything into a nice creamy texture but there’s not so much where you lose the crab flavor.  Getting crabs has never been this fun.

Don’t waste your time perusing the menu for that cup or bowl of regular old processed cheese dip.  You will find queso fundido which, we’ve had all over town.  It’s always pretty good elsewhere, usually served up in a big ramekin type dish and the server rolls it up in tortillas for you.  Café San Miguel’s is a little different with a wild mushroom medley, charred poblano peppers, and the Asadero cheese all baked in a banana leaf.  And we’ve completely fallen in love with the Avocado Tuna salad.  Served as a main for Lunch and as a starter salad for Dinner, it is essentially two super large avocado halves stuffed with Albacore tuna topped with mixed greens and a chipotle lime vinaigrette.  Sounds pretty simple and a tad unusual but we just couldn’t stop eating these.  I mean it may not be as refined as its big eye ahi cousin, but the albacore really works in this dish giving a nice taste of the sea that blends well with the smooth avocado and the zing from the dressing.

They’ve got 5 enchilada dishes on their dinner menu, but don’t come to CSM looking for that #4 combo of cheese and sour cream chicken enchiladas with refried beans and rice.  You can find chicken (and beef and cheese) enchiladas but it’s more Mexican than you’re used to.  Instead of the ground up chicken swaddled up and drowned in sour cream sauce with a courtesy jalapeno slice on top, theirs is hand pulled chicken that’s been sautéed in guajillo sauce topped with tomatillo salsa and Asadero cheese.  Really tasty.  And for you molé fans out there, we’ll go on record that Café San Miguel’s pumpkin seed molé is the best in the city and rivals anything we’ve tasted on the other side of the Rio Grande.  In the mood for something a little fancier that's anything but Mexican?  Check out the Lobster Enchiladas – 3 crepe like enchiladas stuffed with lobster meat and topped with brandy and roasted red pepper cream sauce.  Muy bueno.  This dish was a special at first but, due to customer demand, has become a popular fixture on their regular menu.

The specialties include 3 of our very favorites:  Pescado Frito, Enfrijoladas de Cangrejo, and Cordoniz en Pipian.  The Pescado Frito (see it on Dishes to Die For) is a deep fried whole red snapper that’s been skewered to look like she’s jumping out of the water.  When it comes out of the fryer, it’s drizzled with fragrant and spicy cilantro and red pepper oil.  It comes with a side salad but who really cares.  We basically sat there pulling off hunks of meat like cavemen until the poor fish looked like something that belonged in a skeleton exhibit at the Smithsonian.  The fish was so fresh and the skin was so crispy and the oil gave it just enough of a kick.  The Enfrijoladas takes a few of their house made tortillas and sautés them in a pureé of roasted tomatoes.  Mounds of lump crab meat are layered between the tortillas until a little tower of deliciousness is created.  Served over rice and beans with a smattering of cheese and cream on top, there are so many bright, fresh flavors here you can damn near convince yourself this is a healthy dish.  Finally, the Cordoniz takes 2 Texas quail and slathers them in the same ground pumpkin seed mole used on the enchiladas we talked about above.  They’re positioned over a heap of grilled vegetables like they’re giving each other a chest bump and high 10 at the same time.  It’s really hard to beat juicy Texas quail but the sauce really does take CSM’s rendition to another level.

In addition to the pomerita, Café San Miguel trots out all the regular rita offerings and makes a pretty mean mojito as well.  The thing that really surprised us was how solid their wine list is.  We recognize us Texicans come with a chip in our brain that tells us we must drink beer or margaritas with anything Mexican, but hopefully you can see the cuisine above is very wine friendly.  And, again, what a surprise!  3 sparkling wines from Spain, a couple of Sav Blancs from Chile, as well as other whites from Argentina, Chile and Mexico.  They offer some nice Cabs and Malbecs from South America, an old vine Tempranillo from Spain, and even a reserve pinot noir from Chile.  Need another reason to try wine with their food?  Wednesday night is half price bottle night so there you go.

Bringing even more authenticity to CSM, chef/owner Hugo Galvian is a native of San Miguel de Allende.  This beautiful, historic, artsy town in a mountainous region of central Mexico is the polar opposite of every stereotypical, Carlos & Charlie’s riddled Mexican resort town you’ve been to.  Similarly, CSM stands away from the crowd with its more elegant cuisine in a friendly and welcoming atmosphere.  Its clear Chef Galvian goes to great links to keep the approach and cuisine in his restaurant true to its roots.  You’ll frequently see him walking the room but he’s far from just a front of the house guy.  Often, his apron is on and his shirt is mucked up with kitchen debris.  You know how we love chefs that actually cook. Designer Ron Guest has made quite a name for himself around town as a restaurant designer with several of the Lombardi properties and Aurora on his resumé.  And it’s easy to see an accomplished designer dressed up the digs at Café San Miguel.  The warm, colorful dining room is a blend of traditional Mexican pieces, many from Chef Galvian’s hometown, mixed in with hand forged accessories.  In other words, there aren’t any piñatas or obnoxious Corona signs with plastic Mexican flags strewn around. 

In the local wasteland of cheesy, greasy cucharas, Café San Miguel is a little oasis dishing out a more sophisticated cuisine than its con carne’d (distant) cousins.  Ideally, we’d catch a bird down south but with these airlines charging for carrying a purse on the plane and seemingly doing everything in their power to keep us on the ground, we can’t get back to Mexico as often as we’d like these days.  And even though there’s no ocean or 50¢ Sol’s, the food and atmosphere at Café San Miguel can take us south of the border…for a couple of hours anyway.