4 Best Restaurants in San Miguel de Allende, San Miguel de Allende and the Heartland

This tiny open-air restaurant looking out onto the fields of La Trinidad's organic produce offers farm-to-table dining, literally. Gnocchi is tasty but too much for a main dish; it's better to share among your party so you can save room for one of the Korean lettuce wraps, a fresh green salad, or a pork loin sandwich. Absolutely not to be missed are homemade ice creams such as vanilla bean or coconut.

Go early for best selection; food is prepared fresh daily, and the kitchen usually runs out of some dishes by afternoon's end.

The farm is about 10 minutes outside of San Miguel.

This family-owned restaurant is known for its friendly service and casual atmosphere. It has great breakfast options, including eggs Benedict and waffles, which are available until noon to aid late risers. At lunch and dinner light fare predominates, including salads and sandwiches, but there are full meals as well, such as grilled chicken with lovely steamed veggies, and the popular chiles en nogada (mild chili peppers stuffed with an elaborate ground-meat mixture and topped with walnut sauce and pomegranate seeds). Desserts are all made in-house. Don't miss the new rooftop bar, up several flights of stairs, with exceptional downtown views.

When locals, be they Mexican or expat, ask each other where to eat, the answer is very often, "Let's go to Hecho!" Both the service and the food are consistently good. Choose one of the side dishes (including onion rings, garlic mashed potatoes, cactus salad, green salad, and many more) when ordering a burger, or two side dishes for the well-prepared salmon fillet, ginger chicken, or tender arrachera steak. Favorite desserts include the monster brownie topped with vanilla ice cream, peanut butter pie, and crème brûlée. On weekends musicians often serenade diners on the pretty outdoor patio, which has a retractable roof high above the café tables. One of the two inside rooms—both of which open onto the plant-filled patio—has booths; the other, larger room has tables for four or six diners.

Opened in the summer of 2014, Paprika has no Hungarian dishes, as some diners expect. Rather, there's "contemporary comfort food" for an internationally oriented palate, like the large bowl of pasta puttanesca, or spaghetti topped with shrimp and clams in a subtle, fresh, white-wine sauce. Enjoy hearty main salads, panfried broccoli gomasio (a Japanese condiment of sesame seeds and sea salt), and perfectly seasoned rack of lamb. Candles bless the colonial courtyard (and its authentic altar) in the evening; the inside dining room is comfortable shabby-chic.