Published November 12, 2024

Article and photos by Susan Knight York

In 2016, we introduced you to 34 female chefs in SMA; the women who leveled the culinary playing field in SMA. We also featured 16 Maestras; the culinary pioneers of SMA, all of them female. Fast forward to 2024 and we’ve reached another major milestone for female chefs. Meet Chef Regina Aguilar, Mixologist, Yuranzi Silva, and Sommelier, Viridiana Martinez, the talent behind Hacintto; a soon to be sold out and you’ll need a reservation Hacintto. Yes, that one! Thank you Guillermo Nieto of El Estoril for the introduction because, for a math whiz and food lover, we all know that Chef Regina Aguilar+ Chef Yuranzi Silva +Chef Viridiana Martinez= pure magic!

In addition to over-the-top food with just seven things on the menu, you’ll find those second level drinks I’ve been talking about, with exceptional service and some of the best ambiance in town, all at affordable prices. The most expensive dish on the menu is $315 pesos and one of my favorites: a tray of half dozen oversized shrimp marinated in adobo salmorejos and yellow lemon marinade; a cross between the cultures of Mexico and Spain. The other food items run between $150 and $285 pesos; all of them divine with flavors that will truly surprise you. The Not Fish and Chips (not served with chips) is prepared using a Louisiana technique for fried chicken where they leave the fish marinating overnight in buttermilk and other ingredients so that it’s crispy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside; it literally melts in your mouth. Hacintto is all about cocktails as well; the most expensive drink on the menu, a Green Negroni, is $210 pesos and a soon-to-be-famous if it isn’t already, Margaritto at $180 pesos. The Margarita to come home to is made with Casa Dragones tequila blanco, lemon oil, pineapple, cucumber, chile liqueur and bitter firewater. It’s one of our new favorites.

Chef, Regina Aguilar has a resume that reads like a James Beard Who’s Who; a tribute to her incredible talent and experience at the young age of 26. She’s worked for some of the best chefs and restaurants in Mexico, South America and Europe; many of them Michelin star and The World’s 50 Best. The range of her experience is incredible so we’ll take you through some of the restaurants where she worked:

Fauna in Valle de Guadalupe; in 2023, The World’s 50 Best Restaurants ranked Fauna as the best restaurant in Mexico and fifth in Latin America;

Deckman’s En El Mogor, Valle de Guadalupe features a live fire kitchen with traditional Baja California dishes and American barbecue;

Alcalde, Guadalajara is the best dining experience in Mexico’s second largest city, Guadalajara where we just returned from. The kitchen offers a mix of Mexican gastronomic techniques and avant-garde cuisine. We’ve loved the cooking of every Alcalde alumni we’ve eaten with, including Chef Juan Carlos of Cafe Aldama;

Cocina de Humo and Levadura de Olla, Oaxaca. Chef Thalia Barrios is the winner of the MICHELIN Mexico 2024 Young Chef Award. Her restaurants use ingredients that are harvested in her home town, San Mateo Yucutindoó, and other communities in Oaxaca. These were two of the best meals we ate in both Oaxaca and Mexico earlier this year;

Borago, Santiago, Chile works with small producers and foragers across Chile as well as sourcing vegetables from the restaurant’s biodynamic farm and orchard. The method earned Boragó the Latin America’s 50 Best Sustainable Restaurant Award and a regular spot in the top five of the continent’s best restaurants;

DiverXO, Madrid is rated number 3 in the World by The World’s 50 Best Restaurants. This 3 star Michelin pleasure-dome pushes the gastronomic boundaries to the limit with unique combinations and Asian influences; complements of Chef Dabiz Muñoz; the Best Chef in the World 2023.

RavioXO, Madrid, is a one star Michelin restaurant also owned by Dabiz Muñoz. A gastronomical tribute to pasta and dough mixes cuisines from different cultures, including Asia and Italy. RavioXO is the “luxury of eating time” since each of the pieces requires long hours of preparation.

Hokol Vuh is one of the most important gastronomic and social projects in the Yucatán. The adventure begins weeks before with a trip to the Mayan communities that work with endemic ingredients and ancestral cooking techniques. The indigenous cooks share their stories, knowledge and ingredients.

The project is headed by Chef Roberto Solís, who constantly works with new techniques, presentations and flavors; crafting what’s known as the new Yucatecan cuisine.

Chef Regina Aguilar also worked for Amatte in San Miguel de Allende, which is owned by her father, Hector Aguilar, who needs no introduction.

The Venezuelan born Chef and Mixologist, Yuranzi Silva, is a pint-sized dynamo with an enormous talent. A graduate in gastronomy at Zi Teresa Culinary Arts, she has 10 years of experience in the field, working in hospitality in Venezuela, Panama, Pearl Archipelago and now Mexico. As Garnish Chef, Head of Production and one of the founders at Rayo Laboratory Cocktail Bar in Mexico City, Rayo ranked #5 in North America’s 50 Best Bars 2024 and was previously ranked #17 in 2023, also winning the title of Best New Opening. Rayo’s program is a tasting experience that features cocktails based on agave distillates, inspired by Mexican ingredients. Chef Yuranzi Silva was also a popular contestant on The Ultimate Mixologist, Season 3, where she took third place.

Viridiana Martinez studied Gastronomy at Instituto Culinario Danieli/Villa Danieli in San Luis Potosí, with a specialty in Wine; her very first love. The former Director of the prestigious Festival del Vino SLP also worked with ONSOM in Guadalajara – the National Organization of Sommeliers of Mexico and at ANSONG school. A certified teacher and a chef, she also worked with Grupo Pasta in León and Querétaro who has four concepts – Il duomo, L’osteria del Duomo, Il Diavolo and the Pastry Shop with a total of 13 restaurants. She was the Sommelier at Amatte in San Miguel de Allende before going with her friend, Chef Regina Aguilar, to take on the position of Sommelier at Hacintto. With a dynamic personality that instantly melts you, she also heads up the Front of the House.

Every time I left Hacintto last week, I wanted more; more of that feeling of having one of the best meals I’ve eaten in SMA in over a decade with Chef Regina Aguilar on the fast track, headed for her own Michelin star.

Stay tuned.

Hacintto
60 Insurgentes
Centro, San Miguel de Allende, GTO.
Hours: Wednesday – Saturday 2:00 PM – 10:30 PM
Sunday 2:00 PM – 6:00 PM
For Reservations Phone: 415 103 2158
Chef: Regina Aguilar
Garnish Chef/Mixologist: Yuranzi Silva
Sommelier, Chef and Front of the House: Viridiana Martinez
Media: Elizabeth Sandoval