The Restaurant

The Restaurant by Donnie Masterton is the chef-driven American-influenced dining room of Donnie Masterton — an American-born chef who relocated to San Miguel de Allende in 2008 and has run the Sollano 16 townhouse since 2010, building one of the village's most reliable mid-tier contemporary kitchens. The room is a converted 19th-century colonial townhouse with stone-vaulted ceilings, an open kitchen at the back, and forty-eight covers across two rooms.

The cuisine is contemporary American with Mexican-Bajío sourcing — the Masterton style is recognisably American-Pacific (the chef's training is from California) but with a deep Mexican-Bajío sourcing programme. Signatures include a hand-cut Bajío-mountain ribeye; a slow-roasted Sierra Gorda lamb shoulder with Mexican-mole reduction; a wood-fired Pacific-Mexican octopus; a hand-rolled tagliolino with Mexican-mole; a refined American-style burger with Bajío-mountain bacon.

The wine list runs to 300 references with deep Mexican Valle de Guadalupe coverage and a tightly chosen American-Pacific and French section.

Service is family-run — Masterton himself runs the open kitchen most evenings. The Restaurant is the dining room that visiting Americans, San Miguel expat residents, and serious-occasion local diners all use as a default address.

The Restaurant by Donnie Masterton is the easy-first-date room in San Miguel — quieter than Moxi, less formal than Áperi, and the American-influenced cooking is the right answer for visiting American clients. Book the corner two-top by the open kitchen.