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If you have come to Las Micheladas Bar & Grill for the enchiladas, you will be a bit disappointed—there are none on the menu. Las Micheladas does offer a delicious meeting of traditional dishes, like their family-recipe birria beef and fresh-caught ceviche, and modern fusions, like their take on Sinaloa sushi.
“We took some things off the menu,” said Kassandra Ramirez, “because we wanted to bring in things that no other local restaurants had. We had too many things, and we wanted to focus on just our specialties.”
Ramirez and her brother David Ramirez grew up in Hollister and had no restaurant experience before opening Las Micheladas. Kassandra worked in cosmetics and David was a barber. Their mother picked strawberries, and their father still works in a garlic powder plant in Gilroy. But with their whole family sharing a passion for cooking, the move to opening a restaurant seemed inevitable.
“Everyone always complimented my parents on their food,” Kassandra said. “We always thought about doing a little side job just because it’s hard to live on a nine-to-five job, and we wanted a little extra income.”
Their first thought was to start a food truck when their current location, 427 San Benito Street in Hollister, became available. Planning to open in late 2019, a fire that destroyed the building next to them delayed things until they were allowed to build a parklet after the onset of the pandemic.
“When COVID came around,” David said, “we had a little spot to sell from, doing to-go orders. We got some money together for chairs and tables and put in our first dining area. So the parklets helped us to accomplish everything we have done since.”
The recipes for dishes like the birria and carnitas came from their father’s mother, who grew up in Michoacán, and key ingredients, like the shrimp, are sourced directly from Mexico.
“We strive for quality in things that we serve to be sure that everything in our menu is the best,” Kassandra said. “With the shrimp, it is always so nice and fresh, and you can tell that right away. It has a different snap and a different texture.“
Everything is house-made, from the tortillas to the fruit waters to the salsas and sauces.
“You can tell the difference,” she said. “Nothing is canned, and everything is fresh. When I eat our food, I think of my grandma and my culture, where I came from. To see somebody taste a piece of that, get in touch a little with our culture, and enjoy it is really incredible.”
The Food and Drinks of Las Micheladas Bar & Grill
The Classica Michelada With Mango – A combination of house mix, salt, lime, diced mango, and your choice of beer, this is the simplest michelada on the menu. Stripped down to the basics, there is an inviting and refreshing balance between the spicy mix and the sweet mango. From here, the Micheladas rise in complexity, from the Tostichelada, which adds Tostitos chips, shrimp ceviche and Japanese peanuts, to the Super Michelada, which comes with Clamato mix, a shot of tequila, and 12 cooked shrimp—almost a meal in itself.
Botana Mixta – Made with shrimp and fish ceviche, peppers, chili, celery, and unpeeled shrimp, this dish got a big thumbs-up from my friend Manuel Rocha, who tried them for me and said it was one of the best ceviches he has ever had. (It looked great, but I have shrimp allergies.) “The shrimp is crispy and clean with just the right amount of lime,” he said. “There is some octopus that adds to the flavor profile, which is already phenomenal. Everything can be appreciated as a whole, but then it gains depth as you pick it apart.”
Platillo de Birria – About as close to home cooking as you can get, the tender shredded, beef dripping with juices, is accompanied by rice and beans and served with a side dish of consume and three fresh corn tortillas. Las Micheladas uses a combination of USDA prime beef knuckle and chuck roll that has been slow-roasted for up to four hours, and the results are mouth-watering. The fluffy rice and tender beans deserve a special mention—they add to the comfort food feel of the dish without being overwhelmingly spicy or over-seasoned. You can taste the care and the tradition behind this dish and it is my pick of the foods I tried.
Orden Tacos Tilapia – Each order comes with two substantial deep-fried tilapia filets folded into house-made corn tortillas that are topped with cabbage and slices of avocado, and served with rice and beans. The crispy batter keeps the fish moist and tender, and a drizzle of spicy chipotle mayo pulls the whole thing together beautifully. This is the ultimate surfer food and could well be the best fish tacos in town. As with the shrimp, the real selling point here is how clean and fresh the fish tastes, as if you just pulled it out of the Gulf yourself a few minutes earlier. These are fish tacos made right and, for me, are a must-try.
Ponchito Roll – Named after the chef who created this dish as a way of getting rid of some teriyaki sauce that was ordered by mistake, this sushi roll is made with teriyaki chicken, bell pepper, pineapple, cream cheese and avocado, which is then battered and deep fried. It is served with a spicy mayo and teriyaki drizzle along with pickled ginger slices. I thought this would be a lot of fun, and the rollercoaster of flavors did not disappoint. I particularly enjoyed how the ginger gave the dish a peppery warmth that countered the sweet, cold pineapple and the salty teriyaki. I had this as an appetizer for the table, but I could easily see having it as a change-of-pace lunch choice
Recommendations for future Eat, Drink, Savor articles can be emailed to roberteliason@benitolink.com.
BenitoLink thanks our underwriters, Hollister Super and Windmill Market, for helping to expand the Eat, Drink, Savor series and give our readers the stories that interest them. Hollister Super (two stores in Hollister) and Windmill Market (in San Juan Bautista) support reporting on the inspired and creative people behind the many delicious food and drink products made in San Benito County. All editorial decisions are made by BenitoLink.
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