All in the family: Beloved Mexican restaurant opens a second Mission location

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Two years after opening El Mil Amores, a brunch and lunch restaurant in the heart of the Mission, Andrea Becerra will launch a second location Friday. The new location of the Mexican restaurant beloved for its killer chilaquiles takes over the former Regalito Rosticeria space on 18th and Valencia.

Becerra, a native of Mexico City, runs El Mil Amores as a family affair. Nine of her relatives, including her mom and sister, work there. (Her smiley 8-month-old daughter Romina — perhaps a future employee — is often at the restaurant, being passed from aunt to uncle to cousin.) Becerra’s stepdad, Francisco “Chucky” Castro, is the chef and will oversee the new location. The second location also comes with family ties:  Becerra’s uncle ran Regalito for 20 years. 

Fittingly, the new location will be called El Mil Amores Regalito — the main difference being a focus on dinner and weekend brunch. Becerra’s recipes pull from the repertoire of her grandmother, an unofficial consultant for the new outpost. She asked Becerra, “‘Why don’t you put the pork feet on the menu? It’s a really good dish.” Thus, pig trotters in salsa verde ($19) with chicharrones and nopales are served with house-made corn tortillas.

A carnivorous molcajeta ($30) overflows with a medley of pork chop, chicken, arrachera (skirt steak), and chorizo, plus grilled queso fresco, nopales, and salsa verde. Like the popular CDMX Plate at the first location (a massive serving of chilaquiles, scrambled eggs, crispy home potatoes, and concha fresh toast), there also will be a DF Plate ($30). Named for the Mexican capital’s former Distrito Federal, it includes Becerra’s mom’s handmade sopes with cecina (cured beef), beans, plantains, and the soup of the day.

As for the beverage menu, the restaurant is making its own tepache ($10), a traditional nonalcoholic, fermented, fruit-based drink similar to kombucha — something she grew up drinking as a kid. Unlike the original El Mil Amores, the new location comes with a wine and beer license, which means whimsical micheladas are on the menu, including a Mexico City-style gomichela ($9) made with beer, tamarindo chamoy, tomato, and lime juice, served in a bottle with a garnish of gummy bears.

Another popular drink in Mexico, the pitufo ($9) — which translates to “Smurf,” because it’s made with a neon-blue berry-flavored energy drink — is likely to be a hit. Normally made with vodka, Becerra’s will contain a low-ABV agave spirit. 

Like the first El Mil Amores, the new restaurant has a long counter. This time, however, it even has a little indoor-outdoor space, with a long communal table. 

For the soft opening this week, Becerra was nervous but said she felt better when she saw familiar faces show up. “People came by to give me a hug and said, ‘Your family is doing good things. Keep going.’”