Tag Archives: San Antonio

by | May 20, 2014 · 10:06 am

San Antonio’s Culinaria Kicks Off With The Best of Mexico

IMG_20140516_213504The St. Anthony Hotel Welcomes Guests

by Andrew Chalk

Dallas should steal this idea. Imagine a food and drink festival at the architecturally exquisite but currently deserted Quadrangle or Crescent. Imagine it held on a balmy Friday evening. Imagine there were Dallas Mexican food eateries from across the regional, price and stylistic spectrum found in this city. Add fresh cocktails (most tequila-based) and Mexican beers and you have ‘The Best of Mexico’, the opening event in San Antonio’s big Spring food festival ‘Culinaria‘. SA holds it in the beautiful open-air shopping mall named The Shops at La Cantera.

Unlike Dallas’ attempts at open-air malls it is is pretty fully rented and vibrant. Tonight, the event area is packed as San Antonio natives and the tourists resourceful enough to venture beyond the River Walk check out food creations from the dozens of Mexican establishments that line the route. The crowd is eclectic.

There are a lot of young people, some Hispanic families with children, and shoppers caught up in the event who buy tickets on an impulse. Lots of people know what to look for, so the lines at some booths are five minutes long while others are a straight walk up.    Continue reading →

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by | April 23, 2014 · 10:30 am

Plan to Head To San Antonio in May for Culinaria

img11-400x468by Andrew Chalk

You might describe it as “Savor San Antonio“ or the “San Antonio Wine and Food Festival”. Whatever term you choose, Culinaria is five days of wine, spirits, beer and the best restaurants the city has to offer, all set around the most vibrant downtown in Texas. And don’t overlook how much San Antonio’s gourmet scene has improved in recent years. As well as national quality restaurants, there is one of the country’s best cocktail conferences and cocktail bar scenes. Culinaria is simply where that all comes together.

The events, which benefit culinary students and food-related aid organizations, run every day from Tuesday 14th through Sunday 18th with the biggest concentration at the weekend. Wine dinners take place all over town on Wednesday 14th and Thursday 15th May. The 15th also sees the HEB sponsored food truck event.   Continue reading →

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by | January 31, 2014 · 11:21 am

San Antonio Cocktail Conference 2014: Friday was ‘Texas Spirits Night’

IMG_3208Live Music Throughout The Night

by Andrew Chalk

One of the hottest destinations in San Antonio right now is ‘Pearl’, a mixed use residential, retail and entertainment complex centered around the old Pearl brewery. The brewery is being completely gutted to make way for a new Kimpton Hotel that rejuvenates the fine architectural details and southern elevation of the old brewery. I recommend a visit.

I’ll drink to that or, rather, I did on the second night of the San Antonio Cocktail Conference this  month. It was Texas Spirits Night and, having written about the burgeoning Texas wine industry many times, it is reassuring to see that the same phenom is rampant in the spirits world. Whether you want whiskey, vodka, gin or tequila, it is all available from in-state and you have the choice of several producers too.     Continue reading →

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by | January 22, 2014 · 1:26 pm

San Antonio Beat: Minnie’s Tavern And Rye House

fritesby Steven Doyle

Yesterday I shared the story of a lovely San Antonio hot spot that is endeared by the locals, Liberty Bar. What I didn’t know at the time was that a tavern I had been to the night before was the previous digs of Liberty and had a rich history you can read about here. The location is now called Minnie’s Tavern and Rye House, and they make some pretty terrific food and cocktails there.

Now owned by Chef Andrew Weissman who began his gastronomic career at the Culinary Institute of America. After graduating at the top of his class, Weissman took his talents to France, where he worked under Chefs Bernard Andrieux and Jacques Thiebeult Andrew. He also worked Restaurant Bernard Andrieux, Hotel de la Poste, and Troisgros in Roanne while making his French tour.

Weissman’s time abroad re-energized his passion for food, which he applied stateside at Manhattan’s Le Cirque 2000. But Weissman’s ultimate food mission brought him back home to San Antonio, where he introduced world-class cuisine to his hometown with the opening of Le Rêve in 2001. With critical acclaim from The New York Times, Forbes Traveler, and Gourmet, along with two James Beard nominations under his belt, Weissman made an indelible mark on the San Antonio culinary scene.     Continue reading →

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by | January 21, 2014 · 11:42 am

Experience Liberty Bar In San Antonio

DSC09862by Steven Doyle

This past weekend a large contingent of Dallas industry folks made their way south to San Antonio for the 3rd annual San Antonio Cocktail Conference. We will explore the various aspects of that adventure in next few days, and also share some of our extraneous treks off the River Walk, and deeper into the local’s eye view of what can make a glorious weekend in the Alamo City.

One of our favorite dining experiences was a superb brunch with the very delightful Katie McKee, the manager of a King William neighborhood restaurant, Liberty Bar. Ms. McKee was brimming with incredible tales of San Antonio history, especially when it came to the restaurant which is owned by Dwight Hobart. The first incarnation of Liberty bar was set in the historic Pearl District in a building owned by brewmaster Fritz Boehler, and built over 120 years ago. There, Boehler lived with his family on the second floor, and sold groceries below next to his bar, Liberty Schooner Saloon.    Continue reading →

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by | December 4, 2013 · 1:15 pm

A Gourmet’s Tour of San Antonio

sanantonioby Andrew Chalk

Texans know that San Antonio is the place in Texas where we go to play. However, while it has a firm hold on the family market, what with Sea World, Six Flags and the River Walk, Texans with gourmet pretensions have traditionally gone out of state to regional favorites like Santa Fe or New Orleans, or further afield to San Francisco or New York.

Could I, I challenged myself, construct a gourmet tour of San Antonio that while not, for example, having the same ethnic weighting as in the Creole and Cajun influences in New Orleans, or the same Sonoran desert sensibilities as Santa Fe, nonetheless stand up to those heavyweights in its own unique way? Turns out, it was a piece of cake.

I am defining ‘gourmet’ broadly as an ideal reflecting the finest in food and drink. So it may not be a meal, but rather a visit to a winery, market, brewery or distillery, for example. I am also assuming access to a car, so that you take advantage of San Antonio’s location at the foot of the Texas Hill Country.    Continue reading →

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by | November 5, 2013 · 9:08 am

From Restaurant To Institution… La Fogata

IMG_2079

by Andrew Chalk

At a recent restaurant media event in San Antonio I wondered: when does a restaurant transition from just a restaurant to become an institution. You know the difference. An institution you have to visit when you are in town. A restaurant…is just a restaurant. Dallas closest approximations to an institution may be Sonny Bryan’s (at the original location), and the Mansion on Turtle Creek (talk about two ends of the spectrum).

In San Antonio, one unequivocal institution is La Fogata Mexican Cuisine. It began 35 years ago with a converted ice cream stand with seven tables but has expanded to a catacomb of interconnected buildings and patios that spans (including parking) three city blocks. It has a seating capacity of 450 and serves around 6,000 diners each week. Such daunting numbers might make you expect a faceless machine, but nothing could be further from the truth. Owned by the same family, Dwight and Marilyn Lieb, since 1997 and divided up into small cozy areas, La Fogata makes you feel like you are dining somewhere very approachable.   Continue reading →

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by | August 19, 2013 · 8:42 am

October is Texas Wine Month at JW Marriott

marriottby Andrew Chalk

In the Hill Country, 36 wineries will be participating. Pay $25 for a minimum of one and up to three tastings at any of these wineries. Sign up here. Plan to reserve your accommodation right away at the J.W. Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort and Spa. To commemorate the 31 days of celebrating Texas Wines, they will offer a wine pairing dinner menu with Texas wines in 18 Oaks Restaurant nightly during the month of October.

Their press release read “Carefully selected by the chef, the finest meats, seafood and local produce will be complemented by the Texas Wine region’s best vintages”. I checked with their PR and all of the wines to be served are Texas wines:   Continue reading →

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