The most common response we received when we told people about this Texas trip was, “Wow, Heather, you’re such a good wife. Matt’s so lucky! I can’t believe you’re letting him go on this trip and that you’re actually going with him! I mean, San Antonio?! There is literally NOTHING in San Antonio.”
While I’ll happily accept the compliment (I’m amazing, thank you) the part about San Antonio is a little unfair. San Antonio turns out to be a really lovely city. Sure, it may not have a long list of famous attractions like Paris or New York, but it certainly has its own charms.
First of all, it is home to the mighty Spurs.
Then, there is the Alamo which is like, a really big deal for reasons I’ve now forgotten (something to do with Texans, Mexicans, and Davey Crockett?)
Third, there is the famous River Walk, which lines the banks of the San Antonio river with bars, cafes, and restaurants.
During the day, its a relaxing barge ride down the river, admiring the Spanish-influenced architecture and learning about the city’s history. In the evening, it becomes a romantic stroll across footbridges and beside water sparkling from street lamps, to the music of mariachi singers.
Oh, and when the Spurs win the NBA championship, it’s where the whole city comes to celebrate and get a little bit (or a lot) crazy.
Of course it’s touristy, but not in an obnoxious way. It’s warm, relaxed, and friendly – kind of like Sydney. Maybe that’s why we liked it so much. We were right in the middle of downtown, in the busiest area of the city, and it was still chill. “Chill” is a word that has escaped our vocabulary since moving to Korea, and I think that played a big part in how much we enjoyed this trip. It was the change of pace and scene that we didn’t even realize we were craving so badly. We were like two seventy-year-olds who just wanted to hold hands and walk slowly in a place that was small, clean, and quiet.
San Antonio isn’t really a foodie hotspot (though, I believe it is slowly growing into one). There’s no “20 Things You NEED to Eat in San Antonio” list on Buzzfeed, so I had to rely on TripAdvisor and Yelp reviews for research.
Our first stop after a lazy barge cruise was Boudro’s on the River Walk. This place had good reviews and seemed well-loved by locals and visitors alike, but what really won us were the ponchos they had laid out for outdoor diners.
So warm and fashionable!
We ordered the “guacamole for two” ($9) which is described as “freshly prepared at your table.” Next thing we know, a massive trolley was being wheeled to our table carrying this glorious, glorious basket of avocados, limes, and oranges.
My darling limes and avocados I MISSED YOU GUYS SO MUCH!! Avocados are a luxury item in Korea so I only get to eat them occasionally… and any restaurant that offers “guacamole” gives you a tablespoon-sized serving that you have to eat so sparingly that it kind of hurts your heart.
I’ve seen guacamole made “live” before but it was no where near as exciting as this. I mean, the avocado came on its own ROLLING STAGE! I sweetly asked the waitress for permission and she let me film the entire show.
A big juicy avo, kosher sea sealt, half a lime, a squeeze of orange juice, chopped red onion, fire roasted roma tomatoes (you can here me say “Wow” as she scoops those in) and cilantro.
WAIT. HOLD UP.
I didn’t notice at the time, but watching the video I just realized . . . THERE IS A BOWL OF CHOPPED CHILLI ON THAT TROLLEY THAT SHE TOTALLY FORGOT TO PUT IN!
You know what, it’s okay. I forgive her – she was clearly feeling the pressure in front of the camera. The guac was so amazing, the thought that something was missing didn’t even cross my mind. It was already packed with all kinds of superfresh flavors – the roasted tomatoes were especially good, turning this into an almost-salsa/guac hybrid dip.
Accompanied with an American-sized cone of fresh tortilla chips.
I ordered the Empanada Langosta ($15.50) because I saw it on someone else’s table and it looked incredible.
Pan-seared lobster tail on a pepper jack cheese and spinach empanada, with avocado, crème fraiche and red pepper chipotle beurre blanc.
Is this Mexican/French fusion? Whatever it is, it works – the lobster was beautifully cooked and went really well with the rich chipotle sauce and fresh avocado. The empanada was a bit strange though – not sure why you would pair a doughy cheese dumpling with an elegant lobster tail.
Even though Boudro’s is “American” cuisine, most of the dishes have a Mexican influence, like Matt’s Blue Crab Tostada ($12.00).
Gulf Coast seafood in a corn tortilla shell with tomato, avocado and melted jack cheese. Matt liked this so much he refused to share it with me.
We loved our meal at Boudro’s – service was amazing (because, Texas), and the food was a win both in quality and quantity. Before coming to America we were pretty worried at how annoyed we’d get at having to pay tax + tip on top of the menu prices, but we were so happy with the food and service at every single place we went we were just like,
We went back to the riverside the next day on a non-game night for dinner at the Esquire Tavern, the oldest pub on the River Walk.
The first thing you’ll notice as you walk in is the seemingly endless bar (the longest wooden bar top in Texas), with shelves packed with all kinds of colourful and highly lethal sprits. There’s a long line of cozy booth seats against the wall and a couple of bearded blokes in flannel shirts mixing drinks. It’s like wild wild west meets hipster small bar.
One thing I really loved about San Antonio is how well-preserved their history is. The architecture, the landmarks, the neon signs – everything is, or looks, more than a hundred years old. The city seems to have very little interest in modernising itself – and why should it? I’ll take an old-timey saloon-style pub over a sleazy chic bar any day.
We didn’t make reservations, so they only had outdoor seating available for us. I was a bit disappointed about not being able to sit and soak in the dark, historic ambience inside, but the vibe on the balcony wasn’t bad at all.
They sat us at a tiny table in a private corner of the balcony, overlooking the brightly lit river and, if you’d allow me to get mushy for a moment, it was really quite romantic.
We started with cocktails. They weren’t messing around with the alcoholic concoctions here – this was hard cowboy liquor. The waitress warned me against my first choice because it was “quite boozy” (I must have “Lightwight with bad case of Asian flush” written all over my face) so I went for a breezy Pimm’s Cup (Pimm’s no. 1, lemon, cucumber, ginger beer). Matt on the other hand was like, “Give me the booziest you got!” so he ordered one (forget the name) that was basically three (or five?) shots of liquor served over a giant ice rock.
CHEERS!
To start we ordered the deviled eggs ($7), which is the kind of appetiser Betty Draper would bring to a pot-luck, but seems to be making a “so daggy it’s cool now” come-back. You know how much I love my eggs so I’m always open to new ways to eat them. “Deviled” means hard boiled with the yolks scooped out, mixed with other things like mayonnaise and mustard, and then scooped back in again. These came with arugula and pink peppercorns.
I’ve never experienced pink peppercorns as a salad topping before, and I don’t understand why because they were SO GOOD! They look like these gorgeous little berries, and give you a pleasant burst of light pepperiness as you bite into them. If they were more readily available, I’d sprinkle them on everything. And the deviled eggs, well, I already love hard boiled eggs and these were just pimped up versions of the same. I might need channel my inner 1970’s housewife and make these the next time I have dinner guests.
We also ordered the chilli salt fries ($3) because I couldn’t resist (chilli & salt – my two great loves). They came with HOUSE-MADE ketchup. In fact, every single thing at the Esquire is house-made or sourced from local artisan suppliers. Man, I’ve missed this kind of snobbish obsession with food quality – quite common in Sydney, but really hard to get here in Korea.
I ordered the Chicken Mole ($15) for my main. The chicken leg came out on a bed of creamed corn and candied almonds with the skin so caramelised that it was rich, glossy dark brown. I’d never tried a mole sauce before because I was put off by the chocolate element, but it wasn’t at all what I expected – just a rich, spicy sauce that went really well with the smoked chicken.
Matt was in a “Bro Food” mood so he got the Hudspeth River Ranch Lamb Burger ($20) with caramelized onion, tzatziki, tomato, chèvre (goats cheese) on a hawaiian bun. Terrible photo but the burger was incredible – the lamb patty was medium rare and juicy with gamey baby sheep goodness, perfectly paired with the tart yogurt sauce and creamy goat’s cheese.
We were so full at this point that dessert would have killed us, so we just sat on the balcony for a while, letting the “Wow, can you believe we’re actually in San Antonio?” moment sink in and already beginning to feel sad about how much we were going to miss the place. Matt suggested, half joking, half serious, “Maybe we should just move here?” and I my gut response was “There is no way I’m going to be that person who moved to a city in another country for a SPORTS TEAM.” But you know what, thinking about it a little more, that isn’t such a bad story. People have done far crazier things. Who knows? Anything can happen.
As a sort-of epilogue to this post, I wanted to write about a cafe I checked out on our last full day in SA. I woke up that morning realising I hadn’t had a proper espresso coffee in days, so I looked up “best coffee in San Antonio” and came across this place that happened to be on the way to the BBQ place we were driving to for lunch.
The very humbly named “Local Coffee” looked pretty ordinary from the outside – marked by a cute neon sign with only half the letters lit up.
On the inside, it’s as hipster as hipster can be with a crowd of people who all look like smart young entrepreneurs managing their own online businesses from their laptops.
They had slow-pour coffee “prepared at brew bar” for truly discerning coffee drinkers, but I just wanted my usual espresso with steamed milk.
Their espresso menu was simple but absolutely genius – especially for people like me who love their coffee but are also a bit soft and can’t take it black. They had four different types of milk coffees, each with a double shot and increasing quantities of milk – starting with the Macchiato (1 oz/30ml milk) up to the Latte (10 oz/300ml milk). I’d never heard of a “Cortado,” but it’s a real thing – a Spanish version of a Macchiato with a little more milk (2 oz/60ml). Yeah yeah I know that any cafe will modify the amount of milk in your drink if you ask them (though, in Korea you’d probably just get a confused look) but I love the cute simplicity of laying it out on a menu like this. And prices also vary according to the amount of milk, which I think is fair.
I wanted something comforting but not too heavy, so I opted for the Cappuccino (4 oz/120 ml milk).
For the second time in my life (the first being at Brother Baba Budan in Melbourne more than five years ago), I took one sip and thought, “This is the perfect cup of coffee.” The fact that I’ve been drinking coffee-flavoured hot milk parading itself as a latte for more than a year in Korea may have added to how great this tasted… but man, I didn’t want the cup to end. I was kicking myself for not having found this place earlier in the trip.
We really fell unexpectedly in love with San Antonio. You know when you ask someone where their favourite place in the world is, expecting an exotic answer like the Maldives or Machu Picchu, and they tell you somewhere completely random and ordinary like “Daejon, Korea” or “Adelaide”? I think San Antonio is that place for us.
There’s a time in life for hiking the Himalayas, bungee jumping in Queenstown, or karaoke in Tokyo, but for us, San Antonio came at the exact time we needed it. It breathed fresh air into our lungs, opened our eyes to bluer sky, serenaded us with the Cancion del Mirachi, made us fresh guacamole, and reminded us what coffee should really taste like.
So when Seoul life gets us down, we’ll just sigh and say, “We’ll always have Paris San Antonio.” When we have the blues for no other reason, we’ll know it’s because we left our hearts in San Francisco Antonio. And for the rest of our days, or until we cross paths again, we’ll be California San Antonio dreamin’… WAIT. Is it possible that someone with the same heart has actually written a song dedicated to our darling city?
*Googles frantically*
Oh wow. Uh, okay I guess my affection for San Antonio isn’t as original or unique as I thought. Well, at least now I have a perfect way to end this post – with a broken song of love for good old San Antone.
