Every restaurant set to open this year in San Antonio has a silent partner: the pandemic.
From the lofty ambitions of Allora, Arrosta and Ladino at the Pearl to scrappy projects like Wild Barley Kitchen & Brewery and The Beignet Stand on Broadway, COVID has delayed construction schedules, knotted the supply chain and left projects scrambling for staff. COVID’s even affecting the designs, feeding the post-pandemic need for room to breathe.
“In today’s world, outdoor is king,” said Patrick Richardson, who’s adding a courtyard to the new unnamed Italian project he’s building beneath his Silo Elevated Cuisine location on the North Side.
Lisa Wong stayed up nights wondering whether to build a rooftop terrace at her new Rosario’s Cafe y Cantina location on South St. Mary’s. “It came down to the fact that people expect a little more elbow room,” she said. “This might be the way it is from now on.”
Delays and redesigns have done little to dull the ambitions of San Antonio’s food scene, however, and there are several openings set for 2022. These are the 10 I’m looking forward to the most.
By the end of February
Fried veal and salads are part of the menu at the new Italian restaurant Allora at the Pearl.
AlloraAllora
Projected opening: Next few weeks
Location: 403 Pearl Parkway at the Credit Human Building at the Pearl, Facebook: @allorapearl
The buzz: Chef Robbie Nowlin makes his triumphant return to San Antonio with this high-end, full-service Italian concept from restaurateur Peter Selig of Maverick Texas Brasserie, Ácenar and Biga on the Banks. The menu promises coastal specialties like grilled octopus, swordfish langoustines and seafood lasagna, along with steaks, handmade pasta and antipasti plates. The menu also will have cocktails and a European wine list in a setting that evokes a seaside villa for lunch, dinner and brunch.
A rendering shows the interior at Arrosta, a new Italian restaurant coming to the Pearl.
ArrostaArrosta
Projected opening: Next few weeks
Location: 1803 Broadway, Suite 101, at the Oxbow Building at the Pearl, Facebook: @arrostapearl
The buzz: Allora’s more casual Italian cousin, Arrosta will offer breakfast, lunch and dinner in a counter-service setting overseen by Maverick Texas Brasserie chef Christopher Carlson. Expect baked goods, rotisserie meats, a coffee bar, wine, beer, sandwiches, pizza, salads, cheese and charcuterie, along with a display case of take-home meals.
Vintage Wine Bar & Specialty Foods is scheduled to open soon at 555 West Bitters Road, Suite 112 at The Alley on Bitters.
PJ EdwardsVintage Wine Bar & Specialty Foods
Projected opening: Next few weeks
Location: 555 W. Bitters Road, Suite 112, at The Alley on Bitters, Facebook: Vintage Wine Bar & Speciality Foods
The buzz: Meadow Neighborhood Eatery + Bar owners PJ and Lindsey Edwards are expanding their presence at The Alley on Bitters by adding a wine bar, small grocery store and retail shop that will carry 50 to 100 global wine labels. The lunch-and-dinner menu will focus on French-inspired small plates, including escargot, duck confit and housemade pâtés.
Wild Barley Kitchen & Brewery is scheduled to open soon on Broadway.
Mike Sutter /Staff file photoWild Barley Kitchen & Brewery
Projected opening: Within a month
Location: 8403 Broadway, Facebook: @wildbarleykitchenco
The buzz: Holland Lawrence and Marc Fogelsong launched Wild Barley as a food truck in 2019, focusing on pizza and then branching out to make some of the city’s best wood-fired bagels and a constellation of sandwiches made from them. The truck’s success — it’s one of the 10 best in the city — has spawned a brick-and-mortar restaurant and brewery in the former home of Lee’s El Taco Garage on Broadway just inside Loop 410, next door to the upcoming The Beignet Stand.
Wild Barley will be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner with a menu that includes freshly baked breads, bagels, English muffins, pizza and sandwiches along with craft beers. They’ll start selling house-brewed beer in the second or third quarter of the year, Lawrence said, and the truck will remain in operation until the restaurant opens.
Hola! is a new wine and tapas bar scheduled to open soon in Southtown.
Mike Sutter / StaffHola!
Projected opening: Late February
Location: 603 S. Alamo St., 210-336-4044
The buzz: Azuca Nuevo Latino chef and owner Rene Fernandez is doubling down on Southtown with a wine and tapas bar featuring a patio with room for 80 and a view of the Tower of the Americas. The menu will take a global approach to small plates, with charred octopus, ceviche, tuna poke, burrata, charcuterie and more. He’ll also offer what he calls a “wide-open, always changing” wine list 60 labels deep and 15 beers on tap. Plans include retail wine sales and a paella brunch on Sundays.
The Beignet Stand is scheduled to open soon on Broadway.
Chuck Blount / Staff file photoThe Beignet Stand
Projected opening: End of February
Location: 8343 Broadway, Facebook: The Beignet Stand
The buzz: The beauty of the beignet is that you can pile just about anything inside or on top of that New Orleans-style pillow of fried dough: custard, pulled pork, peanut butter, pimento cheese, even Rice Krispies. Michael Grimes and Elisa Treviño have pushed that notion to the max at The Beignet Stand, a staple of the weekend Pearl Farmers Market.
Soon they’ll be pushing the beignet boundaries with their brick-and-mortar spot in the former home of Baby Taco Garage just inside Loop 410, where Grimes said they’ll add a beignet burger and a fried chicken beignet sandwich to the mix. Until they staff up, the new spot will be open for breakfast and lunch Wednesday through Friday only so they can still hit the Pearl on Saturdays and Sundays, Grimes said.
This spring
Cullum’s Attaboy will serve burgers as part of its “champagne breakfast” menu.
Mike Sutter /StaffCullum’s Attaboy
Projected opening: End of March
Location: 111 Kings Court, Facebook: @cullums.attaboy
The buzz: Chris Cullum’s reputation rests on fried chicken, sandwiches and beer at Cullum’s Attagirl off the St. Mary’s Strip. But in a former life, he was also the Cullum’s Attaboy burger truck guy. He’s popped up with Attaboy from time to time, but now he’s giving it a forever home at the former site of Golden Wat Noodle House a few steps away from Attagirl.
Cullum says he’ll make a burger, of course, but Attaboy’s all grown up now, aiming for a “Champagne breakfast” menu running through breakfast and lunch, with pancakes, housemade doughnuts, steak and eggs, bread pudding, omelets, escargot, eggs Benedict with caviar and a full cocktail bar. Nighttime hours are on the wish list.
A new Nonna Italian restaurant project is going in below the Silo Elevated Cuisine on Loop 1604.
Mike Sutter /StaffNonna project on Loop 1604
Projected opening: End of March
Location: 434 N. Loop 1604 W. below Silo Elevated Cuisine
The buzz: When Nonna Osteria opened at The Fairmount Hotel in 2017, it gave chef Luca Della Casa a forum to shine his star power with homestyle Italian cooking. He’ll have the chance to double that star power this spring when restaurateurs Patrick and Cari Richardson open their as-yet-unnamed Nonna project in the former home of Nosh below their Silo Elevated Cuisine on Loop 1604.
Expect lunch and dinner seven days a week with housemade pasta, wood-fired pizza, burrata, traditional Italian dishes and a full bar in a setting that extends into a courtyard set off from the clamor of 1604 by a high garden wall.
Late spring or summer
The former home of Osteria Il Sogno is being transformed into Ladino, a Mediterranean grill house coming to the Pearl.
LadinoLadino
Projected opening: Late spring or early summer
Location: 200 E. Grayson St. Suite 100, at the Pearl, ladinosatx.com
The buzz: Named for the Ladino language spoken by Sephardic Jews in parts of the Middle East, the Balkans, Turkey and Greece, this new concept from Austin’s Emmer & Rye group will spotlight food from all over that region, following the eclectic life trajectory of chef Bertie Richter.
That translates to kebabs, fresh pita, small mezze plates, variations on lamb and fish and much more. Ladino will serve lunch and dinner, with a full bar and seating for about 200 spread among the bar, indoor dining spaces and an outdoor courtyard at the former Osteria Il Sogno space at the Pearl.
Rosario’s Mexican Cafe & Cantina is relocating to South St. Mary’s Street this year.
Staff file photo
Rosario’s Mexican Cafe & Cantina is relocating to South St. Mary’s Street this year.
Mike Sutter /Staff
Rosario’s Mexican Cafe y Cantina
Projected opening: July or August
Location: 722 S. St. Mary’s St., rosariossa.com
The buzz: The labor pains behind the new Southtown location of Rosario’s at the former site of El Mirador have been painfully public as one Mexican food institution is torn down to build another. Rosario’s owner Lisa Wong, who also has Rosario’s on the North Side and Ácenar on the River Walk, has weathered that storm to shepherd the rise of the steel framework that will house the much larger and more modern Rosario’s just down the road from the site she’s vacating.
The relocated Rosario’s will carry over the fajitas, margaritas, enchiladas and shrimp tacos of the original and add a rooftop bar with its own small-plates menu and a panoramic view of the Tower of the Americas.
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https://www.expressnews.com/food/restaurants/article/Top-10-most-anticipated-San-Antonio-restaurants-16809170.php
