[CH] ChileHead notes from San Antonio

Alex Silbajoris (asilbajo@hotmail.com)
Mon, 02 Jun 2003 15:07:07 +0000 

Well, I had a good time visiting there from Tuesday night to Friday 
afternoon.  Never had any BBQ but I did hit several Mexican and 
pseudo-Mexican places.  In summary, mediocre Mexican is as available there 
as it is in my home town of Columbus, Ohio.  I didn't find anything to beat 
my favorite places here, but of course I could only sample a small amount of 
what was available.

Coming in as a tourist, I read the copy of Que Pasa San Antonio provided in 
my hotel room.  It had write-ups of favorite restaurants, and while the food 
descriptions were good the menus didn't seem to be anything really 
extraordinary.  While spending the work day at the commissary at Lackland 
AFB, I asked the staff what their favorite places were.  They made one 
distinction in evaluating the sincerity of a restaurant:  whether the place 
makes its own tortillas.

On their recommendation, I tried Garibaldis on Old Rt. 90.  The menu had 
dozens of tacos, including breakfast tacos with eggs and potatoes, etc.  I 
had tacos de lengua, which were good, but I think it was the jar of jalapeno 
sauce on the table that had me close to a rest room the next day...  On the 
previous day, I had good tacos al Pastor at Charro de Jalisco right outside 
the base gate.  I also had quesadillas and stuffed jalapenos at two places 
along the Riverwalk, and they were good, but those could have been served 
anywhere.

I don't know, maybe someone from Texas travels to Ohio and tries Bob Evans 
restaurants or some Amish places as Real Authentic Buckeye Cooking - which 
it would be, even if it wasn't particularly exciting.  I think I found the 
same thing there; most Mom-and-Pop Mexican places have fairly plain food, 
though well prepared.  While everyone seems to have the standard Tex-Mex 
staples, a bit of searching around might turn up unusual items.  I saw 
places like 7 Mares (Seven Seas) and La Isla,  and little neighborhood 
taquerias that had bars on the windows - whew!  It's "the west side of town" 
that Tish Hinojosa sings about.

Go to the tourist shops, and there are all kinds of items in a chile pepper 
motif - servingware, accessories, all the usual stuff we have discussed here 
over the years.  But it's not like habaneros are falling out of the sky.  
Any typical restaurant won't bombard you with heat in the dishes.  I had one 
meal at a local chain called Taco Cabana (hey, it was the only thing open at 
23:00 near the hotel) and their hottest salsa at the salsa bar was barely 
more than moderately hot.  The rest of the food there was comparable to Taco 
Bell.

(Of course, I was packing my own pepper powder mix.)

However, I did enjoy the time I was cruising old 90, and suddenly I smelled 
something - at first I thought "chives" then I thought "a bowl of onions" 
and then I looked to my right and saw that I was passing a salsa factory.  
That's on a par with the time I could smell the tobacco in the warehouses in 
Winston-Salem, just by driving past them on the expressway.

I still hear accordion music.  My college Spanish was coming back fast; if I 
lived there long I would be bilingual, and loving it.  The people were nice, 
although the panhandlers around Riverwalk and the Alamo were annoying.  The 
highway design is crazy, except for the in-town elevated highways that 
provide pleasant shade to the local lanes below.

I hope to go back again, in which case this would be a good first scouting 
trip.

- A

http://www.angelfire.com/oh/alexsleaves/images/tall_margarita.jpg

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