The Michelin Guide’s Bib Gourmand award recognizes “restaurants that offer a high-quality three-course meal for a reasonable price.” In the first Texas guide, which debuted in late 2024, San Antonio garnered four of them: Cullum’s Attaboy, the Jerk Shack, Ladino and Southerleigh Fine Food & Brewery.
Some wonder aloud whether the award is a not-quite-one-star consolation prize, while other Reddit ruminators quibble over the definition of “reasonable price.” Given the breadth of restaurants earning the designation, they’d almost have to be considered on a case-by-case basis to get to the bottom of such questions.
To that point, let’s go straight to a recent experience at Southerleigh at the Pearl. For the three of us dining during that excursion, the cost per person for a three-course meal came to $67.12, excluding alcoholic beverages but including tax and tip. It would have been closer to $81 had we not shared a single dessert.
Was it both “high quality” and “reasonable” enough to warrant its Bib Gourmand designation? Read on.
There’s no denying that Southerleigh itself impresses with its towering height, industrial trappings and backdrop of stainless brewing tanks and rustic oak barrels. All of this sets up certain expectations of cuisine and service right from the get-go. Service meets expectations. On paper, so does the menu.
While some starters come out of left field — biscuits with jam, anyone? — deviled eggs are a quintessential Southern appetizer, and the kitchen’s take on the tried-and-true picnic staple is a welcome variation on the theme. Pickled mustard seeds add tangy crunch, and bits of bacon “jam” unite popular favorites sweet and fat to good effect.
The combination of thick tomato slices with plush lump crab and herby pistou should have yielded an equally good end result, especially with seasonal “heirloom” tomatoes. But no. The tomatoes were impressively large but depressingly tasteless. As the tomatoes go, so goes this dish. And it went.
Should you order the Brussels sprouts as an appetizer, attempt to save some as a main dish accompaniment. This won’t be easy, since they are sensationally good — made just funky enough with the addition of fish sauce and fearlessly charred enough to add appealing crispness. Delicate slices of pickled Fresno pepper add further complexity.
Your server will likely suggest the fried snapper throats in the opening spiel, but as good as they have been in the past, I tend to draw the line somewhere south of $20 for starters. For just $5 more you can have the equally well-regarded fried chicken main — complete with the homemade biscuits that seem perfectly at home in this context. Cracker-coated redfish sounded even more appealing.
The dish’s technique was certainly there: the cracker coating is impeccably crisp, the fish perfectly cooked, and scattered lump crab added luxe. The redfish’s bed of lemon beurre blanc was velvety and lightly citrus-scented — perhaps too lightly, since there simply wasn’t any spark to the dish considered as a whole.
Unlike the tomatoes, it’s hard to blame the fish itself, so let’s lay this one on the bland coating.
In what was beginning to seem like a familiar pendulum swing, the pastramied pork chop came out both barrels blazing. It’s said to be brined for 48 hours — likely with the expected coriander, mustard seeds, black pepper and more — then smoked. The chop is presented thickly sliced and crusty with what the menu called German potato salad. In truth, the side is little more than smashed potatoes, but little more may be exactly what’s needed in this case.
Of all the mains, the birria-braised antelope was the one that seemed to pay most homage to that other local culinary influence: Mexican. The recent birria craze, employing beef or goat, seems to have settled down a bit, so it’s the perfect time for variations on the theme. Enter antelope served without a drop of broth. Some may miss the dish’s stewed aspect, and dabs of goat cheese and flecks of greens don’t add much. However, a beautiful pecan mole amarillo more than compensates. Fried masa “gnocchi” seem like an afterthought, but they’re fun, so why not.
Come to think of it, the gnocchi would be a good playmate with many of Southerleigh’s in-house brews. The crisp and dry-hopped Tide Runner pale ale with its teasing “cannabis on the nose” was the distinct favorite of the two we sampled. The Mexican lager Don’t Dress Me, brewed with lime so you don’t have to add it yourself, came across as a little strident.
The chocolate tart we shared as a dessert, on the other hand, was all smoothness and subtlety. An Oreo crust provided the perfect base. The chocolate filling proved lush and, well, chocolatey, and a topping of torched marshmallow crème with a caramel crater only added to the delight. The finish was “high quality” all the way, leaving us just happy enough to justify the “reasonable” criterion as well.
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This article appears in Jun 12-25, 2025.