News and notes from the San Antonio food scene
Chef Andrew Weissman’s Le Rêve restaurant, 152 E. Pecan, was the subject last week of a rave review by the New York Times’ R.W. Apple. The timing was great, boosting summer business (which can be slow while San Antonians head out of town for vacation) before Weissman and wife Maureen close up shop for their annual August vacation. You can try to squeeze in a reservation, 212-2221, or just drop in for lunch at the chef’s next-door gem, Sandbar, 222-2426.
Mint is just one little herb (that spreads like carpet under the right conditions, but still); what can it do against our searing summer heat? Stop by Whole Foods Market in the Quarry, 255 E. Basse, between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday for a variety of food and drink samples (and see our recipe, this page, for refreshing Whiskey Smashes). 826-4676 for more info. South Texas Blood & Tissue will also be taking blood donations in the parking lot from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. that day (And you can adopt a puppy from those nice folks who camp out near the front door ...)
Recent satellite imaging shows that, for the 7th-largest city in the U.S., San Antonio’s Starbucks blanket is perilously thin (although, on a related note, see the Burnt Orange Report, Burntorangereport.com, for a 2004 election-rhetoric expose on latte prejudice. Seems Texas’s Starbucks-to-coffee-swillers ratio is way ahead of true-blue Vermont ... ) At least one hole will be patched in the near future when the coffee franchise installs a new location at the corner of Hildebrand and Judson, just off of McCullough near the Olmos Pharmacy. The zoning-case applicants (who got the green light in June), Olmos Park Village and Steward Capital Ventures, couldn’t be reached for a timeline, but Monte Vista residents have their refillable vente coffee cups ready.
You can also support San Antonio’s outpost of Texas’s homegrown mini coffee chain, Ruta Maya Riverwalk, 107 E. Martin. Check their website, Rutamayariverwalk.com, for a list of upcoming events, including a CAM SLAM on July 14, and DJ David Villanueva, D*Groove, July 15. 223-6292 for more info.
- Elaine Wolff
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