Expect the downtown area to become inundated with new restaurants and other places to gorge and carouse in the next 12 months. Here’s what’s on our radar:
Gourdough’s Public House
The owners of this Austin-based donut-inspired eatery expect to open its San Antonio location at 215 Losoya St., on the River Walk, this month. Indeed, if you go by, crews have been rapidly transforming the old La Paloma Riverwalk Parrilla Grill space into Gourdough’s. Put this one in the “any day now” category. Read our latest story.
SAVOR
The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) is scheduled to reopen its restaurant at the Pearl this month. The new restaurant, SAVOR, replaces the old one, Nao, which the CIA opened in 2012 and closed last year. “The menu at SAVOR will encourage our guests to try unfamiliar flavors,” said Chef Uyen Pham, a CIA faculty member overseeing SAVOR. Read our latest story.
Chocollazo
Hemisfair is expected to expand its culinary offerings with Chocollazo and Candy Candy, sister chocolate and candy shops by the same owner inside the Pereida House, which is situated directly across from the Marriott Plaza San Antonio near South Alamo Street and East César E. Chávez Boulevard. It’s an expansion for owners Mary and Frank Collazo, who operate the flagship Chocollazo at the Boardwalk on Broadway, and another shop at Lackland Air Force Base. They’ll share the Pereida with Paleteria San Antonio, and expect to open by Valentine’s Day. Read our latest story.
Devils River Whiskey
Devils River Whiskey is moving its headquarters from Dallas to the Burns building, 401 E. Houston St., which has been revived by developer and owner David Adelman. The move includes the opening of a distillery and tasting room in the main showroom space facing Houston. Adelman hopes the distillery opens in late spring or early summer, he said in a recent interview. Read our latest story.
Houston Street food hall
Developer GrayStreet Partners is converting the former children’s museum on the 300 block of East Houston Street into a food hall. In a recent interview, GrayStreet’s Director of Development Peter French said the 15,000-square-foot hall would contain 8-12 tenants and that the goal is to have it be a “three-meal and late night” kind of place. No opening date has been released. Read our latest story.
Whatever Lisa Wong is doing at the old El Mirador
A few months ago, Lisa Wong, owner of Southtown staple Rosario’s, confirmed she had purchased El Mirador, would close it and open a restaurant in the same building some time this year. “I really don’t have any immediate plans,” Wong told the Heron. “It will be a restaurant in the near future.” Read our last story.
The Good Kind
Tim McDiarmid, owner of Tim The Girl Catering, is set to open the second The Good Kind restaurant in the old Monty space at 1127 S. St. Mary’s St. McDiarmid also controls the adjacent Ivy Hall event space. She opened the first The Good Kind in July 2017 at the Pearl’s Bottling Department Food Hall. The Southtown version is scheduled to open by Feb. 1, media outlets, including the San Antonio Current, have reported.
Whisky Rose
Restauranteur Ceasar Zepeda, who owns and operates Sangria on the Burg, has been planning to open Whisky Rose in the Rand building—next to Rosella at the Rand. In an interview in August, Zepeda talked about a restaurant focussed on unconventional pizza (smoked salmon, fajita, etc.), pie (the dessert) and a whiskey bar. The place will also include grab-and-go items in the morning, such as breakfast tacos and pastries. There’s been no activity at the location. Read our last story.
Royal Blue Grocery
The Austin-based bodega chain has been working diligently on its S.A. location at 122 E. Houston St. in the heart of the Tech District. Co-owner Craig Staley expects to open in February, he said via email a few months ago. Royal Blue plans to offer grab-and-go items such as breakfast tacos, sandwiches, salads, beer and wine, etc., inside the 3,000-square-foot space. Read our latest story.
Commonwealth Coffee & Bakery
CommonWealth Coffeehouse & Bakery plans to open its third downtown location at the Burns building some time soon. The local coffee shop chain also has locations at Hemisfair and the Weston Center, among others citywide. The shop is more of a lounge setting inside the lobby of the renovated Burns, and will offer light lunch items such as paninis and pastries, as well as alcoholic beverages and cigars, co-owner Jose Ramon Campos told the Heron in November. “I don’t want to say bar—it’s not a bar. But (we want to) make it into a social, and very inviting, setting,” Campos said. Read our latest story.
Weston Urban park restaurant
Construction has started on the public Houston Street park adjacent to the two Frost towers. The former nondescript green space is being turned into more of a park by developer Weston Urban. Included in those plans is a restaurant on the northwest corner of the property. Though the park is scheduled for completion this summer, the restaurant will likely take longer, Weston Urban President Randy Smith said. Last year, Smith declined to name potential tenants for the space, but said it would be “very Texan.” Read our latest story.
Maverick Whiskey
Maverick Whiskey, a distillery underway inside a circa-1918 bank building at 115 Broadway, is scheduled to open in early March, its owners confirmed recently. The $3 million project by Kenneth Maverick, a descendant of Texas Declaration of Independence signer Samuel A. Maverick, will include a 100-seat tasting room and event space. We’ll have a more thorough update soon.
Brooklyn Street Eats
The folks building Brooklyn StrEat, a mobile food truck park planned for the near East Side at 201 Burnet St., said they hope to open before Fiesta. The project includes a three-story, open-air structure with a full bar; a play area; a pocket park and community garden that students from neighboring Healy Murphy Center will use in their horticultural classes; a monarch butterfly station; and the possibility for concerts under I-37/U.S. 281. Read our latest story.
Contact Ben Olivo: 210-421-3932 | ben@saheron.com | @rbolivo on Twitter
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