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Shirley Fong-Torres (A Day of Dead Feast centerpiece, above) Like its most famous culinary treat, San Antonio is a trail-hardened contradiction, softened with water, wrapped in a corn husk and steamed to a lovely smoothness. Consider the city's historic grand dame - Emily Morgan. In real life, she was a mulatto prostitute, whose sole contribution to Texas independence was keeping General Santa Ana busy in bed when he should have been soldiering. In romantic lore, though, she became "The Yellow Rose of Texas," whose name graces hundreds of places of honor, including one of the finest hotels in the state.
(Virtually everyone identifies San Antonio with the Alamo. San Antonio Convention & Visitors Bureau, CVB photo) One of the ten largest cities in America, San Antonio still has a humble, small town personality. Downtown's Tower Life Building was built in 1929 with architectural grotesqueries prescribed to protect the city from evil spirits. They didn't do their jobs as well as the Yellow Rose did hers. The Great Depression blasted the city the way Santa Ana hit the Alamo, dropping it from Texas' largest city to number three in a fast decline. For decades afterwards there wasn't enough confidence, or capital, for much modernization. The city languished, frozen in time, until tourism discovered its old charms in the late 1960's and 70's. San Antonio River the Center of Town The San Antonio River is the center of the town, but it's not so much a real river as series of canals and gates completely dependent on another series of springs and aquifers. Dead by some definitions, the river recently welcomed river birds back for the first time in the better part of a century, to great fanfare. Yet
the River Walk totally revived the city's cardiovascular system with high-rise
hotels and late night cafés that race the hearts of adoring tourists and
conventioneers.
(San Antonio's famed River Walk is a favorite place to be with high-rise hotels and late-night cafes. San Antonio CVB photo) San Antonio is America's great culinary secret, with a wonderful amalgam of Tex, Mex, German and Czech heritages -- St. Joseph's Church still says mass in three languages. Smokehouse and free-range traditions derive from the town's cowboy past. Yet somehow this place is off the foodie radar. In a shadow cast by Austin, Houston and Dallas, San Antonio's restaurant scene actually has a more distinctive personality than any of those "hippier" cities.
(Tourists delight in taking boat rides along the River Walk. San Antonio CVB photo) Yet San Antonio is too big to attract the kind of easy foodie rider who delights in the quainter charms of places like Santa Fe, Napa or Aspen. San Antonio is also a victim of its own success -- so popular with the convention business that elite culinary travelers assume it could not also please them. But Las Vegas overcame that same problem, and San Antonio is now entered in a similar food image-treatment program. Stumbling onto San Antonio's Culinary Joys I stumbled onto San Antonio's culinary joys by accident. Like my traveling companion Wroburlto, who is a gay bipolar honeybear, I first came to San Antonio to find a man. It wasn't what you might think though in my case. When I am not exploring food gems, I often hang out at the baseball park. Back in 1999, the first Chinese baseball prospect in America was playing for the San Antonio Missions in the Los Angeles Dodgers' farm system.
(Shirley, in her Texas-style hat, with her sidekick Wro) Chin-Feng Chen had a swing as sweet as Barry Bonds' and he seemed likely to break the hearts of my San Francisco Giants for years to come. As a proud Chinese fan, I wanted to see him when I could still appreciate him, before he made it to the majors and the dreaded Dodgers. San Antonio's Culinary Secrets At its best, travel is accidental. Chin-Feng never stayed in the major leagues long enough to drink a pot of green Formosan tea. After years in the minor leagues, he returned to the Chinese League last year. So I never got to brag that I saw him back when he was just an unknown minor leaguer. Instead, I discovered San Antonio's food charms, and I have returned five times since to indulge in them (it helps that I absolutely love Texas).
(Enjoy a nice cool drink in San Antonio. San Antonio CVB photo) First, by attending The New World San Antonio Wine & Food Festival, the best wine fest anywhere for matching local and worldly culinary masters for a week of fusion magic. For instance, this year's festival, titled "The Reign of Spain," will investigate Spanish and Canary Island influences on New World cuisine as well as trends in contemporary Spanish cooking. The superstar attraction will be chef Bruno Oteiza of Tezka, the most critically praised restaurant in Mexican history. It is owned by Juan Mari Arzak, a Michelin 3-star chef from San Sebastián in the Basque country, who is on the super short list of the world's most exciting chefs. As usual, the best chefs of central Texas will partner with Spanish, Canary Island and Mexican stars for a week of decadence November 7-12. Second, by imbibing in the wonderful fusion cuisines of Bruce Auden at Biga on the Banks, Mark Bliss at The Silo (his chicken fried oysters are Texas national treasures), Damien Watel at Bistro Vatel and Scot Cohen at Las Canarias, in my favorite downtown hotel - La Mansion del Rio. Third, by adding more hill country barbecues to my repertoire. My top five list now reads Cooper's in Llano, Luling City Market in Luling, Smitty's in Lockhart, Louis Mueller's in Taylor and Meyer's Elgin Smokehouse in Elgin. Fourth, by eating nothing but Mexican cuisine at La Fogata, La Fonda, El Mirador and especially at (Blanca) Aldaco's and at the Barrios-Trevino family's Los Barrios. Together these places comprise the equal of any Hispanic culinary scene I have found in California, without any of "las problemas" I have had trying to find the best Mexican restaurants in Los Angeles. Five, to teach at the Central Market, the best supermarket in the world. The Westin La Cantera On all our previous trips, Wro and I crowded our schedule with barbecues, restaurants, artists' studios (I have a collection of food-related folk art almost entirely found in San Antonio), wine events and sports. This trip would be different. The Westin La Cantera Resort offered an opportunity to relax, something neither Wro nor I do very often. Besides, Wro convinced me it would be disrespectful of the Dead to run around like we usually do.
(The Westin La Cantera Hotel) You see this visit to San Antonio was specifically motivated to experience the Day of the Dead in grand style, with one of America's great chefs, Mark Miller, and his protégé, Jesse Perez. Honoring this holiday of cultural magnitude to Hispanic Americans, a celebration was hosted by La Cantera's flagship restaurant, Francesca's at Sunset. The resort is situated nicely for folks who need to be near the city, but don't want to be trapped in the River Walk chaos. As delightful as that can be, sometimes during a convention or a football weekend, the fiesta aspects interfere with lighter agenda. The resort is also positioned for a day trip to the Hill Country, which was the only activity we planned beyond the boundaries of the resort. You see, Wro and I had a date with a butterfly migration that coincided with the Day of the Dead. But, we'll get to that after we eat. Legendary Chef Mark Miller Mark Miller is a legendary chef who came to the restaurant business after discovering that a career in anthropology required more tolerance for university politics than he could muster. He traded a dissertation on "aesthetic personalities" for a chance to make salads at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, back when a five-course dinner there cost $10 and Alice Waters was just another line chef. Mark soon discovered he wanted to be his own boss and opened the Fourth Street Grill and then the Santa Fe Bar & Grill, both in Berkeley.
(Shirley and Mark Miller) Then he opened the iconic Coyote Grill in Santa Fe. Ever since, Mark has been the perennial poster/flower child of Southwestern cuisine. Today he owns also Red Sage in D.C. and Wildfire in Sydney, Australia, and consults for Francesca's at Sunset, which he attends three times a year -- for Cinco de Mayo, Valentine's Day and Day of the Dead. He also supervises all their recipes and menu changes. His protégé there last year, Jesse Perez, laughed about how that worked. (Jesse Perez is now chef at Luciano at the Strand in San Antonio. His former sous chef Ernie Estrada has taken over Francesca's kitchen without missing a beat). "We sent him a chimichurri sauce recipe with eight ingredients, and when he sent it back it had 16," Jesse joked. The anecdote illustrates a Miller motif -- the layering of multiple flavors. Coming from anthropology, Miller remains deeply respectful of the agricultural integrity of a region's food. Francesca's at Sunset differs considerably from his other restaurants because San Antonio history was considerably different from New Mexico's. "Look at weavers," he says, "when the Navaho were first exposed to aniline dyes, they created something that had never been taught to them. Yet, they were part of an older tradition. That is what I try to do here. It's probably closer in spirit to its roots. Mark Twain wrote about the chile queens in San Antonio. "Most Americans remember chile as not that old, only going 40 to 60 years back, whereas the tradition goes back much, much further. Texas was Mexican for 300 years before it was part of USA. San Antonio food was very definitely based on Mexican traditions, not northern European traditions as in so much of the USA. "There's very little Native American here. They didn't settle here so they didn't take on the agricultural traditions of Native Americans in New Mexico or Arizona. The cattle drives ran through here, destroying most of the Native American grasses as they moved up the trail…The whole point of Texas was conflict over grassland. The Mexicans wanted to have large ranches here, to raise cattle because you can't do that in Massachusetts. "At Francesca's we want the diner to feel the food has a sense of place that somehow it connects to the tradition. We use lots of game, Michael Hughes from Broken Arrow Ranch is just down the road, so we utilize that. We use their antelope, their venison, wild boar. We use lots of moles. We hope it's more than lip synch. Jesse's family is from here, he's proud of that. Lots of locals are Hispanics who support this place. We do 100 to 120 covers a night and 80% are local. We always have game, and it's always from Texas." Francesca's at Sunset For my introduction to Mark Miller's San Antonio cuisine, I began with a foie gras torchon spiked with cascabel (the cutest of all the chilies) that Jesse said was his favorite appetizer. He served it with a huckleberry-cascabel essence, smoked sea salt and a red and green chile brioche. I also ordered a tamale, because I had been thinking about tamales since we bought our airplane tickets.
(A wonderful trio of tamales) Jesse's was made with a masa of roasted corn, deeper flavored than any I have eaten in California, stuffed with shredded chicken and chorizo, and served with a fire-roasted pico, crema fresca and a traditional mole. Wro went with a confit rabbit tart with green chile and roasted corn. It was served with a sun dried tomato-masa tart, caramelized red pearl onion jam and a reduction of chile Port. He asked Jesse and Mark about the red onion jam, which complimented the rabbit tart perfectly. Mark confessed it was a happy coincidence. "I
might have fifteen books laid out when I am working on a menu change," said
Mark. "I try to keep in mind what's hot, so I read the magazines. I utilize
staff cause they have ideas. Some times they suggest things that don't work in
a particular dish, but it does elsewhere. That's how red onion jam got on the
menu here." A Butternut Squash Bisque Because it was autumn, we shared a butternut squash bisque with Serrano ham and micro greens. Because this was mission country, we added a fresh herbed chevre with fresh black mission figs with a pasilla-fig vinaigrette. Those were only our appetizers - culinary anthropology demands heavy lifting. I pushed on to a cumin-brined poussin, stuffed with huitlacoche-corn and chipotle. Normally I can't bare to eat such cute little birds, but Jesse said this was his favorite entrée, so duty demanded. It was served with a wild mushroom-chipotle gnocchi, some wilted Swiss chard and a cascabel mustard mole that bestowed tri-colored cuteness on the chick's final glory. Wro tried a buffalo strip steak. Texas makes him feel like a cowboy and besides Jesse told us that it outsold their beef steaks. It had been rubbed with pasilla chile and was served with a German fingerling potato salad, some chile-onion rings and a chihuacle black chile sauce. We relied on Francesca's three sommeliers' suggestions with each course and a Grgich Hills, Fume Blanc stood out. I barely remember dessert, but Wro tells me I finished a crème brulee "since it was light." I crawled back to my room regretting I didn't try the lamb chop - because it came with the 16 ingredient chimichurri sauce that Jesse was laughing about. Time for a Swedish Massage I awoke determined to relax. To justify all I ate the night before, I convinced myself that the over indulgence was a necessary encouragement to inactivity. So I began my day with a Swedish massage at the resort's Castle Rock Health Club. It almost relaxed me. After a light lunch at the golf course grill, we took the hotel shuttle to the nearby mall for some relaxed power shopping. Then it was time for dinner. Time flies when you relax. Since we had indulged our needs for indigenous cuisine the night before, and since the following night promised more of that with a Day of the Dead feast, we visited the resort's prime steakhouse, The Clubhouse, for some simple cowboy fare. This meant gargantuan prime steaks with all the usual steakhouse trimmings. I began to worry about the health hazards of relaxation. To Fredericksburg in the Hill Country The next day we woke a bit less sluggish and drove off to Fredericksburg in the hill country. That town is a 19th-century German/cowboy living history theater. German remained the main language here until World War II, and it stills influences much of the cooking. Shopping rules, and I found a cowboy hat with pink hearts on it, plus some boots and bandanas for my granddaughters, Maggie and Stella. Wro found himself a cute cowboy, in a ladies boutique no less. I can't watch him all the time. We visited Der Lindenbaum for some Serbian white bean soup, Opa's for pepper wurst and the Engel Deli for apple strudel. Wro took me to Rather Sweet, a bakery where Dan Rather's daughter Rebecca has made a name for herself with scratch baking and tea room-type lunches, including a sandwich that puts a Czech sausage in a kolác. Peaches were in season, so we tried some home made peach ice cream at a stand on the main drag. At Tree Rise, we learned about the wild black persimmons that have been indigenous for ages. Wild game love them, but you don't see them in fine restaurants because they stain human teeth. We had some venison chili at Fredericksburg Brewing Company and stopped at the Peach Tree Gift Gallery and Tea Room for Cynthia Pedregon's fresh peach crepes. We even bought some wonderful peach and fig jams to take home. Wro didn't even bug me to visit the National Museum of the Pacific War, which honors hometown hero Admiral Chester Nimitz, but the little bear was impatient to go see the wildflowers. So, off we went to keep our date with the butterflies. Wildseed Farms is the largest working wild flower farm in the USA. It draws proud Texas photographers in swarms during the bluebonnet season in Spring, and keeps splendid colors glowing all Summer and Fall. The wildflowers attract a migration of butterflies and hummingbirds. The Day of the Dead weekend is usually the end of their summer vacation up north, so we were thrilled to be at their good-bye party. We let butterflies cover our arms and even faces with the unbearable lightness of familiarity.
(Shirley and a beautiful butterfly get friendly) Owner John Thomas showed me which seeds to plant to attract butterflies to my yard. I'm not exactly a nature girl, but this is one outdoor attraction I would revisit again and again. Have a safe trip back to Mexico, little flyers, see you next year. Wiz and Wro Dance with Death Back at the resort, I relaxed by revisiting the health spa for a "free radical mask" and "fango body wrap." I didn't really know what that meant, but Wro, who says he learned Italian in bed, explained that fango is Italian for mud. Being finicky about dirty clothes, he preferred hanging out by the tennis courts, the six swimming pools and the three hot tubs -- it's really hard to keep track of him while having your skin detoxed with the floor of the Adriatic Sea.
(Dancing with Death can elicit a good laugh) We were both ready to dance with death and the hotel was prepped for the spirits' arrival. "Ofrendas" (home altars) were dedicated to the departed and tables were decorated with spiritual enticements and special Day of the Dead "dulces" (sweets) like pan de muertos. Because the dead are lured with aromas of their favorite foods, they expect to share a meal with the living when they get here. I can't think of a better place to dine with spirits. The resort does Day of the Dead in grand style, with marching corpses and skeletons and music to cheat death for a weekend. Mark and Jesse prepare a series of special feasts. Ours included hands-on lessons in tamale making and five courses of spiritually appropriate dishes, including whole suckling pig and chickens.
(More of those dancers...) The pork was accompanied with Mark's manchamantel sauce, which translates "tablecloth stainer" because it's made with red chile and tomatoes, plus several ripe fruits and, being Mark Miller's, about a dozen other ingredients. To make the dead feel more comfortable, there was a tequila and mezcal seminar with lots of opportunities for hands-on and bellies-up learning. That
night, my Daddy visited me in my dreams. I think I know which aroma brought him,
but I wish Mark Miller didn't make it so complicated. San Antonio Westin
La Cantera Resort La
Mansion del Rio New
World Wine and Food Festival Texan Restaurants Francesca's
at Sunset Biga
on the Banks Silo Bistro Vatel Mexican Restaurants Aldaco's
Hill
Country Peach
Tree Gallery and Tea Room Recipe These "little birds" remind me of the butterflies of the Hill Country. Blanca Aldaco is a delightful chef who owns Aldaco. Pajaritos
de Carne al Guajillo 10
chile guajillos Garnish:
Slice open the guajillos and remove seeds. Pace in saucepan cover with water and boil. Simmer till the chiles are soft, put in blender with small amount of the liquid. Process until smooth. Add salt to taste. Add small amount of oil to hot skillet. Brown steaks on both sides and remove and transfer to bowl. In a separate skillet, saute poblano strips, corn, onions and garlic. Do not overcook. Preheat oven
to 250-300 F. To make pajaritos: spread poblano-corn mixture on each steak, roll
up and fasten with toothpick. Repeat with remaining steaks and place in casserole
dish. Spread guajillo sauce over the top, cover and place in oven 30 minutes.
(Click
below for more travel).
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