If you are just now joining us, please check out our first post in this two part series here.
Michal took a quick nap and I hung out at the Hotel Lobby Bar Ocho. After a quick wardrobe change we headed down the river walk to find some food to eat.
The river walk this time of year is spectacular. All trees, light posts, bridges, and buildings are decorated with Christmas lights. Their reflection off of the river walk is quite the sight to see. However, everywhere we went was packed. I mean packed. We couldn’t find a place to eat anywhere. We eventually found a two bar stools at Gourdouh's Public House, which sadly has closed its doors for good due to COVID. Thankfully, you can still get their fantastic desserts an hour up the road in Austin at their South Lamar location. Seriously though, their 'Blue Balls' were out of this world.
After eating, we tried to grab a drink at Durty Nelly's Irish Pub, but there was absolutely no room. We slowly started to make our way back to the hotel when we stumbled upon a metal head's delight: Bond's 007 Rock Bar. Holy crap was this place cool. Rock and Roll memorabilia on every inch of the walls. They also had an underground stage for some hard core rock & roll and cold beer on tap. What more could you ask for?!
After enjoying the rock bar, we retired to our rooms where we finally got to enjoy the pastries and cookies from Bakery Lorraine purchased earlier in the day. Oh, and by the way, their ginger cookies are unforgettable. Go get you some!
The next morning we made our way to San Antonio's Historic Market Square to experience a traditional Mexican market. Having spent a week in Guadalajara a few months ago, our expectations were rather low. (you can read about that trip here). But after exploring the various booths and shops we were pleasantly surprised. There were multiple booths of boots, hats, artifacts, handcrafted items, flower pots, etc. We were not at a loss of things to look at and thoroughly enjoyed cruising through the various vendors.
Not only were there goods to shop for but there were plenty of food vendors as well! Though, we seriously wanted to sample some tacos and try the elotes from the man who had cleverly branded himself as 'corn hub', but we refrained… we had bigger brunch plans in mind. We wanted to eat at Mi Tierra Café and Panaderia, which we heard was the place to be but there was a two hour wait. So we ended up at La Margarita Mexican Restaurant & Oyster Bar. Luckily this was an amazing option. I'm not sure how good Mi Tierra is, but I can say that they have some stiff competition in the neighborhood. We walked in and as Michal went to ask about the wait, I darted into the bar area to find two people getting up, leaving their seats vacant. We sat down.
Within minutes we had ordered drinks and the 'Parrilladas Estilo La Margarita' which was a massive and I mean massive, platter of chicken, beef, beef ribs, sausage, cheese and potatoes. It was glorious but huge. Some of that meal absolutely made the road trip back to Dallas with us! If you are in the area, we cannot recommend La Margarita enough. Mouth is watering just thinking about it.
Well, once you have had a margarita, a massive platter of meat and are about to embark on a 4 hour drive home, what's the best thing to do? Order Churros from the old man hand cranking them out on the street in front of the restaurant! Hell yeah! They were great and the perfect cherry on top to a wonderful morning in San Antonio.
If you take one thing away from these posts it's this: San Antonio is an incredibly diverse city with a wonderful offering for those looking for the traditional and non-traditional alike. Just go there, step out of your comfort zone and prepare yourself for a wonderful experience.