An Average Joe in San Antonio

If you are like me, you might have grown up with going to smallish churches and having the Sunday pot-lucks when all the little old ladies at the church brought in dishes to serve the congregation.  In the present day of tele-evangelists, mega-churches, and overall swell of population, you might not have had the opportunity to get some of that down home cookin’.  If you find a pang in your heart for this type of food, be sure to go check out the 4th Street Cafe.

Owned and operated by the First Baptist Church of San Antonio, the staff comprised of all volunteer servers dishes out comfort food from 11:00AM – 2:00PM Tuesday through Friday.  Often, they will have a blue plate lunch special, but expect to spend right around $7.00 for lunch.  All the proceeds go to support their ministry and the website states that the tips go to support the San Antonio Food Bank Community Kitchen at  Haven for Hope, Christian Assistance Ministry (CAM), and Haven Chaplaincy Ministry.

Being a chicken fried steak fan, I couldn’t resist the daily lunch special of chicken fried steak, two sides, cornbread, and a side salad; I ordered mashed potatoes and fried okra as my sides.

I knew I was in for a treat when I first got my side salad and tasted the ranch dressing that came with it.  The dressing was incredibly creamy and rich with little pieces of bacon added in it; later, I confirmed my hypothesis that the ranch dressing was homemade while talking with the lady at the register.  In fact, she told me that EVERYTHING is homemade all the way down to the dressings.  This was a nice touch that you wouldn’t necessarily expect from a cafe run by a church.

Chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, okra, cornbread, and a side salad at the 4th Street Cafe.

The main course was really good; the gravy made the mashed potatoes and you could tell that it didn’t come from a package.  The fried okra was piping hot and the cornbread was dense and sweet (some people don’t like sweet cornbread, but I really do).  While the chicken fried steak was not near as big as Lulu’s (then again what is?!), it wasn’t far off the mark of the taste.

I have to admit, I was skeptical about the chicken fried steak going in.  Any sort of “church” chicken fried steak always seems to have that breading that is greasy and not all that good.  4th Street Cafe really delivered on the goods here, the chicken fried steak had that flaky, crispy breading that I love.

Finally, I have to mention the service.  Everyone is extremely nice and it is a very welcoming atmosphere.  Because of the fact that everyone is a volunteer who is serving the meals, you get people who are truly happy to be there and who are truly happy to have you there eating their food.  Remember to tip well as the proceeds go to helping out some of San Antonio’s homeless community.

The 4th Street Cafe is so good that it will cause you to dance with joy; in this case, I don’t think the Baptists would even mind that kind of dancing.

Value: 9/10 (maybe a little on the higher end for a lunch, but the money does support different ministries in town that help those in need)
Atmosphere: 9.5/10 (down home feel in the middle of downtown)
Service: 10/10 (volunteer servers are happy to be there and happy to have you there; and don’t worry, they are not the least bit “preachy” either)
Taste: 9.5/10 (great meal that will fill you up for the day; the salad dressings are amazing)
Website: http://www.fbcsa.org/templates/cusfbcsa/details.asp?id=34507&PID=354546

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Texas is known for having good BBQ, but you have probably noticed that I have not had too many articles written about BBQ on the blog.  The reason being is that I am so surrounded by such good Mexican food that I tend to concentrate on that style of cuisine.  Well the other day, when I asked my friend where we should go eat, he had suggested the BBQ Station off of Harry Wurzbach and Loop 410.

If you can see this sign, then you can smell the BBQ!

Now, if you are going to be a good BBQ joint, you have to just have that smell as you walk into the restaurant.  Let me assure you, the BBQ Station has that smell, that special combination of meat and smoke when combined with a little bit of love and a whole lot of time makes a wonderful plate of food.  To top it off, three simple letters “B-B-Q”, were painted along the side of the building.  Right then and there I knew that I was in for something good.

The inside of the BBQ Station.

For one summer, I was a resident of Memphis, TN for a college internship; those three months taught me an appreciation of pork ribs and pork BBQ.  I have had a love for them ever since, and I have always been on the lookout for good pork BBQ in Texas.  For this reason I decided to get the two meat plate with pork ribs and brisket along with potato salad and beans (which have unlimited refills) on the side.

The beans were really good (you need to add some salt) and the potato salad was excellent.  Recently, I have grown to like potato salad more and more, but I particularly like the kind that isn’t too “mustardy”.  Instead of potato salad, my friend got the cream corn which looked equally awesome (he assured me it tasted as good as it looked), so I think it is safe to say that the BBQ Station has its sides on lock down.

The brisket was good and had a nice smokey flavor.  I dressed it up with a little of their house BBQ Sauce and make a brisket sandwich that was pretty good.  I liked their sauce a lot as it wasn’t too sweet and had a good tang.

2 Meat/2 Side combo; the pork ribs are the real deal.

The pork ribs were exceptional and had a great smokey taste to them.  They were very tender, but weren’t just falling off the bone; personally, I like the type of ribs that have a little bit of pull to them.  The rub on the outside gave it a good flavor and I didn’t really even need to use any sauce on the ribs at all.  With the two meat plate, I got three really big ribs and one smallish rib, so they took care of me with regards to the portions.  I will tell you what though, I will definitely just focus on the pork ribs the next time I go back to the BBQ Station because they were that good!

If you are looking for some good BBQ, *choooo*choooo* baby, because that train keeps a rollin’, on down to the the BBQ Station in San Antone.

Value: 8.5/10 (I got the 2 meat/2 side plate with pork ribs that ran $9.50 with tax which might be a little expensive for lunch, but for dinner is not all that bad; they do have cheaper options, but the pork ribs are the most expensive (and worth it))
Atmosphere: 9.5/10 (Nothing fancy, but there is charm in the fact that you are in a BBQ joint that looks and smells like it should be a BBQ joint)
Service: 8.5/10 (Friendly, but really not a whole lot of frills; go up, tell the man your order, and eat!)
Taste: 9.5/10 ( One of the better BBQ restaurants in town; the pork ribs are delicious and so is the potato salad!)
Website: http://www.barbecuestation.com/
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There is a place where you can go to get out of the hustle and bustle of city life that is right downtown.  The Southwest School of Art and Craft is a beautiful campus on the grounds of a historic convent founded by French nuns back in 1851.  On campus, there is a delightful restaurant called the Copper Kitchen that I was able to visit recently with a friend on her suggestion.

The campus itself is worth going to see as it is an oasis in the middle of downtown.  When you go into the restaurant, if feels like you are in a time warp with beautiful wood floors and stone walls.  Being a restaurant on the campus of an art school, there are awesome paintings that flank the walls of the dining room.

I went on a Friday and got the lunch special of a grilled poblano and turkey sandwich served with almond squash soup.  The sandwich was very tasty, and I am going to have to start putting poblano peppers on my sandwiches at home.  However, what really stole the show was the almond and squash soup.  While I marginally like both almonds and squash, combined together they form a really tasty soup.  It was nice and thick with a hint of sweetness, and I can see just ordering a big bowl of it on a cold day.

The almond squash soup is worth the price of admission; I do wish they gave me one more side, like a little salad or something.

Even more fun was the atmosphere.  The restaurant is very conducive to sitting down, relaxing, and visiting with a friend.  There are no TVs blaring, or even piped in music, which is a nice reprieve from our world in which we are constantly being bombarded by media.  While it would be a great spot to bring a book and relax, I think having someone there to have a good conversation was even better.

One of the best atmospheres in town to eat; take a good friend or a good book and enjoy it.

Value: 8/10 (Wish they would have thrown on another side with my meal, but my friend got the Friday fish special and had a ton of food on her plate)
Atmosphere: 10/10 (My favorite part of the meal; you are on a beautiful building on a beautiful campus and feel quite removed from the hustle and bustle of the world)
Service: 7/10 (It is cafeteria style service so nothing amazing; one of the younger servers was giving an older server a little lip that put me off a little bit (even if it was in jest))
Taste: 8.5/10 ( Pretty tasty food; the sandwich was solid but not out of this world, however, the almond squash soup was really good)
Website: http://www.swschool.org/?option=com_content&view=article&id=68

I had an absolute blast at Central Market’s Green Chile Cookoff!  It was really cool to visit with the contestants and judges who all have a passion for Hatch Green Chiles.

There were all kinds of recipes ranging from Hatch Puppies, Meatballs, Rice Soup Dish, Tomato Bisque, Chili, Cupcakes, and Chile Chocolate Chile Bread.  But it turns out that the winner and grand champion was a Hatch Chile-Avocado Ice Cream!  Be sure to check out Michael Saiz’s (the Meatball guy) blog for way better pictures than I could take on my iPhone!

Some of the contestants at the cookoff.

I received Honorable Mention, but it really meant a lot the SA Police Chief McManus and Tanji Patton both came up to me and told me how much they enjoyed my recipe!  I ended up getting a $20 Central Market giftcard, and upon leaving the store and smelling the green chiles roasting, I used it to buy a box of hot roasted chiles.

SAPD Chief William McManus an Tanji Patton at the judes table.

Overall, it was quite a day!  Thanks to all the judges and congratulations to all the contestants and winners!

The winner and champion, Adele Williams!

I found out today that my Mom’s Famous Queso recipe was accepted to The 4th Annual No-Holds-Barred Central Market Hatch Chile Recipe Contest!  Needless to say, I am pretty excited.

I will be going to gather all the ingredients tonight, because I want all the flavors to really mix together before the contest tomorrow (9/14).  If you are out and about and want to cheer me on, be sure to stop by Central Market on Broadway at 2:00PM; many of my friends are leaving town for football games this weekend, so I am hoping I can get a few folks to help put together a cheering section!  Thanks so much!