An Average Joe in San Antonio

Yes, I have been a lousy food blogger recently.  Other than having a bunch of articles about eating healthy, I have really slacked off on the Quick Bites and reviews on restaurants.  My bad.

I satisfied my cravings for Mexican food this past week by visiting Taqueria Datapoint a couple of times.  So you get a two-for-one review to make up for me neglecting the blog.

Last week Big Red sent me a sample pack of their Big Red Zero to try before it hit the shelves.  I decided to take it to work and knew that it had to be paired with Taqueria Datapoint’s barbacoa to give it a true taste test.  The only way to tell if the Big Red soda with zero calories is any good is to actually drink it while eating barbacoa. 

I went up to the restaurant on Medical Drive to pick up my pound of barbacoa and was happy to see that the restaurant has expanded to include the storefront to the left of the entrance.  The waitresses were incredibly friendly and I soon had my pound of barbacoa and was on my way in to work.

Pound of barbacoa from Taqueria Datapoint with some Big Red Zero.

What I love the most about their barbacoa set up is that they give you all the fixins – you get a side of cilantro, onions and avocado to help make your tacos.  The corn tortillas are thick and go well with the barbacoa.  If you are a gringo and prefer your breakfast tacos to be made with a flour tortilla, do yourself a favor and opt for the corn when eating barbacoa at Taqueria Datapoint.  You won’t regret it.

The barbacoa was devoured by my coworkers in an instant.  (Pro Tip: if you are going to be a little late at work, bring barbacoa and all will be forgiven).  The Big Red Zero was spot on; it was as sweet as the original and didn’t have that funky diet aftertaste.  Since it paired well with the barbacoa you know that it is the real deal.  Now, if they could just get to work on making fat free barbacoa that tastes as good as the real thing…

This weekend I again found myself craving a big Mexican breakfast and was drawn back to Taqueria Datapoint.  I decided to dine in and really liked how the new seating area opened up the restaurant.  The walls are painted with a bright orange color that was sponged on so you can still see some white.  The front of the restaurant is entirely made of windows that let in a flood of natural light which gives the restaurant an airy feel.

Sitting in the new section at Taqueria Datapoint; I love the orange walls and natural light coming in from the windows.

I also love the sound of the restaurant because while it isn’t loud it also isn’t dampened: you can hear a mix of both English and Spanish from the customers and waitresses, laughing at tables across the way, the sound of breakfast tacos being wrapped up in bags and delivered to go, and the occasional Tejano song on the jukebox.  The language of choice is Spanish, and most likely the waitress will initially ask you “¿Cómo estás?”  If you don’t speak Spanish (or just know a couple of words like me), don’t fret and reply with a “Hello” and you’ll be on your way.

While I was tempted to order barbacoa again, I decided to give their chilaquiles plate a try along with a cup of coffee.  The chilaquiles were made with the white cheese instead of the yellow and were very tasty.  While there were not a lot of peppers in the chilaquiles, there was a green salsa that had a strong bite on it that could wake it up.  I wish that the tortilla strips in the chilaquiles were a little more crispy, but that was not a huge complaint.

The green salsa is delicious with chilaquiles plate at Taqueria Datapoint.

The refried beans were outstanding; I don’t know what makes their beans taste so good, but I think that they are some of the best in the city.  They were particularly tasty with the green salsa and the flour tortillas.  While I was eating breakfast I saw an assortment of soups, street tacos and fajitas come out that looked delicious.  I am definitely going to have to come back to check them out for lunch.

The next time you are craving barbaco or a big Mexican breakfast, check out Taqueria Datapoint, one of the best restaurants to showcase the multicultural flavor of San Antonio.

Flour Power Bakery and Cafe has moved from their old location on Huebner Road to the new location on NW Military.  Juice in the City, a local deal site for moms, is running a deal today where you get $12 of food for just $6!

As the name might imply, Flour Power has kind of a hippy/funky atmosphere with brightly painted walls.  There are a lot of windows which helps make the restaurant well lit and appealing to stop by for a Sunday morning brunch which is what I did yesterday.

The brunch is $10.95 and includes selections from the buffet line along with made to order eggs, omelets, pancakes and waffles.  I decided to start our with the buffet while I waited for my order of the European omelet to be finished.

The buffet had a wide variety of hot items, so  I loaded up my plate with biscuits and gravy, bacon, sausage and a spinach quiche.  I was happy with how crispy the bacon was and the quiche was loaded with a lot of cheese, spinach, and mushrooms.  The buffet didn’t have a dessert pastry this day which was strange because when I have visited before they had different fruit tarts and sweet rolls.  I had to pace myself because I wanted to order the European omelet and also a waffle to try everything that they had to offer.

Some of the items I got off of the Sunday morning buffet.

The European omelet came out next and that was by far my favorite item.  Made with fresh tomatoes, basil, garlic, and Parmesan and Brie cheese, this omelet is full of flavor.  In addition to more exotic omelets, Flour Power would scramble up anything that your heart desired.

The European omelet was very tasty.

Finally, I ordered a strawberry waffle to complete my meal.  The waffle was excellent, but I was disappointed with the amount of strawberries that came on top of it.  If I were you, I would forgo the extra expense to get a fruit topped waffle and just stick with the normal kind.

The strawberry waffle was good but didn't come with a lot of strawberries.

Please note that Juice in the City paid for my meal so that I could review Flour Power in advance of their daily deal.

I have been on a breakfast kick recently and found myself driving around town this past Saturday looking to get an American styled breakfast.  Even though lunch was fast approaching, I was jonesing for bacon, eggs, and something with syrup.  I stopped by a place in Alamo Heights that stopped serving breakfast at 11:00AM and called a handful of other restaurants that either (1) didn’t serve breakfast period or (2) had stopped for the day.

Feeling defeated, I wandered down into South Town and remembered that I had seen a restaurant with a huge fork out front that I had been meaning to try, Mr. Tim’s Country Kitchen.  It was to my great fortune that they serve breakfast all day long.

How can a place with a giant fork not be good?

The inside of the restaurant is South Town funky with stained concrete flooring that is sporadically brushed with blue paint.  The building appears to be an old house with many of the walls knocked out to have two open rooms with plenty of windows.  The radio was dialed into a country station and there were a lot of people and families inside chowing down.

Our waitress was personable and took a little extra time to visit with us about the restaurant and menu.  She also was prompt and quickly brought out a cup of coffee in one of those ceramic mugs typical of older diners.  I couldn’t decide on what to order, and while I was making up my mind the waitress brought out a basket of fresh baked biscuits.  These are the best biscuits I have ever had in my life.  Not only were they huge, they had just the right crispiness on the outside and were dense without being too thick.  To top it off, Mr. Tim’s has a bottle of honey on each table that was perfect for my sweet tooth.   If you want to take it to the next level, order a side of sausage gravy; the gravy has tons of sausage and ham and is delicious.

You get a basket of biscuits for just ordering breakfast! Get a side of sausage gravy to top them off, or use the honey if you are in the mood for something sweet.

I ended up order the #1 breakfast plate which came with two eggs, choice of meat (I got bacon), and hashbrowns.  But since I was also looking for something with syrup, I split the Texas French Toast with my girlfriend.

The breakfast plate was great and had two really big eggs and the bacon was crispy.  What Mr. Tim’s really does right isthe hashbrowns; they weren’t greasy and they really got them brown and crispy.  To me that is the way to make hashbrowns instead of the soggier/less brown kind.

The Texas French Toast was billed as being something “different and delicious” and I asked my waitress what made it so different.  She told me that they use a roll instead of toast.  Whatever they did, it tasted really good and had a little more chewier consistency than normal French Toast.  I particularly liked the fact that they were quite liberal with the powdered sugar.

They put a gang load of powdered sugar on the French Toast which is awesome.

Even better than the food and atmosphere was the price.  Our ticket had two of the #1 breakfast plates, one order of Texas French Toast, and a cup of coffee and came out to be $15 (not to mention the side of gravy and big basket of biscuits)!  I couldn’t believe how reasonable everything was considering how much food we got and how tasty it was.

If you don’t like the long wait of Magnolia Pancake Haus and the Guenther House (or their higher prices), Mr. Tim’s will do you right.  I can’t wait to check them out for lunch and dinner!

Value: 10/10 (amazingly reasonable for a sitdown breakfast)
Atmosphere: 10/10 (funky South Town feel without being pretentious; they just do their thing and they do it well)
Service: 10/10 (our waitress was very friendly, engaging, and prompt; you could tell she loved working there)
Taste: 10/10 (slap yo’ mama biscuits, and you get those for free just for ordering breakfast!!!!!!!!!)

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Recently, it has become hard to find a good greasy spoon in a filling station.  Subway, McDonalds, and Burger King are all taking up the space once reserved for mom and pop diners.  I guess when folks travel they would rather eat somewhere familiar instead of trying something new.  However, the Flagstop Cafe, located in an Exxon station just outside San Antonio between Leon Springs and Boerne, is bucking this trend and serves up some country style grub made to order.

The Flagstop Cafe, you even get free WiFi.

I was tipped off to this restaurant a few years back by a true blue cowboy who swore by their biscuits and gravy.  Now if a cowboy tells you that a place has good biscuits and gravy, then it is a spot worth driving a little ways to check out.

The Flagstop Cafe takes up about half of the filling station and is usually full of locals and wayward travelers, especially on a Saturday morning.  The inside has a roadside diner feel (there is a sign that says, “If you want a stable relationship, get a horse”) complete with booths upholstered with the Texas Flag.  If there happens to be a lot of people, don’t fret as they are very quick at getting your order out regardless of the length of the line.

If the line is long, don't worry! The short order cooks will get your food out quick!

I went with the Two Egg Breakfast where you get a couple of eggs (duh), choice of hashbrowns/grits, choice of biscuit/toast/tortillas, and a choice of bacon/ham/sausage.  You get all this for $6.29 and can add coffee for another $1.59.

I wanted to try out their grits, but since they were out I ended up getting the hashbrowns along with the side of bacon and a biscuit.  In a short time later, I got my plate of food that was piping hot.  My least favorite part of the meal was hashbrowns, but that is because I usually don’t like hashbrowns anyway.  They were still good, but I could have had them a little more brown.

The Flagstop Cafe doesn’t skimp you on the side of bacon and they serve it up nice and crispy.  As mentioned before, I like my bacon crispy and love to combine it with the egg yolk.  What really steals the show is the homemade biscuit.  These are the type of biscuits that make you want to slap your momma, the kind that have just a little crunch on the outside and are soft on the inside.  Be sure to get a side of gravy (especially if you are a Yankee and have never tried it) to dip that biscuit in.

This biscuit is cowboy approved, like from a real cowboy who works on a ranch, not from one that you run into at Midnight Rodeo.

The Flagstop Cafe is country cooking at its finest.  Take a little drive outside of the city limits and enjoy a hearty American style breakfast.  But don’t take it from me, remember that a cowboy is never wrong when he tells you about good biscuits and gravy.

Value: 8.5/10 (for a breakfast, $6.29 isn’t too bad, but it can get expensive by adding on coffee/juice)
Atmosphere: 10/10 (perfect greasy spoon atmosphere; anything with a Texas flag upholstered on the booths gets a high mark in my book)
Service: 9.5/10 (very fast and very friendly)
Taste: 9.5/10 (some of the best biscuits and gravy this side of the Pecos)
Website: http://flagstop.com/
Twitter: Follow FlagstopCafe
Facebook: Like Flagstop Cafe
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A breakfast consisting of barbacoa and Big Red is as San Antonio as the Alamo or Market Square, and  it is high time that I had a post on it.  Heck, there is even a song about it:

I went down Nogalitos/
Lookin’ for some barbacoa and Big Red/
I went down Nogalitos/
Lookin’ for some barbacoa and Big Red/
I coulda had menudo/
But I got some cabesa instead!

For those of you gringos who are visiting San Antonio, you might be in the same position that I was five years ago and not have a clue what it even is.  Barbacoa is traditionally served on Saturday and Sunday mornings, and many view it as a hangover cure when paired with Big Red Soda.

Here’s the down and dirty on barbacoa (I don’t mean to freak you out, but you should know what you are getting into): it is cooked cow head in a dug out pit in the backyard.  Traditional barbacoa consists of everything associated with the head, so if you are a little squeemish (like I can be) I would suggest that you order the “all meat” version.

I was educated by Eddie and Diana at the first job I worked because we had to come in one Saturday in our busy season.  When Eddie told me what barbacoa was, it freaked me out.  I was just a young gringo from West Texas who didn’t know anything.  I told Diana I wasn’t going to have anything to do with barbacoa, and she insisted that I try it.  Seeing that Diana was like my surrogate mother in San Antonio, I had to eat it or risk disappointing her.  Boy was I glad that I manned up and tried it.

Like soul food, barbacoa is a cut of meat that most people would see no value in; however, folks who could not afford the better cuts of the cow had to make use with what they had.  Barbacoa is seasoned and allowed to cook a long time which gives it a nice flavor.

You will stir up a big debate by asking San Antonians where is the best place to get barbacoa.  Locals are very passionate about this dish, and I am not meaning to suggest the best place, but simply a place that I think is pretty good.  Some of the best barbacoa I have eaten was brought into work by someone from a little hole in the wall that I would have no idea of where to find.

I had a friend, Putman, coming in from New Mexico one Saturday for a party, so after picking him up from the airport we met another buddy of mine, Frank, down at Taqueria Datapoint to get some barbacoa. Frank had been to Taqueria Datapoint before and said that they served up some good grub, so I thought this would be an excellent place to take Putman.

A pound of barbacoa, the fixins, and a Big Red at Taqueria Datapoint off of I-10.

You usually order barbacoa by the pound and the best way to eat it is with corn tortillas.  A pound is a good amount and can probably feed four people comfortably (even as three hungry dudes we had some left overs at our table).  Condiments are always served on the side, but I was impressed by what was included at Taqueria Datapoint.  We got tons of cilantro, onions, limes, avocado, and some great green salsa (this salsa is hot, but it is the best for barbacoa).

The tortillas were nice and thick and the barbacoa was very flavorful (again be sure to order the “all meat” if you’re squeemish).  Making a breakfast taco with cilantro, onions, green salsa and a pinch of salt will put you in heaven, or at the minimum alleviate that hangover.  The Big Red completes the experience, giving a little bit of sweet to calm that hot taste of the salsa.

If you are in town on business and staying over the weekend, forgo that continental breakfast with stale biscuits and lackluster fruit and head out to find some barbacoa.  Taqueria Datapoint will definitely do you right, but if you are on the opposite side of town, ask the person at the front desk for their opinion.  If they are a true San Antonian, they will definitely have one.

Value: 10/10 (we got the entire pound with drinks for under $15)
Atmosphere: 10/10 (great hole in the wall vibe with different art/items from Mexico on the wall)
Service: 10/10 (super nice and very prompt; tip them well since the food is so cheap!)
Salsa: 9/10 (I really liked the spicy green salsa; the red with the chips was good as well)
Taste: 9.5/10 (excellent spot to grab some barbacoa and Big Red; I am not sure about the other food as I have only been there for breakfast)
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