An Average Joe in San Antonio

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

Just South of Alamo Heights past the Witte Museum is a little side street that has converted little old houses into restaurants.  One such restaurant is Sweetie’s Deli.  The atmosphere is very cozy and the staff is incredibly nice.  It is a real chill atmosphere which some jazz softly playing over the speaker.  I am not certain, but I am going to guess that the owners are originally from Louisiana judging by their accent, but I could be completely wrong.

When you walk into the restaurant, be sure to pay attention to the black chalk board that tells you what the daily lunch specials are.  A word to the wise: be sure to order off the lunch special menu as it is significantly cheaper than ordering off the main menu.

I decided to go with the Mama’s Delight off the lunch special menu.  For $7 I got three half sandwiches (chicken salad, turkey, and ham) along with a side of pasta salad.  As I mentioned from a previous post, I am trying to save some money, so this was a great option as I got to eat the half chicken salad sandwich and the pasta salad and take the turkey and ham halves home!

Mama's Delite is a lot of food; look for it as a lunch special when you stop by!

I really liked the pasta salad; it had a rich taste to it along with a little bit of spice from red pepper flakes.  I had never had spicy pasta salad and it was really a treat.  I really liked the chicken salad sandwich which is strange because I hate chicken salad sandwiches (that tells you how good it is).  I just decided to try it out since I could order three, and was pleasantly surprised.

For dessert, I decided to get the cheesecake brownie because they just looked so good.  The waitress decided to heat it up and drizzle chocolate syrup over it.  At a $1.50, you would be remiss to not finish your meal with this dessert!

I enjoyed the chill atmospher and chill music.

I will say that the best part of the whole experience was just being in a chill environment that was not rushed at all.  It was nice just getting to sit back, relax, hear some tunes and eat good food.

Value: 8/10 (Can be pricy if you don’t order off of the lunch special menu; if you order off the lunch special you are looking at $7/plate)
Atmosphere: 9.5/10 (Pretty chill atmosphere where you can just go in and relax; loved the jazz music; this is not a “blackberry” restaurant)
Service: 9.5/10 (Exceptional service; heated up my brownie which was awesome.)
Taste: 9/10 (very tasty, especially the dessert)

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Schilo’s is a restaurant that I have wanted to go to for several years now but just have never been able to make it.  This is mainly due to the fact that whenever I think about going, it is Sunday and Schilo’s is closed on Sundays!  I heard great things about Schilo’s from a variety of people and it is even one of my neighbor’s favorite places to eat in all of San Antonio.  Needless to say, I was pretty excited to FINALLY go eat there!

The inside of the restaurant harkens back to the good ole days.  There are plenty of seats in old wooden booths and the open floor plan has high ceilings.  As you enter, you will notice the display cases with all the deli meats and cheeses and old pictures from San Antonio’s past on the wall.

Our server was incredibly friendly and offered some great suggestions.  She told us that we absolutely had to try the lentil soup, so I found a plate that had a sandwich on rye, cup of soup, and warm German potato salad for like $7; I think it was called Fritz’s plate or something along those lines.  To wash it down, I ordered a Spaten Oktoberfest beer which was on tap.

The soup came out first and it was really amazing!  It was really thick and a dark brown color with lentils and sausage and was accompanied by a slice of rye bread that really went well with it.  Trust the waitress on the fact that you will absolutely want to get a cup of that lentil soup, especially on a cool fall/winter day.

Not soon after, the meal came out.  The German potato salad was really good, but the sandwich was unbelievable!  It was stacked high with turkey, ham, two types of cheese, and fresh vegetables all on the fresh rye bread.  After the soup and potato salad, I was only able to take down half of the sandwich and I was going on a ghost tour later that night so I couldn’t take the other half home.  I know when I go in the future, I am going to be able to take a doggie bag because it was so much food and the other half of the sandwich could serve as another meal all by itself!  The fresh vegetables were really good, but the mayo was what made the sandwich.

Look at how thick this sandwich is!

I love sandwiches and have been to many different places around town, but I have to say that not only was this a terrific value, it was also the best sandwich that I have had in San Antonio.  Be sure to treat yourself to this San Antonio institution on your next sojourn to the river!

Value: 10/10 ($7 for dinner… that will fill you up… that includes a soup… that is down near the Riverwalk!  What a deal!)
Atmosphere: 9.5/10 (cool old school atmosphere from a place that has been in San Antonio for many, many years; our waitress even told us that on some night they have an “Um-pah” German band come in and play)
Service: 9.5/10 (friendly waitress who made knowledgeable suggestions)
Taste: 10/10 (the best sandwich I have found to date in San Antonio!)
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Using an old gas station located on the fringe of King William, the cleverly named Filling Station serves a variety of hot and cold sandwiches and pizza.  The inside of the restaurant is extremely small (imagine taking an old Texaco gas station that has a kitchen installed in it with a front counter; you aren’t going to fit too many tables in it!), but there is plenty of seating outside.

As I was standing in line, I noticed how many people were dropping in and picking up to-go orders that were already wrapped up.  I liked how the owner knew most of them by name; I enjoy going to eat at places where the staff and owners really know their customer base.

I ended up ordering the pulled pork sandwich, and reflecting back, this was not something that I should have done.  You see, I had lived in Memphis for a summer and was spoiled by the pork BBQ, in particular ribs and pulled pork.  I haven’t really had a pulled pork sandwich (other than Willie’s Ice House) since leaving Memphis in 2004, and after seeing it on the menu I just had to have it.

The sandwich was good, but it definitely wasn’t as good as I was expecting.  Then again, nothing outside of Shelby county in Tennessee could live up to what I was looking for (a large reason was the fact that they didn’t put coleslaw on top of the pulled pork)!

This pulled pork sandwich was aight, but nothing like what you can get in Memphis...

So you can see that I set this restaurant up to fail; it would be on par of going to a random restaurant in Memphis and ordering fajitas at some place where Mexican food was not the primary focus.  For this reason, I am not going to provide a rating, but will say that if you are strolling along King William, you should give them a chance.

Value: 7.5/10 (about $5 for a sandwich)
Atmosphere: 8/10 (the inside is really small, but if it is a nice day you can sit outside)
Service: 9/10 (the folks are pretty friendly and know a lot of the customers that stop by)
Taste: ?/10 (will have to go back and try something else)

Thanks to @writeontime for suggesting that I try out this restaurant; you can read her blog by clicking here!
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One of my coworkers decided to take several of us to one of her favorite restaurants that is a sandwich shop and doubles as a bakery.  Founded by Nicole and David, Nicavid’s creates specialty sandwiches on home baked bread, along with soups and desserts from scratch.

The restaurant is kind of small on the inside and has a good feel.  There is also a nice patio, and seeing that the day was nice, we decided to go outside to take in the beautiful day.  While ordering at the register, you can look at the strategically placed shelf to the left with all the baked goodies.  Let me tell you it is hard to resist; my sweet tooth couldn’t turn down the raspberry cheesecake!

I ordered the ½ Italian Stallion (I think it had prosciutto, salami, and maybe pepperoni) along with a cup of carrot ginger soup.  I had to go with that soup because my coworker had been raving about it for the entire week, so even though I could not imagine how a carrot soup would taste good, I trusted her judgment and ordered it.

The bread was really good on the sandwich, but the amount of meat on the sandwich was a little disappointing.  I guess overall it was a pretty good sandwich, but nothing that really was absolutely amazing.  The soup on the other hand was really really good and warrants a trip to the restaurant!  I don’t even really know how to describe it in a way that could possibly make anyone believe that carrot soup could be awesome, but you just have to trust me.

The ginger carrot soup was soooooo good that I ate it so fast and forgot to get a picture!

While the sandwich was not all that impressive, I do recommend going to this restaurant on a cold day to pick up some soup.  In my next trip to the restaurant, I think I will be getting a full bowl.

Value: 7/10 (a little expensive for a smallish ½ sandwich and soup; I would like to give a shout out to one of my coworkers who bought my lunch!)
Atmosphere: 8.5/10 (enjoyed the bakery/restaurant atmosphere and the patio is good)
Service: 9/10 (really didn’t interact with anyone with the exception of at the register)
Taste: 6.5/10 (I got to go with a 6.5 here because the sandwiches were just all right to me; if I was purely judging on the soup, I would give it like a 8.5 or a 9 because it is really good; like no joke, I plan on going back when it starts getting cold just to get some soup and their bread and you should too.)
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