The San Antonio Food and Sign Festival, Day 2
We woke up on our second day in San Antonio to homemade granola and Cafe de Olla. This was going to be a day of homemade food, and when you consider our hostess’ prowess in the kitchen, restaurants could stand to take a break for a day. Hannah works at Central Market in San Antonio, so we’d be going there for some lunch and to gather in the ingredients needed for dinner. Along the way, to placate my sign addiction, we’d hit a few high spots.
Before that, though, Hannah took us over to Randolph, where Dan is technically stationed while he is doing his residency. On the way over, I spotted something poking out of the buildings across the street from the base, and after we had taken a drive through the facility, I saw that I had not misjudged what I had seen at a distance. It was the sign for Randolph Laundry & Cleaners, a neon sign on top of the building.
Happy circumstance: no one had any idea it was there. If you’ll notice, I got photobombed by a bird up at the top near the “R”. It was an angry bird.
Very angry bird…
So rather than face the wrath of this bird, we decided to go toward Central Market. Along the way, though, Hannah had a sign location in mind for me:
Bun-N-Barrel has been around since 1950, and it’s definitely a testament to the kind of roadside architecture we’ve come to know and love from that era. I indulge myself for a few minutes, even sneaking out to the median of Austin Highway to get the following shot:
And then, the Coca-Cola sign along the side. I really didn’t expect to see palm trees in San Antonio, but they really add to this shot:
We pressed on and stopped at Central Market for supplies. For those of you Yankees like me who have never been to a Central Market, it’s as if Trader Joe’s and Wegmans had a baby. Chances are, if it’s not there, you probably didn’t need it. I munched on a wild mushroom and goat cheese quesadilla for lunch as we went through aisle after aisle of marvelous food that we consider stuffing into our carry-ons. We settle on the Juan Diaz Cafe de Olla we had at breakfast. No regrets. I may order some online.
Across the street is the remains of the Broadway Theater. The Broadway opened in 1939 and was converted into a bank, then into apartments. Happily, the vertical sign has remained in terrific shape:
In the meantime, my research had led me to the Ranch Motel, which was further up Broadway. Fortunately, Hannah wanted to go by the Half Price Books that is just up the street, so it looked like a perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone:
Killer arrow!
And then on to the food portion of the program. Hannah decided on a Spanish theme for the evening, so she made a Spanish tortilla and a concoction with garbanzos and chorizo, two of my favorite ingredients:
You know it’s getting serious when the blow torch comes out… Chef Hannah prepares fideua.
And for dessert: fig and goat cheese ice cream. Yes, you heard right. I could eat a gallon of this right now.
Hannah’s friend Emily came over for the feast. She’s from Chattanooga and we lived in Chattanooga for ten years so we had a great talk over great food.
More from San Antonio:
You guys should go to Schilo’s!