You win some, you lose some

Popular Pearl restaurant shuttering to make room for fresh concept

Nao is closing after a more than five year run, but it's not all bad news.

Here’s the bad news: Nao, the popular contemporary Latin restaurant in the historic Pearl is closing in 2018 after a more than five-year run. Now for the bright side: the Culinary Institute of America (which owns and operates Nao) is busy developing a new concept in the development, which will move into the former home of Andrew Weismann’s much-missed The Sandbar in the fall semester.

According to a release, the unnamed concept is currently being workshopped by CIA students and faculty, but it will have a locavore focus and work closely with Texas farmers and ranchers. CIA also shared that the restaurant will feature a full bar with a curated wine and beer program and an open kitchen to give guests a peek at the behind the scenes action.

This isn’t the first time that the culinary school has retooled the eatery's operation. The restaurant opened in 2012 as Nao: New World Flavors in 2012 under executive chef Geronimo Lopez, a CultureMap Tastemaker Award Best Chef nominee for his work at Peruvian-Asian fusion restaurant Botika, also at the Pearl.

In late 2015, the eatery switched gears from fine dining to embrace a more casual approach. The new focus meant smaller, shareable plates and a new name: Nao Latin Gastro Bar. In June 2017, the CIA simplified the name to just Nao to allow the chefs more flexibility with the Latin American format and to announce a new commitment to live fire cooking.

Although the digs will change, the upcoming restaurant will serve the same purpose as Nao, acting as a lab for the school’s advanced culinary arts and baking and pastry programs which require students to get real world hospitality and cooking experience before graduation.

After the new concept debuts in the fall, San Antonio will get another sweet treat. The CIA Bakery Cafe, which closed its permanent location in 2013 to make way for more classroom space at the school, will move its pop-up series to the Sandbar space beginning in January 2019 with breakfast and lunch service.

As for now, CIA is still confirming the exact dates for Nao’s closure and the new concept's opening.

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san antonio's culinary stars

5 outstanding San Antonio eateries land on first OpenTable Icons list

Photo by Robert Lerma

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There's no denying San Antonio is full of high quality restaurants and talented chefs, and now five local restaurants are earning new recognition in OpenTable's inaugural San Antonio Icons list.

The OpenTable Icons lists, which first launched in July 2024, highlight local eateries in 25 cities across the U.S. and Canada, from award-winners to trendy hotspots and all types of cuisine. Chosen restaurants must have recently earned Michelin stars, James Beard Awards or nominations, positive reviews from diners and critics, and more.

The newly released San Antonio list is a combination of fine dining establishments and international culinary experiences mostly located in downtown or North Central San Antonio. While no one cuisine dominated the list, two out of the five restaurants –Clementine and Biga on the Banks – focus on contemporary American dishes.

The list also includes one 20-seat dessert bar, Nicosi, which opened in June 2024. This unique establishment takes a hard stance against the modern practice of constant social media sharing with its no-phones-allowed policy, allowing guests to place their full focus on the experience unfolding in front of them.

"In a sleek space with velvet curtains and 20 seats overlooking an open kitchen, chefs Tavel Bristol-Joseph and Karla Espinosa whip up an artful, eight-course dessert menu that’s one of the city’s most singular dining experiences," OpenTable's editors wrote.

Here is the full list of San Antonio Icons:

Best Quality Daughter, an Asian-American restaurant in the Pearl District
Cured, a gastropub-style restaurant in the Pearl District
Biga on the Banks, a contemporary American restaurant on the River Walk
Nicosi, an omakase-style dessert bar in the Pearl District
Clementine, a contemporary American restaurant in North Central San Antonio

San Antonio foodies will recognize longstanding local staples like Biga on the Banks, which has been mastering the art of new American fine dining in the Alamo City for more than 30 years. OpenTable praised the restaurant for its fresh fish offerings, an "eclectic" wine list, and more.

"When he opened Biga in 1991, London-born chef Bruce Auden kicked off a new era of fine dining in San Antonio, amassing a huge celebrity following (Julia Child, Emeril Lagasse) and racking up several James Beard nominations," OpenTable's editors wrote. "In 2000, the restaurant moved to a bigger space with sweeping Riverwalk views, the perfect setting for Auden’s ever-changing global menu with Texas accents — think spiced antelope and quail, habañero jerk scallops, and za’atar roasted cauliflower."

Pioneering establishments like Best Quality Daughter – whose head chef and owner Jennifer Hwa Dobbertin was nominated for CultureMap's 2024 Chef of the Year – also rightfully made the list.

"Dobbertin unabashedly combines Asian and global flavors in unique dishes like salt and pepper shrimp with Thai chimichurri or rice chips with mapo hummus, resulting in this singular restaurant in the historic Mueller House that is so very San Antonio," the editors wrote.

More information about OpenTable's San Antonio Icons list can be found on OpenTable. Texas travelers can also find OpenTable icons in Austin, Dallas, and Houston.

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