Eat it up

H-E-B carts out to-go meals from San Antonio restaurants closed due to COVID-19

All proceeds go directly to the restaurants.

Photo courtesy of H-E-B

Grocery chain H-E-B is carting out a new way for restaurants in San Antonio to fire up business during the economically crippling coronavirus pandemic.

As part of a pilot program, certain H-E-B stores are selling prepared meals from two restaurants in the San Antonio area: Max and Louie’s New York Diner and Rosario’s Mexican Cafe Y Cantina. All proceeds from the sale of these meals will be handed over to the restaurants, H-E-B said April 3.

For now, the pilot program has filled all of its restaurant allotments, H-E-B spokeswoman Dya Campos says. “We might be looking for more opportunities for partnerships in the future,” she tells CultureMap.

Meals from Max and Louie’s New York Diner are available at four H-E-B stores:

1150 N. Loop 1604 West in North San Antonio
9238 N. Loop 1604 West in Northwest San Antonio
8503 N.W. Military Hwy. in Northwest San Antonio
15000 San Pedro Ave. in North San Antonio

Starting April 9, meals from Rosario’s Mexican Cafe Y Cantina will be available at these four H-E-B stores:

999 E. Basse Rd. in North San Antonio
12777 W. I-10 in Northwest San Antonio
8503 N.W. Military Hwy. in Northwest San Antonio
9900 Wurzbach Rd. in Northwest San Antonio

In the Austin area, the only restaurant participating in the program is Fresa’s Chicken al Carbon. The restaurant’s meals are available at six H-E-B stores in the Capital City.

“We are incredibly grateful for the team at H-E-B and how they have rallied to support their fellow Texans and local restaurants,” Margaret Vera, co-owner of Fresa’s, tells CultureMap. “We are honored to be part of their pilot program.”

H-E-B stores in the Houston area also are participating in the restaurant meal program.

dinner lunch

NYT loves AUS

Pastry chef from San Antonio makes New York Times Best Bakeries list

Comadre Panadería/Instagram

Comadre Panadería is known for nostalgic Mexican bakes with feminine flair.

The New York Times has once again shined its spotlight on Austin’s culinary scene. It included Comadre Panadería, an Austin bakery by San Antonio native Mariela Camacho, on its new list of the 22 of the Best Bakeries Across the U.S. Right Now.

Interim food critic Priya Krishna praises pastry chef Camacho’s pastries that include conchas and her signature pink cake. “Despite their saccharine appearances, not one of the desserts is overly cloying, and even the coffee drinks (Texas pecan horchata! Cranberry vanilla agua fresca!) strike the playful tone of the pastries,” she writes.

Comadre Panadería has been widely recognized, including by this publication; Camacho, who is now based in Ausitn, won Pastry Chef of the Year in the 2023 CultureMap Austin Tastemaker Awards. She also earned a 2024 James Beard Award semifinalist nomination for Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker.

Camacho and Comadre as a whole are both invested in using baked goods to make a more equitable world, from the bakery's early days as a fundraiser for disaster relief, to a current insistence on charging enough to support ethical and organic foods, and paying staff enough to keep up with rising costs in Austin.

Although Camacho was born in San Antonio and started her baking career there, she also spent a significant time in Seattle, Washington, where Comadre started as a pop-up. According to Austin Monthly, she then moved back to San Antonio, and then to Austin. But no matter where she is, the Mexican cooking traditions of her ancestors take precedent.

Mariela Camacho of Comadre Panaderia in Austin Mariela Camacho, Comadre Panaderia. Courtesy photo

The Times also recognized Houston's Koffeteria. Krishna hails the bakery for pastry chef-owner Vanarin Kuch’s creative fare that includes dishes such as beef pho kolaches, Chinese sausage breakfast tacos, and butter mochi.

“Some of Mr. Kuch’s offerings are rooted in his Cambodian American identity — he makes cornbread with the coconutty, scallion-forward flavors of Cambodian street corn — while others are odes to Houston’s multicultural makeup. But most of the fun of Koffeteria is having no idea what Mr. Kuch will do next, and eagerly awaiting his next innovation,” Krishna writes.

Open since 2019, Koffeteria has been riding high this year. It earned a James Beard Award semifinalist nomination for Outstanding Bakery and a CultureMap Houston Tastemaker Award for Pastry Chef of the Year.

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Comadre Panadería and Koffeteria are the only Texas establishments to make the Times’ list. Only California and New York City, which each have three representatives, earn more recognition.

lists media desserts koffeteria new york times