Culinaria Sneak Peek

A first taste of Culinaria Wine and Food Festival's can't-miss events

Culinaria Wine and Food Festival: Back to Bubbles

Culinaria Wine and Food Festival takes over La Cantera Resort & Spa May 19-22.

Photo by Rick Canfield

San Antonio's long-running gastronomic party — formerly known as The New World Wine and Food Festival — enters its sixth year as the Culinaria Wine and Food Festival with fresh new events and a reimagined approach to some old favorites.

"As a result of San Antonio becoming such an acclaimed culinary destination, new and innovative restaurants are regularly popping up all over the city," says Culinaria president and CEO Suzanne Taranto-Etheredge. "This diverse influx of talent gives us more chefs to include on our roster each year, so the flavors are constantly changing. This also gives us the ability to have fun experimenting with themes each year."

One of the notable changes for 2016 is the festival's centralized location at La Cantera Resort & Spa. "We've outgrown many venues, so when the opportunity to host it at La Cantera Resort & Spa came up, we quickly hopped on board," says Taranto-Etheredge.

The Culinaria Wine and Food Festival returns May 19-22. Proceeds will help bolster the nonprofit's culinary scholarships and support its newest endeavor The Farm, an urban farming and educational food project. With a wide variety of dinners, tastings, and soirees, we've outlined four of our favorite events.

The Farm Dinner
The public can have a first glimpse at The Farm during The Farm Dinner on Thursday, May 19 with a multicourse meal prepared by Robert Fleming (Magnolia Pancake Haus), Jeff White (Boiler House), Luis Colon (Folc), Robbie Nowlin (Boudro's and Zinc), and Josh Cross (Toro Taco Bar). Wine pairings include Becker Vineyards and The Divining Rod presented by special guests Janice and Alycia Mondavi.

Back to Bubbles
The party continues on Friday at La Cantera with the return of Back to Bubbles, a poolside event that celebrates everything sparkling. "We took our bubbles event off the roster in 2014, but due to very popular demand, we brought it back last year as an exclusive preface to The Grand Tasting," says Taranto-Etheredge. "Demand was so overwhelming that this year we gave it more autonomy and a night all its own."

Tacos and Talk (and Tasting)
Saturday features a new addition to the festival, Tacos and Talk (and Tasting), a daytime fair complete with a queso fountain and salsa bar. One ticket gets you into the event's entire lineup of educational seminars and chef demonstrations, with topics ranging from Texas wines to mixology.

The Grand Tasting
Last but not least is The Grand Tasting, a sip-and-stroll affair on Saturday evening that brings some of the city's most notable chefs together along with a lineup of wine, craft beer, and cocktails. Organizers have restructured the event to accommodate the new venue, and added live music and more entertainment.

"The event's name gives us a lot to live up to each year," explains Taranto-Etheredge. "You want to make each event grander than the last, and after last year's success, all I can say without giving away too much is that this year will be the most sizzling one yet. As far as chefs go, we have our old friends such as Jason Dady and Robbie Nowlin, who've been with us every step of the way, and many fresh faces, like Sukeban's [Gerry] Shirley."

These are a handful of top picks for this year's festival. For more information, tickets to individual events, or festival passes, head to the Culinaria website.

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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.

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