Where to drink now

Where to drink in San Antonio: 6 cocktails we're thankful for right now

We are going to need a lot of Blue Box cocktails to deal with holiday stress.

Photo courtesy of Blue Box Bar/ Facebook

As the holidays approach, our stress level peaks. Brining the turkey, polishing the silver, and convincing your cousin that, no, he can’t invite his Tinder hook-up to Thanksgiving dinner have us wishing for escape. This month, we are taking a break with cocktails that evoke the best of the season without all the resultant headaches.

Bar 1919— Snow White
The base flavors in 1919’s Snow White may sound like something your mom would use for Thanksgiving dinner, but this isn’t a drink meant to be chugged while watching the football game. House-infused sweet potato and cinnamon Irish whiskey gives an earthy foundation to the citrusy French aperitif Lillet Blanc, spiced up with a bit of ginger. Now that’s something to be thankful for!

Blue Box Bar— Stone Fence
Sure, it can be a bummer when the sun sets at 5:30 pm, but the extra bit of dark gives us an excuse to enjoy San Antonio nightlife a bit earlier. Besides, the quicker we can get a Stone Fence — Blue Box Bar's new take on the autumnal classic using rye, spice pear liqueur, apple cider, and cinnamon — the better.

The Bar at Bohanan’s— Don Lockwood
We love camping when the weather gets cooler, but sometimes we want the campfire without the cramped quarters. Named after Gene Kelly’s character in Singing in the Rain, Bohanan’s Don Lockwood is evocative of all the things we like about roughing it — the smoke, the maple syrup in the morning, and especially the bourbon.

The Green Lantern— Drink of the Gods
Like a boozy version of those holiday chocolate orange balls, this stylish speakeasy’s Drink of the Gods combines two of the most festive holiday ingredients into something that is greater than the sum of its parts. Vida mezcal is the spirit, adding notes of Aztec chocolate bitters, house orange cordial, cocoa, and orange peel for a cocktail that lives up to its name.

Juniper Tar— Vineyards & Orchards
We are Texan through and through, but we must admit we get a jealous when we see all those idyllic pictures of East Coast apple picking. Luckily, we’re able to keep the doctor away with something far better. This downtown bar's Vineyards & Orchards cocktail is as apple-y as it gets with Calvados apple brandy and apple bitters providing a one-two punch.

Sternewirth— The Spice is Right
Since the San Antonio weather rarely cooperates, we have to seek out our holiday feels elsewhere. With its Kilim rugs and cushy leather furniture, Sternewirth helps us ignore the beating sun and embrace the snuggly feelings of the season — especially when we have The Spice is Right (tequila blanco, ancho verde, roasted bell pepper shrub, rhubarb bitters, grapefruit, cinnamon syrup) in our hand.

where-drink

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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