Hot off the press

Healthy Mediterranean concept debuts mini-restaurant at San Antonio Walmart

Falafel from Shawarma Press.

Shawarma Press

Walmart is adding a new in-house dining option at certain stores that’s serving Mediterranean food, including shawarma wraps and rice bowls — and the first eatery is now open in San Antonio.

Called Shawarma Press, it’s a restaurant concept that has partnered with Walmart to open mini-restaurants inside select Walmart stores, and it debuted at the Walmart on the Far West Side, at 11210 Potranco Rd.

Shawarma Press started out as a restaurant that founder and CEO Sawsan Abublan opened in Irving, near Dallas, in 2017. Now with the Walmart deal, the company is expanding at stores across Texas, including in Arlington, Plano, and Georgetown.

Shawarma Press describes its food as “a fresh twist on Mediterranean cuisine,” and claims to be the first food establishment to introduce shawarma in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex.

“We’re thrilled that Walmart’s curated food service will allow us to introduce more people to our authentic, healthy, Mediterranean cuisine,” Abublan says in a statement. “Texans are known for their diverse palates, so we look forward to offering our fresh menu items to San Antonians and Walmart shoppers seeking delicious Mediterranean comfort food.”

Shawarma Press’ menu includes shawarma wraps, platters, and rice bowls with chicken, beef, and vegetarian and vegan options like hummus and falafel, plus appetizers, salads, and pastries.

But the signature dish is the shawarma: thin slices of chicken or beef stacked in cone-like shapes that are slowly roasted in juices on a rotisserie. The restaurant offers traditional wraps as well as novel fusion offerings like the spicy Tandoori Press and Tex-Mex Press shawarmas.

“Our guests are delighted and sometimes surprised that our dishes are made from scratch, including our famous hummus, falafel, and sauces that are available for takeout or dine-in at Walmart,” Abublan says. “We also use only high-quality ingredients, including chicken and premium beef raised with no hormones, steroids, or antibiotics, and humanely handled according to halal guidelines.”

Walmart seems to be upping its game on restaurant options. In October 2021, the retail giant added Surfin’ Chicken, a new-to-the-U.S. concept from Croatia that serves fried chicken and French fries.

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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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