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Healthy-casual Dallas restaurant makes San Antonio debut on Broadway

Bellagreen is now in San Antonio for the first time.

A fast-casual restaurant from Dallas called Bellagreen has sprouted in San Antonio, as of Tuesday, November 12.

The mini-chain's first San Antonio location is at 1900 Broadway St., Ste. 112, and it's giving out a couple of freebies to get things going on opening day. Customers on Tuesday will all get a free craft soda or tea with their meal. Active military and veterans will also receive 15 percent off, but that's a daily policy throughout the year.

Bellagreen is known for its healthy image, which comes from scratch-made dishes and a generally light menu featuring lots of salads, a strong veggie presence, and a protein lean toward poultry and fish. Rotating seasonal menus keep things fresh.

“The decision to open Bella here was easy," said San Antonio location co-investors Sameer Mumtaz and Mark Huffstutler in a press release. Mumtaz continued, "San Antonio shares our values of family and good, wholesome, quality food.”

With nine locations across Texas, much of its popularity also comes from an ease of catering to different diets and preferences, from brunch (with $10 mimosa carafes) through dinner. Many meals are customizable and can accommodate gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarian, high-protein, and other needs.

“We’ve wanted to bring Bellagreen to Central Texas for years and finally found the perfect spot," said Huffstutler. "Downtown residents, employees and tourists have a wonderful new dining option, and we can immerse ourselves in San Antonio’s vibrant culture.”

The roughly 150-seat restaurant with a patio is located in a popular area for dining, a few blocks from the Pearl neighborhood and next to Nineteen Hyaku (for a very different kind of meal).

"We believe in living a balanced life, and our menu reflects that with delicious and abundant options,” said general Cristian Garcia in the release. “With made-for-you dishes, quick and friendly service and charitable ties, our guests can feel good about their dining choice.”

While the fall menu is in service, those charitable ties lead to Bexar Branches Alliance, an urban forestry nonprofit that will receive a portion of profits from those seasonal items. So far, according to the release, Bellagreen has donated more than 45,000 seedlings to the Texas Trees Foundation and Trees for Houston, the city where most of its locations are, even though it's based in Dallas.

Bellagreen is open weekdays from 11 am to 10 pm, and weekends from 10 am to 10 pm.

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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