BITES AND BYTES

New food trail app guides San Antonio diners on a foodie adventure

Bar Loretta is one of the stops on the cocktail trail.

Photo by Richard Castee;

A San Antonio culinary nonprofit is making it easier than ever to decide what to have for dinner: Culinaria is relaunching its San Antonio Food Trails as a definitive guide to the best dining in Alamo City. The initiative is supported by Vibemap, a handy new app that matches users' personal energy with barbecue spots, burger joints, and elegant cocktail bars.

If the idea sounds familiar, it's because Culinaria introduced it back in 2019. According to the organization's rep, the full scope of the program was scuttled by the global COVID-19 pandemic.

The initiative first debuted with three of the area's most popular offerings: tacos, margaritas, and barbecue. With the 2025 relaunch, Culinaria has added two more enduring favorites — cocktails and burgers.

Similarly to Foursquare, the app uses a check-in system, allowing users to accrue points and earn badges. Saving a place, adding a tip, and loading a photo add to the total score.

According to a release, the adventures were created with the input of San Antonio food experts. The recommended restaurants and bars include long-running classics like Paloma Blanca and Henry's Puffy Tacos and relative newcomers like Bar Loretta, Reese Bros. Barbecue, and Last Place Burgers.

The food trails are an extension of Culinaria's mission to promote San Antonio as a premier food and wine destination. The list is not pay-for-play; it is solely driven by a desire to share the city's great food.

"Our goal is to celebrate San Antonio's confluence of culture through food and drink in a way that's interactive and new to our community," says Culinaria CEO and president Suzanne Taranto-Etheredge via the release. "Users can easily explore and navigate their way to the most exciting flavors, whether they're looking for a Michelin-worthy meal or the best street food in town."

Foodies can download the app via the App Store or Google Play or check out the picks on Culinaria's website.

Culinaria is also the beneficiary of this year's CultureMap Tastemaker Awards and will be on hand at our tasting event and awards ceremony Thursday, April 10 at the Briscoe Museum. Snag a ticket and say hello. We're sure they'll have plenty of extra recommendations.

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SOUP-ER NEWS

Michelin-recognized dumpling shop to open 2 San Antonio locations

Luscious Dumplings

A spread of dumplings from Luscious Dumplings

Luscious Dumplings, a Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand-recognized restaurant from California, has two San Antonio locations slated to debut in the coming months. The outposts will be the first Texas stores for the cult chain.

The first, located at 12485 I-10 #108, is slated to open this May, a short drive from the main UTSA campus and La Cantera. Luscious Dumplings manager Alan Shi confirmed the news, which was first teased via an April 16 Instagram post. A second location is also in the works at 415 W. 1604 S. #113, on the far West Side of town near the Westover Hills neighborhood.

Per a recent filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, construction is slated to begin on the second Luscious Dumplings location this June, with a tentative completion date set for March 2026. As of publication, the debut date of San Antonio's second Luscious Dumplings location has yet to be finalized.

The Luscious Dumplings menu keeps things simple with three sections — dumplings, soup noodles, and light snacks. Dumpling flavors include boiled cabbage, pork and shrimp, steamed vegetarian, pan-fried pork, and pan-fried sole. Guests can also opt for stewed or sliced pork belly noodles, a shredded Szechuan pickle and pork noodle dish, or snacks like bok choy in oyster sauce or seaweed salad in chili garlic.

Luscious Dumplings was awarded a Bib Gourmand by the Michelin Guide for three consecutive years from 2021 through 2023. Founded by Alan Lam & Grace Li in 2001, the concept quickly expanded thanks to the couple's daughter, Michelle Wu, and her husband, Ker Zhu, who opened a second California location in Monrovia in 2012.

San Antonio is part of the brand's slow nationwide expansion — with additional locations already open and operating in Colorado and Philadelphia. The official company website teases that more California locations are "coming soon."

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