KONBINI CALLING
River Walk hotel fires up street food takeover for San Japan
Spam musubi will be among the offerings at the konbini pop-up.
Anime fans won’t just find panels and cosplay during this year’s San Japan. The San Antonio Marriott Riverwalk is transforming several of its venues into pop-ups on Labor Day weekend (September 4-6) featuring enough Japanese street food to compete with Tokyo’s Ameyoko Market.
The pop-ups follow last year’s activation, which was entirely themed around global phenomenon K-Pop Demon Hunters. This year, the hotel created an experience that both foodies and otaku can enjoy.
Current & Craft and Cactus Flower, the hotel’s seafood and Southwestern concepts, will do double duty as ramen-yas during the event, offering three different noodle bowls — traditional tonkotsu, creamy spicy miso, and a vegan option with roasted shiitake mushrooms.
All of the soups can be enjoyed onsite or to-go, including snacks like chicken karaage with yuzu ranch, pork and ginger dumplings, and fries smothered in curry gravy and topped with Kewpie mayo, mozzarella, and furikake. A mochi sundae with red bean fudge will sate sweet teeth.
Meanwhile, the property’s coffee shop, Café Carino, is going konbini with some grab-and-go convenience store classics. Among the offerings will be egg salad sandos, a crispy chicken katsu sandwich on Texas toast, tuna onigiri, and Spam musubi.
Lastly, Marriott’s chefs will break out the grills for a robatayaki pop-up at the front drive, featuring chicken thighs, tsukune chicken, pork belly, and shishito peppers.
The entire activation is open to the public, not just San Japan attendees, but expect to see some creative costuming. Prices are affordable, ranging from $3 for a shishito skewer to $18-$19 for ramen.
