SAD SHUTTERS

Popular San Antonio burger joint flips its last patty after a decade

Teddy B's has stuck to its affordability until the very end.

A long-running San Antonio burger joint is closing its doors after 10 years in business: Teddy B’s announced its impending shutter in a Facebook message posted October 13.

Although the restaurant’s representative did not give an exact date, the statement said the eatery would be shuttered by the end of October.

“We would like to express our deepest gratitude to our customer base for their loyalty over the past 10 years,” a team member wrote. “We aim to preserve our menu offerings for the remainder of our operation.”

Sadly, like many beloved San Antonio restaurants in the back half of 2024, Teddy B's took to social media to ask for community support. While some businesses post days later that they were able to weather the storm the burger joint wasn’t so lucky.

On August 4, Teddy B’s reached out to its followers, explaining that declining foot traffic made it difficult for the owners to retain costs. The gambit to avert an impending closure seemed to work at the time. By August 7, the spot was thanking its patrons for an overwhelming bump in business.

Since then, Teddy B’s has been mostly quiet on its social media channels. The business did not explain the pressures driving the closure decision.

Teddy B’s opened in 2014, remaining at 6392 Babcock Rd. for its entire lifespan. Although burgers and hot dogs were its specialty, it served local favorites like mangonadas, nachos, and corn in a cup. For its run, it remained one of a dying breed of restaurants catering to families on a budget.

Teddy B's is one in a string of untimely restaurant and bar closures in San Antonio in recent months.

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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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