THE DAY THE MUSIC DIED

Rustic country music venue mysteriously unplugs San Antonio location

The Rustic suddenly shuttered its San Antonio location.

When most businesses close, they post some sort of statement, usually thanking customers for their support. While the sign offs rarely offer many details, they do usually put a halt to the rumor mill, allowing a concept’s fans to eulogize what once was.

When the San Antonio location of once-popular music venue The Rustic decided to shut its doors, it chose chaos.

As first reported by news site MySA, the Far Northwest bar and restaurant shuttered May 28, giving employees and the broader community no notice. The business swiftly disconnected its phone and blocked out its Resy calendar but issued no official notice through its social media pages or through its parent company, Free Range Concepts.

Oddly, many of the entities related to The Rustic seemed to be left out in the dark. As of May 29, the venue’s Facebook and Instagram pages were still trumpeting summer promotions and social media managers were still commenting on the page — albeit ignoring any message related to the closing. A representative of The Rim shopping center seemed to be confused by CultureMap inquiries.

The bar did offer later clarification via a note taped to its door. “Due to the ongoing freeway construction affecting access during nights and weekends,” the note read, “we have made the strategic location to close the current location.”

Free Range Concepts brought The Rustic to San Antonio in 2017 following years of burgeoning sales from its Dallas location. The venue — co-owned by country star Pat Green — initially made a big splash by bringing regular concerts to a music-starved town.

If comments on the influential San Antonio Restaurants Facebook group are any indication, however, the complex had lost much of its initial luster. Complaints in the discussion ranged from slow service to lackluster food.

Whatever the underlying reasons for the abrupt shutter, company officials are thus far tight-lipped. CultureMap has reached out to the company for further clarification. The business’ sign says it is looking for “new opportunities” in a “more accessible and vibrant location.”

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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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