Three Star Switch

Popular Pearl-area neighborhood bar nabs new owners from Los Angeles

Three Star Bar is changing ownership, but sticking around.

One of San Antonio's favorite neighborhood hangouts is changing hands. Pouring with Heart, the Los Angeles-based brand that currently operates several Texas outposts (including Austin's King Bee and Half Step), is expanding into the San Antonio area with the acquisition of Three Star Bar.

For those reticent to change, especially where it involves homegrown bars like Three Star, a release states that the Pouring with Heart Team plans to continue Jeret Peña's vision for the neighborhood bar. As yet, there are no plans for any physical improvements to the space, and regulars can expect only minimal changes to the cocktail menu.

“We are excited to continue to grow in San Antonio and particularly in the neighborhoods of its residents and not focusing on tourists," says Pete Stanislaus, head of development for Pouring With Heart, in the release. "Jeret built an incredible bar that feels more established than it should in such a short time. He had a rough start opening during covid, and we are honored that we could take the reins and preserve this great bar in a time of rapid development and change in San Antonio.”

The bar will temporarily close in mid-November for staff training on the new operating systems, and the bar will reopen in December. Three Star's staff will join the Pouring With Heart brand, which will include benefits for all full-time employees and access to mental, financial, wellness, and professional services.

Pouring With Heart is also overseeing the development of Idle Brewing and will be breaking ground in the coming weeks, shooting for a summer 2023 opening.

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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