BARGAIN BONANZA

Twin Liquors pops the cap on sizzling Dollar Sale deals in San Antonio

The Dollar Sale is returning to Twin Liquors.

Photo courtesy of Twin Liquors

Porch parties during Fiesta, backyard pachangas, and neighborhood crawfish boils. The spring social calendar will soon overflow, and San Antonians will need a lot of booze.

Luckily, Twin Liquors is bringing back its Dollar Sale February 23-25 so locals can stock up for all the entertaining ahead. In what has become a semi-annual tradition, the Texas-based retailer is clearing off the shelves with deep discounts on wines and liquors at its 100-plus locations and Sigel’s stores in Dallas.

Before readers start stampeding, the “dollar” in the sale’s name doesn’t mean they can score bottles for a simoleon. Instead, Twin Liquors knocks the price down to the lowest possible price, then adds a dollar. The retailer has never revealed the exact method to that madness, but it does give a certain frisson.

Among the discounted items are collectible wines and rare whiskies for impressing dinner party guests. Shoppers can also score more accessible bottles like Lalo Tequila for $39.99 and Jameson Caskmates for $24.39. Shots, shots, shots!

Those wanting to make sport of the sale should get to the stores bright and early. The most coveted spirits and wines tend to disappear in an instant. Still, late risers should find plenty of bargains during the three-day event.

And should one get tuckered while lunging for Sour Apple Pucker, Twin Liquors is bringing back another tradition. The shop will be handing out free breakfast tacos starting at 10 am on February 23 at all marketplace outposts, including the location at 12955 San Pedro Ave.

Deep Eddy will also give out Bloody Marys that day while supplies last. Watch out for some slightly glazed eyes during 11 am Zoom calls.

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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