Pastrami and pizza
Guy Fieri tries San Antonio pastrami on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives
This pastrami sandwich impressed Guy Fieri with all its housemade ingredients.
Celebrity chef Gui Fieri has been having a blast in San Antonio recently. One part of his journey brought him to Wild Barley Kitchen & Brewery, where he filmed an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. A recap of his visit is out now on YouTube.
In categorizing the restaurant, Fieri asks visitors if it's a pizza joint, a sandwich joint, or a brewery. The answer: "It's kind of like all of those things." Owners Marc Fogelsong and Holland Lawrence distill the purpose down to the importance of sourdough across the menu.
First, Lawrence teaches Fieri how to make a Reuben sandwich, from making the marbled rye with a 38-year-old starter all the way down to the sauerkraut that's aged up to three weeks.
The star of the show is, of course, the thick-sliced pastrami; the cut delights Fieri, who doesn't expect this Texan take on a Northeastern classic. Along with lots of other flavoring ingredients, this pastrami features a whole guajillo and local honey.
Representing the pizza side of the menu is the "Native Texan": barbecue sauce, a white cheese blend, diced pastrami brisket, pickled jalapeños and red onions, cheddar cheese, and an extra drizzle of sauce.
The sourdough crust is aged overnight, and the barbecue sauce gets an extra kick from dehydrated and finely ground jalapeños. Fieri calls the pizza "exciting," praising the composition for making each bite different, and declares it a "benchmark pizza."
Wild Barley launched in its current state in 2022, but Fogelsong and Lawrence already operated a food truck and had known each other for a decade. They closed the truck to focus on the restaurant, which seems like the right choice now that they've earned attention from Fieri, become a CultureMap San Antonio Tastemaker Awards nominee for 2025, and captured the hearts of many locals.
Wild Barley Kitchen & Brewery is located at 8403 Broadway, with operating hours Mondays through Fridays from 10 am to 9 pm (except Tuesdays, when it's closed), and Saturdays and Sundays from 8 am to 9 pm.
