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Courtesy of Blue Bell

Do two Texas greats taste great together? Blue Bell and Dr Pepper certainly think so.

The two iconic Texas brands have teamed up to create a new Blue Bell ice cream flavor called Dr Pepper Float. Available now in both half gallons and pints, it combines vanilla ice cream with a Dr Pepper-flavored sherbet.

“The best ice cream floats are made with Dr Pepper poured over a few scoops of Blue Bell,” Blue Bell vice president Jimmy Lawhorn asserts in a press release. “Why not put a spin on this popular treat and create our own version? The flavor of Dr Pepper and texture of the sherbet combine perfectly with the smooth vanilla ice cream. You may find yourself reaching for a soda glass instead of a bowl.”

Certainly, it’s easy to imagine taking Lawhorn’s suggestion. Not only could someone eat a scoop of Dr Pepper Float ice cream, they could also make a Dr Pepper float by pouring a can of Dr Pepper soda over some scoops of Dr Pepper Float ice cream in a tall glass.

If it isn’t immediately available in the freezer section, be patient. Blue Bell will distribute the flavor through 2024. Currently, the Brenham-based company sells more than 40 ice cream flavors in 23 states, including places as far away from Texas as Nevada, Illinois, and Virginia.

Lucy Cooper's Ice House/ Facebook

7 things to know about San Antonio food right now: Buzzy icehouse serves up new location

NEWS YOU CAN EAT

Editor's note: We get it. It can be difficult to keep up with the fast pace of San Antonio's restaurant and bar scene. We have you covered with our weekly roundup of essential food news.

Openings

One of San Antonio's most recognized chefs is going for a three-peat. Braunda Smith, known for recent appearances on Guy's Grocery Games and Chopped, tells CultureMap that she is opening a third location of Lucy Cooper's Ice House. The new spot will take over the former home of Cerveceria Chapultepec at 8403 State Highway 151 #101 at a to-be-announced future date.

A St. Mary's Strip staple is also in expansion mode. Signage for a second Tycoon Flats is wrapped around the former location of Purple Garlic at 1017 Austin Hwy. It's unclear when the new burger joint will debut. Although the banners promise a summer 2023 opening, renovation appears to still be in the early stages.

The cookie wars are coming to San Antonio as Tempe-based Dirty Dough opens at 19903 Stone Oak Pkwy #104. The franchise's schtick is that its treats feature "some combination of layers, mix-ins, or filling within the dough." But its more recent claim to fame regards a lawsuit brought about by Crumbl Cookies. The rapidly growing upstart accused Dirty of stealing its concept, logo, and recipes. The Arizona brand countered with its own lawsuit and an ad campaign, including mocking billboards on Crumbl's Utah home turf. Cookie criminologists can make their own conclusions on the kerfuffle during Dirty's grand opening on May 27.

On to the less contentious world of ice cream franchises — Ohio chain Handel's Homemade Ice Cream is opening its first Alamo City outpost on May 18 at 5311 N. Loop 1604 W. near The Rim. According to a press release, the grand opening will have face painting, a balloon artist, giveaways, and the chance to win free ice cream for a year. Among the opening flavors will be grape, Key Lime pie, and Graham Central Station — a graham cracker-filled ode to the now-shuttered multi-hyphenate nightclub.

A new kid on the block hopes to wow customers near the University of Texas at San Antonio. Wok N Fries serves 10 riffs on loaded fries, including chicken pesto fries with mozzarella, cheeseburger fries with cheddar and pickles, and Texas fries with mayo, bacon, and onion rings. Potato libertines can head to 7038 UTSA Boulevard on May 20 and 21 for the grand opening weekend featuring free fries for the first 20 guests on either day and a hefty discount for other customers.

According to a Facebook post, the Medical Center location of Taqueria Data Point finally roared back to action on May 12. The revered restaurant was forced to shutter in March 2020 after suffering damage from a nearby fire at Mustafa Grocery. The other two locations at De Zavala Road and Gramercy Place will continue killing the breakfast taco game.

Other news and notes

Culinaria has announced the dates for the summer edition of Restaurant Weeks. The biyearly program recruits eateries to offer a specially priced prix fixe menu as a fundraiser for the nonprofit. Though no participating restaurants have been announced yet, locals can mark their calendars for August 12-26.

Photo courtesy of Casa Kumwesu

Sweet Texas couple's new Waco Airbnb is an over-the-top ice cream dream

sprinkles of fun

A dynamic Texas couple is promising some sweet dreams with their new dessert-themed vacation rental in Waco.

Jessica Serna and Ismail Mpiana, wife and husband behind My Curly Adventures travel blog and My Culinary Adventures food blog, respectively, have debuted an ice cream-themed rental home called “Casa Kumwesu.”

The name pays homage to Serna's Hispanic roots and Mpiana's Zambian-Congolese heritage. It roughly translates to “our place/our house/our village.”

The three-bedroom, two-bathroom house spans 2,300 square feet on several acres of land, and can accommodate up to eight guests.

Highlights from the listing include:

  • one king-sized bed, one queen-sized bed, and two single beds
  • kitchen with stainless steel appliances
  • formal dining table and long island with seating reminiscent of a soda fountain
  • coffee bar stocked with syrups and toppings in a nook with seating
  • large soaking tub
  • plush bedding in each bedroom
  • four parking spots
  • two outdoor security cameras

But beyond the nuts-and-bolts, it's the Instagrammy design details that make the house a whimsical wonder. It's sprinkled with ice cream decor throughout, from ice cream cone seating and bathroom wallpaper to dish towels and pulls on the kitchen cabinets. On the walls, bright pastel colors and quirky patterns (one looks like "melting" ice cream) would make Willy Wonka proud. A photo-worthy ice cream cart bearing the name "Casa Kumwesu" stands outside on the patio.

Other fun features include a full-size Ms. Pac-Man machine and a super trendy flower wall with neon sign that says, "Treat Yo' Self" over a bed.

Mpiana says the ice cream theme wasn't due to any great love of the frozen treat (although Serna did recently have an ice cream named after her at Picole Pops). It was essentially marketing presentation that came to life.

“Jessica was doing a keynote seminar to destinations about the importance of owning a particular niche and going all out with it,” Mpiana says. “She ended up using an example of an ice cream theme."

As she was researching, she ended up falling in love with the colors and fun of ice cream and "just ran with it,” he says, adding that they both ended up enjoying the design process.

It was important to them to fill Casa Kumwesu with pieces and products that support Texas businesses, they say, from beautiful custom artwork created by local artists to personal care items by H-E-B’s Field and Future line. Many items were sourced through Etsy and Instagram. For instance, kitchen towels were designed by artist Volta Voloshin-Smith (@colorsnack on Instagram), a fringe wall was done by Oh My Darling Party Co (@ohmydarlingpartyco); and Home Airbnb designer Erica Dike (@ericaoohdesigns) helped bring it all together, with a cherry on top.

But, why Waco? Serna says its proximity between Austin and Dallas made it the perfect location for them.

“We spend so much time passing through Waco on all our travels across Texas, and we just started to fall in love with it,” she says.

The home's location in Waco is 180 miles northeast of San Antonio, making it a less than three hour drive away and the perfect destination to get out of the busy city. The home is also located just minutes from a few of Waco’s most popular spots: Magnolia Shops at the Silos, Lake Waco, and Baylor University.

Casa Kumwesu

Photo courtesy of Casa Kumwesu

Guests can share a meal at the large island, which resembles an old-fashioned soda fountain.

Casa Kumwesu has quietly opened for reservations via Airbnb and Vrbo. According to the booking sites, pricing starts around $550 per night (before cleaning and service fees), with a two-night minimum.

San Antonio scoops up a win in ranking of best ice cream cities

Get The Scoop

Fans of homegrown brands like Lick Honest Ice Creams know that the Austin and San Antonio areas serve up some of the best scoops in the country. So it's no surprise that on a recent list of the best (and worst) ice cream cities in America, Austin lands in the top 10, while San Antonio tops a subset of the survey.

At No. 27, San Antonio ranks in the middle of the best ice cream cities. But it wins the No. 1 slot for Best Shaved Ice, one of six additional categories.

The survey, compiled by real estate brokerage Home Bay, ranks 50 cities using factors such as the number of ice cream shops per capita, the price of a small cup or cone (using Ben & Jerry's as a benchmark), average annual temperature, and Google searches. Data sources include the U.S. Census Bureau, Yelp, and Google Trends.

The best
The best cities for ice cream have more shops (an average of 4.9 ice cream shops per 100,000 people), a high interest in ice cream (Google searches), and better prices, with a small cup of Ben & Jerry's averaging $4.47 versus the $4.50 residents pay in the average city.

Here's a surprise: Oklahoma City is America's best ice cream city, thanks to a high number of ice cream shops per capita as well as affordability.

Austin is the only Texas city in the top 10:

  1. Oklahoma City
  2. New Orleans
  3. Las Vegas
  4. San Jose, California
  5. Providence, Rhode Island
  6. Raleigh, North Carolina
  7. Salt Lake City
  8. Austin
  9. Boston
  10. Philadelphia

Way to go, Austin! This is what they say about Austin's ice cream scene:

Austin excels when it comes to appreciation of different ice cream styles. The city ranks third in our ice cream variety metric thanks to frequent searches for ice cream types and flavors. The slogan "Keep Austin Weird" is appropriate with so many locals going bananas: The city ranks first in online search interest for banana ice cream. Visitors can find two different types of banana ice cream — banana cream pie and strawberry banana — at local chain Amy's Ice Creams. Additionally, Austin has the seventh-warmest average temperature in our study, making ice cream especially appreciated as a sweet treat for relief from the heat.

The worst
The bottom 10 cities have fewer ice cream shops, higher costs, and less ice cream interest in the topic, which they judge by the number of Google searches for topics such as "ice cream near me" and "ice cream flavors."

The 10 worst ice cream cities are as follows:

  1. Memphis, Tennessee
  2. Riverside, California
  3. Washington, D.C.
  4. Miami
  5. Houston
  6. Baltimore
  7. Los Angeles
  8. Sacramento, California
  9. Dallas
  10. Jacksonville, Florida

These cities have only 2.2 ice cream shops per 100,000 people. The average city has 3.4 shops per 100,000 people. And Dallas has only 1.4 ice cream shops per 100,000 people.

Ice cream in these worst cities is also more expensive. A small cup of ice cream averages $4.80 in the bottom 10 cities, versus $4.50 for the average city in the study.

Ice cream in Missouri and Alabama is the cheapest: $3.99 for a small Ben & Jerry's cone. Washington, D.C. is the most expensive, at $5.35 for a cone.

San Antonio scoops up its first location of popular frozen custard chain

Any given sundae

A note to those San Antonio newcomers who have yet to replace sneakers and joggers for chanclas and shorts: Alamo City will soon be swelteringly hot. Luckily, a Missouri-based frozen dessert chain is ready to swoop in to deliver some sweet relief.

According to a release, Andy's Frozen Custard will debut its first local outpost at 17927 West IH-10 on May 11. The Rim shopping center site offers treats on the go with a speedy drive-thru and a walk-up window for wandering shoppers.

The bustling franchise has found success in the South and Southwest with a richer take on the summertime staple. Unlike ice cream, frozen custard adds egg yolks to the base mix for a denser, creamier texture. Andy's version adds a wallop of butterfat and a creepingly slow churn time for an even more decadent indulgence.

The custard is only offered in vanilla or chocolate, but the foundation can be mixed with 30 sweet and savory toppings. Along with familiar custard concretes, guests can opt for sundaes, splits, packed pints, and jackhammers — blended creations filled with a center add-on of choice.

Though the offerings are concocted at the company's Springfield, Missouri headquarters, local operators Joseph and Andrea Shields intend to keep a San Antonio focus. The couple plan to use profits to give to area schools and charities and intend to be an integral part of the community.

"Andy's Frozen Custard is more than just another scoop shop," said Joseph Shields via the release. "Whether the family is celebrating good school grades, needing a pick-me-up after a meeting, or just looking for a sweet treat, Andy's is a place where families and friends create new memories while enjoying the world's finest frozen custard and the highest levels of customer service."

The Shields will surely see plenty of families during the opening days (the company playfully calls it the "Grand Scoop'ning"). Among other promotions, kids under 12 can enjoy $1 sundaes until May 15. Older folks can download Andy's app and select San Antonio as their favorite store to receive a free one-topping concrete.

Photo courtesy of San Antonio Parks Foundation

8 things to know in San Antonio food right now: Fresh eatery blooms at Japanese Tea Garden

News you can eat

Editor’s note: We get it. It can be difficult to keep up with the fast pace of San Antonio’s restaurant and bar scene. We have you covered with our regular roundup of essential food news.

Openings and closings

San Antonio restaurant Cappy Lawton will bring a new bloom to the Japanese Tea Garden this spring. San Antonio Parks Foundation’s director of communications Libby Day confirmed to CultureMap that the prolific restaurateur will be taking over operations at the Jingu House from Fresh Horizons Catering. Lawton, who runs Cappy’s, Cappycino’s, and Mama’s Café, is still working on the final menu. According to Day, there will be nods to the historic spot’s cultural heritage.

Construction is soon to begin on a new location of nationally acclaimed tortas ahogadas shop Ro-Ho Pork and Bread. A filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation states that the owners are developing at 618 Fair Ave. The restaurant has not made an official announcement yet, but the project is slated to be finished in late June.

Medical Center favorite Thyme for Lunch has become the latest local eatery to bow to pandemic pressures. On January 26, the restaurant’s owners took to Facebook to announce an indefinite hiatus brought about by “supply chain issues, rising staffing [costs], and other costs across the board.” Though the post did not share a reopening date, it did say the closure would last a “few months.” The last day of business was January 30.

Sleeper Floresville barbecue joint Two Sawers BBQ has also become a COVID casualty. Owners RandyandJenna Sawers opened the concept as a tiny trailer in late 2015 before expanding to a brick-and-mortar in 2017. After six years in business, the couple said goodbye via an emotional social media post. January 22 was the last day of business.

Those obsessed with Instagram-friendly décor (or perhaps Trading Spaces designer Hildi Santo-Tomas’ aughts experiments with staple gun chic) have a new café to check out in The Rim. Via the social media platform (where else?), Kaffeinated Crepes and Coffeespilled the beans on its opening on January 29. Bedecked in hundreds of pink and purple silk flowers, the shop serves sweet treats seven days a week.

It looks like a new bar is giving it a go in the Stone Oak space that formerly housed black-lit club Chicago Bar. Newish company ADH Entertainment LLC has applied for a mixed beverage concept at 9141 Stone Oak Pkwy., suite 505 for a watering hole dubbed Forty-Two. Whether the name expresses an affinity for Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy or baseball trailblazer Jackie Robinson is unknown. The drinkery does not appear to have established a web presence.

Other news and notes

Hot off The Hayden’s January 26 debut on the Cooking Channel, another San Antonio restaurant is getting its moment in the sun. This time, beefy Cooking Channel host Robert Irvine stopped by Paciugo Gelato and Caffè at 340 E. Basse Rd. to film a segment of Cheat Day USA. Franchise owner Mo Shideed has been wowing guests with a shivery spaghetti Bolognese, a riff on spaghettieis. The original dish, surprisingly of German origin, is made by extruding vanilla ice cream in a modified spätzle press. Shideed ups the ante with a ladyfinger “breadstick” and “meatballs” made of Ferrero Rochet candies. The episode airs at 2:30 pm on February 15.

Local beer maker Vista Brewing has teamed up with Salem, Massachusetts’ Notch Brewing on a collaborative pale ale. Brave Noise, available at the brand’s San Antonio taproom and its Driftwood ranch, raises funds for marginalized beer industry survivors of assault, harassment, and discrimination. Its namesake organization seeks to “provide inclusive and safe environments for women, BIPOC, and LGBTQIA+ throughout the beer industry.”

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CultureMap Emails are Awesome

Whataburger weighs in as healthiest cheeseburger in the nation

THEMS EATIN' WORDS

With its love of greasy enchiladas, gluttonous fried steaks, and fat-speckled brisket, San Antonio isn’t exactly known as a healthy eating mecca. But it turns out that one locally beloved dish isn’t as unhealthy as one might think.

Inspired by February’s American Heart Month (albeit belatedly), Gambling.com decided to dig deep into which fast-food burger was best for the ticker and the body overall. What that has to do with online slots is anyone’s guess, but perhaps open-heart surgeries are not conducive to risk-taking.

Surprise, surprise, surprise! Local favorite/ food cult Whataburger took the top slot, earning honors with its standby cheeseburger. Assumably, the gambling site considered the mustard-slathered original, eschewing calorie bombs like bacon slices and creamy pepper sauce. Where’s the fun of Whataburger if you can’t get it just like you like it?

To arrive at the rankings, Gambling.com analyzed each burger for sugar, fat, salt, and calorie content per ounce. Each metric was given a one to ten score that factored into the final report card shared with content-hungry food journalists everywhere.

Coming in a close second was In-N-Out’s cheeseburger, a comforting fact for Texans who enjoy complaining about Californians. Rounding out the top five were Checker’s Checkerburger with Cheese, Culver’s ButterBurger Cheese, and Del Taco’s del Cheese Burger.

For those trying to make better eating choices, that list should give some pause. Yes, Whataburger beats out other fast-food faves, but it was competing against a chain that literally toasts all their buns in churned cream. Health is a relative concept.

Elsewhere on the list was another Texas darling, the No. 6 ranked Dairy Queen. Apparently, all that “hungr” is being busted by a hefty dose of sodium. Yes, we will take fries with that.

Disney's Little Mermaid remake goes swimmingly despite new so-so songs

Movie review

The biggest problem with the majority of the live-action updates to classic Disney animated films is that they haven’t been updates at all, choosing to merely regurgitate the moments audiences know and love from the original in a slightly repackaged form. That’s great for nostalgia, but if that’s all viewers wanted, they’d just go back and watch the original.

The Little Mermaid falls into much the same trap, although the filmmakers get at least a little credit for trying to offer something new. The story, of course, remains the same, as Ariel (Halle Bailey) has a fascination with everything above the surface of the ocean. Her rebellious nature, at odds with strict King Triton (Javier Bardem), leads her to spy on a ship with Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King) and his crew, putting her in position to save Eric when the ship crashes into rocks.

Now totally enamored of Eric, Ariel is convinced by the sea witch Ursula (Melissa McCarthy) to give up her voice for a chance to live on land and make Eric fall in love with her. Trouble is, despite the help of Sebastian the crab (Daveed Diggs), Flounder the fish (Jacob Tremblay), and Scuttle the seabird (Awkwafina), Ursula has no plans to let Ariel succeed fair and square.

Directed by Rob Marshall and written by David Magee, the film clocks in at nearly one hour longer than the original, going from 83 minutes to 135. They accomplish this feat with the addition of several songs, including ones “sung” by Ariel while she is without voice, a relatively clever way to get into her thoughts during that long stretch. There are also additional scenes that give Prince Eric more of a backstory, making him more than just a pretty face on which to hang all of Ariel’s hopes and dreams.

The new songs are hit-and-miss; Ariel’s “For the First Time” is a fanciful number that fits in nicely, but “Wild Uncharted Waters,” a solo song for Prince Eric, feels unnecessary, and the less said about “The Scuttlebutt,” a rap performed by Scuttle and written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, the better. What most people want to see are how the original songs are done, and they come off well for the most part. The actors’ voices are uniformly good and the staging is engaging.

Other changes seem half-hearted, at best. A vague environmental theme broached at the beginning is quickly dropped. The cast is very multicultural, but haphazardly so. The film is obviously set on and around a Caribbean island, making it natural for The Queen (Noma Dumezweni), Eric’s adopted mother, and other islanders to be Black. But giving Ariel “sisters from the seven seas,” allowing for mermaids of several different races and ethnicities, feels odd and forced, and a little creepy given that King Triton is supposed to be the father of all of them.

The fact that Bailey herself is Black, while great for representation, is neither here nor there in the context of the film. Bailey has a voice that is equal to everything she is asked to sing, and her silent acting is excellent in the middle portion of the film. McCarthy makes for a great Ursula, bringing both humor and pathos to the role. Hauer-King, who bears a similarity to Ryan Gosling, plays Eric in a more well-rounded manner.

The live-action version of The Little Mermaid, like almost all of the Disney remakes, never truly establishes itself as its own unique thing. Still, it’s a thoroughly pleasant watch with some nice performances, which clears the bar for success for this era of Disney history.

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The Little Mermaid opens in theaters on May 26.

Halle Bailey in The Little Mermaid

Photo courtesy of Disney

Halle Bailey in The Little Mermaid.

These 6 San Antonio museums are offering free admission for military families all summer long

spread the museum love

Half a dozen San Antonio museums are honoring active-duty military personnel and their families with free admission through the Blue Star Museums initiative, May 20 through September 4, 2023.

Established by the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families, and the U.S. Department of Defense, the Blue Star Museums program annually provides military families free access to 2,000 museums nationwide throughout the summer. The program begins yearly on Armed Forces Day in May and ends on Labor Day.

Free admission is extended to personnel currently serving in the U.S Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard (including those in the Reserve), and all National Guardsman. Members of the U.S. Public Health Commissioned Corps and NOAA Commissioned Corps are also included in the program.

Those who qualify can use their military ID to bring up to five family members - including relatives of those currently deployed. More information about qualifications can be found here.

There is no limit on the number of participating museums that qualifying families may visit. Admission for non-active military veterans, however, is not included.

According to the National Endowment for the Arts website, the initiative was created to help "improve the quality of life for active duty military families" with a specific focus on children. The site states two million have had a parent deployed since 2001.

"Blue Star Museums was created to show support for military families who have faced multiple deployments and the challenges of reintegration," the website says. "This program offers these families a chance to visit museums this summer when many will have limited resources and limited time to be together."

Here's a look at all the museums in San Antonio that are participating in the Blue Star Museums initiative this year.

For those looking to take a drive around Central Texas, the Sophienburg Museum & Archives in New Braunfels and Bandera's Frontier Times Museum are also participants in the Blue Star Museums initiative.

More information about Blue Star Museums and a full list of participants can be found on arts.gov.