San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Jewish deli, soul food and vegan eats
Three new tastebud-tempting restaurants offer a cultural tour de force
In a little brick building where a Jamaican joint, a Cuban cafe and a frutería all took their shot, Mamma Lou’s Soul Food Kitchen is making a stand with fried chicken and greens.
And you know what? “It’s going pretty darn good.” That’s the gospel according to Tausha Willis, who opened Mamma Lou’s in October with her husband Derrick Willis and business partner Freddy Cruz, building on their success with Dee Willie’s BBQ.
The little Windcrest drive-thru and carryout place joins a wave of restaurants that have opened since the pandemic began, including the eclectic South Side cafe Hash Vegan Eats and the stylized Jewish diner The Hayden on Broadway.
At Mamma Lou’s, how good is “pretty darn good”? They had to get better cash registers and another fryer to keep up.
Hash Vegan Eats
The counterculture is alive and well at Hash Vegan Eats, where you can get tea with CBD, fish tacos with no fish and stickers to put underneath stop signs that say things like “eating animals” and “killing cyclists.” The cocktail bar at Hash is alcoholfree, with creations like the Charcoal Chilton ($10), which draws its refreshing feel-good buzz from zero-proof Ritual Gin, lemon, Topo Chico, agave and a shot of activated charcoal.
Started by brothers Rogelio and Michael Sanchez in the former home of the original Folklores Coffee House, Hash is an acronym for “heal and spread healing.” And if healing starts with the food we eat, Phish Tacos ($12) aren’t a bad place to start, made with fried plant protein that resembles fish in texture, with a clean taste that goes well with a Vietnamesestyle dress of herbs, greens, carrots, peppers and cabbage.
Hash also stands for, well, hash — you know, the kind with fried potatoes. The Buffalo Hash ($10) delivers big diner-style flavors from crispy nuggets of vegan fried chicken draped in spicy buffalo sauce.
Mellow down with petite waffles ($8) painted with whipped topping, berry compote and fresh strawberries and blueberries. Tea service is an event here, served in a heavy art deco pot with specialty blends like the Flower Power ($6), a tart and aromatic blend of hibiscus, hops, lavender and the easygoing afterglow of CBD.
5007 S. Flores St., 210-3329244, hashveganeats.square space.com. Open 5 to 10 p.m. Monday; noon to 8 p.m. Tuesday; noon to 11 p.m. Thursday; noon to midnight Friday and Saturday; noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. Dine-in and curbside available.
The Hayden
Entering the Hayden is like walking into a diner that doubles as a museum of diner style, a melange of muted greens and blues with pops of football orange, superimposed onto a space on Broadway that once housed a boot store.
As The Hayden took shape this summer, owner Adam Lampinstein told the Express-News,
“We want this to be the classic deli experience that you would find in a place like New York City or Chicago.”
Working with consulting chef Teddy Liang, he followed through on that idea when The Hayden opened in October, drawing on the strengths of executive chef Matt Cruzan, bringing strong credentials from his time at Mako’s on the Creek and Full Belly.
The Hayden cures and smokes its own thick-cut pastrami for a sandwich that turns the deli standard into a Texas barbecue experience with bark and bite, finished with sauerkraut and Swiss cheese ($16.99 with a side). The artisan touch extends to salmon lox, cured with beets for a brilliant vermilion color and endearing sweetness. It’s served atop a waffle-pressed potato latke with a crisp exterior and a fluffy middle, with a side of housemade apple sauce ($13.99).
As stylish as the Hayden seems, with geometric wallpaper and a cocktail bar that’s not afraid to use rye whiskey infused with rye bread, it’s still a place to get broad-shouldered deli food like a thick-cut meatloaf with strong tomato sauce and roasted vegetables ($15.49) and matzo ball soup infused with root vegetables and rotisserie chicken ($7.99).
The Hayden honors its San Antonio roots with a barbacoa stroganoff ($17.99) that puts the silky cheek meat in harmony with a lush cream sauce and spring-loaded egg noodles. And superstar San Antonio pastry chef Jenn Riesman chimes in with a chocolate babka dessert that eats like a turbocharged Danish with a scoop of chocolate ice cream ($7.99).
4025 Broadway, 210-437-4306, thehaydensa.com. Open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Friday; 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday; 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. Dine-in, curbside and third-party delivery available.
Mamma Lou’s Soul Food Kitchen
For a place this small, the catfish is enormous, a fried fillet so big it curls on the ends to fit in the takeout box. That’s Mamma Lou’s style: Big enough to fill your belly, good enough to feed your soul.
The fish itself — real American catfish — is flaky and firm, served with a choice of two sides with cornbread for $11. The sides include soul-food standards like greens, sweet potatoes, fried okra and mac and cheese, each pulled off with warmth and style, especially the yams, as syrupy as a pancake breakfast.
One-meat plates with two sides start at $8.50, and Mamma Lou’s baked chicken delivered solid value, with golden thighs lined up three across. For a
$5.50 upcharge, an oxtail plate loaded two big bones with lush and fatty meat and a drape of salted brown gravy. For a twomeat plate ($10.50 with two sides and cornbread), it’s hard to beat crunchy fried chicken and a fried pork chop smothered in gravy.
The cornbread is the golden thread running through it all, with tall and fluffy pieces as sweet and crumbly as a birthday cake. With a long drink of red Kool-Aid as sweet as a melted Popsicle, eating at Mamma Lou’s is like being a kid and a grownup at the same time.
4929 Walzem Road, 210-2777847, Facebook: @MammaLousSoulKitchen. Open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. Drive-thru, curbside and third-party delivery available.