San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Panino tops hefty menu at urban oasis
Muffaletta authentic, and potato salad is scrumptious
The Hearthstone Bakery Cafe patio is an oasis tucked away on Harry Wurzbach near Fort Sam Houston. Beautiful oak trees cast a cooling shadow over the property, where you hear birds chirping and may even see a deer meander by.
For 38 years, the property was home to Crumpets restaurant. Owner Jason VandeBerg moved his restaurant there in 2019 after more than 15 years in previous locations in Olmos Park and The Forum at Interstate 35 and Loop 1604. Both were closed to concentrate on the new property.
“The patio is by far where people want to eat,” said general manager Gary Castilleja, who has worked with VandeBerg for 11 years. “This is a building that has some history in this neighborhood, and we’re proud to call it home.”
Hearthstone delivers a tremendous menu of 22 sandwiches, as well as soups, salads, wraps and breakfast. And while the bread is outsourced, the bakery makes all the cookies and desserts.
All the sandwiches come with a pickle spear and the choice of either a bag of chips or cookie. Pasta or potato salad, a fruit cup, soup or a side salad can be swapped out for an upcharge.
The menu is a little confusing. When you order a sandwich, the server asks if you want the half or full sandwich. Both are the same price, because a half sandwich comes with soup or salad, or the upgraded sides.
Best sandwich: The menu says the turkey artichoke panino ($10.29) on ciabatta bread is the No. 1 seller, and I can see why. Briny artichoke hearts star
with dual roles as a topping and blended with spinach in a sandwich spread. A generous amount of juicy, chopped roasted turkey held its own against the artichoke with support from a few thick slices of tomato and melted mozzarella cheese.
Other sandwiches: Weird menu items draw attention, and the Reuben the Loaded ($13.29) is certainly that. It’s a classic Reuben on marbled rye with corned beef and tart sauerkraut,
but it also gets a heaping scoop of the creamy, whipped, loaded potato salad as a spread. It worked the same way as coleslaw on barbecue sandwiches.
For a good taste of New Orleans, the Hearthstone Lotta Muffaletta ($9.59) won’t let you down, delivering that classic flavor. It starts with two thick slices of sesame seed bread, then adds the customary ham, salami, provolone cheese and an olive mix that makes the sandwich what it’s meant to be.
The Tony Montino panino ($10.99) takes a Cuban sandwich and adds pulled pork and cilantro sauce — but all I could taste was mustard. There was so little pulled pork, I was able to scoop it all up with a plastic spoon that had room to spare. The best thing about it was the side of traditional potato salad, which was so good I ate all of it despite all the other food on my tasting table.
The rations were also off in the Chicken Tuscanino panino ($9.99). The chicken slices were cut the same width as thick-cut bacon, and they were so dry that not even the cheese, grilled onions and the basil-pesto mayonnaise could revive them.
Still, there are 17 more sandwiches on the Hearthstone menu, and this was a trip with more hits than misses. I’ll eventually try more while relaxing on that patio, adding some soup and then hitting the desserts.