San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Nacogdoches Road to Loop 1604
At these mom-and-pop places, enjoy great food at a great price
This stretch of Nacogdoches Road on the Northeast Side is a working-class neighborhood loaded with small businesses and restaurants where the owners take a lot of pride in their services. There are tire and body shops, grocery stores, churches, dive bars, 24-hour medical clinics and so forth, but nearly all are local businesses, except for a few fast-food chains and a handful of meat markets.
The drive north from the intersection of Thousand Oaks to Loop 1604 is a treasure trove of mom-and-pop restaurants in all directions, providing one of the most diversified food experiences in the city that won’t break the bank. You won’t find an Olive Garden, Red Lobster or a Chili’s nearby, giving the little guys and gals a fair chance to make it on this stretch of road.
Here, you will find a little bit of everything, and you’ll be glad you did as you navigate this unique San Antonio food scene. Here are five good places to start your adventure:
The Dogfather II
In 2017, owners Jamie Hoppe and Jenn Alva opened their first Dogfather, on San Pedro Avenue, and it was a culinary offer nobody could refuse. Add in the fact they were often feeding hungry patrons from The Bang Bang Bar, which they also own, and it immediately became a destination for dogs.
Fast forward to today. The owners opened a second outlet just after Thanksgiving, and everything on the menu at the original location is represented. Dogfather II is so clean you can still smell the paint, more spacious than the original and a lot of fun. The menu offers 14 different specialty beef frank dogs on the menu, plus a burger of the week, along with sides that can be dressed with chili, cheese and other mixtures. You can even wash it down with an ice-cold beer.
The Ratchet ($9) is a good introduction with a glorious mixture of peppers, Hot Cheetos and queso. The Elote ($10), a dog that acts in harmony with Mexican street corn, isn’t a bad idea either. Dig in, get messy, and put a hit on your appetite.
13032 Nacogdoches, 210-3753002, sadog father.com
Kosta’s Greek Food
This bastion of Greek delights has been in the neighborhood for more than 40 years. Owner Stephen Martinez took over operations about a year ago, and his son Jeremiah runs it with precision. If it’s your first visit, they will toss in a free serving of baklava for dessert, and it’s the kind of welcome that keeps people coming to this neighborhood staple.
Everything is reasonably priced, with large servings that come with fries or a Greek house salad that’s so good it feels like you’re stealing.
“This place has been around forever, and we wanted to make sure we kept up the quality standards,” Jeremiah Martinez said. “We see a lot of the same faces on a week-to-week basis.”
No visit to Kosta’s is complete without getting the gyro ($6.59), loaded with thinly sliced lamb meat and a housemade tzatziki sauce with fresh onions and tomatoes on a billowy, soft grilled pita the size of a throwing disc. The beef souvlaki sandwich ($6.59) is another fine option if lamb isn’t your thing but you want a similar sandwich experience.
As for that complimentary baklava — more, please. Sweet and flaky, it was the perfect finish to the Kosta’s experience.
12606 Nacogdoches, 210-5906969, no web presence
Pho La
There are quite a few Asian restaurants on this stretch of road, but I have been eating here for years and have never regretted a single bite. It’s located in a strip mall that has had its fair share of turnover with barbecue, bakeries and other eateries, but Pho La has succeeded where others have failed.
The menu is massive, with 113 options that hit on Thai, Chinese and Vietnamese flavors, appetizers and everything else. With so many options, you may be inclined to think this is a jack-of-all-trades, master-ofnone scenario, but you would be wrong.
The service is impeccable, and even during a brisk lunch service, you’re likely to get a hot bowl of pho or anything else in about 15 minutes.
A restaurant’s namesake dish is a good place to start. Pho La’s
combination pho ($10.99) features strips of brisket, steak and sliced meatballs with mounds of noodles, cilantro and bean sprouts will make your belly warm and happy. The shrimp with lobster sauce ($9.45) includes five shrimp that are large enough for a two- or three-bite experience, and comes with an egg roll and a scoop of white rice, which is designed to be bathed in the sauce with every bite.
And in a world where the crab rangoon ($5.99) experience is mostly just a tiny scoop of cream cheese, Pho La actually uses real crab meat that’s chunky and full of life.
13777 Nacogdoches, 210-5901882, Facebook: @pholavietnamese chineseandthairestaurant
Las Adelitas De Torreón-N
This is a food truck, not a brick-and-mortar restaurant, but this bastion for gorditas is the brainchild of owner Arturo Mota, who keeps the truck parked on Nacogdoches as if it it were one. San Antonio is definitely
a taco town, but the gordita love at this little truck, which also sells a wide variety of cold aguas frescas with flavors such as coconut milk, mango, horghata and cocoa lemonade, is worthy of a visit any day of the week.
Mota serves 20 types of gorditas with corn or flour tortillas made fresh in the truck. The menu is a little tricky, with names that are native to Mexico, but they do a good job of explaining what the food items are if there is any confusion. And to keep it easy, all those gorditas are priced at $3.40 each.
“I wanted to do something that was a little different, so I focused on gorditas,” Mota said.
For example, the deshebrada is a gordita loaded with barbacoa that’s velvety soft and full of beefy goodness. The pork asado gordita comes with a well-articulated marinade that teases the tongue with spice before yielding to the tender treasure that is the pork plunder stuffed inside.
13860 Nacogdoches, 210-9926052, Facebook @Gorditas lasadelitas
Pompeii Italian Grill
The story of Pompeii is a tragic one, with nearly all residents of this Italian city buried in smoldering ash from an eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79. You are much safer here, with a menu that hits on nearly all the traditional Italian favorites in an atmosphere that is open, airy and welcoming with a seasoned staff that knows what to do.
From nearly every pasta variation to chicken, seafood, veal and desserts that beg you to take the cannolis, Pompeii rules the Italian scene in this neck of the woods. In 2018, it was given the top nod by Express-News readers as the best Italian restaurant in the city.
Just walking into it is fun, with an atmosphere and decor that make you feel like you are on vacation.
And then the complimentary bread comes. Served hot with a dipping sauce of olive oil and cheese, it’s so good you’ll be offered, and should take, that second loaf and perhaps even a third. Just don’t eat too much, because the entrees that represent most of Italy are worth waiting for. A good insider tip is to come here for lunch, when a few bucks are taken off the bill from dinner prices but the portions remain large.
The eggplant Parmesan ($15.49) is a good place to start. Heavy on the tangy house tomato sauce and a thick canvas of melted mozzarella, it’s one of the best in the city. The same can be said about the house lasagna ($16.49) that came as a lunch portion that was so large, loaded with properly seasoned Italian ground beef, I ate on it for two days.
16109 Nacogdoches, 210-9465518, pompeiigrill.com