A killer Cubano lurks in Castle Hills

Small, bustling shop the U.N. of sandwiches

Bryan Rojas was working as a sous chef at Piatti at Alamo Quarry Market when he and his wife, Mariana Wong, set the wheels in motion to start Bilia Eatery & Coffee, their sandwich and arepa shop in Castle Hills that opened in 2019.

Bilia, named for the bougainvilleas outside the Miami restaurant where they met, allowed the couple to fold in the influences that shaped their lives. She’s from Mexico, he’s from Colombia, and Bilia’s menu is a kind of United Nations of gastronomy, from Colombian arepas to sandwiches that incorporate Mexican milanesa, Argentinian chimichurri, Vietnamese banh mi herbs, Cuban pork and straightup San Antonio barbacoa.

That sounds about right for Rojas, who grew up in Miami, cut his professional teeth cooking French and Persian food, worked in San Francisco, came back to Miami for culinary school and wound up in San Antonio in 2018.

He and Wong have made a place that’s bright, casual, busy and small — something they hope to remedy as they look for a larger location toward the end of the year, Rojas said.

Best sandwich: “I’m from Miami, so I should know how to make a Cubano.” That’s how Rojas begins a conversation about Bilia’s Cubano sandwich, that classic combination of roasted pork, ham, Swiss cheese, pickles and mustard pressed

between toasted slabs of French bread.

The key to Bilia’s Cubano ($11 with plantain chips or soup) is pork shoulder marinated with sour oranges for 24 hours, then braised for 18 hours. Its lush tones melded effortlessly with the ham and Swiss, set off by tangy pickles made in-house, a dense package on sturdy bread that proved soft, strong and toasty, all at the same time.

Other sandwiches: That same style of bread anchored the Steak Argentino sandwich, a robust compilation of ham, melted provolone cheese, avocado and chimichurri, all anchored by a strip steak pounded wide and flat

and fried crispy in the milanesa style familiar to San Antonio torta fans. The chimichurri took the sandwich ($13 with plantain chips or soup) to South American territory, with a complex bouquet of aromatic herbs.

At a good sandwich shop, grilled cheese is never out of place — especially one as overthe-top as Bilia’s Jalapeño Barbacoa Melt ($11 with plantain chips or soup). Three kinds of cheese — provolone, Swiss and Monterey Jack — battle over who’s the white-hot meltiest on barbacoa with a velveteen texture as decadent as confit or rillette or the other now-bougie preparations we reserve for duck or pork. And while barbacoa’s a weekend-only indulgence at some places, Bilia is up for it anytime.

Bilia’s version of the Monte Cristo sandwich ($10), on the other hand, is just a weekend thing. And I’m fine with that, because while it was a nice pile of French toast with ham and cheese and syrup, it got lost on the way to becoming its namesake sandwich, missing the alchemy of the whole thing getting an egg-batter dip before hitting the skillet.

Photos by Mike Sutter / Staff The lush pork shoulder for the classic Cubano sandwich is marinated with sour oranges for 24 hours, braised for 18 hours, then joined by ham, Swiss cheese, pickles and mustard.

The Steak Argentino sandwich combines ham, provolone, avocado, chimichurri and flat, crispy fried strip steak.