Casa Rio.
The first time my once-hero now-super-villain and I visited San Antonio, believe it or not, was for some salesperson to try to sell us a timeshare. (Little did the sales person know that I am a major penny pincher.) One of the big features of the timeshare was that it looked out onto San Antonio's famous Riverwalk.
Until that time, I was never aware that there even was a "famous" Riverwalk in San Antonio or that the Riverwalk is one of the world's top vacation destinations. I grew up visiting New Orleans almost every year and am not a native Texan. I have lived near Washington D.C., Baltimore, Cleveland, Milwaukee and Chicago, traveled to Philadelphia, Boston, Orlando, etc., viewed the Smoky Mountains from the back seat of my parents' car as we drove, and even seen the Rocky Mountains hovering over Great Plains. The Alamo was certainly on my bucket list of places to see. But that San Antonio's Riverwalk is an ultra-famous vacation destination was news to me. I guess I have lived a pretty sheltered life....
The place we ate lunch after that timeshare presentation was kind of a lark. We had just fed the meter for our car (and found a ticket on the dash because our time had run out while we were there) and were looking for some food when we saw a sign on the road: +Casa Rio. My husband asked me what it meant. Not wanting to disappoint, I dusted off the cobwebs in my brain that surround my pre-kindergarten knowledge of Spanish and made an educated guess.
"Casa" means "House" and "Rio," I thought, was probably "River." So "River House" was my answer. (Guess what? I was right!) We decided to go in and try it out. What we found inside was delicious, authentic Tex-Mex and the very first restaurant to ever to open its doors to the River Walk. They opened in 1946 shortly after the San Antonio River became controlled by flood gates. The history is kind of interesting, if you get the right tour guide. (We took a boat tour after our meal.)
The next time we visited downtown San Antonio was the time we performed our parental obligation to local history and took our kids to see the Alamo. They were bored; we were bored. But at least we knew where to eat!
It is now about a decade later. As you know from my other posts, Anne did not remember visiting the Alamo so I dragged her there during our visit to the area. (The "area" meaning within about a 2 hour drive.) Besides, I wanted to go to +Clay World -- which is NOT where its website says it is, by the way. The store front we found is closed. (What a bummer! It is good that we looked for it before going downtown so that our trip did not end on a sour note.)
I love excuses to eat good food. Being right nearby was the only excuse I needed to take Anne to my favorite (aka only) Mexican restaurant in San Antonio, Casa Rio. Lunchtime prices are relatively reasonable for a sit-down Mexican restaurant, of course the unlimited chips and salsa is free, and the service is both friendly and attentive. (And the salsa has a good flavor, which is important to my discriminating palate because bad flavors in Mexican food is one of my biggest pet peeves.) Plus most of the servers I saw there looked to be of Hispanic origins -- which is good for anyone who wants to practice speaking Spanish with native speakers. Best of all, though... mmm... is the cooking. Take a look at the plates of food we got to eat.
This post is getting long. I guess I will show my photos of our San Antonio River tour in my next entry. See you then!
The first time my once-hero now-super-villain and I visited San Antonio, believe it or not, was for some salesperson to try to sell us a timeshare. (Little did the sales person know that I am a major penny pincher.) One of the big features of the timeshare was that it looked out onto San Antonio's famous Riverwalk.
Until that time, I was never aware that there even was a "famous" Riverwalk in San Antonio or that the Riverwalk is one of the world's top vacation destinations. I grew up visiting New Orleans almost every year and am not a native Texan. I have lived near Washington D.C., Baltimore, Cleveland, Milwaukee and Chicago, traveled to Philadelphia, Boston, Orlando, etc., viewed the Smoky Mountains from the back seat of my parents' car as we drove, and even seen the Rocky Mountains hovering over Great Plains. The Alamo was certainly on my bucket list of places to see. But that San Antonio's Riverwalk is an ultra-famous vacation destination was news to me. I guess I have lived a pretty sheltered life....
The place we ate lunch after that timeshare presentation was kind of a lark. We had just fed the meter for our car (and found a ticket on the dash because our time had run out while we were there) and were looking for some food when we saw a sign on the road: +Casa Rio. My husband asked me what it meant. Not wanting to disappoint, I dusted off the cobwebs in my brain that surround my pre-kindergarten knowledge of Spanish and made an educated guess.
"Casa" means "House" and "Rio," I thought, was probably "River." So "River House" was my answer. (Guess what? I was right!) We decided to go in and try it out. What we found inside was delicious, authentic Tex-Mex and the very first restaurant to ever to open its doors to the River Walk. They opened in 1946 shortly after the San Antonio River became controlled by flood gates. The history is kind of interesting, if you get the right tour guide. (We took a boat tour after our meal.)
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| The view from Casa Rio's balcony |
The next time we visited downtown San Antonio was the time we performed our parental obligation to local history and took our kids to see the Alamo. They were bored; we were bored. But at least we knew where to eat!
It is now about a decade later. As you know from my other posts, Anne did not remember visiting the Alamo so I dragged her there during our visit to the area. (The "area" meaning within about a 2 hour drive.) Besides, I wanted to go to +Clay World -- which is NOT where its website says it is, by the way. The store front we found is closed. (What a bummer! It is good that we looked for it before going downtown so that our trip did not end on a sour note.)
I love excuses to eat good food. Being right nearby was the only excuse I needed to take Anne to my favorite (aka only) Mexican restaurant in San Antonio, Casa Rio. Lunchtime prices are relatively reasonable for a sit-down Mexican restaurant, of course the unlimited chips and salsa is free, and the service is both friendly and attentive. (And the salsa has a good flavor, which is important to my discriminating palate because bad flavors in Mexican food is one of my biggest pet peeves.) Plus most of the servers I saw there looked to be of Hispanic origins -- which is good for anyone who wants to practice speaking Spanish with native speakers. Best of all, though... mmm... is the cooking. Take a look at the plates of food we got to eat.
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| I really like authentic flautas. |
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| Note how enthused my daughter lookjs to have a photo taken of her food. LOL |
This post is getting long. I guess I will show my photos of our San Antonio River tour in my next entry. See you then!
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