First of all… just wanted to let you guys know I have lots of new recipes coming your way in February as well as hopefully some 2x/week posting-it’s been awhile! Also update on races for the year, training, and current fitness. But today for WIAW I’ll be sharing a recap of our Texas trip from a couple weeks ago and what we ate while we were there! If you follow me on Instagram (@dietitianjess) you may have seen some of these photos already 🙂
So… I should start off by saying our flight was planned for January 22nd at 5pm… in case you forgot this was the weekend the big snow storm hit the east coast. We figured we would be fine since it wasn’t supposed to start snowing in Philly until later Friday night. WRONG. We were connecting into Charlotte who actually had an ice storm predicted for that Friday so they cancelled all flights in and out. Crap! The only flight out was 5am on Friday- we booked it 11:00pm Thursday night. Getting up at 2:00am to catch that flight was fun… ha. Luckily we slept on the plan and arrived in San Antonio by noon which gave us an extra day in Texas!
Since we were visiting/staying with my college friend Dhyana and her husband Ian and they live in the city, we didn’t have to worry about renting a car. Ian picked us up on a lunch break Friday and Pat and I headed into town while our hosts finished up their workday. They live right on the famous San Antonio River Walk so we were able to take a leisurely stroll into the city.
I loved the River Walk! So cute and such a nice path. Pat and I walked around for probably an couple hours before grabbing some lunch- a fresh green salad and juice from Sips before heading to happy hour at Luke to polish off some gulf coast oysters. We did both raw and charbroiled- raw was better but gulf coast oysters cannot stand up to east coast oysters. Although Pat and I agreed our fav oysters are from our west coast trip.
We walked around a little more and headed back around 5pm when D and Ian would be done working. We chatted and hung out for a bit before heading to a local authentic Mexican place- La Gloria. I usually get chicken enchiladas when I get Mexican and found a menu full of a whole bunch of foods I’ve never heard of before! We shared queso molcajetes which was the best queso ever- thick string cheesy instead of more dip like… I also ordered Aguacate (avocado) panucho, pictured here. The margaritas were excellent… and when everyone had a second drink I instead indulged in the tres leches cake- OMG so good! We had an early bed time that night since Pat and I were still a little sleep deprived.
Saturday morning we woke up, worked out, showered, and headed to Austin! We used one of those websites to get a discounted room and ended up at the Hilton for like 50% off and an awesome view. We were hungry and craving burgers…. We wanted to go to Hop Daddy but there was a line so we settled for Casino El Camino Bar and Grill- which had actually been featured on the Food Network. I had the Pitts Burger and a Ruby Red Bird beer.
The four of us headed back to the hotel to settle in and make a game plan before heading out for some day drinking! Disclaimer: this was definitely not my healthiest day of eats and combined with drinking led to some serious repercussions (stomach issues later that night) 🙁
Being the craft beer snobs that we are, Pat and I were thrilled to hit up Bangers which had over 100 beers on tap. We shared a couple flights- most notably a cabernet stout that was super interesting. Rainey street is known for their food and bars so next we went to Craft Pride which was all Texas craft beers- insert eye heart emoji here! After partaking in some more drinks, the sun began to set and we needed to eat dinner!
We had walked past Moonshine Grill earlier in the day and had decided to eat dinner there. Dhyana and I sampled some moonshine mules before dinner. We were feeling pretty good at this point and ordered an app- but I forget what it was…. Oops! I guess it wasn’t memorable but I went for classic southern food for dinner- shrimp and grits! Loved the head on shrimps- delicious!
We headed back to the room to freshen up before going out for the night. We went to a roof top bar and enjoyed some awesome live music. The band was great and played fun mash-ups including some classic throwback songs such as The Thong Song. I had reached my drinking limit for the day so I sipped on a mule and then chugged water before ended our night.
Sunday morning we woke up feeling pretty good for the most part and headed to the Café Crepe. I enjoyed a veggie filled crepe- The Bruni before partaking in a Nutella crepe for dessert. #vacationmode was Pat’s quote for the weekend for indulging. Loved this place though- service wasn’t great but the crepes were good! Perfect fueling for the drive back to San Antonio.
We were pretty exhausted from the day before so opted to watch the AFC Championship game at the apartment before heading out for the NFC Championship. We went to an outdoor bar down the street that had a big screen set up outside for the game. Since it turned into such a blow out we headed to fancy dinner at Bohanans.
Bohanans was super fancy (and pricey) but a great experience! As a top ranked steakhouse it wasn’t exactly my cup of tea, but who doesn’t love fancy dining? Most of you know I’m not a big meat eater, especially red meat- I strongly dislike steak and eat a burger about once a month- so I was obviously going for a fish dish. It was interesting to hear about the cuts and prices- I’d say the average “off the menu” steaks were about $90?!
Pat and I shared the heirloom salad to start, such a refreshing and beautiful salad. Then Pat had a strip (I think? Or maybe it was a filet) topped with lump crab oscar while I had red snapper topped with chanterelle mushrooms and crab meat. I loved my fish and hubs enjoyed his steak. Pat really wanted the Texas pecan pie for dessert but they were out so we shared the Valrhona Double Chocolate Brownie Served with Oaxacan Chocolate/Chipotle Ice Cream. It was good but I was pretty full so Pat ate most of it and was obsessed with the spicy ice cream. Dinner ended late so we watched a little TV and then went to bed.
For our last day in San Antonio I insisted on seeing the Alamo. We headed down the River Walk into the city and took a quite tour. It was pretty anti-climactic- there isn’t a ton to see and you’re not allowed to take pictures on the inside. We walked back down the river walk for lunch at Southerleighs.
Pat is a pretty adventurous eater (I guess I am too but on a scale of 1-10 he’s probably a 12 and I’m probably a 9). Anyways so he wanted to try the snapper throats on the menu and the cracklins- true southern food. I had to look up what cracklins were but they were okay- I’m not a huge fan of fried foods but they did come with a delicious sauce on top. The throats were kinda weird- I wouldn’t eat them again either but most of the table thought they were fine.
I ordered the Cellerman’s Lunch Pail special which was a parmesan chicken dish with a side and a green salad with shaved radish, sweet onion, soft boiled egg, and white cheddar. I really loved the salad- the chicken was okay but the side of macaroni and cheese was great. Since it was the last day of vacation I also indulged in a flight which was also delicious.
Finally we hit up my last request for the trip-Lick! Lick is an ice cream place with incredibly unique flavors. I was totally the little kid that had to sample about 10 flavors so the notable ones were: goat cheese/thyme/honey, roasted beets/fresh mint, and Texas sheet cake. I went with cilantro lime and horchata. Very sweet end to a wonderful trip.
It was so great to see friends and check out two new cities. Pat and I love trying local foods and beers so it was a great getaway. It definitely wasn’t the healthiest trip but we tried to fit in fresh veggies most days, sometimes you just gotta indulge while you are away though! We technically only worked out one day but we did a lot of walking. I should note the city was a little over a mile from Dhyana and Ian’s apartment so we did a done of walking and in Austin we also walked everywhere… I’d guess we walked 3 miles a day? So on the day we weren’t working out we did get in some light cardio. Not bad. Plus the highlight of the trip was the weather- 60’s and 70’s while there was two feet of snow back in Philly. We got to spend so much time outside which was very rejuvenating. Per last years warm destination winter trip- it was exactly what I needed to get through winter and definitely a tradition I’ll be continuing!
Have you ever been to Austin or San Antonio? Favorite restaurant??
