Good food is worth chasing. Like when I saw on Facebook that a seat had opened up for a sold-out food-and-wine event at the San Antonio Botanical Garden. I had an hour and a half to buy the ticket, put on something decent and drive across town. That’s what you do when chef Mark Weaver of the late-great Periphery is the culinary director at the garden. And it’s what you do when sommelier extraordinaire Fabien Jacob from Brasserie Mon Chou Chou is guiding the wine experience. But good food is also worth walking downstairs from your office. Like when the city’s top food truck Masshole showed up outside the Light Building where the Express-News lives. Both were highlights of 2026 so far, sharing the stage with my love-and-loveless relationship with Paesanos, a barbecue taco from a Michelin smokehouse, a grilled cheese with hot Cheetos and yet another reason Whataburger and Nadaburger rhyme. These are the 10 best (and worst) things I’ve eaten in San Antonio this year (so far).
The Best
Lobster roll flight at Masshole Lobster Truck: My ideal lobster roll is kind of a straight-no-chaser thing. Give me some mayo for the lush, lemon for the zest, celery for the crunch and tarragon for good luck. I’m paying $23.50 for a lobster roll from a truck, and you know what? I’d like to taste some lobster. Masshole’s got me covered with the Maine Style. Cold, fresh and lots of it on a split-top challah roll. It’s the main (I know) attraction at this truly nomadic food truck that took the No. 1 spot the last time we surveyed the mobile scene. Well, if the Maine’s the headline act, let me introduce the backup dancers: A flight of three smaller lobster rolls that meet the beast where it lives. I picked the Dublin Lawyer, a warm-up with Irish whiskey cream béchamel sauce that’s like mac-and-cheese meets lobster roll. And I ordered the Island Breeze for mango with a lion’s breath of habanero, along with the Singapore, with all the flavors of the pan-Asian color wheel. All three brought a new kind of appreciation for lobster that’s unafraid to dress up. Even if you’re just going out to the parking lot. Locations vary, schedule at massholelobstertruck.com
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Uncorked at the Garden tasting at the San Antonio Botanical Garden: Chef Mark Weaver is putting the garden where your mouth is, with a schedule of classes, tastings and events that bring missionary passion to learning about the food we eat from the ground up. For a night of red wines from France that explored Burgundy, the Rhone Valley and both banks of the Bordeaux region, Weaver worked with Fabien Jacob to create food that both influenced – and was influenced by – the acid, the fruit and the earthiness each style expressed. Panzanella salad, rolls of pork and turkey with cabbage from the garden, a melange of beef braised with red-wine and mushroom, served with a crepe. That last one? Weaver let Sunday barbacoa and tortillas be his spiritual guide. Education tastes good. 555 Funston Place, 210-536-1400, sabgtx.org
Breakfast croissant at Commonwealth Coffee House & Bistro: At Commonwealth, a short boy in a red baseball hat was imitating the rooster in the chicken coop, a fuzzy strutter with a pack-a-day crowing voice that trailed off in a crackle at the end. A sign on the coop admonished people not to pet or poke the chickens. The chickens completed a menagerie of dogs, more kids and a black-and-white cat. In this neighborhood setting, Commonwealth’s breakfast croissant is one of the city’s best morning sandwiches, built on a lace-trace butterball of a croissant with clean omelet folds of egg wrapped around ham and cheese and bell peppers and onions. In the presence of real coffee, let’s call it brunch without the pretense. 118 Davis Court, 210-560-2955, coffeecw.com
Shrimp Paesano at Paesanos: When the Shrimp Paesano shows up, everything is right with the world at Paesanos. Buttery cream sauce with garlic, a mound of spaghetti in the middle, lightly toasted shrimp laid out like star points around the plate. I’ve learned through trial and error (mostly error) that it’s what you order here, and most of the people around me agreed during a weekday lunch. Especially the table next to mine, where I saw a waiter handle nine separate checks for a party of nine friends of a certain age, a task he handled with grace and good humor, coming back to call each party by name when he returned their credit cards, reinforcing Pesanos’ standing as one of my top restaurants for seniors. 555 E. Basse Road, 210-828-5191, paesanos.com
Shrimp Bang a Rang Melt at Oak Hills Tavern: When I explored the Top 10 restaurants to dine alone, I was glad there was no one to challenge me for a bite of this transcendent grilled cheese sandwich from chef and owner David Gates. He makes his own pizza dough, and he bakes his own Texas toast using that same pizza dough, a bread that toasts firm and crunchy outside with a marshmallow heart. It’s perfect for this Island of Misfit Toys of a sandwich, like a grownup 7-year-old came up with it: fried shrimp with a crust of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, two kinds of melted cheese, pico de gallo, spicy ranch and extra jalapeños. With handcut fries. 7920 Fredericksburg Road, 210-614-8855, oakhillstavern.com
House Pho at Pho Thien An: Getting ready for another extended trip to Vietnam this spring, I needed a pho fix. My trip will pass through the center of the country, not too far from Thien An, the namesake city of this Vietnamese cafe that opened in 2009. Because this mainstay Vietnamese noodle soup picks up small variations region to region, I wanted to get a taste of what’s to come. But here’s the thing: The restaurant was sold in 2023, and the new owner’s from Quang Ngai, about 230 miles north of Thien An. But rather than trying to reinvent the bowl in his own image, owner Thinh Ho stayed with what works. And what works is a rowdy but elegant bowl of House Pho with thick meatballs, resilient beef tendon and silky ribbons of steak and brisket in a broth that won’t take you new places. But you’ll be happy right where you are. 126 West Rector Drive, Suite 108, 210-888-1089, phothienan.store
Otis Taco at Reese Bros Barbecue: The reasons for getting in line for the new wave of Texas barbecue are as long as the lines themselves. High on that list is an easy fluency in the Mexican influences on barbecue and beyond. Reese Bros Barbecue channels that fluency with handmade flour tortillas worthy of their native San Antonio, tortillas you can order by themselves or fully evolved as the Otis Taco. It’s full-bark brisket with a creamy Salsa Doña as electric green as an avocado, a salsa made with neither cream nor avocado. The menu says chopped brisket, but mine was a full-on pitmaster slice. Dressed with fresh onions and cilantro, it’s an impressive $7 entry point for a Michelin-recommended barbecue legacy in the making. 906 Hoefgen Ave., 512-925-9205, reesebrosbbq.com
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The worst
Lasagna at Paesanos: You see, this is why we can’t have nice things. Because for every plate of Shrimp Paesano that hits the table at Paesanos, there’s a plate of something else that makes a mess of things. Welcome to Paesanos’ lasagna, with the sauce and cheese and pasta of regular lasagna, but make it hard and loafy. Aside from the broiled spots along the top, it’s like what you’d get on a JetBlue flight from Cleveland to Naples (the one in Florida). 555 E. Basse Road, 210-828-5191, paesanos.com
Pork Loin Hawaiano Bowl at La Panadería Bakery Cafe: For all the pan de muerto and conchas and monkey bread and croissant breakfast sandwiches that fuel La Panadería’s continued growth in San Antonio, sometimes its reach exceeds its grasp, and that overreach has a name: Hawaiano. I guess the pineapple makes it festive? Because leathery pork strips don’t make it a luau. The giant salad bowl is impressive until you figure out its mostly salad. 2503 Broadway, 210-255-1140, lapanaderia.com
Whatachick’n Strips at Whataburger: Oh, Whataburger. You never fail to disappoint, whether it’s the drive-thru in Universal City or the all-night orange sit-down circus on East Commerce downtown. The “81” on my plastic table tent was about 20 points higher than I would’ve graded these rigored, chalky chicken strips with the market-tested name, a name that says the chickens wouldn’t sign off on just calling them “chicken tenders,” because they wanted plausible deniability. 412 E. Commerce St., 210-228-0710, whataburger.com…