Check out our slideshow profile of Java Nook, a San Antonio coffee shop that’s becoming a great destination for get-up-and-go or sit-and-stay-awhile. Click on the audio icons to hear clips from an interview with the owner.

It would be a sin for any blog discussing local businesses in San Antonio to not highlight the renowned Taco Taco. Year after year, the small but always busy Taco Taco seems to rack up more awards. They proudly tout a banner outside saying “Best Taco’s in the Nation.” And it’s true, according to Bon Appetit magazine at least, and of course my stomach. What makes these tacos so great? It’s their hand made flour tortillas: fluffy, warm, buttery, thick, and filling. They are what keep this place in business, especially since its only open 7am- 2pm.

Ok, that may not be fair to say. Another reason to go to Taco Taco is the atmosphere. You walk in and the first thing you notice is the loud clattering of silverware and boisterous conversation. It’s distinctive and welcoming, rather than annoying and overwhelming.

The friendly staff are another reason to go. Every time you walk in, you are always greeted with a smile by the owner Demitri. He may not know your name, but certainly knows your face. The waitresses are great also. This past Sunday when I went, I had been feeling under the weather and asked for just a bowl of tortilla soup. To my disappointment, she told me they were out.  However, the woman left and then came back and told me that they were going to make a batch especially for me. I had never been treated so well at any restaurant before!

Overall, I would argue that you have not truly experienced San Antonio until you have gone to Taco Taco. When you go, be sure to order the El Norteno with beef: refried beans, bell peppers, tons of cheese, and fajita beef all wrapped in one huge buttery tortilla. You’ll never eat breakfast anywhere else again!

The Pearl Brewery complex off of Broadway is keen on becoming San Antonio’s new hot spot, and they are pursuing that goal aggressively.  The recent news that chef Andrew Weissmann is closing his nationally-renowned French Restaurant Le Rêve, in part to focus on his smaller-scale endeavor at Osteria Il Sogno, had drawn the town’s attention to what’s happening at The Pearl.

Weissmann is also relocating his seafood restaurant, Sandbar — currently located downtown next to Le Rêve — into the brewery complex.  The Pearl is already home to one of the Culinary Institute of America’s branch campuses.  Johnny Hernandez, a CIA graduate, plans to open a Mexican Restaurant called La Gloria in the same area.  Combined with the weekly Farmer’s Market held on Saturdays, these eateries should make The Pearl Brewery a mecca for discriminating diners.

The most intriguing move recently announced, however, is that of The Twig, an independently owned bookstore that has been located on Broadway for decades.  Development is currently underway for The Twig to relocate to a space facing Il Sogno, which will provide them access to The Pearl’s facilities for hosting larger literary events.  The developers believe this will be a seamless and sensible transition, but I wonder whether The Twig is the kind of place that can be transplanted without losing its character.

Such an important element of a business’ cachet is its location.  The Twig is beloved as a San Antonio institution partly because it has the kind of character that only comes with age and independence.  By grafting its operation into the conglomerate of The Pearl Brewery, does The Twig risk losing the singular quality that has made it successful?  Will it work as part of a larger, contrived hipster vibe, or will its loyal customers feel alienated?  Time (and sales) will tell.

Halloween is right around the corner, so you know what that means… Dia de los Muertos is almost here, too! So, it means that you need to pick up your traditional pan de muerto from only the best bakeries in San Antonio. Today, my friend and I went to go pick up a beautifully-created pan de muerto from Bedoy’s Bakery on W. Hildebrand. Bedoy’s is known for making some of the best pan de muerto in San Antonio, so there was no way we could pass up the specially-made Day of the Dead bread.

Bedoy’s offers a variety of designs and sizes for the pan de muerto depending on what look you are going for. Once we found our specially-ordered pan de muerto, we could not ignore the smell of the rest of the goodies displayed within the wooden cabinets. We had to treat ourselves to a delicious variety of “galletitas” or cookies. But, hey, when they are 5 cookies for $1, who would honestly pass up a deal to indulge in some tasty Mexican cookies. Even Texas Monthlyagrees that Bedoy’s has “the best, tastiest Mexican pastries” in San Antonio.

Bedoy’s Bakery provides a wide selection from empanadas to Mexican wedding cookies, and within each bite of whichever pastry you choose, you can taste the fresh, homemade family recipe of the Bedoy family. So, get your pan de muerto from Bedoy’s before Dia de los Muertos sneaks up on you, and while you’re there treat yourself to a special galletita or empanada of your choice.

Yesterday evening, I enjoyed a pleasant dinner with a friend at Panchitos on McCullough. This Panchitos is definitely my favorite compared to the one at the Quarry and the location off of West Avenue. While they all have great wait staffs and food , the environment and food seems to be even better at McCullough. According to their websites, they seem to have different owners, so that means their menus are a little different.
Panchitos on McCullough has a $2 Margarita Wednesdays, which is a great way to brighten up anyone’s rough Wednesday. While I enjoy the food at the Quarry and West Avenue locations, some might say you wouldn’t consider it the “Best” Mexican food in San Antonio. I truly enjoy the environment of the Panchitos on McCullough. The wait staff is sure to provide friendly and VERY helpful service. My friend and I got asked multiple times by multiple waiters (even if they weren’t our assigned waiter) if we were enjoying our meal or if we needed anything more. Friendly waitstaff is always a necessity for me in order to return to a restaurant.

Mucho Nachos at Panchitos on McCullough

The food served at the McCullough Panchitos tastes like a family recipe , and has a wonderful homemade taste and look to it. It reminds me of meals my mom and grandmas still make at home. Good home cooking is sometimes a much-needed meal after a long hard day at work or school. The Panchitos on McCullough can be your home when you need a good meal and a good time to relax with friends and family.

In 2007, The Wall Street Journal named Guerra DeBerry Coody (GDC), a marketing and communications firm in downtown San Antonio, one of the top fifteen small workplaces in the nation. GDC was the only small workplace awarded in the state of Texas! Out of 850 applications, 15 workplaces were recognized for creating outstanding environments that foster mutual respect amongst colleagues, professional growth, and benefits that keep their employees happy.

From my experience interning last summer, I can tell you first hand that any article cannot begin to describe the GDC environment. The GDC building is beautiful and old building on Houston St. that first a brothel, and then a hotel in the early 1900s. When you enter the building, you walk up a staircase into a large room where a handful of the employees work. The room feels much more like a cozy house than an office. All of the large wooden desks are angled towards the center of the room, where you’ll see  large squishy couches, a rug, and a coffee table where employees frequently sit to have casual meetings.

However, aspect that makes GDC most unique and admirable is their daycare. I was amazed as an intern when I walked into my first GDC meeting to find employees bouncing babies up and down on their laps as they discussed marketing strategies. Although the daycare is something the company greatly prides itself on, there was a point when it’s existence threatened. In 2005, GDC was challenged by the state of Texas for not being licensed as a commercial daycare. However, GDC petitioned local and state government to change legislation regarding company daycares. After putting pressure on the legislature and gaining support, House Bill 1385 became law and created an exemption for small businesses in Texas, permitting them to have daycares without being commercially licensed.

From my experience there, it became clear that the company achieves their success through it’s efforts to make their employees as happy as possible. The firm earns about $30 million total in billings. GDC more than anything, brings truth to the saying “contented cows make better milk.”

The San Antonio Express-News has been around for an amazingly long period of time, over 150 years. The newspaper touts being ranked the third largest daily newspaper in Texas. The Express-News is ranked number one in Sunday penetration among major daily newspapers in Texas. Despite its obvious success, the newspaper is starting to see more a more drastic decline in circulation. According to reports released Monday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations, the Express-News circulation was down 26.5% daily and 15.1% on Sundays. Although I am an avid consumer of online news and am not a fan of carrying around bulky papers in my bag, it still saddens me to hear about the decline in local newspapers. I would wake up every morning as a kid to find my dad reading the newspaper at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee. Often times he would clip out articles he thought I would find interesting and tape them to my bathroom mirror. I guess in the future I’ll be emailing my kids articles on their grade school e-mail accounts. The nostalgia of newspapers I think will be missed, however, I hate to say it, but they are a bit inconvenient with the internet and smartphones so readily available.

Never the less, those who work for Express-News remain optimistic. Scot Frantzen, Express-News senior vice president for circulation told mySA.com that they believe that the decline in circulation is part due to the recession. They expect to see readership increase by September of 2010.

My quest these past few weeks has been to figure out who has the best frozen yogurt in town. Three favorites that I suggest you try are (in no particular order) Orange Cup at La Cantera, Red Mango at the Alamo Quarry, and Prime Cultures Frozen Yogurt on McCullough/Hildebrand. Of course, I would not really consider any of these places geographically near each other, therefore I usually treat myself to one or the other based on my current location. I’ve never been forced with the decision of whether I should choose Orange Cup over Red Mango or Prime Cultures over Orange Cup.

Pomegranate Yogurt with Raspberries and Granola from Red Mango

Well, my wish for some competitive frozen yogurt will soon come true! Orange Cup has announced that they will open up a brand new location at the Alamo Quarry Market. How appropriate, since Red Mango’s first location in San Antonio recently made its own debut a few months ago at the Quarry. Frozen yogurt heaven is in the future of Alamo Quarry shoppers, and even sooner for North Star Mall visitors as Orange Cup has announced on their Twitter account.

Now, I am in no way a picky person when it comes to eating any kind of food. I love to try it all. So, of course, when it comes to frozen yogurt I like to stray away from the “original” flavors and go towards the pomegranate or the acai-berry tastes. Red Mango offers a sweet pomegranate flavor with the additions of fruit, cereal or other additives of your choice. On the other hand, I enjoy the acai-berry flavored yogurt Orange Cup has to offer. Prime Cultures offers a variety of flavors, as well, including green tea and lemon-lime .

A very important frozen yogurt rule is that the additives can either make or break your frozen yogurt experience. My suggestion is to always try something sweet and juicy combined with something such as granola or coconut. These three frozen yogurt institutions offer pretty much the same variety of cereal, fruit and other additions for your frozen yogurt.

I am looking forward to the decisions I will have to make while spending time at the Alamo Quarry Market within the reaches of two of frozen yogurt’s most popular shops that have come to San Antonio in recent years. The question will now be: Red or Orange?

Which do you prefer?

…well, not really. After backpacking through Greece this past summer, I have convinced myself that I am now a self-proclaimed Greek food aficionado. This title means that I can tell you if a restaurant’s gyros (pronounced “yee-row”) or Greek salads actually taste like food straight from the heart of Athens or Aegina. Don’t get me wrong, I take my title very seriously and am a strict critic when it comes to the similarities of authentic Greek food and “Greek” food from restaurants here in San Antonio.

A couple of my favorite Greek food restaurants in town are Demo’s Greek Food on St. Mary’s St. and Papouli’s Greek Grill on Huebner Rd. I will soon be spoiled because Papouli’s is set to move into the Quarry Market and I already have Demo’s right down on St. Mary’s St. Oh, the tough Greek food decisions to come in my near future! Okay, back to the main topic, the wonderfully packed gyros of these two restaurants taste like legitimate food from beautiful Greece. Gyros are THE must-try item of the menu at any Greek restaurant because the gyro is the true test to authentic Greek taste, in my humble opinion, of course.

While I have found yummy gyros at Papouli’s and Demo’s, I still have yet to find an authentic Greek Salad! This lack of authenticity is not for lack of good taste, but instead it is the addition of a key ingredient in the salad. Romaine lettuce! Here’s an important lesson I learned about Greek eats while traveling in Greece, none of the handful of Greek Salads I consumed at several restaurants contained any type of lettuce whatsoever. The standard Greek Salad includes

My Greek Salad from the Greek Island of Aegina

cucumbers, tomatoes, red onions, green peppers, black olives (with the pits!), and a huge block of crumbly Feta cheese to top it all. The salads of the Greek kind that I have tried in San Antonio have all included lettuce, therefore they still are not up-to-par for me to be called an actual “Greek Salad.”

Don’t worry, I will continue my search for a delicious Greek Salad in San Antonio, and of course I will go on my continuous hunt for more tasty gyros around town. I have a strong belief that I will find a good Greek Salad someday soon!

Every city worth its salt needs a smorgasbord of options for the dinner-and-a-movie combo that makes a great date night.  San Antonio seems to be trending toward combining the two with cinema bistros, which offer reels and meals.  Local theater chain Santikos has made a mov(i)e for that market with the recent opening of The Palladium, which features two full-service restaurants and a gelato café.  This is in addition to The Bijou and The Rialto, both of which offer dining in the actual theaters during the movies.

Now the news is that Austin’s nationally-renowned Alamo Drafthouse chain will be opening two new locations here in S.A. — one in Stone Oak and one at Park North.  The Austin location is known for its unique selection of classic films and themed events, but the current San Antonio location hasn’t achieved the acclaim of its capital-city counterpart.  Could this be because San Antonians lack the “weirdness” that makes Austin a place where an offbeat film selection finds a following?  If that’s the case, is it a wise business move to open two additional Drafthouse locations in the city of the franchise’s namesake?

Park North is a great location, but for this particular theater chain?

I assume that business has been decent enough at the current S.A. Drafthouse, but I wonder if two new locations — both in somewhat “yuppified” parts of town — will have an audience.