San Antonio

(From May 2011)

Guenther really shines at breakfast. Whether you opt for biscuits (always a good choice, especially as part of the breakfast platter with fruit and bacon), waffles, or pancakes, the kitchen delivers, thanks, no doubt, to the freshly made mixes from the neighboring Pioneer Flour Mill. The shaded outdoor dining patio is the best choice in the spring, though you can’t go wrong with the airy, antique dining room, bedecked with hanging plants. If you arrive after 8:30 or 9 on a weekend, expect to wait for a table, and beware Sunday’s post-church rush. At lunch, the menu offers more choices, with a dependable array of soups, salads, and even a few Mexican dishes. We have never regretted ordering the spinach salad with bacon and a chipotle-flavored dressing.

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(From May 2011) With a move to a nineteenth-century building in the King William neighborhood and an upstairs-downstairs mix of dining rooms, the Lib still holds sway with its quirky mix of regional dishes; the fare is full of flavor and frivolity as serious food can be. We count on the fresh baked loaves of wheat and white, simple and homey. We adore the colorful chile relleno en nogada, straight from Diana Kennedy’s tutelage, and the daily specials, this time a Mediterranean-inspired roast lamb with pita, goat cheese, and olives. We stop by for Virginia Green’s chocolate cake even if we’ve dined elsewhere. Knowledgeable servers are happy to guide you through the menu. Bar.

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(From January 2012)

You can spot a neighborhood favorite (and a tony neighborhood at that) by watching for regulars who make it their home at lunch and dinner; the people watching here, quite apart from the meal, is tasty indeed. Meanwhile, from the kitchen flow plates and platters of seasonal European classics with a French disposition. A recent blackboard special included scallopini of locally purveyed venison; fork-tender and richly flavorful with green peppercorns, it almost had the timbre of a rich organ meat. On the same blackboard: a fresh niçoise salad with a tumult of greens and rare ahi tuna.

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