San Antonio

(From June 2011)

Feeling newly rejuvenated these days, Francesca’s is focusing on farm-to-table vegetables, meats, and seafood. Our visit found morels and Senator zucchini on the menu, and as the season progresses, bountiful produce from Seguin’s Uncertain Farms should also appear in the King Ranch–inspired dining room. Tender antelope steak Di-ane and a standing rib of wild boar from Broken Arrow Ranch were notable for their preparation and accompaniments—sauces with just enough zing, mesquite-smoked pear tomatoes, spinach oil with chile-infused heat. Additionally, you’ll find attentive servers, plus all the little extras, like a dainty amuse bouche and tiny cookies and guava sweets at meal’s end. Bar.

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(From August 2011)

From blackened chicken to blue corn enchiladas, breakfast to late-night barhopping, Southwestern food rules at this three-level riverside roost. We like the Shiner black bean soup to start, followed by something off the grill (the Angus ribeye is always a good bet). For its location—tourists mill about under the River Walk’s sky-reaching cypress trees—the food often exceeds expectations, but the service can be maddeningly slow. P.S. The fuchsia cactus pear margaritas are a destination in their own right. Bar.

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