In honor of the various museums and other cultural centers that line its banks, San Antonio’s Museum Reach was designed as a pedestrian park. The walkway attracts many pedestrians because of the public artworks it contains, but it also passes through driving directions some of the state’s most popular lodgings, dining establishments, and retail establishments. Here are the seven stops you shouldn’t miss.
Best Quality Daughter’s chef/owner Jennifer Hwa Dobbertin has set up shop in the Pearl District development at the northern end of the Museum Reach, where she hopes to establish a permanent location for her successful “New Asian-American” pop-up restaurant. (Think vegan beef potstickers and alcoholic bubble tea.) In the historic Mueller House, erected in 1904, diners may have a meal in one of four brightly colored chambers decorated to represent the Four Auspicious Beasts, creatures from the Chinese zodiac.
The 146-room Hotel Emma was created when the former Pearl Brewery in the 19th century was renovated by design firm Roman & Williams. Drinks are served in the evenings in the two-story library, and the flywheel from a decommissioned generator serves as a focal point in the foyer. Chef Jorge Luis Hernández, who was born in San Antonio and earlier worked at the two-Michelin-star Minibar by José Andrés, uses the city’s rich cultural heritage as inspiration for the menu of his restaurant Supper.
Carriqui, chef Jaime Gonzalez’s 11,000-square-foot restaurant, is one of the most audacious newcomers to the city’s dining scene. After an eight-year makeover, the white clapboard structure that was once a saloon popular with brewery workers serves up Gulf seafood, barbecue, and Tejano delicacies like cabrito and beef-cheek barbacoa to a full house.
At Full Goods Diner, you may have breakfast and lunch prepared from scratch in a light, greenhouse-style setting. Ryan Harms, a native of San Antonio and the restaurant’s co-owner, teamed up with chef Patrick Jackson to create a menu that changes with the seasons and features both modern and classic dishes, such as the ricotta toast served with peaches, pickled jalapeos, and guajillo gastrique, as well as homemade pastries and the perfect pancake, which comes served with brown butter, maple syrup, and flaky salt.
Designer Caroline Matthews’s sought (and often sold-out) seersucker “guayarobe” may be found at the San Antonio outlet of Texas shirtmaker Dos Carolinas, in addition to her distinctive handcrafted guayaberas, the button-front men’s shirt popular throughout Latin America.
Spiked lemonade, iced espresso martinis, and a fried-chicken sandwich may be enjoyed while swinging on a patio overlooking the river at Elsewhere Bar & Kitchen, a spacious and popular establishment that opened just before the epidemic.
Located across the river from the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts and at the western end of the Museum Reach, the Thompson San Antonio-Riverwalk hotel first welcomed guests in 2021. There are 162 rooms in the 20-story tower that are both comfortable and contemporary, making it ideal for families with pets. It also has three restaurants—the poolside Cenote, the sky-high The Moon’s Daughters, and local celebrity chef Steve McHugh’s Landrace—where ingredients for seasonal dishes are obtained from almost two dozen Texas suppliers.
