“A meal without wine is called breakfast.”
This past weekend we took a quick trip out to San Antonio to attend the Culinaria’s Grand Tasting event that was part of the restaurants week festivities.
We arrived at the Crockett Hotel a little early, so we walked over to the Alamo to take a few pictures before we had to get ready for the events Saturday night.
18 steps away from the hotel is the Alamo.
We have been to San Antonio a lot of times, so we will have a full review of the city and some sites we have experienced in another post. This one, will just focus on the Culinaria food and wine event.
Our tickets included access to three events for the evening: The Bubble Room, Grand Tasting & The VIP After Party.
Grand Tasting Bubble Room
Lonesome Dove at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center
We entered the room after trying multiple locked doors. There was nothing outside to let us know where the V.I.P area was located (not very V.I.P.).
The event was described to have “bubbles- lots of bubbles. The VIP treatment for our grandest of events gives you early entrance, chef prepared small bites and plenty of high-end champagne and spirits to quench your thirst”. The event lacked it’s namesake “Bubbles”. The “bubbles” were minimal. We were a group of four expecting champaign to be flowing, but reality hit us quickly as we realized only the HEB booth had three choices of said “bubbles”. I wouldn’t call any of these options “high-end” either. While the event lacked in “bubbles”, red and white wine were readily available which was great, but we had planned on three hours of red and white wine outside of the Bubble Room.
The food options inside the Bubble Room were the best of the night:
1. Boiler House – Brisket Bao
2. Luke – Hush puppy with shaved prosciutto and pecan honey butter. Topped with caviar and shaved summer truffle! Yes, you read that correctly… topped with caviar and shaved summer truffle!
3. HEB’s Foie gras & duck liver mousse jar was as decadent as you could imagine!
After spending an hour at the non-bubble event, we headed out to The Grotto for the Grand Tasting event. This was a beautiful outdoor, yet covered event space where people were able to walk around while sampling many different types of food and beverages.
Some highlights of the evening:
1. Gekkeikan Sake – The Horin was awesome. The vendor was very knowledgeable about the products and answered all of our questions. Great variety of samples to try.
2. The Fairview – Espresso, Iced Coffee, Lattes, Pour Overs and Affogatos! Affagato below: Country honey & vanilla bean ice cream with espresso. Friendly staff, looking forward to visiting their shop when it opens this summer.
3. Hundreds of wines!
After three hours of eating and drink, we were on to the third and final event of the night! We walked out to the front of the convention center and grabbed a cab over to the Tre Trattoria in Alamo Heights. This was a private event. We walked into the space to find a wide selection of beers, wines, fresh shucked oysters, cocktails and small bites of food. It was a nice space with outdoor and indoor seating. Inside, there was a DJ inside who kept the party high energy and the dance floor full.
Overall the event was a success. We were glad to have spent the day in San Antonio and try out some of the cuisine the city has to offer. We hope to be back soon to visit some of the restaurants for full meals.
Pros:
1. Wine – Hundreds of options, great variety and generous pours
2. The V.I.P. area was nice and the best food was served here. Also, it was great to have an air conditioned place to sit at the end of the night or to take a break during the evening.
3. Good variety of food available – chefs were eager to answer questions and explain the dishes.
4. Gekkeikan Sakee
Cons:
1. Signage
*There was nothing outside or anywhere inside which told visitors where the ticket table was located.
*The V.I.P. area – There was only one unlocked door along the wall and no sign or banner to show where to enter. I think for future events a nice sign or something to show the entrance would be nice. It would be good for people who did not purchase the V.I.P. to see what they are missing!
2. Half of the food vendors ran out of food an hour or more before the event ended. If the food booths know the amount of people attending, how do they run out that early?
3. Vegetarian options – We are not vegetarians at all, but we did attend the event with another couple. One person in our party is vegetarian. The options were very limited for her.
4. While the V.I.P. after party was great, it was a decent drive outside of town to get there.
Why not make it somewhere closer? After a night of drinking, it seemed like everyone had to take cabs to get there. Also, it was impossible to find a cab back to the river walk area.