Ribs with a tamarind sauce at La Gloria.

Tax-free weekend and the start of Culinaria’s Restaurant Week ended up overlapping this year, which left me thinking that I could save some money, increase my sartorial splendor (ha!) and have a great meal all in one trip.

La Gloria Ice House

So, after visiting a few clothing stores, I ended up at La Gloria Ice House in the Pearl Brewery Complex, along with the overflowing throngs that crowded Johnny Hernandez’s restaurant Saturday evening.

I stumbled in by myself, armed with the latest book I’m reading for one of my classes, a cheery volume of social science  called “Be Very Afraid: The Cultural Response to Terror, Pandemics, Environmental Devastation, Nuclear Annihilation, and Other Threats.”  I was ready to party.

Thankfully, so were the staff at La Gloria. My waitress soon presented me with a sweet-tart margarita on the house,  the kind of mental lubrication that made all seem right with the world.

Tuna ceviche at La Gloria.

Soon, I was presented with the first course of La Gloria’s dinner special for Restaurant Week, a scallop shell topped with an artfully arranged fan of tuna marinated in lime. The four slender strips of seafood appeared to be delicate, but their flavor was bold, as were the complementary items on the shell, from the habanero sauce to the single leaf of fresh cilantro on top.

I let out a big laugh when I saw the main course headed my way. After the dainty appetizer appeared a plate piled massively high with four beef ribs slathered in a tamarind sauce. Messy, yes, but I couldn’t stop myself from just tearing into the top rib, even as the sauce painted my face while my teeth tore into the meat, all dense and juicy and satisfying. Thankfully, there were plenty of napkins on the table.

Corn cake with pineapple.

I could only finish two of the ribs, but I managed to polish off the two quesadillas with fresh corn kernels buried in the melted cheese and the grilled onion that arrived perched atop the mountain of meat.

Dessert was a slice of custardy corn cake with fresh pineapple, not too sweet and light enough after the meat to finish off the evening on a pleasant note.

So, where are you headed during Restaurant Week? Lunch menus are $15, while dinner specials are $35 for multi-course meals. For a list of participants, click on the Culinaria ad at the top of the page.

La Gloria Ice House
100 E. Grayson St.
(210) 267-9040

Poster art courtesy San Antonio Food Bank. These items top the list of foods needed to be donated, stocked and distributed.

More than 230,000 people in Southwest Texas rely on the Food Bank’s network of programs and services— and over one-half million Southwest Texans are at risk of going hungry.

Now, the San Antonio Food Bank, in partnership with Whataburger, presents the SA Goes Orange campaign, offering your company the opportunity to make a difference.

Launching on September 1, 2012, and continuing throughout the month, SA Goes Orange engages San Antonians in public awareness and fundraising activities that will ultimately help the Food Bank end hunger in Southwest Texas.

Remember, orange is the color of hunger awareness.

As the major supplier of food for the hungry in Southwest Texas, the San Antonio Food Bank helps provide food for about 58,000 individuals each week through a network of more than 530 partner agencies within a 16-county service area. Every dollar donated, every SA Goes Orange campaign button worn and every means of public outreach helps our bottom line: to fight hunger and feed hope in Southwest Texas.

The SA Goes Orange campaign offers your company a unique opportunity to make a difference in the lives of families and individuals in need in our community, while increasing your own brand awareness and product exposure. The goodwill generated by cause-related marketing translates into a significant return on investment in the San Antonio market. Your employees and your customers will also take pride in knowing that each dollar collected during this campaign allows the Food Bank to distribute up to seven meals.

How can you join the San Antonio Food Bank and Whataburger in going orange?Here are a few ways to help:

• Become a campaign sponsor and be listed in all campaign marketing and advertising.

• Donate proceeds from product sales or an event.

• Join city landmarks like the Tower of the Americas and the Quarry Market, and literally light up the sky orange – the color of hunger awareness.

• Provide ad space, retail space — any space — to help raise public consciousness about hunger in Southwest Texas.

• Tell a friend — enlist employees, customers, friends and family.

• Hold a company-wide Go Orange Virtual Food Drive — the donation is virtual, but the help is real!

• Run your own unique internal fundraiser — how about Wear Orange to Work day?

The possibilities to Go Orange are limitless … so is the impact that you can make toward ending hunger.

For more information, contact Katie Ramsey, Director of Community Investments, at kramsey@safoodbank.org or 210.431.8312