Wine lovers can expect a pleasant surprise on Wednesdays at Fogo de Chão, 849 E. Commerce St.

Through Sept. 29, patrons will receive a free bottle of wine with the purchase of two adult lunches or dinners. The choice is between two Chilean favorites from Casa Lapostolle: the Cuvée Alexandre Merlot or the Cabernet Sauvignon. The wines regularly sell at the restaurant for $60 or more.

Reservations are required. If you make them online at fogo.com, then mention “Wine 2010″ in the comments box. If you prefer to make your reservations over the phone, call 210-227-1700 and mention the promotion at that time.

Brisket and pork loin at the Barbecue Station.

The Barbecue Station has long been the place in San Antonio to go for consistently dependable smoked meat, whether you’re looking for juicy brisket or sausage bursting with flavor. Two recent visits to the restaurant housed in a former Exxon station have largely borne this out, though a couple of questions about consistency did arise.

The first visit was all about that Texas staple: brisket. Slices of the toothsome beef with a slight touch of fat conveyed both smoke — from oak, if the cords of wood at the back are to be believed—and earthy beef flavor with a savory rub that ringed the meat beautifully. It was tender enough to cut with a fork, yet solid enough so that it wasn’t overcooked. A dab of the tangy barbecue sauce, thankfully a lot less sweet than most of its competitors’, just added to the pleasure that came with bite after bite. And there was no belch-inducing aftertaste that can result from oversmoked ‘cue.

That brisket, served on butcher paper, was what made me return to the Barbecue Station a few days’ later. But lightning did not strike twice. Blame the difference in time of day, the time the brisket had been in the warmer vs. the smoker, the different in the two cuts of meat. Whatever the reason, it just wasn’t the same. A friend with several generations of history in Texas barbecue aptly commented that the meat that day was too dry and lacked in flavor from both meat and rub.

The Barbecue Station is housed in a former Exxon station.

But he and I were both taken with the the chicken leg and thigh quarter, which was moist and delicious. The smoke, while prevalent, was not so overwhelming as to obliterate the natural flavor of the meat. Even better, at least in my book, the skin was crisp yet almost buttery and well-seasoned. I don’t often eat chicken at restaurants, but this is a version I’ll order again.

Pork ribs were succulent, sizzling to the touch and loaded with pork goodness, but the pork loin relied a little too much on the sauce to make it sing.

Among the side dishes, the green beans proved a good choice, while the coleslaw was too sweet on one occasion and just right on the other.

But the big question on both visits concerned the pintos. This is another dish that, like brisket, Texans treat with utmost seriousness. At the Barbecue Station, if you order the beans, you can have all you can eat from the pot that sits next to the containers of forks, knives, pickles and onions. But why would you eat any, when the beans’ texture is mealy and the broth is thin and vapid, as if not even the smallest amount of salt had been used to enliven the dish? Compare these dull, little nothings with the full-flavored, jalapeño-laced beans you get at Fatty’s Burgers, also freely given, and you’ll understand how disappointing the version at the Barbecue Station really is.

Pork ribs and chicken at the Barbecue Station.

I’d rather focus on that crackling chicken skin or those meaty pork ribs. Pure comfort food, Texas style.

The Barbecue Station has been around since 1992. Since its opening, the owners and staff have learned quite a few ways to keep customers coming back, whether it’s for the loaded baked potatoes or the chopped beef sandwiches. One is that, after an hour-long meal, I left the Barbecue Station without smelling like a smoke pit. Yet another reason to return for more.

Barbecue Station
1610 N.E. Loop 410
210-824-9191
Lunch and dinner daily.
www.barbecuestation.com

Tortas at Caracheo's are a meaty treat.

The first taste you’re likely to get of Caracheo’s Mexican Restaurant at 3033 Bitters Road is the salsa. It’s a reddish-brown mix with plenty of chile seeds that tells of having been cooked well before it was ground up. The first taste is smoky with a nice amount of heat that lingers just long enough for you get the next chip ready.

Bells started going off in my taste bud memory, and I immediately thought of Rosario’s, which has one of the best salsas in town. There’s a reason for that, I found out later: The cook here once worked at Rosario’s, and he obviously learned his lesson well. There’s a rustic richness that makes you want to drizzle it over refrieds, over carne asada, over eggs, over just about anything you order.

Many of the dishes at this appealing yet non-descript little restaurant, with a sister location at 8014 Crosscreek, have the same effect.

Try the mole with its earthy mixture of chile de arbol as well as the expected chocolate and peanut. This is not a sweet rendition, but a complex sauce that is perfect over chicken or used, as I had it, over chicken-filled enchiladas ($6.50).

Mole enchiladas at Caracheo's.

The carnitas ($5.99) are not the pristine shavings of meat you’ll find at many another restaurant. Instead, Caracheo’s serves large chunks of pork that has been crisped on one side and remains moist on the other. The roasted bits of meat also have plenty of fat on then, if you choose to eat it.

I have enjoyed many of the breakfast tacos ($85 cents-$2 apiece), served in handmade corn tortillas, on request. The pork chop taco, a favorite of mine, came with the peppery pieces of meat boned and cut in slivers before being tucked in the warm wrapping. Barbacoa, carnitas and the Nacogdoches, sort of a cousin to the taco Norteño with its inclusion of beans and avocado, were all worth investigating.

You can hardly go wrong with any of the lunch specials. There you’ll usually find some more interior Mexican dishes as well as caldos, special enchiladas, even puffy tacos.

As with any restaurant, some dishes I’ve sampled on more than a half-dozen visits are naturally better than others. The Milanesa ($5.99), pounded to a perfect thinness, was traditional yet nothing special. The mini-tacos ($4.99), with a scant amount of carne asada on each, tasted more of slightly undercooked corn tortillas than anything else, despite being covered with onion, cilantro and some of the green salsa.

The only genuine misfire was a set of beef empanadas ($5.99) made in puff pastry. The flavor was fine, but the filling was far too greasy and kept pouring out for too long a period of time to be appetizing. Yet I know someone who swears by them because of the delicate pastry.

Service has always been good, though the kitchen can be inconsistent. On several occasions, I’ve ordered the tortas ($3.99), loaded with all manner of wonderful fillings, from puerco en chile colorado to carnitas. Each arrived on a toasty hot bun that was covered with refrieds on one side and stacked high with avocado, lettuce and tomato. A friend ordered one on a separate visit, and hers was not only missing the refrieds (which she, as a Mexico City native, expected), but the bun was barely warm.

I know the restaurant was short-staffed that day, so I will give Caracheo’s a break. And I will be back, for the salsa as much as a desire to try the shrimp fajitas, the enchiladas verdes and more.

Caracheo’s Mexican Restaurant
3033 Bitters Road
210-590-4020

8014 Crosscreek
210-637-6192

Open daily for breakfast and lunch

Food: 3.5
Service: 3.5
Value: 4

The al pastor plate at Montealban

When you sit down at Montealban Mexican Restaurant, the breakfast and lunch spot on Nacogdoches Road, you’re greeted with chips and three separate salsas, each a gorgeous color. The fresh salsa is a bright red with flecks of green chile and plenty of black pepper to give it an extra kick. The green salsa packs its heat in bold, unapologetic splendor. The roasted red chile salsa is slick mix of heat and oil that adds smoky depth to whatever you spread it on.

Caldo de res at Montealban

One bite of each made me glad to have found the place.

Sure, the menu is packed with old favorites, from a vegetable-packed caldo to a chile relleno, but you might be surprised as how bold and pristine the flavors are.

Let’s start with the breakfast tacos, which are much fatter than I generally find at area taquerias. That means you get a lot of egg flavor in each bite. I prefer them rolled in corn tortillas, perfectly pressed, thick and steaming hot to the touch. The bacon is plentiful, too; the chorizo is well drained; and the country sausage managed to maintain its sizzle. At a cost of $2.31 for three, they really can’t be beat.

At lunch, the $4.99 daily specials are a fine place to start, whether it’s the chopped beef in the Steak a la Mexicana plate on Friday or Thursday’s al pastor plate with nopalitos and plenty of onions and cilantro on top.

The caldo de res was chock full of vegetables, including a sweet amount of cabbage, my favorite, plus carrots, potato and zucchini as well as a healthy amount of the beef that flavored the stock.

Every visit I’ve tried something new and have not been disappointed with any dish. I just wish the dice of the potato in the picadillo mix stuffed inside that filling chile relleno were a little smaller — and if that’s all I have to complain about, that’s saying something.

Steak a la Mexicana at Montealban

The place is bright and friendly, if a bit nondescript in decor. What the owners saved on design, they seem to pass along in prices, such as $4.99 for all the menudo you can eat on a Saturday.  But it’s the care with the food, not the price, that will have you returning for more.

Montealban Mexican Restaurant
3261 Nacogdoches Road
210-650-3388
Breakfast, lunch Monday-Saturday
www.MontealbanMexicanRestaurant.com

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A well-balanced, chopped fresh style of table salsa gets top marks at Gonzaba's.

Here’s the short take on Gonzaba’s Mexican Restaurant, at the end of a shopping strip at 6700 San Pedro Ave.: If you need to have a meeting at a central location, where the staff is friendly and will set you up in a semi-private room (do call ahead), Gonzaba’s can do it.

After that, consider that the nachos are cheesy, the chips crisp and the salsa terrific: it’s the medium-hot, finely ground, fresh style that I particularly like.

We were there for a business lunch earlier this week. For the occasion, the restaurant set us up in a separate room with a linen-dressed table for 12, a big bouquet of crepe paper flowers in the center and chips and salsa at every other place setting.

Two of us arrived 20 minutes early and ordered nachos to hold us over until the others arrived. The plate was hot and a bowl of jalapeños in the middle of the chips and melting cheese came along without us having to ask.

The meeting required a lot of discussion, so business required more attention than food that day. So, we appreciated the unobtrusive servers, who brought us drinks, sliced lemons, extra chips, more napkins and our meals without much fuss at all.

Guacamole chalupas and big bowls of tortilla soup were pre-ordered, which also cut down on the time factor (here’s a hint for those having business lunches on time, as well as a money, budget.) Everything was good. I won’t put it in the outstanding category, as I like a guacamole with some seasoning, but we can say that about the way nine out of 10 Mexican restaurants in town prepare the avocados.

The big, big bowls of soup, packed with thin, crisp tortilla strips, diced avocado, cheese and chicken, were hearty and pretty much took care of appetites around the table. My only criticisms were that the broth needed a little more flavor (a stauncher broth, a little salt?)  and the chicken was overcooked. Would I order it again? Yes, I think so, considering how good and filling it was. Also, I wouldn’t hesitate to take a group to Gonzaba’s.

Gonzaba’s Mexican Restaurant
6700 San Pedro Ave.
Breakfast, Lunch
(210) 832-0202

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Photos by Bonnie Walker

I go to Mr. and Mrs. G’s Home Cooking and Pastries largely for one reason: the fried chicken. It has always been among the best in the city, crisp and delicately coated on the outside, moist and delicious at the center.

Everything else at this cafeteria-style haven of Southern cooking is gravy —and rich gravy, at that.

On a recent visit, I decided to branch out a bit and let my friend order the fried chicken. I knew I’d get a taste, and if need be, I would could always go back and order some more.

His order was just about perfection, though a touch more salt in the batter before frying would help it reach the heavens.

After browsing through a selection that included such temptations as smothered pork chops and ham hocks, I ordered the chicken fricassee, which was served with a sauce full of bold chicken stock flavor. Surprisingly, though, the leg and thigh quarter I had was mealy and texturally unappealing. I don’t think it was overcooked. I just think that quality of the meat was less than it should have been before the cooking process started.

I contented myself with sopping up every last drop of gravy I could with my cornbread and then tore into the vast array of side dishes, which included a medley of fresh, firm okra tossed with tomatoes and onion as well as a bowl of boiled cabbage. Mashed potatoes, vanilla-scented sweet potatoes and a Southern-style creamed corn, with an accent on the sugar in the cream sauce, are among the other choices available.

A multi-berry cobbler made for an excellent dessert, as did a slice of buttermilk pie.

Home cooking needs a homey environment, and I’ve always enjoyed the pleasant company of the other folks who crowd into Mr. and Mrs. G’s. This visit was no different, as we struck up conversations with several tables around us. I haven’t gone as far as to eat off anyone else’s plate, but give me time.

Mr. & Mrs. G’s
2222 S WW White Rd.
210-359.0002

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Photos: Nicholas Mistry

If I get asked one question more often than any other, it’s the one that starts with the phrase, “What’s your favorite …?” Already, I’ve been asked that about the restaurants along W.W. White more than a dozen times. It’s a hard one to answer when you look at the wealth of edible riches along the street, because that answer depends on what I’m in the mood to eat.

But I also have to say that I’ve been to El Bucanero, or Mariscos El Bucanero, three or four times in recent months, so it definitely has a hold on me.

I first discovered how good their food could be last fall, when the restaurant took part in the New World Wine & Food Festival’s Taste of Mexico and served a fresh ceviche to the throngs.

It took a invitation from friends a couple of months ago, though, to get me to the restaurant. There I discovered the joys of some of the best shrimp tacos I have ever tasted. The fried shrimp are as sweet and firm as you could want, wrapped in a warm, handmade corn tortilla. A creamy, tangy tartar sauce plus a sliver of perfectly ripe avocado on top pushed it over the top. The pickled carrots on the side made a nice accompaniment.

The fish tacos are just as good, with firm strips of fish in a corn meal batter tucked into the tortillas. If I prefer the shrimp version, it’s merely because I haven’t tasted shrimp quite that good in some time.

Other dishes that coaxed contented smiles included fried fish with garlic, shrimp with a smoky chipotle sauce and several styles of ceviche with pristine flavors bursting through the citrus marinade.

The folks at El Bucanero know how to make great guacamole. You might think that’s a commonplace in a town known for its Mexican food, but too few restaurants go beyond mashing avocado with fork and charging extra for it. Not here. El Bucanero’s recipe includes cilantro and plenty of pico de gallo incorporated to great effect. Spread on one of the house crescent moon tostada chips, the guac was gone quickly, as we battled over who got the last bite.

Service has been as attentive as you might expect for a homey, family place that’s often overrun with people. When a friend ordered beef on a Friday night during Lent, it took quite a while  for the plate to appear. In fact, the plate didn’t arrive until after the rest of us had finished. The waitress was so embarrassed by the delay that she took it off the bill.

No matter how many foodies hear about El Bucanero, the praises of which have been sung in such publications as Texas Monthly and the San Antonio Current, the clientele seems to remain local to the neighborhood. Don’t dismiss it lightly. You’ll be hard-pressed to find Mexican seafood in the city to equal this.

El Bucanero
2818 S. W.W. White Road
210-333-0909
Lunch and dinner daily.

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Photos: Nicholas Mistry

In Pleasanton, it's McBee's, meat and mesquite.

Last week’s much needed (but untimely) rain meant my plans to my take my mom out to dine under the stars changed.

So, because we were going to visit Sandy Oaks Olive Orchard, near Elmendorf, we decided to take a short detour to Pleasanton on our trip home.

McBee’s Barbecue had been recommended to me a number of times, but I’d just never made the trip. I’m pretty sure I’ll go back, though.

The place, not much more than a shack, had the right patina of smoke, grimy signs, flash of neon and more smoke from the brick pits next to the restaurant. In the steady, gray rain that smoke seemed like a promise.

We sat down to a platter of meat that was far too much for two women, even two women with very healthy appetites. Much of it was packed and taken home to my husband, who hadn’t been able to make the trip.

So, we had sausage, sliced brisket, and pork ribs. The ribs were a cut well above average.  (There used to be another barbecue joint on Austin Highway that we hit just right one time, that had the best-ever pork ribs ever, at least in the San Antonio area.)

Good ribs can almost bring a tear to the eye. There is that fresh crackle from the fat, while the thin layer of meat close to the rib is  tender and suffused with smokey flavor. McBee’s uses mesquite, which isn’t always the first choice of pit smokers. But it sure works for McBee’s.

The brisket was good, with a thick, blackened crust from the hot fire keeping the inside moist. The sausage was your basic country sausage, salty and porky and very good. The barbecue sauce was a less-sweet version, which I always appreciate, even though I don’t use much of it.

The sign says it all

We stuck with simple side dishes, a good potato salad, pinto beans, some very tender, baked cheesy potatoes (I recommend you get these if you just have to have potatoes).  We downed our barbecue with the requisite sliced dills, onions and white bread on the side. Cold A&W Root Beer was the drink of choice, but there was also plenty of Big Red in the cooler.

We couldn’t face dessert, though it was offered. We left with our take-out and drove over to Poteet. Too bad, we’d missed the strawberry fest by a week, and didn’t see anyone selling fresh berries roadside. It would have been a nice ending to a rewarding day trip south.

McBee’s Barbecue
309 2nd St.
Pleasanton
(830) 569-2602

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Carnitas Huaraches from Carnita's

Who was W.W. White? And why is there a road as well as an elementary school named after him in San Antonio?

A little Internet research produced only a little information, but he was a Confederate colonel during the Civil War who commanded the Seventh Georgia Infantry during the battle at Gettysburg. He wrote an official report about what happened there (click here).  But his connections to San Antonio are vague, as is his name. Nothing I found explained what the W.W. stood for.

Nor did anything say whether he enjoyed a good meal, which is what people driving up and down the road named after him are likely to face at any number of places. Last week, we introduced you to several eateries on the north side of the road (click here). Now, Nicholas Mistry and I take you to the south side of the street, with photographs and words, respectively. This pair of restaurants should sing to your soul.

The restaurants include Carnitas Mexican and Big Lou’s Pizza. Next week: Mr. and Mrs. G’s Home Cooking and El Bucanero.

Review: Big Lou's

Review: Carnitas

14 inch pie at Big Lous

At Big Lou’s you can get a pizza that’s so large you have to sit at a special table. The pie is 42 inches in diameter, which equals more than 9 square feet.

On certain days, I feel I could put away one of those by myself before slipping into a carb-induced coma.

But on a recent visit to this favorite pizza joint, I felt like sampling my way across the menu, so we started the meal with a dozen mild chicken wings, meaty little morsels that got a pleasant kick from black pepper. Doused in ranch dressing, they were wonderful, and they always have been.

Let’s face it, I’m prejudiced when it comes to Big Lou’s. I’ve been a fan for years, starting with visits to its original location, a real hole-in-the-wall operation filled with picnic tables and the kind of bonhomie that you can’t fake.

In its new home on South W.W. White, the kitchen remains faithful to the flavors and recipes that Big Lou’s reputation was built on. It’s still homey and welcoming. But once the wing bones were stripped of every last shred of meat, I was ready to try something new. Or at least new to me.

That was the Italian Sub, a warm sandwich with salami and other cold cuts melted into the bun with a generous amount of provolone. Sides of Italian dressing, lettuce and black olives that you could dress to your own taste made this 9-inch sub a real treat.

The main course, of course, was a pizza. Instead of the 42-incher, we settled on a 14-inch pie. Half was topped with anchovies, the other half with Italian sausage, green peppers, olives and onions. The crust was of medium thickness and puffed out at the edges. But it never tasted too bready. Instead, we both enjoyed the yeasty taste and how well it was complemented by the seasoned tomato sauce and shredded cheese that held the pie together.

Surprisingly, I wasn’t crazy about the anchovies. The little fish hadn’t been rinsed, which meant they were almost too salty for me – and that’s saying something. I was more taken with the house-made sausage, with its kick of fennel, and the vegetables that retains just enough crispness to add texture. I folded the large slices in half and went at it with abandon. Even the cold leftovers made for a great breakfast.

There are times when the place is so busy that the wait seems to last and last. But if you go in mid-afternoon, like we did, the food appears fairly quickly and steaming hot, making that first bite of pizza as perfect as you could want.

Wings

Italian Sub Sandwich

Big Lou’s Pizza
2048 S. W.W. White Road
(210) 337-0707
Open for lunch and dinner Tuesday-Sunday. Closed Monday.

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Photos: Nicholas Mistry