20250314_120357Along the River Walk (March 2025)

Last spring, I visited Texas for the first time with my partner and her mother. Specifically, we went to San Antonio, where we spent an extended weekend to attend a family wedding. Although it was a short trip, we made the most of it, renting a car to explore the city and its surrounding in the Hill Country. Here’s a recap of what we were up to in San Antonio!

As the second-largest city in Texas (after Houston), San Antonio is home to 1.43 million inhabitants, with 2.76 million in its metropolitan area. It has a long and rich cultural history, with the Payaya people originating on its lands by the San Antonio River. Later, the Spanish settled in 1718, using the area as a mission and colonial outpost– most, if not all, of the Payaya people were tragically decimated during this time due to disease, and its population is considered extinct today.

The city changed hands over the next century, belonging to Mexico from 1821 until 1836. Following the abolition of the Mexican Constitution of 1824, many states in Mexico (including present-day Texas) experienced over a decade of turmoil, which incited the Texas Revolution. One of the most-notable events was the Battle of the Alamo in 1836, in which Texians (anglo-Texans) and Tejanos (Hispanic-Texans) joined forces to defend the Alamo Mission from the Mexican army. All defenders, including famous frontiersman Davy Crockett, were killed. After the initial defeat, it inspired the Texan rebels to “Remember the Alamo” and ultimately achieve victory over Mexico in a follow-up battle.

It’s important to note that, while it was a battle to secede from Mexico, it was due to the fact that Texians wanted to keep slavery legal, which the Mexican government had tried to abolish in 1829. And even though the Texans had won over the Battle of the Alamo, it was only the beginning of continuous conflict between the United States and Mexico, including the Mexican-American War. In the end, Texas became a state in 1845 and was the largest US state until 1959, when Alaska took that title.

The city is located roughly in the center of Texas, and it’s part of the “Texas Triangle” of the state’s major cities: Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Austin within a few hour’s drive from each other. Today, San Antonio is a cultural hub for football games and rodeo shows, as well as having one of the largest majority-Hispanic populations in the country at 64% of its people. As a result, the city has a vibrant Tex-Mex food scene, combining two cuisines (American and Mexican) into its own gastronomic category.

As mentioned, I hadn’t visited Texas before, so San Antonio was my first time in the state. I was particularly excited to go and delve into the culture, much of which I’d only gotten through TV shows and films prior– think cowboys, BBQ, and expressions like “howdy” and “yee-haw!” Heck, I even bought a pair of boots to go along with my dress for the wedding my partner, her mother, and I were attending, to go with the theme.

20250314_175025“Howdy”

That said, the three of us headed to the airport and caught our 9h00 flight over to San Antonio. It was a quick, two-and-a-quarter hour trip over, and soon enough, we landed at 13h30 local time. After grabbing a rental car, we headed out to a Mexican restaurant just a bit out of the airport for a late lunch with my partner’s family (her mother’s cousin and spouse), who happen to live in San Antonio. They were friendly and very welcoming, and we had a good time chatting and enjoying our meal.

20250313_091410Up in the air…

I was absolutely starving by the time we arrived at the restaurant, and we wasted no time ordering from the menu. I opted for a few items, including mole poblano and sopa de Fideo (Fideo soup). The latter reminded me of a hearty and tomato-based chicken noodle soup, as it contained vermicelli noodles– very warm and comforting, even though it was already 90°F / 32°C when we visited in March! The mole poblano was delicious, too– mole is made out of chocolate, and although its flavor is subtle, it adds a rich and complex taste to the dish overall. Indeed, I ate very well!

20250313_150101Mole poblano

20250313_145022Sopa de Fideo

The meal also came with complementary chips and salsa– I’ve had my fair share of chips and salsa in Mexican restaurants in Los Angeles, but I’d never had a salsa as spicy as the one in San Antonio! The Texans really don’t joke about spiciness: acidic and smoky, the salsa was absolutely delicious, even though I had to eat it sparingly and take breaks in between!

Following lunch, we all ended up heading to her mother’s cousin’s house nearby to chill for the rest of the afternoon until we could check into our hotel. We continued to chat over homemade cookies and sweet tea (which I adore!) before we left around 17h00 to head a bit outside of San Antonio to our hotel, where we would stay near the wedding venue for three nights.

We checked into the hotel and settled in our rooms to rest for the remainder of the day. As we had a late lunch around 14h00-15h00, we didn’t get hungry again until later that night, when we decided to order food delivery to our hotel. Personally, I’d been meaning to try Whataburger, a Texan fast-food chain that locals love and claim is better than any fast-food chain in the country (including my home state’s In-N-Out). We put in our order, and the food came within 20-30 minutes in front of our hotel room.

I had ordered an array of food items, including burgers and fries (of course), as well as patty melts, which her mother’s cousin had recommended for us to try. I had the patty melt, and it was really good! Soft, juicy, and cheesy, it was a hearty and greasy sandwich that was the ultimate indulgence. We also got medium-sized sweet teas, and they were far from being medium– more like extra large! As the old saying goes: “everything is bigger in Texas.”

20250313_200650Patty melt, fries, and a “medium-sized” sweet tea!

That concluded our first night in San Antonio. As the three of us had gotten into the city in the afternoon, we didn’t do too much upon arriving besides getting food and hanging out with her mother’s family. We would rest up and hit up San Antonio proper the following day, which I’ll recap in the next post. Thank you for reading, and more coming soon! 🙂

— Rebecca

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Published by Rebecca

Blogger, world traveler, poet, foodie, part-time penguin. Welcome!

36 thoughts on “Destination: San Antonio, Texas (A Food-Filled Day feat. Mexican Food and Whataburger– DAY 1)”

  2. I spent about 8 hours in San Antonio, so I’m sad to say I didn’t experience much… including Whataburger. It sounds tasty. But the real question is… did it best In N Out?

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    1. I think it’s just different! Whataburger and In N Out have different styles of burgers, so I just can’t compare! But I will say that I really enjoyed my patty melt from Whataburger!

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    1. Indeed! I think cities in Texas like San Antonio (and especially Austin) are really booming! Mole is delicious, and it’s a wonder I hadn’t had much of it until my visit!

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  8. The River Walk looks beautiful, and that Mexican food sounds amazing, especially the mole poblano. And trying Whataburger in Texas is a must! Looks like you had a delicious first day in San Antonio. 😄

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  9. When I saw Whataburger in the title I really wanted to read your post! I’ve always wondered it was like, having heard a fair bit about it. The patty melts look amazing. Well food portions in the States are big and I guess what you had there was extra generous 😄 Mole poblano looks interesting and how interesting for the mole to be made of chocolate, and for a savoury dish too.

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    1. I’d heard legends and lore about Whataburger (as we don’t have it in California), so I had to get it when in Texas! Portions were outrageous, but so delicious. Mole is a lovely dish, and I agree that it’s ingenious to use chocolate for a savory dish! More good food in Texas to come soon 😊

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    1. Texas used to be part of Mexico, so it’s unsurprising that there’s so much of the influence. Don’t know about Dallas, as I haven’t been before, but I would assume there’s some Mexican influence, too!

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  13. Sounds like a great first day in San Antonio – lots of delicious food. Mole has such a rich and distinctive taste – I remember trying some in Washington D.C. many years back. A brilliant idea to use chocolate in a savoury dish.

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  15. I’ve heard a lot about the Battle of the Alamo but didn’t know much about it, so I’m glad I could learn a bit more! The US history is so interesting and rich, I love that there are so many influences from basically all over the world! Also, in Europe we think that the food portions are huge in all the US but I guess it is mostly in Texas then, that drink isn’t what I’d consider “medium”! But the burger and fries look amazing!

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    1. As the saying goes, “everything’s bigger in Texas!” The “medium” drink was a shock, but for the price, it couldn’t be beat! It was a fun, food-filled time in town 😊

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