Mi Tierra Cafe y Panaderia is a tex-mex restaurant in Market Square, San Antonio.
Mi Tierra has run 24 hours at Market Square since the Cortez family opened it in 1941, a Tex-Mex landmark with strolling mariachis and an in-house bakery.
Must order: Enchiladas with chili gravy, pan dulce from the panaderia, a margarita with the mariachis.
Tip: The dining room never closes, so a 3am plate of enchiladas after a night downtown is a San Antonio rite. Buy conchas from the front bakery counter to go.
Address: 218 Produce Row, San Antonio, TX 78207
Mixtli is San Antonio's first Michelin-starred restaurant, where chefs Diego Galicia and Rico Torres build a rotating tasting menu around one Mexican region.
Order: Whatever region the rotating tasting menu is exploring this season.
Tip: The menu changes every several weeks and focuses on one region of Mexico at a time. Book on Tock well ahead; seats are limited.
Chef Jennifer Dobbertin's New Asian American restaurant sits in the historic Mueller House at the Pearl, drawing on her Chinese-American heritage.
Order: Crab rangoon dip, Taiwanese popcorn chicken and the family-style noodles.
Tip: The patio and the funky Mueller House interior are both worth requesting. Cocktails lean playful; ask for the seasonal special.
Chef John Russ and Elise Russ run Clementine in Castle Hills, a chef-driven New American room that has been one of San Antonio's most ambitious kitchens.
Order: The Feed Me tasting option, which lets the kitchen build the meal for you.
Tip: Order the Feed Me option and let the kitchen drive. The dining room is small, so book ahead on OpenTable.
Chef Jeff Balfour's Southerleigh brews 15 beers in-house on the ground floor of the Pearl Brewery and pairs them with Texas coastal cooking.
Order: Fried chicken, Gulf snapper and a pint of the house-brewed beer.
Tip: Sit near the gleaming brew tanks and order the fried chicken with the house pilsner. The patio fills fast on Pearl market mornings.
Ladino is a Sephardic-leaning Mediterranean room at the Pearl built for family sharing, where wood-grilled meats anchor a table of mezze, hummus and lamb.
Order: Wood-grilled meats and mezze from the Sephardic-leaning menu.
Tip: Go family-style across the mezze and let the grill section anchor the table. The hummus and the lamb are reliable openers.
La Fonda on Main is the oldest continuously operating Mexican restaurant in San Antonio, opened by sisters Virginia Berry and Nannie Randall in 1932.
Order: Cheese enchiladas, mole poblano and a margarita on the hacienda patio.
Tip: Ask for a table on the covered patio. The mole poblano is the dish to order if you want something beyond Tex-Mex.
