San Antonio Goes Uptown

A while back, somebody started publishing another one of those ultra-glossy upscale magazines about my home town: San Antonio Magazine. I remember when the only way you could find articles about overpriced cutting-edge crap was to read Texas Monthly; but that was 30 years ago. Now, every mid-sized burg in the country seems to have its very own ad-stuffed publication, alerting the public to local manifestations of every moronic revenue-producing trend to spring from corporate creative minds. 

(I find, at the check-out stands at HEB, that this isn't even the only local-interest glossy; there's another called S.A. Living, or maybe Living S.A. I don't recall. I only remember it at all because it once had a cover story about the ten highest-priced local homes, and the prurient snob in me was obliged to look and see if my own house was listed. It wasn't.)

Anyway, the difference between San Antonio Magazine and all those others, is that SAM comes to my house. I don't know why; a while back it started arriving, and I have plenty of room in the recycling bin each week, so I don't much mind. In fact, I now get two copies every month.

Every now and then there'll be something of interest. Maybe an article on what great people we all are down here in Paradise South. Sometimes, though, it upsets me to see things like that in print, because, what if people in Dallas or Houston read it, and decide to come live in San Antonio. A great place to live, it may be, but we do have enough problems of our own, mostly caused by people moving here from Dallas and Houston. (Perceptive readers will recognize that the phrase "Dallas and Houston" is actually a euphemism for a far larger, far more ominous source of transplants.)

Next month's issue, which came this week, features the "Best of the City" listings. It's not enough that the local newspaper and the local alternative newspaper come up with similar lists each year, or that the various lists are generally indistinguishable. It's still always fun to see what people come up with.

SAM's list is chosen by its editors, who get to play Bruce Almighty because, well, they own the printing press. Readers can only hope they're not on the take. There are also readers' choices listed, right there, in little tiny print at the bottom.

OK, I'm really only interested in the restaurant listings, and that only so I can see what's new, and disagree with what's not. This list is mainly predictable, with names that have become familiar recently, mixed in with a few places that have stood the test of time (which, in the food biz, is, like, nine months). There's only one place I've never heard of, and will have to go check out: G&G Mobile Bistro. Several others have been around a while, but haven't yet found their way onto my been-there-done-that list: Mina and Dimi's, Il Sogno, Le Midi, and La Gloria Ice House. This last, along with The Friendly Spot and, to a lesser extent, La Tuna, seem to have really captured the local imagination, as presented by this and other hard-copy publications. Maybe they just have better publicists than the many other new places in town.

Then, there are all the other categories. Some of them make me curious about aspects of city livin' that I no longer bother with, now that I'm all grown up. What, for example, makes Sam's Burger Joint the Best Live Music Venue? What makes the Lion and Rose a better sports bar than ... well, I can't think of another one, but I'm sure they're out there. And why bother having a category for Best Performing Arts Venue? If they want to have some kind of competition for that honour, it should be Best Performing Arts Venue Other Than The Majestic Theater; that way, all the other places in town have a shot. Same goes for Best Local Festival: when you say "Fiesta," you've said it all. 

There are also some interesting things that don't make my eyes roll in anti-consumerist irritation, like the magazine's choice for Best Concierge: Luke the Lab, a rescue-dog who hangs out at the Fairmount. Or Material Recovery, chosen as the Best Shop for Furniture; now, that sounds like an interesting thing, and even though I don't have any open space left in my house, and have to pick my way carefully when moving from room to room, I want to check out this place.