Just when you think you have tasted all the variety of Mexican food in town, a little lunch date with a friend can prove that you haven’t even come close! El Palmito on Bandera near Huebner has the most creative foods I have tasted in a very long time. It is in a building that looks like a house. This makes sense because when you walk in the door, you instantly feel at home. The interior isn’t huge inside but very bright and cheery. I don’t know if it was from the yellow painted walls or the other customers that were obviously very happy to be there. Most of the people sitting around me didn’t even need menus because they ordered the same thing and the waitresses knew what they wanted before they even sat down. I knew this was a sign of good things to come. The chips are crisp and the salsa is spicy and roasted to perfection! They had a big variety of lunch specials and I chose the fish tacos. My order came with a cup of fideo soup. I had never tried the soup before but my lunch date explained that it is a staple in Mexico but very hard to make. Well, the kitchen must know what they are doing because I never knew such flavor could come out of a little bowl of noodles. I could probably just come back and order a bigger bowl of soup and be perfectly content. It reminds me of chicken noodle soup but it has no meat as it was served but it did pack lots of noodles, onions and carrots. My fish tacos were served with rice and beans as well as a cilantro cream sauce. The rice was nice and fluffy and the beans were seasoned with what I am guessing is pork fat. The texture of the beans was creamy and easy to spread on the homemade corn tortillas. The cilantro sauce was just as creamy and flavor-filled like the beans but with very finely chopped cilantro. I asked the staff what was in the sauce and they said it was a secret. The sauce is worth a trip all by itself, no wonder they keep it to themselves! I also tried something new that I never dreamed that I would enjoy. Cactus. I ate cactus and I loved it! They serve it almost like a garnish with chopped cactus that is simmered with red chile sauce. It is supposed to be healthy and good for you. Well you can add that it is tasty too. As if my mouth wasn’t in flavor heaven already, we were tempted to order the off menu dessert of the day, bread pudding. My friend and I split it and it was huge and came with a cinnamon stick as a garnish. I don’t think my friend and I realized how much we were moaning over this dessert to each other until the table behind us turned around to ask me what exactly we were eating! It was made with bananas, pecans and coconuts and baked with what looked like a loaf of French bread. I think I might just dream about it tonight! Thank you to the chef for giving me something to dream about!
I still can’t believe how much flavor comes out of El Palmito’s kitchen for the price you pay for their food. This little place knows exactly what they are doing and I am so glad I finally stopped in to taste what I have been hearing about them for a long time. I can’t wait to take my family back so they can experience it for themselves. You should really give it try. I am sure you will have bread pudding dreams too, Or maybe you will dream about the fideo soup, or cilantro cream sauce or the perfect beans and chips and salsa!
They are located at 7101 Bandera Rd San Antonio, Tx 78238 and the phone number is 210-680-1560. The website is www.elpalmitosa.com.(update: call for the hours because one of my readers informed me that the new hours posted on their door haven’t been updated on their website yet!)
Leave me a little bread pudding, OK?
The perfect chips and salsa
Little cup With Lots of Flavor
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