Cured in San Antonio TX

We just finished a bit of a whirlwind business trip. We returned from Mexico on Friday night, spent the weekend at home, and then left on Monday morning again. This week’s travels took us to San Antonio, Austin, and Denver.

Before we left Portland, we read that chef Steve McHugh of Cured was a 2018 nominee for “Best Chef” Southwest. We hadn’t heard of Cured, but figured that while in San Antonio, we should check it out! We took Kevin’s mom out to a fun dinner on Monday night. Cured is located in the 22-acre Pearl Brewery (operating from 1883 to 2001) complex north of downtown. 

Cured is inside a charming, stand-alone building that once housed the administrative offices of the Pearl Brewery.

If you haven’t already figured out what to expect from the name of the restaurant, once inside there’s no question (although it’s worth knowing that they also have wonderful vegetarian options, and you can sit without a view of the curing meat if you wish).

Charcuterie can be ordered in 3 item, 6 item, or 9 item combinations. We opted for 6 items: Apple Jalapeño Pork Rillettes, Smoked Duck Ham, Bresaola, Orange & Pecan Salami, a Salami Diabla, and the cheese of the day. This was likely the best charcuterie board we’ve ever had. The homemade crackers were perfection, and the plate came with several interesting spreads and mustards…a beet mustard, a chimichurri mustard, a kumquat marmalade, some house-made pickles…it was all just perfect and delicious. The apple jalapeño pork rillettes and the salami diabla were probably our favorite things on the board.

Next we tried the beet salad, which was also wonderful — beet, avocado, and citrus with local yogurt and beet cracklins. Oh yeah, and our waiter Mark was THE BEST. He had such good recommendations and he was super fun and friendly and obviously very proud of the food he was serving.

Mark even recommended a bottle of TEXAN rosé, and we went for it. That’s how much we trusted him. (2016 Cinsault/Mourvedre from Lewis Wines in the Hill Country about an hour north of San Antonio.) 

We next shared chicken-fried chicken livers (delicious), crawfish pie (also delicious), and the bison tartare with huitlacoche puree, bourbon, cured farm egg yolk, and brioche (hey guess what? It was delicious too!) These three little plates came out at the same time so I was too distracted and didn’t take any photos. 

We shared two entrees between the three of us (which was too much, but we were on a roll and really wanted to try more stuff): grilled flat iron with mushrooms agrodolce and fries, and a red wattle pork chop with sweet potato puree and capirotada. 

We were so full, but Mark made us order one dessert to share, the Vinegar Pie (with sweet potato puree, oats, blueberries, and fermented barley syrup). It was not too sweet, and super different from anything you expect for dessert, but it totally worked and was great. 

So…next time we’re back in San Antonio, guess where we’re going for dinner?