Vida Mia y La Marginal

So, another weekend has gone by, but things are changing for me and Kevin, as far as when we get to indulge in these great restaurants and tell you all about it. Unfortunately, I drew the short straw at work and with my promotion came a new schedule for the time being that I really don’t like...but I like my new job, so I can’t complain too much. I work weekends now, so we still get to go to breakfast, but we’ll have to do lunch on Sunday now, instead of dinner later in the day. Fortunately, I’m only in this situation for four short weeks. Not that I expect anyone to care when I go eat, as long as I’m doing it!

Anyway, enough about my bummer of a schedule, and on to the food! Saturday morning, we started on a bit of a drive over to Stone Oak to eat at Vida Mia. Something to keep in mind about San Antonio, everything is like 20 minutes from where you are. Literally, I feel like all I do is drive when I have to go anywhere. But, we had the most authentic Mexican breakfast I’ve had since I ate one of my grandma’s tamales at Christmas with a fried egg on top. (Because that’s truly what Mexican breakfast is: food from the night before with an egg to make it morning appropriate.) Vida Mia is hidden in this nice shopping center and when you walk in, colors are everywhere. Everyone there is so friendly though! The staff smiles and pays really close attention to what all you'll need. Because we just woke up, Kevin and I were in dire need of coffee...and here's where my one complaint comes in. She brings us coffee and it is literally the temperature of the sun! I couldn't even pick the mug up without removing my finger prints. So we left that for later. While waiting for our food choices to show up, we sampled the chips and salsa they brought us, as well as some of the breakfast pastries. They had empanadas; we tried the pumpkin and dulce de leche. The fillings were great, but the dough was a little dry and a bit too flaky. I had a severe case of pastry dandruff on my clothes after we ate the two we got. We also got two orange muffins and these things were out of this world. It was like biting into an orange made of bread! I even dunked it into the scalding coffee, which made it better. The chips and salsa were really good, with the salsa more what I'm used to with my mom, smooth, not chunky, with a lot of flavor. Before the main course, they bring out fideo soup as well, which is always something I enjoy when I can find it. For those of you who don't know, fideo soup is like noodles and beans and broth and delicious. And it's like the time filler too, because the minute we were done, they brought out the entrees. Kevin got the Chilaquiles, a mixture of rojo sauce, cheese, beans, and fried eggs on top. There was nothing there that did not get eaten on his plate. I had the Molletes, three halves of bolillos (like baquettes but smaller football shaped breads), with beans on the bottom and then different toppings on each one. The first had cheese and chorizo, the second had cheese and bacon, and my favorite one had cheese, peppers, onions and cubes of what looked like asadero cheese. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! I also had some ranchero papas (potatoes) that were so good on top of my food! By the time we finished our plates, someone was going to have to roll both of us to the car. This was the best, and I really mean best, Mexican breakfast I have had in San Antonio!

Best ever! 

Fideo Soup! 

Bottom Line: We ate like kings and with tip, came out under $30 total. It's really worth the drive and a truly great restaurant to enjoy a morning of delicious food. You have to eat here if you're in San Antonio. They also do great lunch food as well.
Vida Mia, 1941 Stone Oak Pkwy, Ste 803. San Antonio, 78256. 210-490-2011. www.vidamiacuisine.com

After breakfast and a few errands I had to go to work, and we weren't back together til almost midnight when I got home. So now our evening meal is our Sunday afternoon meal. Sunday, we went and continued our travels through Hispanic heritage, this time opting for something definitely new to us: Puerto Rican food. There's a small restaurant called La Marginal and it serves a great buffet on Sundays, filled with the staples of Puerto Rican cuisine. When you walk up to the line, the buffet server is like a lost uncle you miss seeing. There's a lot of hellos and friendliness. If you aren't sure how to order, he'll just give you a little of everything to try. You get to choose between red and black beans with seasonings (both were delicious!), and then white or yellow rice to go under the beans. The yellow rice was so good I kept going back just for that. It had small lentils and some sort of seasoning I still can't pinpoint, but loved. Kevin got the white and loved it, but to be honest, I think it was just plain white rice. From there, they give you roasted chicken legs, roast pork, and breaded, sweet batter tilapia. There are also some soups (Didn't try those...the floating corn slices did not entice me), salads (pretty basic stuff, nothing really unique to Puerto Rico, unless they invented the house salad, in which case, I apologize for that oversight) and little polenta patties. As far as the polenta patties go, I wasn't so crazy about them, but it might be because it was just plain polenta made pancake style, with no seasoning. The best part of this whole meal, though, was the giant bowl of fried plantains at the end of the line. It's like a seasoned, deep fried, delicious banana, but somehow better. I could not stop eating them! On the second trip back up, I only got beans and rice and plantains. Because they were just that good. Something I shouldn't forget is how attentive our waiter was. This guy really worked hard to get to our table and refill our drinks. He was also so friendly, commenting with us how interesting it was that our ancestors started with the same basic staples, but came up with such different ideas on how to eat them. As someone who has eaten her fair share of Mexican food made by mom and grandparents, I can tell you the ingredients were there, but the style was something else. At the end there are a few desserts as well (or you can opt to just keep eating plantains); they had flan-style dulce del leche squares and sweet rice. I cannot even begin to start explaining my love for sweet rice. I appreciate any meal that reminds me of how much I love my mom, and this was one of those times. When my sister, Melissa, and I were younger, my mom would make a giant pot of sweet rice. It's like evaporated milk, sugar, cinnamon, rice and vanilla and it is so good! We'd eat it hot after dinner, cold for breakfast, and any other time that I just wanted that flavor in my stomach. It's literally one of my favorite things about my childhood. La Marginal makes their own version, but it's got a bit more vanilla and cinnamon than I'm used to, and less runniness to it. It's more like rice pudding than the consistency that I'm used to, but again, same ingredients, different style. Overall, this was a delicious meal and an interesting way to see a different facet of Hispanic culture.

Not tasty! 

Bottom Line: We were out the door at $20. And we were so full again! Whether you grew up with a Mexican mom like I did or not, you still need to try this and enjoy something that you may not have had before. It's definitely something we will go back for, again and again!

La Marginal, 6714 San Pedro Ave, San Antonio, 78216. 210-824-2544 (where we went) or 2447 Nacogdoches Rd. San Antonio, 78217. 210-804-2242. www.lamarginal.com

It was a good weekend, to say the least. Hopefully this weekend, we'll have more to share and more food choices to show, as my mom and family will be down for a visit over Spring Break. Got a suggestion for us? Send an e-mail or leave a comment! Go eat something good!