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Featured Replies

We go every year and rent this house in the San Antonio neighborhood just to the southwest of Centro. It’s 4 stories with a kitchen on the roof. The kitchen deck is awesome for having coffee and taking meetings and staring off into the city. For some reason I can’t find a link to the house, but it’s at 26 Alameda. We’ve stayed at the Belmond and Rosewood as well- very nice, but not as relaxing as getting your own place.

Lots of great restaurants and bars, etc within town, but there is a place called Mama Mi Campestre that is out in the country that is a great place to kill an afternoon. They have a buffet of Mexican and Italian dishes and it’s all outdoor. They have goats and all sorts of animals just hanging out. They have a brewery too so you can try all their beers.

Fabrica La Aurora is a cool place to kill and afternoon as well. We have several paintings here in Austin that we bought there at various galleries.

It’s such a peaceful town.  
 

Might also hit up City Market. Grocery store that is as nice or nicer than anything we have here, but relatively inexpensive. I made dinner for 6 adults and a bunch of kids and went there to get steak, veggies, cheese, bread, wine etc. and I was out like $250 total. They had USDA prime steaks but I bought the Mexican version for less than half the price. Same cut, same marbling, everything. 

First time I went to SMA I was reluctant because I thought it would be a bunch of blue hair Americans. They exist, but vast majority are Mexicans and there is plenty of opportunity to party if you want to. 

Here are some pics of the house we rent. There is a dumb waiter that allows you to send dishes back and forth between the kitchens. Simple things like that entertain me. 

 

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17 hours ago, Gucci_Suit said:

 

Here are some pics of the house we rent. There is a dumb waiter that allows you to send dishes back and forth between the kitchens. Simple things like that entertain me. 

 

Much like the Oxford comma, spaces can really change the interpretation of a sentence.

Dude is out there just making a living, and fucking tourists are calling him dumb.

22 minutes ago, Wiler77 said:

Much like the Oxford comma, spaces can really change the interpretation of a sentence.

Dude is out there just making a living, and fucking tourists are calling him dumb.

Yeah I noticed that a bit too late to edit. Probably had a dumb waiter at some point too. 

Edited by Gucci_Suit

49 minutes ago, troph said:

Who is the lovely woman on the window sill ?

My wife runs a small jewelry line. So when we travel, we sometimes try to hire a model and photog to try to get some shots in different places. Her name is Kary and she’s amazing- so pretty inside and out. https://www.instagram.com/kary.dei?igsh=cnpoZngwaXZ1ODRk
 

Check out some of the finished photos. 

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On 2/12/2025 at 10:17 PM, Gucci_Suit said:

My wife runs a small jewelry line. So when we travel, we sometimes try to hire a model and photog to try to get some shots in different places. Her name is Kary and she’s amazing- so pretty inside and out. https://www.instagram.com/kary.dei?igsh=cnpoZngwaXZ1ODRk
 

Check out some of the finished photos. 

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madera

  • 4 months later...

We made it… it’s raining but it’s lovely. 
 

 

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we are in San Antonio too. Got my home office set up from Office Depot and we stocked up at city market.

enjoyed a social food group lunch at a Peruvian restaurant and met some lovely people. Food was a 7 so that was great.  We have 2-3 more of these social food gatherings on our calendar. Met a chef will take tapas class with him. 

tomorrow we will get the boys set up with a bike/moped, they have some Spanish informal immersion not really classes 2x a week starting tomorrow. 

boys and I will hit the gym tomorrow afternoon. 

setting up padel, pickleball and tennis early this week too. 

next Saturday morning doing an art walk.

we have a third floor roof top I’ll snap some pics during morning coffee tomorrow…

Edited by troph

4 minutes ago, troph said:

We made it… it’s raining but it’s lovely. 
 

 

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That looks like a sweet villa.

7 minutes ago, royiv said:

That looks like a sweet villa.

It’s fucking dope. 3 large bedrooms with private baths. Base for 3 weeks and I’m working 10-5pm ATX time (9-4pm here) so the pad has to be on the mark. 

second floor balcony during the rain… (there’s a floor higher than this).

Edited by troph

Spent the morning on Monday scoping out the meat and produce markets, tortillas too. Found a gym near us and signed up for a month membership, decent pizza joint down the street. Going to find a massage therapist tomorrow - I have one I think.

wifey is playing pickleball tomorrow, she’s found a tennis hook up (I’m taking a few weeks off to heal tennis specific ailments). Clay courts so that’s fun and good on our joints.

tonight we walked from our neighborhood to el centro -  about a mile - and saw a classical guitarist, about 20 attendees, gringos and Mexicans. He’s highly touted and he was fantastic. Met up with the wife who was at Berlin Bar & Bistro talking up a Mississippi gay man about rainbow culture here. I think the pride parade is our last weekend here. Going to try and make a drag bingo too. 

a few pics from today…

 

 

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On 2/11/2025 at 11:51 AM, Gucci_Suit said:

Fabrica La Aurora is a cool place to kill and afternoon as well.

Seconded

@troph we just went over Mother’s Day to do a clay tile factory tour, among other things.  
 

Best breakfast was at Rustica, and best dinner was at Tostevere.  
 

Quince was very disappointing, basically it’s the Cheesecake Factory menu on a really nice patio.  I’d probably get a drink there to check the box, then go eat somewhere else.  

I nixed quince last night on the theory that places with great views rely on the view - not the food - to sell.  Glad to hear I wasn’t wrong. 

we have another ex pat dinner party tonight not sure where but we will check out Tostevere before we leave. 

more work 930-4 for me, kids Spanish immersion today. 

Crazy enough there’s a quince ‘sister location’ in Fort Worth, it’s held on for a few yrs in a not great location. Been happy with meals the two times I’ve gone. 

9 minutes ago, bluto said:

Crazy enough there’s a quince ‘sister location’ in Fort Worth, it’s held on for a few yrs in a not great location. Been happy with meals the two times I’ve gone. 

There's one in Austin, too.  It's a restaurant that serves sushi, tacos, and hamburgers, so totally random menu with American prices.  

1 hour ago, troph said:

we have another ex pat dinner party tonight not sure where but we will check out Tostevere before we leave. 

We had the beet tostada, the octopus, and several smoky mezcals, all were great.  

I didn't mention the Rosewood because that's kind of a no brainer, but the rooftop restaurant has better views than Quince and a better menu (both are full of gringos, as might be expected).  

So I didn't love this place because it was vegetarian (in Mexico?  the home of delicious carnitas!??!?!?), but the rest of our group really liked Don Taco Tequila.  

Atrio’s rooftop view at the Parrocchia is better than Quince and the food is outstanding.

  • 3 weeks later...

Best dinner so far, not even close… Smokey mezcals were so good, basil drink was fun too. Octopus, corn truffle, cauliflower and short rib tostadas wow.

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Hanks New Orleans happy hour / taco Tuesday is a happening gringo spot. Food was meh but the atmosphere was hopping.

 

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zumo roof top was great, views great didn’t snap a pic of the Parroquia not sure why, no food pics either. The guac with pork belly was great, I had the short rib sopes very good. 

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Edited by troph

We also ended up finding our gym and tennis community. Courts are pure Mexico but so is the hospitality, we are already friends with the owners.

 

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Pics from a street art walk in the Guadalupe neighborhood.  The pistachio pastry roll at Bakery Sucre was so good!

 

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Edited by troph

Rosewood view food was ok but the kids wanted to go back for a Fourth of July buffet and it was surprisingly good. 

 

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Edited by troph

Belmond roof top tonight, a speakeasy actually. You go to the hotel ask for the roof top they act like they can’t help you then they walk you two blocks down and unlock a door on the street and through a hotel garden and to the roof. 

food was great, fried pork dumplings, tuna tartare, hot wings lol, mushrooms with potatoes, avocado puree, corn puree and chipotle mayo, Peruvian chocolate cake, and a to DIE FOR Mexican Can Franc.

 

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Went to the pride parade - go to LGBTQ thread in the CR for the drag queens blowing me kisses…

then to the blue bar at the belmond for drinks and snacks and fantastic Latin trio.

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Edited by troph

One thing not well discussed is the quality of Mexican wine. Much like Greece, they keep the wines in country. Cuna de Tierra is an absolutely fantastic winery, enjoying Dos Buhos as well with a day in the countryside after enjoying Mexican wines the last few weeks in the restaurants.  The Malbec below beat out Spanish wines in a Spanish wine festival. The Nebbiolo below was out of this world. We’ve been blown away at how good their wines are.
 

 

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Edited by troph

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