Food:

San Antonio, Texas’s capital of Tex-Mex and Mexican (and the birthplace of Fritos chips, at that), does not hold itself quite so ritzy as Houston and Dallas. Food is more affordable and restaurants are everywhere along the River Walk, although restaurants on and off Broadway are thought to, in general, be the best in San Antonio.

Tex-Mex and Mexican restaurants are indeed very common, very good, and usually very affordable. You don’t have to pay much for the novelty of having yourself some barbecued goat or lobster tacos, and authentic interior Mexican food as opposed to the far more common (everywhere) American/Mexican hybrid is not hard to find.

Chili is San Antonio’s native dish and that chain restaurant Chili’s Grill and Bar began here and expanded. Other big food types here are “American,” which can vary from tasty staples like burgers and steaks to the unusual . . . like duck nachos and antelope, and Asian (and all-over Asian at that, Thai noodles and Korean cuisine and Japanese sushi). Two more special “genres” . . . German and a rather German-flavored barbecue.

The San Antonio New World Wine and Food Festival is just a way to bring all these together.

Music:

San Antonio is aggressively regional, which isn’t to say you won’t ever hear a top-40 song, or classic rock, or synthpop, or you-name-it. But the city thrives on Texas genres, on blues, conjunto, tejano, swamp, on root rock and country and folk music. North Saint Mary’s is the biggest “strip” for live music and every club may well play something completely different from their neighbors.

More specifically, San Antonio has been called the “Nashville of Tejano music” and hosts the Tejano Music Awards.

No less live, but a little more formal, check out the German choral concerts in Beethoven Maennerchor Halle und Garten (where a good number of the members speak German as their native tongue). Or check out the San Antonio Symphony.