San Antonio Current — March 24, 2021

MAR. 24 - APR. 6, 2021

sacurrent.com | March 24 – April 6, 2021 | CURRENT

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CURRENT | March 24 – April 6, 2021 | sacurrent.com

in this issue San Antonio Current

Issue 21-06 /// March 24 - April 6, 2021

expansion plans

Publisher: Michael Wagner Editor-in-Chief: Sanford Nowlin

West Side Indulgence

Editorial

Digital Content Editor: Kelly Merka Nelson Contributing Arts Editor: Bryan Rindfuss Food and Nightlife Writer: Nina Rangel Contributors: Ron Bechtol, Chris Conde, Daniel Conrad, Jade Esteban Estrada, Dan R. Goddard, Lance Higdon, Steven G. Kellman, Hannah Lorence, Kiko Martinez, M. Solis, Gary Sweeney, Lea Thompson, Abe Asher Editorial Interns: Emily DiTomasso, Brianna Espinoza, Katie Hennessey, Cristela Jones, Jay Moreno, Dana Nichols, Emily Schmalstieg, Jada Teague

There’s more than just tortillas to sample at San Antonio Colonial Tortilla Factory

Hot Dish

25 Music

Advertising

Advertising Director: Michael Wagner

Remembering Ram

Marketing and Events

Marketing and Events Director: Cassandra Yardeni Events Manager: Chelsea Bourque Sales & Event Coordinator: Sky Hawkes Marketing Interns: Julia Bentley

At urging of San Antonio musician, Velvet Taco adding memorials from local artists at former Tacoland site

Creative Services

Graphic Designer: Samantha Serna Production Interns: Pedro Macias, Michelle Moreno

Music Listings

Circulation

Circulation Manager: Justin Giles

Euclid Media Group

Chief Executive Officer: Andrew Zelman Chief Operating Officers: Chris Keating, Michael Wagner VP of Digital Services: Stacy Volhein Digital Operations Coordinator: Jaime Monzon Senior Marketing and Events Director: Cassandra Yardeni www.euclidmediagroup.com National Advertising: Voice Media Group (888) 278-9866, vmgadvertising.com San Antonio Current 915 Dallas San Antonio, Texas 78215 sacurrent.com Editorial: (210) 227-0044 / Fax - (210) 227-7755 Display Advertising: (210) 227-0044 Fax: (210) 227-7733 Classified: (210) 227-CLAS / Fax - (210) 227-7733 The San Antonio Current is published by Euclid Media Group Verified Audit Member San Antonio Distribution – The Current is available free of charge, limited to one copy per reader.

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Sanford Nowlin

10 Feature

Lost in Lockup

Last year, prisoners in Bexar County and across Texas died in record numbers

06 News

The Opener News in Brief

Glitter Political

Councilwoman Jada AndrewsSullivan says there’s still more work to do for District 2

CityScrapes

Without independent oversight, San Antonio’s city government will keep making the same mistakes

13 Calendar Calendar Picks

14 Arts

Hiking Through History

A trek through the Medina River Valley is a journey into San Antonio’s rich past

Jeans Genie

Marielle La Rue started her niche denim line The Indigo Prophet to fulfill a wish for pants that fit her body type

MAR. 24 - APR. 6, 2021

Master Blaster

Meet St. Mary’s Kaitlin Teniente: the first female head coach for a college esports program in Texas

19 Screens Sweet Role

Actress and SA native Katie Leclerc lands cameo on Netflix children’s show Waffles + Mochi

All Work, All Play

Puppeteer and Brownsville native Michelle Zamora lends a hand, and her voice, to Netflix series

21 Food

Pollo Powered

Talking to Lucas Bradbury of Project Pollo about his vegan chain’s meaty

On the Cover: Samantha Serna designed this week’s cover for a story looking at prison and jail deaths in Texas.

In-custody fatalities hit a record of 974 last year.

M

That Rocks/That Sucks

H

A new Anti-Defamation League report found that the Texas-based group Patriot Front was responsible for 80% of all white supremacist propaganda in the United States last year. Patriot Front, headquartered in Dallas, was behind 4,105 of 5,125 cases in 2020. Overall, white supremacist propaganda cases nearly doubled in 2020, according to the ADL, and the federal officials reported that hate crimes rose to their highest level in more than a decade.

H

State Rep. Mayes Middleton, R–Wallisville, has introduced a bill to abolish the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission.

He said the agency has faced allegations of corruption and harassment during the pandemic and “did not fulfill its mission to help small businesses.” If passed, Middleton’s bill would transfer TABC’s responsibilities to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.

H

A nationally recognized mural celebrating Spurs assistant coach Becky Hammon, the first woman to serve as head coach in an NBA game, has been painted over. The mural, created by the artist Sebastien “Mr. D1987” Boileau, was removed after the building’s tenants gave up their lease. The artwork was up for less than six months.

YouTube Capture / Friendly Athiest

ASSCLOWN ALERT San Antonio’s newest distillery is open for the business. Devils River welcomed the public into its expansive downtown space last Wednesday. A grand-opening celebration of the speakeasy-style venue is planned for April 22. The owners also have future plans for a rooftop bar overlooking Houston Street. — Abe Asher

YOU SAID IT!

“I went from being on a very hot seat to having one of the safest jobs in Texas.”

— Arthur D’Andrea,

former Public Utility Commission chairman on a recording of a call with investors obtained by Texas Monthly. Gov. Greg Abbott subsequently asked D’Andrea to resign.

6

CURRENT | March 24 – April 6, 2021 | sacurrent.com

Pastor John Hagee Assclown Alert is a column of opinion, analysis and snark.

After preaching last November that Jesus was the “true vaccine” that would protect believers against the deadly scourge of COVID-19, it now appears San Antonio megachurch Pastor John Hagee also has a backup plan.

A spokesman for Hagee Ministries last week told ABC News that the Cornerstone Church patriarch has been medically vaccinated against the coronavirus. “Pastor Hagee believes in both the power of prayer and modern medicine,” a Hagee spokesman told ABC. “These are not mutually exclusive.”

In another striking failure of Texas’ energy system during last month’s winter storm, the Texas Tribune last week reported that large utilities such as Oncor didn’t know which of their natural gas facilities were critical infrastructure because those operations didn’t fill paperwork to establish that designation. That failure contributed to a natural gas shortage that accounted for some 20% of the total power outages during the storm.

The Louis Tussaud’s Waxworks in Alamo Plaza had a problem with their Donald Trump figure that ultimately led to its removal: people kept punching it. The dummy was assailed and scratched so many times that it sustained significant damage and was placed in storage.

While it’s true that prayer and medicine aren’t mutually exclusive, that certainly wasn’t the message Hagee was sharing with his flock last fall. After contracting COVID-19, the 80-year-old pastor seemed to imply that Jesus’ blessing was all it took to beat the pandemic.

“I bring under the authority of Jesus Christ every sickness and every disease, especially the COVID thing that’s sweeping the nation,” he pronounced during his first sermon back from a 15-day hospital stay. “We have a vaccine. The name is Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. Let Him sweep through this country and heal the righteous who dare to ask for it.”

One only needed to tune in Cornerstone’s Sunday broadcasts to see how Pastor Assclown’s followers read that message. Largely unmasked, they sat crowded together in the pews as a huge choir belted out praise songs. — Sanford Nowlin

San Antonio restaurateur Lisa Wong has won permission to build a new location of her Mexican Instagram / Ally_caudillo restaurant Rosario’s in Southtown. The Historic and Design Review Commission unanimously approved Wong’s proposal despite furious pushback from neighboring restaurateur Peter Selig and supporters, who argued that the restaurant’s planned 20-foot wall would render the patio of his Maverick Brasserie unusable. — Abe Asher

Councilwoman Jada Andrews-Sullivan says there’s still more work to do for District 2

BY JADE ESTEBAN ESTRADA

I

t’s a sunny Tuesday afternoon as Jada Andrews-Sullivan waves to me through my computer screen. She’s wearing glasses, an eye-catching floral blouse and the friendly smile that helped boost her political success as the District 2 representative on San Antonio City Council.

Andrews-Sullivan’s staying power will be put to the test as she vies win a second term.

She’s facing off with 11 diverse challengers on the May 1 ballot.

“We’re excited about this campaign season, even though it’s in the midst of a pandemic,” she says from her office. “[We want] to let our community know we’re still here [and] we’re here to do the work.”

Andrews-Sullivan, 45, says she wasn’t surprised when she saw her former communications director and most competitive opponent, Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, on the crowded ticket.

“Honestly, Jade, I wasn’t surprised to see anyone who’s running for the District 2 seat,” she says. “People can look at it as a negative, but for me it’s a positive to see people who are energized about the state of the district.”

I first interviewed Andrews-Sullivan a week before the 2019 election at the Denver Heights eatery Mittman Fine Foods. It was there, under a framed photograph of former Mayor Ivy Taylor, where she told me about her upbringing, military experience and the relationship she has with her East Side neighborhood. After a nail-biting runoff, she ultimately prevailed over her opponent, former Councilman Keith Toney.

She’s hoping to repeat that win on Election Day. Sans the nail-biting part, of course.

That victory seems like a long time ago, considering the strain COVID-19 and the ensuing economic crisis has put on local government. Given those circumstances, I ask her whether being on council is everything that she’d expected it to be.

“Yes, it is,” she says. “[But] it has been a humbling experience. It has been a daily trying of our spirit, of our faith, but it’s everything you want it to be when you’re about

news

GLITTER POLICITAL

Jade Esteban Estrada

helping people, so I’m lovin’ it.”

When COVID hit, Andrews-Sullivan was in the middle of organizing a spring break camp for young people.

“It was kind of an ‘Oh, gosh! What do we do with our youth?’” she recalls thinking.

At that point, it had yet to dawn on some council members they would soon be fighting to keep people in their homes, making sure residents had food to eat and fielding concerns over whether students would be returning to school.

The following weeks and months impelled council to do something many had never been pressed to do during their lifetimes, “truly help other people’s lives stay intact,” Andrews-Sullivan says.

I ask her what the most demanding public policy aspect of the pandemic has been.

“I would say the most challenging aspect of dealing with COVID is giving people everything they really need to be sustainable,” she says. “How do we make the dollar that’s not there reach the person that needs it the most?”

The crisis has forced council to get creative about where it finds funding, she adds.

“We had to redirect how we were going to do our budget this year. We tapped more into our tourist funding that is normally used for development,” Andrews-Sullivan says. “And you’re looking at exactly how you make the emergency rental assistance stretch for a community that was already looking at a 60% poverty rate, which was already No. 1 in the country for being a poverty-stricken city.”

Disseminating information has also been difficult given District 2’s digital divide.

“How do we get to those that do not have access to the internet, don’t have a cell phone, don’t have a computer, that are just maybe hearing [information] on the radio or pass-

ing by a TV?” she asks.

To that end, Andrews-Sullivan maintains that one of the biggest accomplishments of her term was educating residents on how to advocate for the help they need and the changes they want to see. Facetime is particularly important on the East Side. It’s been eight years since a District 2 incumbent has been reelected — a fact of life that’s made it hard to ensure the success of long-term projects.

After a string of East Side shootings in January, Andrews-Sullivan met with both the city manager and the police chief. In the aftermath of that violence, she feels it’s vital to address mental health issues in the district.

“You have seen continuously, over and over again, from the ’90s up until today, death, crime, just gunshots,” she says, slowly shaking her head. “That is a traumatic mindset that we’re living in, and some people have become complacent in it, and some people are really just tired of it.”

Even with the work she puts in, Andrews-Sullivan wonders if she’s it’s enough.

“What keeps me up at night is wondering, ‘Are we getting enough to the people that need it? Are we making ourselves available enough to the people that need us?’”

A week later, when I meet Andrews-Sullivan for a photo shoot at the San Antonio Botanical Garden, she credits her mother for inspiring her to nurture the community she serves.

“My mom is my strongest advocate,” she says. “[She] really led me to be the woman I am today. She’s helped me understand that being a mother is hard, but having [that] source of strength behind you? You soar. You just go places that you never even imagined going because [mothers] speak that into your life.”

Find more news coverage every day at sacurrent.com

SCOOTER RIDING TIPS

Here are some quick tips you need to know before you hop on and ride away: • Riding on sidewalks is prohibited • Must be 16+ • Only 1 person per scooter/bike

• Always yield to pedestrians • Riding in parks and plazas is prohibited (this includes the River Walk) • Park scooters/bikes neatly and out of walkways

For more info visit: www.sanantonio.gov/scooters 8

CURRENT | March 24 – April 6, 2021 | sacurrent.com

REPORTING

Please report any parking violations or damaged vehicles to 311 or through the 311 app.

news CITYSCRAPES

Without independent oversight, San Antonio’s city government will keep making the same mistakes

BY HEYWOOD SANDERS Editor’s Note: The following is CityScrapes, a column of opinion and analysis.

S

an Antonio, we have an accountability problem.

There are, of course, all the questions about February’s Great Freeze and the response by the city government, SAWS and CPS Energy: questions about preparedness, public information, decision making, policies and investment choices that demand real answers. But all too often in the business of this city, deals get done, programs and policies enacted, money spent and then...

No one really asks whether we got what was promised or whether the deals made sense.

Take the case of the city’s investment in InCube Labs. Back in June 2010, then-city manager Sheryl Sculley touted a new approach to economic development, with the city government, through the nonprofit San Antonio Economic Development Corp., actually investing public dollars in the bioscience business.

The city kicked in $6 million, together with another $2 million from the county and more moneys from the Texas Research and Technology Foundation, UTSA and UT Health San Antonio. With those funds, InCube chief Mir Imran was supposed to establish a bioscience incubator here.

At the time, Sculley said InCube would employ at least 50 people with annual salaries in excess of $50,000 in the next five years, and within 10 years, the enterprise would produce multiple new companies creating another 400 or so new jobs.

The promise was that the public investment could propel San Antonio into the major leagues of the biosciences industry.

“I think we’ve got to move heaven and earth to make this work. … We missed out on the technology wave,” the Business Journal’s Scott Bailey quoted former Mayor Henry Cisneros as saying. “When you look at the opportunities ahead for San Antonio, the greatest potential is in the biosciences.”

But after five years, the performance appeared to fall a bit short. By June 2015, InCube had produced just eight — yes, eight — full-time jobs and hadn’t met the promise to raise $15 million in non-public

Google Street View

funding. So, what did the mayor and city council do?

They simply kicked the proverbial can down the road, extending the grant agreement and the promised job creation by another five years to August 2020.

So here we are in March 2021, a few months past the agreement deadline. And how has InCube actually performed this time? Here’s the formal response from the Economic Development Department’s spokesperson Caitlin Cowart: “Since [2010], InCube Labs has maintained and operated the facility located on Network Boulevard ... and has raised almost $25 million in private funding which in part has gone into the local economy of San Antonio through sourcing of goods and services from San Antonio-based suppliers and clinical trials performed locally, in addition to the salaries and benefits paid to employees and contractors. Additionally, InCube has created 44 jobs and 5 companies. InCube remains committed to continuing its strong presence in San Antonio.”

Cowart also mentioned InCube “transitioning a number of employees from full-time to part-time to avoid layoffs.”

It certainly looks like InCube has failed to deliver once again. But you’d have a hard time finding City Hall actually documenting and reporting that, let alone asking exactly how InCube has performed, why it hasn’t been scrutinized since last summer and what lessons we need to learn.

That’s what accountability is all about.

Need another example? Using the city’s official listing of economic development agreements, take a look at the December 2017 deal it cut with USAA to put new jobs downtown. Under the column for “Total

Jobs Required” it shows 1,500 — the new positions USAA was supposed to deliver to receive its incentives.

The “Total Actual Jobs” column, however, shows 19,360. Uhhh, is that the new jobs USAA actually produced? Not likely. It appears to be the total of all USAA jobs in San Antonio.

So, did the deal with USAA deliver? We simply don’t know.

For at least a time, the city government appeared to take the issue of accountability seriously, documenting how deals, contracts and programs actually performed. In 2001, Mayor Ed Garza pressed for a city charter change establishing the position of independent City Internal Auditor.

The independent part was crucial — the new auditor would be chosen by and report to the city council, not the city manager. The auditor was thus in a position to ask the necessary questions about how the city was actually spending our money and performing.

And our first city auditor, Pat Major, did just that.

But the auditor’s job changed with the arrival of Sculley as city manager, and Major departed.

Today, it’s even more imperative that we have a truly independent analyst, our own government accountability office, in a position to ask substantial questions and tell the council and public how the city’s deals and programs are actually performing — or not.

As the failures during last month’s winter storm suggest, the stakes for a lack of accountability can involve more than dollars and cents. They can involve life and death.

Heywood Sanders is a professor of public policy at the University of Texas at San Antonio. sacurrent.com | March 24 – April 6, 2021 | CURRENT

9

news

Lost in Lockup

Last year, prisoners in Bexar County and across Texas died in record numbers

BY SANFORD NOWLIN

O

n February 15 of last year, Claudine Marie Parisi, a 49-year-old woman jailed in Bexar County on a criminal trespass charge, died while being treated for the effects of a meth overdose.

The following day, another prisoner in the county lockup, Robert Lee Edwards, 64, succumbed to heart disease, diabetes and other chronic conditions while being held on a minor theft charge.

Less than three weeks later, the Bexar County Jail had another death on its hands. Deputies discovered that Joel James Sambrano, 20, a suspect in a deadly home invasion, had hung himself. Deputies cut him down, but he perished an hour later.

That swift string of fatalities accounted for just three of the 18 deaths in custody recorded last year by the Bexar County Sheriff’s Department — a record high and a jump from the 12 reported in 2019 and 10 reported in 2018.

And Bexar wasn’t alone in tallying record numbers of deaths in custody during 2020. Other county lockups and the Texas prison system experienced significant spikes in fatalities last year, according to an analysis of state filings by the nonprofit group Texas Justice Initiative.

Collectively, prisons and jails in the Lone Star State reported 974 in-custody deaths last year, up from 721 in 2019. In the 16 years included in TJI’s analysis, 2020 marked the first time that number had ever exceeded 800.

Experts say last year’s spike represents a failure of the most basic charge placed before prison and jail operators: ensuring the safety of people in their custody. While COVID-19 contributed to the overall number of 2020 fatalities, some facilities also saw significant upward swings in suicides and deaths by natural causes.

“You need to recognize that these numbers are huge; they’re astronomical,” said Michele Deitch, a distinguished UT-Austin law school lecturer who specializes in jail and prison oversight issues. “They absolutely demand the attention of lawmakers. They demand a legislative hearing, and they demand action to make sure we don’t see this again.”

Although Texas’ prisons and jails operate under some shared standards, the number of deaths in custody at each is to some degree determined by policy decisions at the local level, meaning the data will likely be scrutinized for months — perhaps years — to come, TJI Executive Director Eva Ruth Moravec said.

“While these are small numbers at the individual jail level, the numbers represent lives,” Moravec said.

“Decisions made at the local level may have had a significant impact on those individuals whose deaths

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CURRENT | March 24 – April 6, 2021 | sacurrent.com

Courtesy Photo / Bexar County Sheriff’s Office

we’re talking about.”

The Texas Justice Initiative’s data goes back to 2015, the first year the Texas Commission on Jail Standards began collecting data with its current form. Moravec said the prior data was too spotty to be reliable for year-to-year and facility-to-facility comparisons.

Prison during the pandemic The pandemic was the most significant contributor to deaths in the Texas prison system last year, totalling 265 fatalities and appearing to account for the 253-death jump reported by facilities run by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

“The COVID pandemic is the greatest challenge faced by TDCJ systemwide in the agency’s history,” the agency’s Director of Communications Jeremy Desel said in an emailed statement.

“Taking that into account in custody deaths have been essentially flat with a handful of exceptions for

A deputy at the Bexar County Jail checks in on inmates using a new digital system meant to improve accountability.

M

over a decade,” he said, adding that TDCJ will continue to provide the “highest level of care” to those under its supervision.

However, a research report on the spread of COVID-19 in Texas prisons conducted by Deitch and the LBJ School found that despite TDCJ’s pledge of highest-level care, state facilities were unable to rein in the spread last year, resulting in a “devastating human toll.”

Texas started the pandemic with one of the highest numbers of COVID-related prison deaths in the country, according to that analysis. But of the four states with the highest prison death counts early in the crisis, Texas was the only one that failed to substantially curb its number of coronavirus-related fatalities.

Further, Deitch said in an interview that the restrictions imposed on Texas prisoners during the health crisis, including extended lockdowns and a lack of visitations, likely fed into to stress and mental health breakdowns that ultimately contributed to suicides and deaths among already-vulnerable prisoners, including elderly ones.

“There was nothing inevitable about reporting this many deaths,” she said.

“We knew from the beginning of the pandemic that COVID would spread like wildfire in this environment and that the restrictions were going to be really hard on the people who were going to go through them.”

Curbed by the counties Even though the COVID crisis explains much of the rise in fatalities in Texas prisons, it doesn’t account for the higher numbers of deaths at county lockups, experts argue.

For example, just two prisoners died as a result of contracting the coronavirus in Bexar County Jail, according to separate TJI data. Statewide, just 29 county jail inmates died of COVID-related causes.

Brandon Wood, executive director of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, said jails also supplied masks, increased sanitation and ensured they had enough negative-pressure cells to prevent air from quarantined areas from circulating back into other

parts of the lockup. His agency, which oversees the state’s county lockups, estimates the number of COVID-related deaths at those facilities at 24.

“Twenty-four out of a population of 65,000 is, I believe, below what anybody would have expected,” Wood said.

“It’s a challenging environment, even in a non-pandemic time.”

Ultimately, he cautioned, it could take several years of sifting through the data before researchers fully understand why Texas tallied its historic spike in non-COVID jail deaths.

Busted in Bexar County In Bexar County’s case, suicides accounted for the largest share of jail deaths last year — 33% of the total, according to TJI’s numbers. In 2019, they represented 42% of the total.

Over recent years, reform groups including the Texas Organizing Project have called on Bexar County to cite and release more people arrested for minor crimes or allow them to leave on their own recognizance. Suicides, they argue, are an inevitability when people with mental health or substance abuse problems languish in cells, unable to make bail.

While Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar, County Judge Nelson Wolff and DA Joe Gonzales have all called for bail reform, they have yet to codify such a move, said Laquita Garcia, a statewide policy coordinator for TOP. She points

Deaths in Custody Bexar County Sheriff's Office

SOURCE: Texas Justice Initiative

to the release of people picked up on nonviolent offenses during the pandemic as evidence that the county can make those efforts permanent without affecting public safety.

“As we know, jails are not mental health facilities,” Garcia said. “We should not continue to use incarceration as a solution to mental illness, drug addiction and homelessness.”

Salazar said his office strove to reduce the jail population during the beginning of the pandemic, cutting it from 3,800 to 2,900. But that effort was thwarted by an order from Gov. Greg Abbott last spring limiting the types of prisoners that could be released without bond.

After a 2019 rise in deaths, Salazar implemented a four-deputy team to deal with inmate mental health issues, instituted 24/7 in-jail suicide hotline and installed a high-tech system requiring deputies to log in at each cell door during prisoner checks.

He said he agrees with TOP that jail isn’t the place for people with dependancy or mental-health issues.

“We’re not going to let Hannibal Lecter walk out the door, but if they’re a low-level offender, get them out of here,” he said.

Not a blip Experts caution that 2020 shouldn’t be seen as an anomaly — a blip that can be explained away by COVID and cir-

cumstances beyond officials’ control.

Even after the pandemic passes, some of the factors that likely contributed to the spike will remain: an aging prison population and the arrest of people who should be in mental health facilities instead of cells.

UT’s Deitch said the numbers should give Texas policymakers reason to reevaluate jails and prisons from the ground up.

“It’s not because of any one factor,” she said. “It’s about who we’re locking up, how long we’re locking them up, why we’re locking them up and how they’re housed.”

To be sure, the deaths continue.

Texas jails and prisons have already reported 152 prisoner fatalities so far in 2021, according to TJI’s analysis.

Reports are still trickling in from the reporting facilities, making it too early to tell whether the state is on a similar trajectory of custodial deaths this year, Moravec said.

Just last week, another name was added to the list: Marvin David Scott III. After a marijuana arrest, Scott — a 26-year-old schizophrenic man — died while being forcibly restrained by seven officers in Collin County Jail, pepper-sprayed and placed under a spit hood.

Scott’s family has called for more transparency in the case, pointing out that they weren’t even notified of a press conference called by county officials to discuss the death.

Deaths in Custody Texas Prisons and Jails

SOURCE: Texas Justice Initiative

sacurrent.com | March 24 – April 6, 2021 | CURRENT

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CURRENT | March 24 – April 6, 2021 | sacurrent.com

THURSDAY-FRIDAY: 10AM-4PM SATURDAY: 10AM-6PM SUNDAY: 10AM-4PM CLOSED MONDAY-WEDNESDAY

514 W. Commerce St.

MarketSquareSA.com

calendar

WED | 03.24

will debut a special concert filmed at San Antonio’s Spanish

deceased dad again for one day. Glory Road, which is being

Governor’s Mansion on its website and Facebook. Themed

screened for the second time at garden this spring, tells the

around the music of Spain, the program includes works that

story of college basketball star Don Haskins, who guided

span from the 1700s to the present. On Sunday, Agarita will

the first all-Black starting line-up to the NCAA national

take its Humble Hall to Jefferson Bodega and Beautify San

championship. These films will be screened on the lawn

Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers tip off a two-

Antonio Park for two outdoor concerts featuring compos-

where guests can get cozy with blankets or lawn chairs.

game stint against the Spurs on the eve of the NBA trade

ers from Johann Sebastian Bach to the Alamo City’s Aaron

The first movie will start after the sun sets around 6:45 p.m.

deadline. The former Spur recently expressed concerns

Prado. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own chairs

$13.50-$20, 6-11 p.m. Saturday, March 27, San Antonio Botanical

about his current team’s continuity emphasizing, “it’s all

and blankets to comfortably enjoy the socially distanced

Garden, 555 Funston Place, (210) 536-1400, sabot.org. — JT

about consistency, from teams to players to coaches. That’s

performances. Free, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Facebook and agarita.

what makes a team great, players great, coaches great. A

org, 1 p.m. Sunday, Jef-

consistency of being, wanting to win, and doing pretty much

ferson Bodega, 1005

the same habits of winning.” After starting the season with

Donaldson Ave., 5:30

a 21-8, the Clippers have cooled significantly, yet remain an

p.m. Sunday, Beautify

elite Western Conference opponent. When the two teams

San Antonio Park, 801

clashed in Los Angeles earlier this season, Dejounte Murray

S. Main Ave.,

and Patty Mills combined for 48 points in a 116-113 win for

agarita.org. — KMN

SPORTS

SPURS VS. CLIPPERS

SAT | 03.27 SUN | 03.28 SPECIAL EVEN T

MONARCH FEST

the Spurs. Keldon Johnson, who was drafted by the Spurs with the protected first-round draft pick acquired in Leonard’s trade to Toronto, led both teams on the boards with 11 rebounds. Johnson’s ascendance as a starter and tremendous upside has been a gamechanger for San Antonio in Leonard’s absence. $29-$625, 7:30 p.m., AT&T Center, One AT&T Center, (210) 444-5000, attcenter.com, Fox Sports Southwest.

— M. Solis

THU | 03.25 ART

SPRING 2021 INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS-IN-RESIDENCE VIRTUAL OPENING

Courtesy Photo / Agarita

WED | 03.24 WED | 03.31 FILM

Locals can ring in spring by celebrating monarchs, milkweed and migration at the 2021 Monarch Fest. The San

Antonio Zoo is showcasing all things monarch by giving

visitors free native milkweed and nectar plant seeds, as well as the chance to partake in entertaining games and crafts while educating guests on how they are able to help con-

serve monarch butterflies. San Antonio was named the first

FOODIE FILM FEST

Monarch Champion City by the National Wildlife Federation

Slab Cinema’s Foodie Film Fest is just what it sounds like.

in 2017 for its commitment to the species after adopting 24

Presented in partnership with Southtown’s The Good Kind

recommendations from the NWF. The weekend-long event is

restaurant and bar, the Foodie Film Fest showcases the di-

included with standard admission to the zoo. $25.99-$29.99,

versity of various countries and languages, with screenings

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on Wednesdays through the end of April. March 24’s film,

St. Mary’s St., (210) 743-7184, sazoo.org. — JT

Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox, is about a young wife trying to capture her husband’s attention by cooking appetizing

Artpace’s International Artists-in-Residence program con-

lunches for him. However, due to a mix-up, her lunchboxes

tinues with its Spring 2021 cohort, selected by guest curator

get delivered to a widower nearing retirement. After win-

Gilbert Vicario (Phoenix, Arizona). This spring’s residents

ning the Critics Week Viewers Choice Award, the film was

are Nazafarin Lotfi (Tehran, Iran/Tuscon, Arizona), Adrian

also nominated in 2015 for the Best Film Not in the English

Aguilera (Austin, Texas/Monterrey, Mexico) and Angel

Language category by the British Academy Film Awards.

Nevarez and Valerie Tevere (Brooklyn, New York). During

The Foodie Film Fest closes out the month with Tampopo

the virtual opening, the artists will give a walk-through of

on March 31. The 1985 Japanese comedy was written and

each of their exhibitions. Both multimedia artists, Lotfi’s

directed by Juzo Itami, and follows a truck driver who finds a

work “combines drawing, painting and sculpture to create

family-run noodle shop and decides to help their up-and-

transitory spaces, which unfold between dimensions, often

coming business in a story highlighting the relationship

contradicting themselves,” and Aguilar “[works] with a

between love and

SPURS VS. HAWKS

variety of mediums that include sculpture, text-based work,

food. $8-$32, 8

In an NBA currently thriving on the play of talented young

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Southtown, 1127 S. St.

All-Star Trae Young continues to forge his own path in Atlan-

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Mary’s St., (210) 212-

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artpace.org. — Kelly Merka Nelson

FILM

MOVIES BY MOONLIGHT IN THE GARDEN: ONWARD AND GLORY ROAD

FRI | 03.26 SUN | 03.28

SPORTS

the league. Injuries have limited Young’s supporting cast this season, but with De’Andre Hunter and Kris Dunn potentially back in the fold, help is on the way for the Hawks.

San Antonio’s resurgent season has been sparked by stellar guard play from DeMar DeRozan and Dejounte Murray, who have proved to be a handful for opposing defenses. When the teams faced off in Atlanta back in February, DeRozan

Snuggle up with friends and family for a special double

finished the night with 23 points and eight assists in a 125-

feature of family-friendly films Onward and Glory Road

114 rout for the Spurs. Thursday night’s contest at the AT&T

at the San Antonio Botanical Garden. Pixar’s Onward is

Center comes in stretch of nine consecutive home games for

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the Spurs, which could set the tone for a prospective postseason run. $15.00-$462.00,

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THU | 04.01

team’s offense as one of the most ball-dominant guards in Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

SAT | 03.27

Courtesy Photos / Angel Nevarez and Valerie Tevere

Courtesy Photo / San Antonio Zoo

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

west. — M. Solis

Instagram / Spurs

Reminder:

Although live events have returned, the COVID-19 pandemic is still with us. Check with venues to make sure scheduled events are still happening, and please follow all health and safety guidelines.

Hiking Through History A trek through the Medina River Valley is a journey into San Antonio’s rich past

BY BILL BAIRD

I

recently embarked on an epic journey. My quest was to circumnavigate San Antonio on foot, following trails where possible and, where the trails end, traversing pavement, parking lots and freeway underpasses.

The first portion of my journey took me the length of Leon Creek, from The Rim trailhead to the Medina River Valley. Those 37 miles unfolded magically at first, revealing hidden cliffs and blooming native species.

The last leg, however, was a 15-mile slog along farm six tribes with encampments by the river: Tilpayay roads, under railroad tracks and through junkyards.

(Payaya), the Cauya, the Semonam, the Saracuam, the Although the city has promised an interconnectPulacuam, and the Anxau (Xauno). Collectively, these ed trail system, called the Howard Peak Greenway, groups became known as the Coahuiltecans. The there’s a massive missing piece between Leon Creek natives called the river Penapay, but Leon renamed it and the Medina River portion. after Pedro de Medina, a 16th century astronomer.

That first hike complete, I set out on my next phase The Coahuiltecan pathways and crossings over of the journey, a trek down the length of the Medina the Medina and San Antonio rivers became part of River Greenway. This one seemed more promising — El Camino Real de Los Tejas, also called the King’s a walk along one of the most historically significant Highway or Old San Antonio Road, which originally parts of the city. ran from Mexico City to present-day Louisiana. The I began at first light from the Medina River trailformer route was designated a National Historical head at Palo Alto Road and headed east as the path Trail by President George W. Bush in 2004. Yes, the undulated alongside the river. Sign after sign warned Medina Greenway is nationally recognized. Props to of snakes. “Stay on trail!” they screamed.

Dubya for recognizing the place’s significance.

Me being me, I headed off-trail as soon as possible.

As I learned, it’s a special part of the city.

Snakes didn’t snag me, but the river bottom’s brambles drew blood from my exposed Saved from submersion legs and led me to retreat. Not the best time to forget my hiking pants.

One of the river crossings of the This story is part of an I scrambled up an adjacent bluff Camino Real was near present-day occasional series on the river’s north side and spied Applewhite Road. Longtime residents chronicling writer Bill an abandoned factory in slow decay, will recognize the name. The area Baird’s quest to walk the swallowed by the undergrowth. was nearly lost when the city of San circumference of San Prickly pear cacti clumped the hillAntonio used eminent domain to set Antonio on food. His prior side, their green skin speckled with aside the land for the controversial installment is available the once-precious dye cochimil. I Applewhite reservoir. After multiple online at: walked on, in awe of this ancient lawsuits and the discovery of a native bit.ly/SAgreenway place. There is a palpable history campsite dating back at least 8,000 that hangs on the Medina — almost years, the area was saved from sublike a fog, full of possibility and begmersion. ging exploration.

What the city lost in water storage, though, it gained in wonderful open space. The Land Heritage Institute (LHI), whose 1,200 acres constiMeeting place of cultures tute what was to be the Applewhite reservoir, is an I’m not just some crazed hiker who’s had a little too undiscovered jewel, containing the Watson-Presnall homestead — a national historic landmark — and the much fresh air. There’s a reason for this observation Beene archaeological site, which has yielded more — the area has been constantly inhabited for thouthan 40,000 ancient artifacts. sands of years. Indeed, it was where the first Spanish The Medina River Greenway trails passes right explorers met San Antonio’s native tribes. through the LHI property, but to access the 20 miles Early expeditions, led by Alonso de Leon, Fray of trails on the property, hikers must secure special Damian Mazanet and others first crossed the Medipermission. na in the 1690s, reporting the presence of at least

14

CURRENT | March 24 – April 6, 2021 | sacurrent.com

Bill Baird

“We love visitors — school groups, outdoor classes.

We are a land museum,” LHI head Peggy Oppelt said as she kindly met me for a walk through the property.

“We had to fight very hard to save this place.”

Despite its weighty sounding name, LHI is actually a family operation. Oppelt and her husband are the current caretakers, and she’s a descendent of the Watson family, whose homestead carries the national historic designation. Her grandfather was born there.

A rare win The land feels like a hidden jewel and a link to SA’s past. A herd of longhorns, owned by the Texas Cattlemen’s Longhorn Registry, snorted at me as I stared in disbelief at their enormous horns.

“They’re a walking exhibit for the museum,” Oppelt said.

But there were natural wonders beyond the walking, snorting exhibit. The elusive Golden Cheeked Warbler, an endangered bird and rare prize for area birders, was first spotted on the property in 1864.

Native plants also delight with their variety and abundance — dogwood, wild plum, Spanish dagger, yucca, yellow Indian grass and inland sea oats, to name a few. In the riparian zone by the Medina, we saw Pecan, hackberries, cedar elm and grapevines.

“The Texas Grapevine saved the French wine industry,” Oppelt noted. “When their vines were stricken with a fungus, Texan grapevines were grafted onto theirs. Yep. Texas saved France,” she added with a laugh.

The LHI should be celebrated as that rarest of Texas occasions — an environmental win. A beautiful open space that was spared development’s insatiable appetite.

Camping is available, too, though preferably for larger groups volunteering to maintain the property.

All the trails were built with volunteer labor, mostly Americorps and Eagle Scouts. Highly recommended.

And to any outdoor service group looking to make a difference in our city, look no further.

Marielle La Rue started her niche denim line The Indigo Prophet to fulfill a wish for pants that fit her body type

BY BRYAN RINDFUSS

I

n the realm of garment construction, tailoring a pair of well-fitting pants is no easy task. Add sturdy denim to the equation and you’ve got a challenge that’s not for beginners.

Nevertheless, form-fitting blue jeans were exactly what led Canada-to-San Antonio transplant Marielle La Rue to try her hand at making clothes.

A native of Toronto, La Rue learned to sew from her grandmother, but that skillset didn’t factor into her early professional pursuits, which were centered in film and music production. When she turned 30, La Rue visited Marfa for the first time and fell in love with the high-desert art mecca.

“Marfa was probably the one place I’ve been in the world — and I’ve been to a fair amount of places — that really, culturally and visually, felt so different from anywhere else I had been,” she explained. “I [first] went in 2015, and by 2017, I was going for six months and going home the other half of the year. … When I was out there, I met my husband.

We got married in 2018 and moved to North Carolina after that.”

Workwise, La Rue was seeking something different and found Asheville to be an attractive spot to start something new.

“My husband was like, ‘You’re a really good seamstress, why don’t you try to open up your own business?’ And so, I decided to make jeans,” she said. “Jeans are the thing that I wear the most, and it was one of the things that I have the biggest problem finding a good fit for.”

So, drawing from her own experience, La Rue set out to fill a void in the market by designing jeans specifically for women with hourglass shapes.

What ensued was a crash course that entailed long hours glued to YouTube tutorials, denim blogs and machinery websites — and eventually an online course in garment construction. But the sum of those parts wasn’t quite enough.

“I couldn’t even get my first pair of jeans past my knees,” La Rue confessed. “I realized pretty quickly I was going to need way more help than what the internet could provide me. So, I started reaching out to strangers in the craft to ask really basic questions … and that just snowballed into meeting so many wonderful people across the U.S. who were more than willing to share everything they could with me.”

Just as her upstart denim brand The Indigo

Prophet was starting to roll — Asheville storefront and all — the COVID-19 pandemic took hold.

No one was visiting the store and all her sales were online. At the same time, her husband wanted to get back into the restaurant business. Based on their combined interests, they set their sights on San Antonio.

“You know when you decide that you want to go somewhere, but you don’t know where, and all signs randomly point to one spot?

That was San Antonio,” La Rue said. During a visit, the young couple found the city to be approachable and filled with prospects.

“There was just all this stuff that made it very easy. Plus, it’s beautiful here … the weather … everyone we’ve met is so nice.”

Since her February arrival, La Rue has set up shop in Olmos Park’s Brilliant Studio and become acquainted with like-minded makers including Mario Guajardo of The Richter Co. and Brontë Treat of Lunchroom Anxiety.

“Brontë and Mario and I are talking about doing some collaborations, which is really exciting,” she said.

We caught up with La Rue via Zoom the day after her first product drop of 2021 — 10 pairs of a high-waisted style dubbed “High Pope” that completely sold out.

Do you have a background in fashion or sewing?

No, I don’t have any fashion experience (laughs). Other than I like fashion … on a very subdued level. Do I like to read Vogue?

Of course. But do I also just wanna throw on a T-shirt and a pair of jeans? Every day.

So, I would say I’m more of a tomboy than a high-fashion person. It’s all very new, but I like it so far.

How does your brand differ from what’s already on the market?

So as a small-waisted, large-backsided woman — and there are quite a few of us, it turns out — it’s always really hard to find a pair of jeans that fits both measurements. You end up getting a pair of jeans that fits your hips [but has] all of this extra fabric up at the top, behind your back. We call it “back gap.” And

arts

Jeans Genie

Courtesy Photo / The Indigo Prophet

it’s so frustrating. The only thing you can do to fix it is to dart your jeans … So, I would do that for myself and it turned out great. … My jeans aren’t for everyone. … But they work for a lot of women. I feel like big-butted ladies are out there just trying to find a pair of jeans that fit all of their measurements. There are obviously enough people that have that problem that we’re having a good year.

What’s the average price point? Does it vary based on the denim?

It varies — a little bit based on denim, a little bit based on style — so our entry point is $240 for our “Sister” jean. And then we have a “High Pope,” that’s what we released yesterday, and it’s $280. Right now, those are our two styles.

Do you favor a specific type of denim?

I stick to 100% cotton and don’t play around with stretch denim for the time being. As a consumer I have too many times been disappointed by stretch denim losing its shape after a few washes and then spending the rest of my relationship with those jeans trying to keep them from falling down or sagging on me. With cotton I find that the fabric relaxes the more you wear it, but it doesn’t lose its shape. It molds to the wearer and becomes something so much more than just a piece of clothing — like a trusted friend that you can always count on.

What are your hopes for the future of your brand?

I’m only one person — and one person can only make so many pairs of jeans. I would love to find a way to get more butts in more jeans. And so that’s probably outsourcing production. That would give me more time to spend creating patterns for other-sized women, creating different styles. I would love to make a jacket … and collaborate with other makers. That’s my goal.

Find more arts coverage every day at sacurrent.com

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CURRENT | March 24 – April 6, 2021 | sacurrent.com

arts Master Blaster

Meet St. Mary’s Kaitlin Teniente: the first female head coach for a college esports program in Texas

BY JALEN LOPEZ

W

hen St. Mary’s University hired Kaitlin Teniente last March to run its fledgling esports program, she became the first female head coach to helm a competitive gaming program at a Texas higher-ed campus.

A San Antonio native and a life-long gamer, Teniente didn’t enter the esports scene until her time as a student at UTSA. When she and her friends were unhappy with the school’s gaming events, they started hosting their own.

Teniente discovered the head coach position at St. Mary’s in early 2020, and after a successful interview, she found herself at the forefront of developing the esports portion of the school’s athletic department.

Colleges’ interest in esports has grown as professional gamers compete for large prizes in titles ranging from popular Fortnite to long-lived shooters such as Counter-Strike. St. Mary’s and Texas A&M San Antonio are the only schools in San Antonio with official esports programs, but experts expect others to follow suit.

Teniente says she and her staff have created a structured environment that’s not focused on players going pro but on developing skills they can transfer to future jobs and relationships. Gaming is the medium that brings these students together, and the skills they learn will help them in their future endeavors.

The Current recently caught up with Teniente to ask her about growing a competitive gaming program.

Is there currently any path-to-pro pipeline for your esports athletes?

Realistically, our goal is much more focused on student success, and esports is the medium to help achieve that. By success, I mean getting good grades and utilizing the skills learned within this program to get internships and jobs once they graduate. If any of our players go pro, that’s definitely a bonus, but I don’t think that is our No. 1 focus.

How are esports athletes compared to other athletes? Do they have to follow the same requirements?

They do have to maintain the minimum 2.0 GPA every semester, remain full-time students, and meet all of the expectations that we have laid out for our current student athletes. This includes social media guidelines and policies, guidelines on how you dress in your jersey, guidelines on anything and everything, from how you conduct yourself in an interview to our zero-tolerance policy on hazing.

What kind of opportunities does the program offer

Courtesy Photo / St. Mary’s University

St. Mary’s students? Are there any incentives/ scholarships for high school students?

How was it building an esports program during a pandemic?

St. Mary’s currently has teams in multiple games, ranging from first-person shooters to virtual card games. How were these teams created?

You mentioned an esports arena. Is it only available to esports athletes or open to all students?

We have open tryouts in the summer and during the winter break. These tryouts are open to anyone who is looking to be part of the college esports program. This can be current high school students, potential transfer students, and students looking to go back to school. The other piece is building relationships with high schools that have esports programs or esports clubs that have teams that are not only wanting to go to college but also want to be a part of a college esports program. We want them to know St. Mary’s is an option for them.

We had to figure out what the current offerings were, competition-wise, for the specific games. Things like League of Legends, Fortnite, Overwatch, Rainbow Six, Hearthstone and Rocket League have ample amounts of college competitions available. But games like Apex Legends didn’t, so we had to tough the call of “OK, we can’t make an Apex Legends team, but we can make a Rainbow Six Siege team.” We had to figure out what was going to be viable.

We thought we would be running this program out of our esports arena, and then the news starts coming in that we’re shutting down campus and no one is returning from spring break, and we’re moving online. For myself and my assistant coach [Mackenzie Moncada], we talked to each other and said, “We can still make this work; we have to make this work.” Every collegiate esports program or club up until now has had to operate online. Before, there were varsity programs, there were student-run clubs, and they ran this stuff online. They didn’t have computer labs or arenas to play from.

Our esports arena powered by Spectrum is in the University Center at St. Mary’s. You go up the staircase, and we are right there. We are very visible. We have 15 PC stations and four console stations. … It’s actually an old lecture hall-slash-conference room that was reused and refurbished for its current existence. I like it, and wherever the kids come and see it, they’re like, “Wow, this is so cool!” And I’ll probably never get tired of that reaction. sacurrent.com | March 24 – April 6, 2021 | CURRENT

17

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CURRENT | March 24 – April 6, 2021 | sacurrent.com

screens

All Work, All Play

Puppeteer and Brownsville native Michelle Zamora lends a hand, and her voice, to Netflix series

O

n the Netflix children’s series Waffles + Mochi, puppeteer and Brownsville native Michelle Zamora lends her voice to the title character Waffles and also provides the movements that bring her to life.

She spoke with the Current about what it’s like turning a puppet into a the star of a TV show.

Courtesy Photo / Netflix

Sweet Role

Actress and SA native Katie Leclerc lands cameo on Netflix children’s show Waffles + Mochi

BY KIKO MARTINEZ

O

scar-nominated actor Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones) is getting critical acclaim for his new culinary travel series Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy on CNN, but he just might have some competition.

Meet Waffles and Mochi, the title puppet characters on the new Netflix children’s series Waffles + Mochi. The show — whose executive producers are Michelle and Barack Obama — follows Waffles, a half-waffle, half-Yeti creature voiced by Michelle Zamora, and Mochi, a Japanese rice cake, as they travel around the world to learn about different cultures, cooking and how to eat healthy.

The first season begins with the episode “Tomato,” where Waffles and Mochi make gazpacho with Chef José Andrés and try to figure out if a tomato is a fruit or vegetable.

They also travel to San Francisco to eat pizza at Mozzeria, a restaurant whose employees are all deaf. At Mozzeria, Waffles and Mochi meet up with actress and San Antonio native Katie Leclerc, who communicates with them about pizza and tomato sauce through sign language.

Leclerc, who played a deaf character on the TV series Switched at Birth, learned sign language at the age of 17. At 20, she discovered she had Ménière’s disease, an inner ear disorder that causes hearing loss.

When she was offered a cameo in Waffles + Mochi, she jumped at the chance to have a pair of puppet co-stars.

“I love food, so I thought it was such a cool concept to go around the world and learn about food through culture and hang out

with some puppets,” Leclerc told the Current during a recent interview. “The experience was really surreal.”

During the production, Leclerc said she ended up being a “default interpreter” when the other sign-language speakers on set were busy helping someone else.

“I was able to really jump into the production side of things and interpret for the director and the camera operator and work with the staff,” she said. “I just wanted to be of assistance in whatever way I could.”

Leclerc said Waffles + Mochi may help parents get their kids to try new foods and maybe eat a vegetable or two.

“This is a really smart show,” she added.

“It’s cool and unique and makes us kind of think like, ‘Maybe I don’t like broccoli like this, but I never thought about trying it this way.’”

Broccoli might be a healthy side dish, but it wouldn’t be on the menu if Leclerc got the chance to travel to a foreign country to explore its cuisine. First on her food-destination travelogue would be South Korea to eat kimchi.

“I really love Asian flavors,” she said. “I’ve had a lot of Korean friends who have helped me over the years, but I love it now. That’s where I would go for food.”

And speaking of Asian flavors, what would Leclerc do if she owned her own adorable pet Mochi?

“Well, I’m a foodie, so I would probably eat it,” she said. “A little caramel with cream and we’re in business!”

Did you know right away that as a Latina puppeteer, you were a rarity in the industry?

It’s taken me years to understand the weight of what it means to be a Latina puppeteer on set. When I first came out to LA, I was like, “I’m just going to do my thing.”

But now I can be who I am and have a career playing with puppets. There’s still a lot of room to grow for Latina puppeteers.

How did you come up with Waffles’ voice?

I really wanted to give her a voice that was rooted in reality. I definitely didn’t want to give her a high-pitched puppet-y voice.

A lot of her character is definitely the essence of the person I am. She’s just much more elevated.

Is it more challenging to work with a puppet while you’re speaking?

It’s actually better that I can perform in the moment as Waffles. We relied on improv, so to be able to experience that was amazing. As a puppeteer, you’re so connected to the puppet, so once you put it on, it’s kind of like the puppet takes over.

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve made talk that’s not a puppet?

Any time I’m at a restaurant, when I’m putting syrup on my waffles, there’s that little contraption that opens [on the syrup dispenser] and I’ll make him say anything.

I also like to puppeteer food. So, I’ll usually puppeteer my pasta. — Kiko Martinez

Courtesy Photo / Michelle Zamora

Find more film stories at sacurrent.com

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CURRENT | March 24 – April 6, 2021 | sacurrent.com

food

Pollo Powered

Talking to Lucas Bradbury of Project Pollo about his vegan chain’s meaty expansion plans

BY NINA RANGEL

P

roject Pollo’s sandwiches aren’t the only thing on a roll. In less than a year, the vegan chick’n outfit has opened five locations, with a goal to open 100 by 2025.

Founder Lucas Bradbury, who also co-owns swanky cocktail havens Jet Setter and Pastiche, started the company during the COVID crisis to line up a more pandemic-proof revenue stream.

The rapid-fire nature of the fledgling chain’s growth would even be impressive for a startup that isn’t vegan.

To find out how Project Pollo’s making it happen, we spoke with Bradbury about scaling up, treating workers right and the chain’s People Project sandwiches — pay-what-you sandos of delectable breaded chik’n slathered with house aioli and dill pickles.

Have you had any restaurant experience before Project Pollo?

I’ve actually been in the restaurant space forever. I grew up in Kansas, on a farm, actually raising chickens and cattle, so that irony is always funny to me. Eventually, I worked some high-level executive positions, including being a regional director that oversaw foodservice operations for several franchises such as Which Which, Dunkin Donuts, Hunt Brothers Pizza, Pizza Hut. My wife’s family is from Texas, so we decided to move here, and I was set up to take an executive position with the leadership team at Wing Stop, but being vegetarian, something about that job just didn’t feel quite right. It made sense then to move on to something that was closer to what I believe in.

Would you say that previous experience helps with these plans to scale Project Pollo up so aggressively?

In terms of scaling, absolutely. I’ve been in that role, so I understand the infrastructures and systems needed in order to replicate and to do this quickly. I would say the foundation and really robust trainings I went through for all of those companies really helped me understand a lot. Obviously, by implementing it all back in the Midwest, I have real world experience in making things happen, going from zero to 100. When it comes to systems, infrastructure, scaling, yeah, those skills are essential, but more importantly, I’ve seen how great companies treat people. Once you see that, you always strive for it.

Coutresy Photo / Project Pollo

Can you speak more about that?

One of the biggest challenges that I’ve always seen in this industry is the idea that you should pay people a low wage because you have a high turnover rate. Honestly, people deserve better. We built our model around putting people first in all capacities, so that we can help ensure that they’re not hitting as many financial obstacles outside of work.

We give our employees every opportunity to make more money, as long as they want to learn. Project Pollo isn’t something that’s going to make me rich. People are always like, “You must be making a killing,” and they’re surprised when I say, “No, actually, I’m not.”

You see a lot of restaurateurs making a lot of money, sure, but I want the people working alongside me to make money too. Because without them, I’m lost. It sounds cliché, but we don’t need to pay someone $8 so that I can make $200 an hour. The longer people stay with us, the better it is for them and for us, so why not invest up front? We [could] spend hundreds of thousands of dollars within the next two years at the industry average turnover rate — or we could just pay people what they’re worth.

Let’s talk about the Free People Projects, because you just did a huge companywide giveaway of hundreds of them.

The People Project was the original foundation for what I wanted Project Pollo to be.

I’ve been vegan for four years and vegetarian for six, and what I was seeing in the market was becoming really unattractive to me. I had friends and family that were trying to eat a more plant-based diet, and they would com-

plain all the time that they couldn’t afford to do it. So, with the People Project, we created a pay-what-you-can item to provide affordable access to plant-based alternatives at any cost.

We recommend folks pay $5.50 per sandwich, and what that does is it pays for you plus two. It pays for your sandwich, and then we reserve two in what’s essentially a bank to feed people in need. Though we consistently see people come through that are in need, we’ve ended up kind of building this surplus of a shit-ton of sandwiches that we want to give away, so that’s where the company-wide giveaway comes into play.

I have to ask. You’ve shared a fairly aggressive expansion plan, which likely requires a lot of capital. How are you financing that?

Where does the money come from? Well, when I decided to do Project Pollo, I made the decision to sell our house. That helped us set our foundation for the first two locations, starting with the food truck at Roadmap Brewing and the location in Austin. Fortunately, those two have generated enough revenue for us to expand to six. So, as long as we’re cashflow positive along the way, we won’t see any issues being able to expand off of that cash flow. I’m talking to some banks right now so that we can work more quickly to expand than we would by relying 100% on cash flow, and we’ll probably end up raising some money and taking on some investment down the road. But at this point, I think that as long as we’re doing right by our people and our community, we will always have a place to grow our brand.

Find more food & drink news at sacurrent.com

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CURRENT | March 24 – April 6, 2021 | sacurrent.com

food West Side Indulgence There’s more than just tortillas to sample at San Antonio Colonial Tortilla Factory

W

ho’s got time to click through all of the food stories coming out of Countdown City these days?

We get it, you’re busy and just need quick tidbits to get you caught up on the latest culinary happenings.

Welcome to Hot Dish, where we offer up the latest savory scoops in quick, easy-to-digest servings.

BY RON BECHTOL

I

f you haven’t taken a drive down Guadalupe Street lately, let me suggest it’s worth your time.

Beyond being able to experience a wealth of visual and cultural richness, if you keep driving west you’ll eventually come to the San Antonio Colonial Tortilla Factory at the intersection with South Cibolo Street. The entrance is the door on the left. Just stick a finger in the hole where a doorknob would usually be.

The phrase “100% nixtamal” is emblazoned across the building’s façade — and that lime-treated ground corn goes into way more than SA Colonial’s specialty tortillas for mini tacos. The tortilla Siberia is huge, maybe nearing 12 inches in diameter, the earthy-tasting tortilla with flax seeds or chia occupies a middle ground at around 5½ inches. Planning on turning out tacos al vapor? This place has got you covered with a size and formula to make that happen. DIYers can even buy the masa cruda at $1.50 a pound.

But SA Colonial doesn’t stop at tortillas. The chicharrónes de puerco are crunchy, porky and great as a scoop for guacamole — or just eaten out of hand with a dip into the store’s take-no-prisoners salsa de chile de arbol. Tamales are available by the dozen, and my choice of puerco con jalapeño was still warm when I got home and dug in. With long slivers of chile playing against savory shredded pork and moist, red-tinted masa, they were some of the best I’ve had in a long time. Plain puerco, frijol, and frijol con jalapeño are also available.

You could always swaddle either the asado de puerco or chicharrón en salsa verde in the tortillas you buy, but I think their highest calling is to be served alongside some plain rice you’ll have to make yourself. The tender pork is bathed in a moderately spicy red sauce, and the chicharrones, which alternate between silky and slightly chewy, are enhanced by an herby and tangy green sauce. Both are worth repeating.

Five-packs of empalmes — a Nuevo León specialty that was new to me — are available in SA Colonial’s freezer. They’re basically a griddled sandwich, sometimes served with a fried egg on top, with corn tortillas as its brackets and refried beans as a foundation.

The discus-shaped empalmes can be cooked directly from the freezer, but I defrosted mine, then toasted them in an ungreased cast-iron frying pan until they were golden on both sides. Success all around with maybe a slight nod going to the more complex and vinegary chorizo with cheese over the shredded beef

OPENINGS Devils River Whiskey opened its downtown distillery and tasting room, offering a complete cocktail menu plus light food items. Look for an April 22 grand opening.

California-based Dog Haus opened the doors of its first San Antonio location, serving up gourmet hot dogs and handcrafted sausages.

Ron Bechtol

in a robust red sauce. Salsa de chile de arbol drizzled over both, por supuesto.

Empalmes are traditionally prepared in batches and frozen, but I was less sure about SA Colonial’s chiles rellenos congelados. So, I bought the picadillo version — queso is the other option. I didn’t have a clear picture of the proper method for reheating this egg batter-crusted pepper, which was bedded on a trio of mini tortillas.

Wanting to keep the tortillas moist, I put the whole thing on a plate over some dampened paper towels and microwaved it. It seemed to work. The filling was a unique, cumin-accented “blonde” picadillo — my term, not theirs — that came enveloped in some additional, roasted poblano inside the battered chile.

I liked it, despite the lack of the customary tomatoes, carrots and even peas, but a swoosh of salsa wasn’t a mistake.

Should your eyes light on some packets of gorditas de azucar while waiting for your order, go ahead and indulge. They were a sweet finish, and they might be even better dunked into a little thick, hot chocolate or maybe decorated with a slash of dulce de leche.

SAN ANTONIO COLONIAL TORTILLA FACTORY

1926 Guadalupe St. | (210) 276-1097 | sacolonialtortillafactory.com | Hours: 8 a.m.-2 p.m., Tuesday-Saturday Price Range: Tortillas are $2-$6 per packet, while prepared foods run $4.50-$9 Best Bets: Tortillas de nixtamal, chicharron, empalmes, tamales de puerco con jalapeño, chiles rellenos The Skinny: Beyond its wide range of tortillas, SA Colonial’s worthwhile takeout items include bags of crunchy chicharrones, frozen empalmes and chiles rellenos as well as tamales by the dozen.

Pharm Table, the plant-forward eatery from SA chef Elizabeth Johnson, is now open in its new Southtown digs, replete with a brand new bar program.

The Moon’s Daughters, the Mediterranean-inspired restaurant and bar on rooftop of the new 20-story Thompson Hotel is slated to open March 26.

Domingo Restaurant and Otro Bar — which will offer guests a view of the historic Paseo del Rio — will open April 15 at the highly anticipated Canopy by Hilton San Antonio Riverwalk hotel.

Comfort Cafe will bring its pay-what-you-can model to a second SA location this spring.

NEWS Noodle Tree endured racist vandalism and threats of violence after chef-owner Mike Nguyen appeared on CNN speaking out against Gov. Abbott’s decision to lift the statewide mask mandate.

Plans for the new Southtown location of Rosario’s have been approved by the Historic and Design Review Commission, despite protest from neighboring eatery Maverick Texas Brasserie.

Beer Monkey Beer Co. will adopt a new name in the wake of a trademark infringement suit, transitioning to new moniker Second Pitch Beer Co. in coming weeks.

Got a Hot Dish you want to share? Send tips to flavor@sacurrent.com.

Courtesy Photo / Pharm Table

sacurrent.com | March 24 – April 6, 2021 | CURRENT

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CURRENT | March 24 – April 6, 2021 | sacurrent.com

music

Remembering Ram At urging of San Antonio musician, Velvet Taco adding memorials from local artists at former Tacoland site

BY SANFORD NOWLIN

A

fter a nudge from a San Antonio musician and label owner, the Velvet Taco restaurant at the former Tacoland site will include memorials to the beloved music venue’s late owner, Ram Ayala, by artists who were regulars there.

Velvet Taco revamped design plans for the Pearl-area eatery after Jeff Smith, owner of SA’s SausTex Records, emailed in January and urged the Dallas-based chain to scrap a mural it planned for the site.

While the proposed artwork, designed by Velvet Taco’s architecture firm, was intended as an homage to Ayala, Smith argued in his correspondence that it felt generic — something “peeled straight off a large plastic tortilla chip serving bowl from H-E-B.” What’s more, he raised concerns that a stylized image of Ayala used in the mural’s mockup borrowed heavily from art by tattoo artist Mig Kokinda, who produced similar-looking posters and postcards of the club owner.

Smith urged Velvet Taco to rethink the mural and compensate Kokinda. The outreach came after Smith received a mockup of the proposed artwork from former Sala Diaz director Anjali Gupta, another Tacoland habitué.

“To be honest, I wasn’t expecting to hear back from [them] after the first email,” Smith told the Current.

‘Good to their word’ Yet he did. And after a series of conversations, Smith convinced Velvet Taco marketing honcho Cassie Cooper to commission new work from Kokinda as well as muralist Robert Tatum, both club regulars. New Orleans tattoo artist Terry Brown, whose bands performed at Tacoland during his days in SA, is also contributing artwork.

The pieces are likely to be installed by the time the restaurant opens for business March 22, according to Cooper. The eatery will Velvet Taco’s second in the Alamo City.

Cooper said she appreciated Smith’s “candid feedback,” adding that she and others on

Sanford Nowlin

her team were swayed to do more research on Tacoland and Ayala, who was murdered — along with doorman Doug “Gypsy Doug” Morgan — during a 2005 robbery attempt.

“The more we did our research, the more we learned,” Cooper said. “We wanted to be very mindful that we were paying respect not just to Tacoland but to Ram.” Smith said Cooper was transparent during the process and showed an eagerness to respect the history of the site.

“She was very open and said, ‘Wow. I didn’t get all that. We’re going to make it right,’” said Smith, who sings for country-punk band the Hickoids and had a hand in booking the first punk show at Tacoland in the early ‘80s.

“So far, they’ve been good to their word.”

Art and history Under the revamp, a mosaic-style portrait of Ayala will be installed on one of the building’s exterior walls. The five-foot-by-sevenfoot piece will depict Ayala in his trademark aviator shades — just as he’s appeared on stenciled posters and postcards produced by Kokinda.

The restaurant will also install a Tatum-designed plaque in the style of a historical marker next to the sweeping oak tree on the building’s patio. The marker will include a stylized version of a portrait tattoo artist Brown painted of Ayala.

In addition, the plaque will feature a brief history of the club, its 300-year-old tree, Ayala and Morgan.

“Ram, Gypsy Doug and the building that housed the bar are all gone now, but the tree still stands strong and hopefully will remain so for generations to come as a reminder of

what once was and the raw power and beauty of nature,” it reads, in part.

Smith said he’s unsure how much Velvet Taco is spending on the new artwork, but he estimated that it represented an investment of several thousand dollars in commissions and materials. Neither Smith nor Tatum accepted payment for their contributions.

Bitter taste For Smith, Velvet Taco’s willingness to rethink its homage to Ayala stands in sharp contrast to the site’s prior tenant, developer Chris Erck. Erck reopened the bar in 2014 under the moniker Viva Tacoland despite urging from Smith and others not to use the name.

Erck told the Current in 2018 that he wasn’t trying to profit off Ayala’s legacy. “The history of Taco Land was kind of erased,” he said.

“Now, there’s at least a conversation about it.”

But that’s certainly how Smith and other Tacoland regulars read his motivations. For many, the Erck’s establishment represented the ham-handed gentrification churning through near-downtown neighborhoods.

Ultimately, the argument became moot when Viva Tacoland closed in 2019 following a lengthy rent dispute with the property’s owners, developer David Adelman and Desperate Housewives actor Ricardo Chavira.

Smith acknowledged the new artwork may not satisfy everyone with memories of roughhewn but beloved music venue. But he said it may erase some of the bitterness many feel about what became of the site after Ayala’s death.

“It just felt like we had a chance to kind of put things right this time around,” he said.

Reminder:

Although live events have returned, the COVID-19 pandemic is still with us. Check with venues to make sure scheduled events are still happening, and please follow all health and safety guidelines.

EGAL 2065 L NOTICES

E M P LOY M E N T PHARMACIST (San Antonio, TX): review phys. orders; dispense meds; eval patient med rec/med hist. Doctor of Pharm. (or foreign equiv. deg.) in Pharmacy + knowledge in dispensing. TX Pharm. lic.

Mail resume: Lifecare Pharmacy 23, Inc., 311 Camden St., Ste 103, San Antonio, TX 78215. PHARMACIST (San Antonio, TX): review phys. orders; dispense meds; eval patient med rec/med hist. Doctor of Pharm. (or foreign equiv. deg.) in Pharmacy + knowledge in dispensing.

TX Pharm. lic. Mail resume: Lifecare Pharmacy of Austin, LLC, 3110 Nogalitos, Ste 107, San Antonio, TX 78225.

NOTICE TO CREDITORS Notice is hereby given that original Letters Testamentary for the Estate of LOREN TERRY THOMPSON, DECEASED, were issued on March 8, 2021, in Cause No. 2021PC0143, pending in the County Court No. 1, Bexar County, Texas, to: SHIRLEY SCOTT. All persons having claims against this Estate which is currently being administered are required to present them to the undersigned within the time and in the manner prescribed by law. c/o:

KELLEY F. WHALEN Attorney at Law 611 S. Church Street Georgetown, Texas 78626

music | listings Thursday, March 25

Q: THE MUSIC OF QUEEN

No, not the Q that likes to keep it anonymous. Instead, a highly visual tribute to the band with one of the most charismatic frontmen of all time, Mr. Freddie Mercury, who was most certainly not anon. This socially distanced show promises a comprehensive look at the operatic, iconic band’s 21-year run, highlighted in the biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, itself named for a song you’re all but guaranteed to hear. 8 p.m., $29.50$44.50, Tobin Center, 100 Auditorium Circle, (210) 223-8624, tobincenter.org. — MM

Courtesy Photo / Samantha Fish

SAMANTHA FISH AT SAM’S BURGER JOINT

DINE-IN • TAKEOUT DELIVERY

CALL (210) 737-8646!

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MON- SAT 5:30AM-3PM | SUN 7AM-3PM

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Full kitchen and bar menu available

For her debut with Rounder Records, guitar hero Samantha Fish chose a title that sums up the dichotomy of the modern world: Kill or Be Kind. Fish sought to achieve a balance between her bluesy guitar leads and an accessible, story-oriented, hooky ap proach to the tunes. To help achieve this, she collaborated with professional song smiths who have written with superstars from Luke Bryan to Kelly Clarkson. 5 p.m. (matinee), 8 p.m., $35-$250, Sam’s Burger Joint, 330 E. Grayson St., (210) 223-2830, samsburgerjoint.com. — MIKE MCMAHAN

Saturday, March 27

Open 7 days a week • Explore our Garden!

Courtesy Photo / Bridge Farmers

WARLUNG + BRIDGE FARMERS

Courtesy Photo / Diplo

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CURRENT | March 24 – April 6, 2021 | sacurrent.com

DIPLO AT SAM’S COWBOYS DANCE HALL

If you’ve even dabbled in the world of EDM, you’ve most likely encountered a song or style that at least owes a debt to this world-renowned, globetrotting DJ. He’s collaborated with everyone from Sia and Skrillex to Mark Ronson, and he’s produced projects for Snoop Dogg, Britney Spears and … hell, pretty much everyone in the world of pop music. Diplo has certainly attracted his share of controversy as well, from live-streaming (and allegedly “ruining”) Sophie Turner and Joe Jonas’ wedding, to a host of more serious abuse and harassment allegations. 7 p.m., $35$50, Cowboys Dancehall, 3030 NE Loop 410, (210) 646-9378, cowboysdancehall.com. — MM

Billing themselves as “heavy psych,” Houston rockers Warlung will bring a mix of riffs and classic metal vocal stylings to the Alamo city. The way they describe themselves and their visual imagery suggests that they are part of the lineage from Sabbath to Sleep.

However, the band seems more focused on songcraft rather than simply conjuring up pummeling riffs, a trait that sets them apart from their doomy peers. Recommended if you like The Sword. The outdoor show will also include the Bridge Farmers and a pair of DJs spinning appropriately heavy tunes.

2 p.m., Lonesome Rose, 2114 N. St. Mary’s St., (210) 455-0233, thelonesomerose.com.

— MM

Monday, April 5 DREAMBORED

The Facebook-powered, online-only performance series Lonesome Lounge Sessions rolls on with a show from these local dream poppers. The band, composed of married couple Mark Lee Walley and Angela Guerra Walley, debuted with the album Loved Ones in 2018. The release is composed of emotional songs inspired partly by the death of Angela’s father. 7 p.m., Free, The Lonesome Rose, https://do210.com/lonesome-lounge-sessions-dreambored. — MM

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