Mi Tierra in San Antonio

A grad school friend recommended that I eat at Mi Tierra while in San Antonio. Boy am I glad I paid attention! Mi Tierra is a large 24 hour panaderia and restaurant with live music at the convenient Mercado area. I actually live right by a similar Mexican panaderia and restaurant with live mariachi music, which I love. But Mi Terra is ten times the bakery/restaurant by my place in Austin.

Their pastries are so popular that you need to get a ticket and wait for them to call you number. This isn't so bad because the counter of pastries is as long as the line! When we arrived at the restaurant, we had to wait for a table at the restaurant, so we decided to use our time wisely and buy pastries. This led to us eating some pastries before even getting to our tables.

Our stash of goodies

Pineapple empanada and Dulce de leche filled churro

You must buy the pineapple empanada and dulce de leche filled churro. The emapanda is super flakey, and the dulce de leche inside the churro is ingenious.

Good thing we were extra hungry by the time we sat down at a table. The waiter promptly gave us complimentary chips and salsa and took our order.

Chips & Salsa

Mom had the gigantic bowl of tortilla soup with chicken, avocado, and cheese. Absolutely delicious.

Caldo del Mercado-Tortilla Soup with Chicken, Avocado and two Cheeses

Dad ordered the Steak a la Tampiqueña and I tried the baked goat. This lunch was so decadent even if we hadn't started with pastries! The portions, as you can see, are huge, but they don't neglect the quality of their dishes. I hate it when restaurants give you a gigantic plate of poorly prepared food. In that case, they might as well give me a tiny portion and let me suffer through less junk intake. Everything on these plates were good. The steak was especially juicy and flavorful.

Steak a la Tampiqueña- Charbroiled Rib Eye Steak with Chicken Enchilada topped with green tomatillo sauce with Guacamole, Spanish Rice and Refried Beans

and Monterey Special-Cabrito — baked young Goat with Guacamole, Cheese Enchilada, Spanish Rice and Refried Beans

Dad and I could not help ordering sopapillas even though we practically started the meal with dessert. The last time we had honey drizzled sopapillas was at Poncho's in Houston when I got my elementary school straight-A's-report card coupon for a free kid's meal. We hadn't developed a taste for Mexican food at that time, but we all loved the sopapillas. Those were my earliest memories of Mexican food! How could we not order them 15+ years later when we finally love Mexican food?

Sopapillas

Dad's eyes lit up when he saw these fried puffs and his hands darted forward before I took a picture. I had to reprimand him into putting the sopapilla back so I could take this photo.