By Joseph Sanchez
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When we were lucky enough as kids some Saturday mornings we would wake up to the smell of breakfast cooking in the kitchen. Eggs, beans, tortillas, the whole nine. It was a treat to start your day off with such comfort, the sense of feeling loved before you even had time to wipe the crust from your eyes was and is still a true projection of love.
You see, a Mexican breakfast is one of the most comforting things one can enjoy at the start of the day. Sometimes the breakfast is so good, that it is the highlight of your entire day, but you still feel blessed to have at least enjoyed it. We remember it throughout our day. There are only a handful of places that I’ve been to here in the city that have had the power to give me those comforting breakfast feels from the border town I grew up in of Brownsville, Texas. La Bandera Molino accomplished this rare feat.
Perhaps it’s because of where it’s located on the West Side of San Antonio on Zarzamora St. where the people and shops near by remind me of home. Is it possible for an entire block to be a hole in the wall? The area here is seeping of Tex-Mex culture from the colors of the buildings to the panaderías. The very air you breathe here has sabor (flavor). So this has some bearing on the food experience you will have here. As you walk in, the selling of random Mexican trinkets and the ordering counter are like a text book set up of spots down on the border. The walls holding pictures of cultural icons held dear, and yes, we love our Selena here. Even the ladies in the kitchen who make the food show qualities and mannerisms of my grandmother whose food was the bar at which every other meal of that genre I compared to.
The food, the area, the moment, all of it was right. Everything was exactly as it was then and perfect to have shared the experience with my son, whom after one bite of his breakfast taco looked up at me and said “Dad, this is good!”. I saw myself in him at that moment and my only reaction was to smile, nod, and continue eating. He now knows what I know, that it doesn’t get much better than this. One day when he’s older he’ll realize, that what we shared that day was something special. A piece of his old man’s history through food.
Bandera Molino is located on 2619 N Zarzamora St, San Antonio, TX 78201. They are open Tue-Sun and closed on Mondays. This is one of those spots that closes at mid day (3pm) Daily, so you already know those are the best spots to hit. Have you been to Bandera Molino?