More on the Bliss restaurant in the hood – And a new CIA restaurant
December 6, 2011
www.savorsa.com/2011/12/bliss-and-cia-pan-latin-restaurant-opening-soon/
‘Bliss’ and CIA Pan-Latin Restaurant Opening Soon
By Bonnie Walker
Posted on04 December 2011. Tags: Bliss, Bliss restaurant, CIA San Antonio restaurant, Culnary Institute of America San Antonio, Mark Blis, new San Antonio restaurants, Pan Latin CIA restaurant, Pan Latin restaurant at CIA San Antonio
Two much-anticipated restaurants are set to open in San Antonio in January and in March of next year.
David Kellaway, chef and managing director of the Culinary Institute of America, San Antonio, told us Saturday that they are ready to “push the button” later this month to start the campus restaurant. That restaurant might be open as early as March, he said.
“The restaurant will be a showcase for the students. We’ll have a robust series of lecturers coming in, then toward the end of the week (the lecturers and students) will be able to present dishes in this sort of culinary Carnegie Hall-like setting,” Kellaway said. Possible names for the new Pan Latin restaurant are being tossed around, with a few good possibles, he said, but no final decision has been made.
Chef Federico Lopez from the Taller Culinary Workshop in Cancun serves up Mexican black beans at the CIA.
One of the CIA’s goals in San Antonio has always been to pursue and promote Latin American cuisines. The San Antonio campus will soon offer its 30-week Latin Cuisines Certificate Program. Visiting instructors as well as on-staff experts will provide the guidance for students wanting thorough grounding in Latin American cultural and culinary traditions, techniques, ingredients and more.
The yearly Latin Flavors, American Kitchens conference here is where professionals who specialize in these varied cuisines come together to share spectacular tastes and culinary information.
Bliss on the way?
If he’s on schedule, Mark Bliss, a popular San Antonio chef opening a new restaurant on South St. Mary’s Street, will be up and running by mid-January. He’d originally set the opening for November. So far, he’s not divulged menu items, but we’ll be pestering him. Bliss will open at 926 South Presa at the location of an old Magnolia filling station.
Bliss told us earlier this year, “My focus is going to be on American Contemporary cuisine with an emphasis that diners will have the ability to create a multi-course experience based on their appetite and desires. Overall, we’ll have a small seasonal menu that will change frequently.” He left San Antonio early in 2010 to attend to family business.
