Biga on the Banks
Biga on the Banks
San Antonio, Texas
Biga on the Banks – everything is Biga in Texas!
Not surprisingly located on the banks of the river, Biga overlooks a romantic tree-canopied bend and has built quite a reputation – selected by Gourmet Magazine as one of the “top five restaurants in Texas.” It has the reputation of delivering Nuevo American cuisine with a Texan drawl and was one of the places I had to try.
The restaurant was a bit off the beaten track, but admittedly is in a very nice setting. The decor was a bit dated – an interesting cross between diner chic and fine dining. The menu is quite extensive, featuring vegetarian, fish and multiple meat options. There were interesting dishes like habanero rubbed natural scallops, pork pozole soup and roasted Australian lamb rack. Given the choices, I almost wanted to come back so I could try multiple dishes, but there were so many restaurants and so little time.
I started off with a smoky beet salad with baby arugula, Greek goat cheese and sherry vinaigrette. Fresh, with the peppery arugula balancing the sweet and smoky beats and the creamy cheese worked well with the tang of the vinaigrette.
For my main course, I ordered the signature 11-spiced Axis venison with roasted quail. It was served with goat cheese tart, crisped brussel sprout leaflets, roasted chestnuts, apple apricot chutney and juniper sauce. I ordered it medium well, since everything in Texas is served a bit redder – sure enough, it was more of what I’d call a medium. The meat was only slightly gamey, and very flavorful. Surprisingly, the quail was a bit overdone and rubbery with more bones than meat. I’m just glad I had filled up on the venison. The brussel leaves and apricot chutney were great, but I couldn’t get excited about the juniper sauce – the flavor just didn’t work with the rest of the dish. I was disappointed that the plate seemed a little thrown together- a bit of attention to plating never hurt anyone. This is something that others have also noted about Biga.
For dessert, we went off menu and created a combination of our own. The server was gracious enough to indulge us, but seemed to grow irritated as we asked more questions about the food and what options were available to us. We settled on peach ginger sorbet, which was outstandingly peachy with the right amount of ginger; warm chocolate cake which is my go-to option when available and was really moist and rich, and the fruit crumble with fresh cream which was also delicious.
While the meal was solid, there were a few issues on both the meal and service sides, leaving me a little bleh. This matches some of the other commentary about Biga’s execution. While I’m not disappointed I tried this restaurant, given the many options available to San Antonio diners, Im not sure I’ll head back there unless there is a compelling reason.