Local chef Jason Dady is leading an effort that will overhaul the food court at the Shops at Rivercenter downtown to honor the culinary history and culture of San Antonio and Mexico.
The new concept, Mexico Ceaty, is expected to open in 2025.
TPR's Marian Navarro spoke with Dady about his inspiration behind the concept and what he hopes it bring to San Antonio.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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Dady: It’s C-E-A-T-Y. When we first were talking about it, people think you're saying Mexico City, which is obviously the pun and the play on words. But we call it Mexico Ceaty.
So, the idea is that Mexico Ceaty is really kind of like what I'm loosely just calling an emporium of Mexico and San Antonio. You'll have a standard restaurant, a standalone restaurant 3,500-square-foot Tex-Mex restaurant. Kind of your classic South Texas enchiladas and puffy tacos with great chips and salsa. And that will act and operate as a sit down, full service restaurant.
Then we'll have what we're calling Dos Cantinas, which will be a 300-seat bar overlooking the Riverwalk. Dulce Aroma, which is a panaderia bakery serving San Antonio-style breakfast tacos, fresh churros. [A] morning stop with pan dulce and coffee and hot chocolate and kind of everything that we love about Mexican bakeries.
And then you'll have what we're calling the Main Plaza, which will have different kiosks throughout the space.
So, you'll have a place where fresh tortillas are being made. You'll have kind of classic street tacos — a street taco cart serving just classic mini tacos. You'll have a burrito stand serving Baja-style burritos — it’s very similar to say Chipotle, right? Where you're picking your tortilla, your meat, what ... you want in your burrito. There's going to be a kiosk serving aguas frescas and paletas. And then another kiosk that will be serving different ceviches, campechanas and such, from both coasts of Mexico.
Navarro: And in a place like San Antonio, where Mexican culture and heritage and food, specifically, is such a big part of the city. I mean, it's going to be right at home in San Antonio, right?
Dady: That's our dream and that's our goal. You know, what we think is very important is that — I've always said for 25 years as a chef and entrepreneur here in San Antonio, is that when you come to San Antonio for the first time, there's basically three things that you want to do: You want to see the Alamo, you want Mexican food, and you want Texas barbecue, right?
And so, for us being right next to the Alamo, and being able to serve Mexican food, but also really showcase San Antonio, and like you said, the heritage and the culture of our city is incredibly important. But I think the most important part of it is that this space and Mexico Ceaty will allow you to take that home with you. And what I mean by that is we'll have a very large retail component as well, focusing on local art or food products or chips or sauces or mole paste or chili paste or whatever it might be. Cool earrings, or, heck, if you just want to take home two dozen tamales.
We're very excited about being able to bring a little bit of all of it together under one roof. And do it with respect and just show our love for the food.
Navarro: This is coming to the Shops at Rivercenter, which is at the heart of downtown San Antonio. The mall itself opened back in the 80s. So, what is the significance of bringing this concept, of bringing that taste of Mexico, to this specific mall and also to this specific area of the city?
Dady: I truly believe wholeheartedly that this project that we're doing would not work in any other location in San Antonio. We're at the heart of the River Walk. It's where most people get on and off of their riverboat rides. We're right there at the island where you do the turn around to loop back. And so, the visibility and where we are is great. And what we hope is that it gives locals a reason to come back downtown and rediscover the Rivercenter Mall, and its new rebirth.
And there's a lot of other fun projects going on down there that I think are really going to change the face of what tourists, travelers, business travelers, but locals, get out of downtown San Antonio. Being a part of the transformation of the entire mall, and especially the food offerings down there, is quite an honor. There's a little bit of pressure involved there. But that's what kind of drives us to be great.
Navarro: There are new concepts that are popping up all around San Antonio. You've seen food courts. You've seen things like the Pullman Market at the Pearl. You see kind of the culinary scene in San Antonio, and it's not just a restaurant that's popping up here and there — it really is an experience. What do you think this means for San Antonio? What are your thoughts on these new concepts that are coming out throughout the city?
Dady: It's great for everybody. There's been a lot of uncertainty in the restaurant community post-COVID. And the restaurant industry is not an easy business. I mean, it's always hard work. And it takes a lot of passion, dedication, and sacrifice to be great.
I've been saying for a long, long time ... that San Antonio is just in its infancy of growth. We really are just starting. If you look at kind of where Austin was 20 years ago, there's a lot of similarities about the growth of Austin, and now the growth of San Antonio.
I think the biggest difference is that [in] San Antonio, we are so fiercely guarding our culture here — which a lot of times people might say, “Oh, San Antonio is so far behind.” I just don't look at it that way. I think that we're really protecting something that's important to us as a city that'll carry over for the next generations to come.
So, we're super excited about being downtown and at the Rivercenter Mall because we feel like we can really showcase a little bit of all of that, and give people a reason to love San Antonio even that much more.
Navarro: You obviously have a very large presence in San Antonio and San Antonio's restaurant scene. You've had several restaurants and concepts. [Roca &] Martillo at the Rock, Two Bros. BBQ, Jardin. There's so much that you've seen throughout the years and that you've brought to San Antonio. How is this different, and what do you see coming from this in the future as this new concept?
Dady: Number one, we want to [give] people from San Antonio a reason to come downtown and visit and re-experience downtown on the River Walk, because I do think that when you do live here, you kind of lose the idea of what makes downtown special. You take it for granted, maybe. And so I think for us, we really want to make sure that we can give people downtown something to be proud of.
And I think second of all, we want people to take San Antonio home with them. We want you to leave here saying, “We just went to this place called Mexico Ceaty. And it was the coolest all encompassing experience we've ever had. Everything from our drinks, to our dinner, to the live music, to the murals.” People that can really go home and spread the word to, you know, wherever they're from, but they can kind of sing the praises of San Antonio.
What was important for us is that when you come to Mexico Ceaty, you get to see all the aspects. And if you're only comfortable with crispy beef tacos, you can get that at the Tex-Mex restaurant. If you want to really explore, man, the world's your oyster, and we're gonna have a lot of different options that come directly from inspiration from Mexico, but obviously, a certain amount of inspiration from San Antonio.
