From an eight-table strip mall restaurant to a luxury hotel lounge and bar, San Antonio-born chef Leo Davila is moving downtown.
Across the street from Travis Park and one block over from the Majestic Theater, Davila will open the Anacacho Coffee & Cantina at the St. Anthony Hotel on May 9. He’s bringing the Big Red and barbacoa tacos with him.
A 2025 James Beard semifinalist, Davila will helm a reinvented space featuring a curated coffee program and a cocktail lounge with inventive drinks and familiar menu items. Fans of Davila’s former Mexican-Asian concept, Stixs & Stone, will be glad to see the return of Mexican street-style corn and the Big Red and barbacoa taco flight.
“We’re bringing in a lot of good flair, that’s us,” Davila said. “One of the main things I wanted to make sure of in this process of the bar — and the future — is that it’s still me. It’s still my team. It’s still my story because I think that’s the way you create beautiful food. This gives me the ability to expand on everything I was doing before.”
Davila is building upon a hole-in-the-wall kitchen off Wurzbach Road that seated 36 patrons with no room to spare. With more space (Anacacho can seat 50), a larger kitchen, a slice of prime real estate and ample financial backing, Davila aims to elevate service, cuisine and experience.
And that’s just for the bar and lounge. He’s also preparing for a new, unnamed hotel restaurant that will replace Rebelle, which closed in January.
“We’re shooting for late summer,” he said. “That’s the tentative plan.”
Anacacho Coffee & Cantina will occupy the space once held by Haunt in the historic St. Anthony. The bar draws its name from the Anacacho Ranch, once known for exotic game and saddlebred horses in Brackettville. A 1936 painting that depicts the ranch anchors the lounge. Vintage artifacts adorn the walls.
San Antonio-based roaster Pulp Coffee will partner with Anacacho to run the morning brew program. The menu will feature a rotating selection of seasonal brews that includes Ella, a Central American coffee sourced from three Guatemalan farms owned and operated by women.
The coffee menu will also include hot classics, such as lattes, cortados and cappuccinos, plus mochas, iced lattes and other cold favorites.
“What excites me most about the coffee program is our partnership with Pulp Coffee,” said Maria Martinez, general manager of The St. Anthony. “They’re an incredible, locally based team from San Antonio’s East Side who bring a true passion for their craft. Their unique approach to flavor and quality aligns perfectly with our vision for Anacacho — to be a space where you can enjoy exceptional coffee, spark great conversation, get some work done and later transition into a more intimate cocktail experience that truly captures the culture and energy of San Antonio.”
A breakfast menu of egg sandwiches, pastries and yogurt parfaits will be offered with coffee, starting at 6 a.m. “We wanted to curate a grab-and-go that pairs nicely with the coffee,” Davila said.
The lounge in the afternoons and evenings will showcase a selection of Texas whiskeys and agave-based cocktails. Special drinks include the Dos Hombres Mezcal Espadin, made with prickly pear puree syrup, lime juice and topped with Topo Chico, and the Wildflower Apertif, a nod to Lady Bird Johnson, who once dined at the St. Anthony with future President Lyndon Johnson after their wedding in 1934.
The Johnsons were married on the other side of Travis Park at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, decades before Davila was born. Into this rich quadrant of history steps a native chef, eager to tell his own story. A narrative menu reflects the flavors of Davila’s upbringing.
“The menu is a continuing story of myself and San Antonio,” Davila said. “Even with all of the great recognition we’ve received, there are still people who don’t know who we are. So the story is San Antonio-driven. What I did growing up here, where I was born and raised. Everything I saw from the late ’80s to the mid-’90s as a teen to the early 2000s.”
Get ready for mini tostadas with black bean and nopalito puree. Expect chorizo tacos with fried potatoes. Also coming are bao buns with a choice of chicken, barbacoa or pork belly. Then there’s a rotating bar nut flight with pecans, walnuts and cashews and three different spices: Tex-Mex, Asian and barbecue.
Davila’s new culinary adventure began with a phone call on Feb. 1 from Sid Greehey, the hotel’s managing general partner, asking, “How would you like to start something fresh at the St. Anthony?” Stixs & Stone closed on March 29. A new concept begins in less than three weeks.
Davila collaborates well with Martinez and the hotel staff.
“They are curating something special,” he said. “We want to bring the St. Anthony back as one of the best luxury hotels in the city.”
Martinez agrees. “With Anacacho, our vision is to create a vibrant go-to destination in the heart of downtown San Antonio — not just for our hotel guests, but for the entire community,” she said. “The space is absolutely beautiful, steeped in rich history, and we want it to be a place where people can gather, connect and enjoy something truly special that celebrates the spirit of downtown.”
