Two restaurateurs from Laredo opened a brunch spot on South Alamo Street in 2023.
They called it Blush Restaurant & Bakery.
The adventure began with dreamy optimism. It soon wobbled and nearly collapsed when the bulldozers arrived.
Three years of road construction followed. Customers fled. Neighboring businesses closed or relocated. When the dust settled, Efren Moreno and Tanya Benavides not only held onto their restaurant, the husband-and-wife team decided to expand and include dinner service.
By the end of October, an eatery known for steak and eggs and crème brûlée French toast will be serving Blush roast chicken, beef cheek lasagna and lobster and chorizo.
So how did Blush survive?
“Grit and grind,” said Moreno, the co-owner and executive chef. “We had to adapt as much as possible, get creative and use social media. We teamed up with influencers and hosted events. We did anything possible to stay afloat.”
Anything included developing a wholesale bakery business. Blush produced artisan croissants, éclairs, muffins and seasonal pastries and delivered them to coffee shops across San Antonio.
“It kept people employed,” Moreno said.
Benavides understands the construction business. When she’s not helping at Blush, Benavides helps manage projects for Brasfield & Gorrie, a general contractor in Alabama. Years ago when she lived in Laredo, Benavides worked on the new San Antonio Federal Courthouse that opened in 2022.
When Blush received notice of pending road construction, Benavides knew not to believe the projected completion date: six to eight weeks around her restaurant.
“I thought they are going to take at least 3-6 months max,” she said. “Never in my wildest dreams did I think it would take almost three years.”
Benavides and her husband brought experience to Blush. They ran a restaurant in Laredo for 11 years before moving to San Antonio. They found a historic Southtown building, drew from their savings and designed a space with pine flooring, velvet green sofas and candlelit tables. They created a courtyard to feel like Paris circa 1890.
Ambience, service and menu drew a sizable brunch crowd. King William’s benedict became the most popular entree: sous vide short rib, focaccia, poached eggs, house pickle and hollandaise.
Then came the notice. The City of San Antonio began a $59 million renovation of South Alamo Street in fall 2022, before Blush opened. Road construction reached Blush in the summer of 2023. A series of unexpected difficulties delayed completion until April 2026.
Area businesses lost customers. Some survived with the help of grants. Blush did not qualify for a grant because it opened after South Alamo renovation began. Yet here it stands, with a renovation project of its own.
Blush is turning its bakery into a cocktail bar with live music after dark.
While it will continue to serve coffee and pastries in the morning, the bakery will transform into a contemporary, European-inspired setting at night for handcrafted cocktails and conversation.
“We needed something to complement what we’re gonna do for dinner,” Moreno said.
Dinner will be served in the adjacent room that serves brunch and in the courtyard. Moreno has created a menu with dual flavor profiles blending his Puerto Rican heritage and his wife’s Mexican roots. He also has drawn inspiration from visits to Peru, Argentina, Brazil and beyond Latin America to Italy.
“We thought the combination made sense,” he said.
The menu includes hot and cold appetizers, from a charcuterie board and whipped queso fresco to grilled Spanish octopus and blackstrap glazed pork belly. Main dishes include steak y papas, beef cheek gratin and trout zarandeado.
The renovation project includes cosmetic improvements to the courtyard and the private dining area upstairs: fresh paint, new color, more greenery. As the new concept develops, live music will move from the cocktail bar to the courtyard.
The remodel is the latest in more than a century of changes to a building that was constructed in 1914. Framed black and white photos in Blush show a structure that once housed a paint shop and a creamery. A Latin restaurant and bar, a comedy club and other businesses operated in the same space.
The next page of history turns with a cocktail bar and dinner service.
“It’s incredibly exciting,” Moreno said. “It’s something we’ve wanted to do but felt it wasn’t the right time. Now we want to make sure it’s the best experience possible.”
Reporter Jasper Kenzo Sundeen contributed to this story.
