Laura's Kitchen

Last weekend was the 33rd annual Lakeside Chili Cookoff. Friday was the salsa competition.  Saturday was the non-professional cooks chili competition, and Sunday was the professional cooks chili competition. We went on Sunday. There were eight competitors and entrant number 1 didn't show up, so we started with entrant 2, which was from Laura's Kitchen. It was excellent! She was going to be hard to beat I thought, and we had just started. Laura, a forty-something woman looked at me when she handed me my sample and said, "I have a restaurant in San Antonio". I made a mental note of this. Bubba's (from Dallas) was a close second place. We went down the line trying all the samples. The chef from the Chili Bang Bar was in his white pristine starched chef's outfit. He was short but had a grand large smile.  He was telling me in his obvious European accent that his chili had a blend of 18 different peppers and other spices. I asked him what part of the South he was from. He stood there looking at me and still smiling...trying to process the question. After a moment I told him that I was teasing him...and he me gave me a hearty laugh with his smile.

Monday I went looking for Laura's Kitchen. I drove up and down the carretera in San Antonio's small but vibrant business district. Nope. I drove down to the Plaza in San Antonio (every town in Mexico has their own Plaza complete with Catholic church). Walked in front of the shops, up and down the side streets. Nope. There was a gringo passerby walking along the side street of the Plaza, I asked him if he knew where Laura's was. He paused and reflected for a moment and then said that she was on the carretera on the side street from Pannini's. I checked. Nope. I asked 5 people and got three locations. Nope. I went to our local gringo blog at chapala.com and asked for help. I got the same three plus one more wrong location. Finally later in the evening another blogger gave her exact location...at the San Antonio Plaza, 2-3 doors down from the ice cream shop. I went back. There she was! except that the name above her restaurant says La Fuente! and on her menus it says Margarita's. OK, I'm a little confused about the names but the chili is outstanding and the Pollo Mole Poblano  and the BBQ ribs are excellent. What cracks me up is the guy pedestrian I asked at the Plaza for directions...we were on the side of the Plaza, three doors down from the excellent Laura's Kitchen... and he didn't even know it.