Merchants Grand Cafe (San Antonio, Anton: organic, live, restaurants)

[pr57001]

Has anyone else eaten at this new restaurant on Broadway?

[CelesteDF]

I ate there last week with my mom - it was interesting how our observations varied. My mother has lived in SA for the last 15 years, I have been gone for 10 years and just came back recently.

• Her take: "Wow, this is expensive! But the food seems interesting. I thought this would be fancier looking by all the talk I heard about the place - this is pretty grim looking. But the menu seems more interesting than other places."

• My take: "Oh. I see restaurants in San Antonio are finally trying to catch up with the rest of the country. Prices seem reasonable. Hey, check out all those 09'ers hanging out together! I guess this is their new gathering spot. Well, the food's ok, nothing special but I guess I'll come back and check it out again - feels kinda hip for a change."

So your take on Merchants may largely rest on what you're used to. They're trying to cram a whole lot of trends into one space - open kitchen, locally grown and organic foods, urban sophistication (concrete floors, unfinished ceiling), small plates/tapas-size servings, etc. It was ok - not fantastic - but it's nice to see an attempt to raise the level of sophistication found in SA restaurants. (And yes, I'm well aware of the many excellent fine dining options available in SA - but Merchants seems to raise the bar in the everyday dining category that currently is dominated by Chili's, Bennigans, Applebees, etc.)