South Side restaurant makes New York Time’s list of 50 restaurants ‘we’re most excited about right now’

SAN ANTONIO – A South Side San Antonio restaurant made it on The New York Times’ “The Restaurant List” — a group of 50 lauded restaurants across the United States favorited by critics, reporters and editors.

Fish Lonja is the only Alamo City eatery to make the list of “the 50 places in America we’re most excited about right now.”

The list, released Tuesday, isn’t a ranking but a collection of restaurants that “reflect the rich mosaic of American dining — from the melding of Thai curry and Texas brisket in the Pacific Northwest, to heritage crab rice on the South Carolina coast, to vegan soul food in the East Village,” the article states.

Fish Lonja is specifically called out for its aguachile and shrimp-and-chorizo quesadilla.

Chef and owner Alejandro Paredes started Fish Lonja behind Carnitas Lonja, which opened in 2017 near Roosevelt and Steves Avenues. Since then, he’s also be named a James Beard semifinalist for Best Chef-Texas.

Food critic Priya Krishna wrote that the seafood tastes so fresh, “you might wonder if San Antonio is a coastal town.”

“The menu winds through various Mexican coastal cities, and each offering is distinct,” she wrote.

The newspaper’s list also included three other Texas spots: Birdie’s in Austin, Roots Southern Table in Farmers Branch (north of Dallas), and Sylvia’s in Brownsville.

Read also:

• Texas Eats Season 3, Ep. 9: Restaurant Ghost Tours and State Fair Fun
• San Antonio restaurant The Pig Stand hits 100 years of business