According to San Antonio Current, for most of the past decade, the building at 2100 North Main Avenue was a shuttered service station with nothing happening behind its windows. Pitmaster Andrew Samia wanted the space badly enough to commission architectural renderings before he even had a deal in hand, then watched that purchase fall through. He kept at it anyway. More than three years later, in November 2025, he opened South BBQ inside the rebuilt station, one storefront over from a pizzeria that spent that same stretch of time turning into one of the hardest reservations in the city.
Neither restaurant existed on this block when the Monte Vista Historical Association ran its first 5K. The third annual race starts and finishes at Landa Library on November 14, a few hundred feet from the same stretch of North Main Avenue that has quietly become the most concentrated dining strip in a neighborhood usually discussed for its architecture rather than its restaurant openings.
The Building That Took Three Years to Fill
Samia isn't new to San Antonio barbecue. He opened the original South BBQ & Kitchen on Mission Road in 2018, after building a following with the Crazy Carl's food truck and Dignowity Meats, and the Southtown spot went on to earn attention from national food press. He closed that Mission Road location in January and spent the following months finishing what had already been a three-year pursuit of the North Main Avenue building, according to San Antonio Current's reporting on the reopening. The new space kept the menu that built his reputation in the first place: post oak-smoked meats, barbecue tacos, stacked sandwiches, and scratch sides like borracho beans and creamed elote.
Samia's own description of the move gets at why it took so long to feel finished. "I feel like this restaurant is finally a representation of who I am," he told San Antonio Current after the opening. His wife Rachel handles the dessert program, and general manager Brandee Rosas ran the buildout and staffing. It is the kind of relocation story that only shows up in the details, not the headline: a chef who tried to buy a building, failed, kept looking, and eventually landed two doors down from the pizzeria that would end up becoming his most obvious neighbor.
Next Door, a Line That Outgrew the Counter
Lovers Pizzeria opened on the South Side in 2023, taking over the old home of Carnitas Lonja, and built a steady following under owners Dusty Dworak and Victoria Moreno. The business moved to Monte Vista in 2025. Since then it picked up a nomination for Best New Restaurant in CultureMap San Antonio's 2026 Tastemaker Awards, and the line for a limited daily run of coal-fired pies started forming well before the 4 p.m. opening.
Starting May 14, 2026, Lovers Pizzeria dropped counter service entirely in favor of a reservation model, with limited walk-ins and online ordering added for to-go pies.
The Corner That Was Already Busy
South BBQ and Lovers Pizzeria didn't arrive to an empty dining scene. The intersection of North Main Avenue and East Bushnell Avenue has been a go-to strip for Monte Vista for a while, anchored by Barbaro and Lily's Cookies. Barbaro picked up recognition as a Neighborhood Restaurant of the Year nominee in the 2026 Tastemaker Awards, and CultureMap's write-up describes a distinct 3:30 p.m. rush of office workers timing their exit around the happy hour, with a slower late-night crowd that lingers over hash brown pies.
Landa Library sits directly on this same stretch, at 233 Bushnell Avenue, which means the 5K doesn't route past the neighborhood's dining cluster from a distance. It starts and ends inside it.
What Race Day Looks Like This Year
The Monte Vista Historical Association's 5K Fun Run and Walk runs from 9 to 10 a.m. on November 14, with early registration at $25 and day-of registration at $35. Runners and walkers move through what organizers describe as one of Texas's largest historic districts, passing homes built between 1890 and 1930 in a mix of architectural styles. Leashed dogs are welcome on the course.
The race itself is only the first hour. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Landa Library's grounds turn into a Fall Fest with:
- Kids activities
- A holiday market
- Food trucks
- Live music
All proceeds benefit the Monte Vista Historical Association, the nonprofit that also tracks city ordinances and development issues affecting the neighborhood on residents' behalf.
Same Route, Different Block
None of this changes where the race goes. The course has run through the same historic streets since the event started. What's different is what's sitting along those streets by the time runners pass them this November: a barbecue restaurant that took three years to open, a pizzeria that shifted from counter service to a reservation model, and an established corner that was drawing crowds before either of them showed up. A neighborhood 5K is usually a fixed, low-stakes tradition. This year it happens to double as a walking tour of how fast Monte Vista's food scene moved in about twelve months.
If you're curious about what else is shifting on Monte Vista's blocks, or what a home in this historic district actually looks like up close, Patrick Bean grew up in San Antonio and keeps a close eye on neighborhoods like this one. Start a conversation whenever you're ready.
