Barbacoa, slow-cooked beef cheeks, and Big Red, a sugary-sweet bright red soft drink, is a favorite meal here in San Antonio.
Ask any native their go-to weekend food, and chances are they’ll tell you barbacoa and Big Red. There’s even an annual Barbacoa and Big Red Festival here in San Antonio.
Some establishments cook barbacoa throughout the week. Others cook it only on the weekends.
Rios Barbacoa at 10030 Roosevelt outside of Loop 410 on the South Side of San Antonio is a weekends-only site. They cook 2,500 pounds of barbacoa each weekend for their four locations, and they start selling it at 6 a.m. until it runs out.
Heribeto Rios started cooking barbacoa in 1969, and his descendants haven’t stopped. Rios now has 17 locations throughout San Antonio and in Hondo, Texas. Treviño’s with four locations is also part of the family.
Jaime Rios, Heribeto’s son, now runs the operation on Roosevelt and three others. His wife is involved, too, and runs their Kirby location.
Order all meat at $12.49 per pound or mixed (meat with fat) at $11.49 per pound with a side of tortillas and a liter of Big Red, and give Randy Garibay’s song, “Barbacoa Blues,” a listen while you dig in.
Bonus: Rios is located near Mission Espada. Sit at a picnic table at the mission to enjoy your barbacoa and Big Red, and soak up what makes San Antonio so special.
Shout out to Rick Hernandez, Professional Tour Guide of San Antonio, for this recommendation to include in my updated (second edition) book, which will be available in mid-May 2019.
Denise Barkis Richter, Ph.D., author of “San Antonio’s Passport to Fun,” has been blogging about San Antonio since June of 2010. Follow her at facebook.com/SanAntonioTourist so that you’ll never miss a post. Her love affair with the Alamo City began at Hemisfair in 1968. She moved to San Antonio in 1979 as an 18-year-old college student, and San Antonio has been her home ever since. Denise completed certification to become a professional tour guide in 2019. Please contact her at sanantoniotourist at gmail dot com if you’d like for her to curate a fabulous San Antonio experience for you!