September 19, 2018

San Antonio, Texas: Hemisfair + Dough Pizzeria Napoletana; things to do + restaurant review

Hemisfair  

434 S. Alamo St., (210) 709-4750.  Free.  

Built to host the 1968 World's Fair, this expansive park is a redo.

Yanaguana Garden  

434 S. Alamo St.  Free.  

The new Yanaguana Garden section features a playground, a splash pad, a giant chess board, a giant sand box, and an inexpensive paleteria dispensing fresh fruit popsicles.

giant chess set at Hemisfair in San Antonio, Texas
giant chess set at Hemisfair in San Antonio, Texas


splash pad at Hemisfair in San Antonio, Texas
splash pad at Hemisfair in San Antonio, Texas


giant mosaic cat at Hemisfair in San Antonio, Texas
giant mosaic cat at Hemisfair in San Antonio, Texas


child on saucer swing at Hemisfair in San Antonio, Texas
child on saucer swing at Hemisfair in San Antonio, Texas


children in giant sandbox at Hemisfair in San Antonio, Texas
children in giant sandbox at Hemisfair in San Antonio, Texas


toddlers examine the goods at paleteria in Hemisfair in San Antonio, Texas
toddlers examine the goods at paleteria in Hemisfair
in San Antonio, Texas


Dough Pizzeria Napoletana  

518 S. Alamo St., (210) 227-2900.  

Situated adjacent to the sand box, popular Dough Pizzeria Napoletana serves exceptional fare in a casual setting.  It’s a great place to retreat to on a hot day.  Most everything is made in house, including cheeses and drink flavorings.  Frozen wine slush cocktails have included a peach Bellini and a prickly pear-lime granita, and it’s hard to beat the superb cherry ice cream soda.  We started with the house signature “truffle burrata” that was as lovely as it was tasty, a simple Tuscan salad, and some warm marinated olives with olive oil-soaked toast.  So good.  Delicious artisan pizzas with crispy blistered crust are prepared here in a tarted-up wood-burning oven covered with copper pennies.  The pizzas are cooked for 90 seconds at 900 degrees.  For our vegetarian feast, we devoured a Neapolitan-style Fontina pizza with mushrooms and sweet caramelized onions as well as a simple Margherita.  Brilliantly, kids are kept busy with their own ball of dough to play with.  I can’t wait to return for more.

colorful cocktails at Dough Pizzeria Napoletana at Hemisfair in San Antonio, Texas
colorful cocktails at Dough Pizzeria Napoletana at Hemisfair
in San Antonio, Texas


child playing with pizza dough at Dough Pizzeria Napoletana at Hemisfair in San Antonio, Texas
child playing with pizza dough at Dough Pizzeria Napoletana
at Hemisfair in San Antonio, Texas


truffle burrata salad at Dough Pizzeria Napoletana at Hemisfair in San Antonio, Texas
truffle burrata salad at Dough Pizzeria Napoletana at Hemisfair
in San Antonio, Texas


copper penny-covered pizza oven at Dough Pizzeria Napoletana at Hemisfair in San Antonio, Texas
copper penny-covered pizza oven at Dough Pizzeria Napoletana
at Hemisfair in San Antonio, Texas


pizzas at Dough Pizzeria Napoletana at Hemisfair in San Antonio, Texas
pizzas at Dough Pizzeria Napoletana at Hemisfair in San Antonio, Texas


Nearby, 

The Institute of Texan Cultures 

801 E César E. Chávez Blvd., (210) 458-2300.  M-Sat 9am-5pm, Sun noon-5pm.  $10, 6-17 $8. 

The Institute of Texan Cultures explores the cultural history of Texas.  Exhibits include everything from Texas’ earliest settlers and how Tejanos lived in the 1930s to the importance of the chuck wagon in cowboy lore.  The Institute hosts the Texas Folklife Festival annually in mid-June. This festival celebrates the wide range of the cultural history of Texas, including Mexican, German, Latino, African, and Native American traditions.




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