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(upbeat music) - You may remember the Alamo and reminisce about the Riverwalk, but we're skipping both and heading north for a burger with a cheesy obsession and a celebrity capybara at the zoo.

We'll sip some boba in a hidden garden, walk amongst the dinosaurs, and visit a place that used to brew beer but now turns out the world's most promising chefs, 'cause it's time for another Dia de San Antonio Del Norte.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) San Antonio is the gateway to South Texas, and, today, we're exploring its North side.

So welcome to the Alamo City, which, truthfully, extends way beyond the Alamo.

I mean, this city is 300 years old after all.

So let's just say it's had plenty of time to marinate.

You know, every time I visit San Antonio, I discover new things to do, and if you take downtown's beautiful river walk up this way, well, you'll arrive at one of my favorite parts of the city.

The area north of downtown has lots of names.

Locals call parts of it Midtown in Alamo Heights.

I just call it the North side, but with the city's rapid growth, what was once kind of north now feels central.

After all, San Antonio covers 500 square miles, and I've been here many, many times but still feel like I've only scratched the surface.

(upbeat music) All right, y'all, so what are your earliest memories of San Antonio?

- The River Walk, Alamo, Tower of the Americas.

- Was Fiesta Texas, Sea World- - I was gonna say Sea World.

I actually sat on Shamu.

- What?

- What?

- Back in the day, they let random kids sit on a killer whale.

- Man, the '80s were crazy.

- They were amazing.

- No matter what your memories are, there's one place in this town that seared itself into the collective memories of locals for 50 years with gobs of gooey cheese.

I'm talking about Chris Madrids, a staple on the North side since 1977, and topping its burgers with more cheese than is legal in some countries, but this is Texas, and this is Pedro, who's been a staple here for 17 years.

All right, Pedro, what do we have here, man?

- This is our signature macho nachos.

It's a corn tortilla shell with beans, picadillo, which is ground beef with spices, and a shredded cheese on top that we melt, but we want every chip to have something on it.

- Not just something, a macho amount of something.

- Yes, yes, a lot of something.

- Oh, that's really good.

What is it about a Chris Madrids burger that has made it so iconic?

- It's the amount of cheese.

If you love cheese, you love crispy chips.

- Okay, all right.

- Because we do real shredded mild cheddar cheese that we melt to put on top of your burger.

It's not nacho cheese.

It's not whiz from a can.

It is so special we don't let anybody film that process of it.

- Wait, hold up.

We don't get to see it?

- Nope.

- They're not even gonna let us in the kitchen to see the cheese melting.

- What?

- Eh, we'll see about that.

Chris Madrid is a name so cool, it almost sounds fake, but he was an actual person who the entire community loved until he passed away back in 2012.

- Oh, he was great.

He was energetic all the time.

He was always running the tables, greeting people, but the one I iconic thing about him was he had slicked, back, a black hair, and everybody knew him for that.. He was always just slipping it back.

- Well, that's how you got the nacho grease, you know?

- Yes.

- It's good pomade.

I mean, that's why a place is around this long, and even when the namesake passes, his name and legacy is so important to San Antonio that it doesn't change.

- Nope.

- Part of this joint's lore is the building itself, which is a combination of an old gas station and an ice house but one that was almost completely lost to a massive fire back in 2017.

- Everything from this wall and the bar burned out, but we rebuilt it the way it was before.

- Okay.

- We wanted to keep that nostalgia.

- Not only is the food good, but there's a vibe inside of Chris Madrids that's one of the reasons you come here.

- We always want it to be a fun place where you come by, and then no matter what's going on in the world, this is your little oasis.

- See, that's awesome.

- Yeah.

- When the world gets you down, there's no cheddar place to be, (upbeat music) but now about that cheese.

- Wait, it says employees only.

- Shh.

Well, I think it's back here.

- Chet, I don't... - Back here.

- I don't know if we can do this.

- Back here is just... - Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

- Oh, oh!

- You can't be back here, man.

- Oh, oh!

- You can't be back here.

- We were looking for the restroom.

- Oh, no, no.

We moved those.

- Pedro.

- We moved those in the rebuild.

- Oh, that's right, after the fire.

Our bad, our bad, just... - Just, yeah, get lost.

- We assumed it was, yeah, past the bread wall.

- We'll get you a map.

We'll get you a map.

- Oh, a map.

- Thanks, Pedro.

- Okay.

- Looks like their secret will live another day, (upbeat music) but it's no secret in San Antone that if you want a burger, a little bit Texas, and a little bit Tex-Mex, well, you go for the tostada burger.

That's a cheese pull right there.

- That is a lot.

(laughs) - There's cheeseburgers, and then there's cheeseburgers.

There are other toppings than cheese, but we got chips, beans, onions on the bottom.

That's a classic right there.

You've got the creamy beans, which are basically a condiment.

You've got the crisp onions, the crispy chips.

It's just a whole, like a circus of textures going on.

Also, they make homemade fresh salsa, because, well, San Antonio.

It's such a solid burger.

Here's to 50 more years, Mr.

Madrid.

(upbeat music) Now, our next stop makes Chris Madrids look like a teenager.

As we head to the city's premier outdoor escape, Brackenridge Park.

It's 340 acres of creeks, grass, and trees, some of which are inhabited by the world's most interesting creatures.

Yes, because right in the middle of the park is the San Antonio Zoo, home to over 750 different species.

They opened their doors back in 1914 and were the first zoo in the world to showcase cageless habitats.

Okay, that sounds super dangerous.

You're gonna have to explain that a little bit.

- Well, the zoo was built in part of a rock quarry, and so that allowed to have this beautiful limestone behind the animal exhibit, and they developed the moat system that was adopted in zoos all over the US.

So the animals were out in the open without cages for the first time.

- No kidding.

This is Hope Roth who's gonna show us around and share the mission.

- Why are zoos important?

And if you understand and you learn to love, then you're gonna protect.

- I agree with that wholeheartedly.

When you allow a kid to sort of get filled with that wonder of like look how big, beautiful the world is, right?

- Absolutely.

- I'm excited to explore, but first things first.

The internet is buzzing.

Where is Tupi?

Let's go see Tupi.

I gotta see Tupi.

Tupi what or who?

Well, he's only the world's most famous capybara and the firstborn at this zoo in 25 years.

His cuteness made him a viral internet sensation, because I mean, come on, look at him.

So he's a little bigger.

- He's a lot bigger.

(Chet laughs) You know, they eat all the time.

- But he is still pretty darn cute.

- He's adorable.

- Yeah.

- Absolutely adorable.

- The San Antonio Zoo is definitely one of the best zoos, not just in Texas, but the country.

Whether you're an ornithophile, an arctophile, or herpetophile.

Luckily, not all the animals are cageless.

All right, what I'm about to show you may scare some of you all, but this is the only zoo in the world that has a chupacabra.

- Wait, it's not really moving.

- I told y'all it was real, evidence right there.

- Is that like a statue?

- I mean... - That's not a statue.

It's hunting.

(upbeat music) Not much is hoppening over here at the kangaroo exhibit.

Dude's taking a nap.

So that's a mom and her kid.

I've never identified with a monkey more.

The kid's like trying to grab on.

She's like, "Get off of me.

Quit jumping on me."

(Daniel laughs) So look at these tortoises back here.

They're both over a hundred years old, and the one down here in the water is estimated to be between 150 and 200 years old.

This tortoise right here could have been born before the Republic of Texas.

- They knew a time without TikTok.

- Tell us about the ye old days, tortoises.

What was it like before the internet?

One of the best parts of this zoo is the animal interactions, up close and, sometimes, very personal experiences, and if you take a behind-the-scenes tour, where you can get closer than you ever wanted to one of the world's most dangerous animals, the hippo.

Look at that.

Grandma Uma's coming down.

- She's such a good girl.

Ready, open.

Go ahead, and then you toss right in the center.

- There it is.

- Perfect.

- It's just a way for us to strengthen our relationship.

- They're cute, right?

- They are.

- I mean, they just look like big... - I love her a lot.

- Roly poly slugs, but like you- - They're big potatoes.

They're big potatoes.

- If you're just nothing but a big potato.

- with little two pink legs.

- Respect the potato.

Tara here is a seasoned animal keeper, and, obviously, you should never do this without both an expert and very thick metal bars.

Good job, Uma.

You like eating on camera as much as I do.

So what are we feeding her now?

- So these are called alfalfa cubes.

- Pretty good?

- It's grass.

- No.

- So not really.

- Timothy here is also a bit of an internet celebrity because of his long distance love affair with a hippo named Fiona in Cincinnati.

Yeah, they write each other letters.

He's a little bit of a lovesick hippo.

- They're still young.

Just gotta wait and see what happens.

- I mean, who knew hippos were so romantic?

It's a wild animal.

Are they unpredictable?

They gotta be.

- Oh, all the time.

- Yeah.

- Just because they are within geological settings, like you said, they're still a wild animal.

- Yeah.

- I mean, it's the reason that I wanted to do what I do.

I love animals, and I love being an advocate for them, and they need us.

They need our help sometimes in the wild.

- And thanks to the incredible keepers, we can all learn a little more and protect a little better, (Eastern music) but it's not just the animals at Brackenridge Park that can transport you around the world.

There's another hidden gem that daily takes visitors on a trip to the land of the rising sun at the Japanese Tea garden, a secret oasis since 1917.

This is Mary Jane, CEO of the San Antonio Parks Foundation.

How did this come about?

'Cause it's sort of unexpected.

- So the Japanese Tea Garden was the vision of Parks Commissioner Ray Lambert, designed to be a Japanese style garden with a Texas Parks Commissioner's point of view.

- Okay, the internet doesn't exist at that time.

- No.

(laughs) - You just pull up a picture of a Japanese garden.

- This is a good example of a Texas fusion garden that's sort of Japanese... - Hey, they were just ahead of the trend, fusion's big right now.

- That's what it is yeah.

(laughs) - An interesting piece of history is that during World War II when we were at war with Japan, the garden was renamed to the Chinese Tea Garden.

The entrance still bears that momentary name.

- You know, we have to acknowledge the complex histories of parks because that's how we evolve, respecting the past but yet moving forward and making it even better.

- Folks come to the garden for all kinds of reasons, quiet time, family time, every kind of photo time, and then there are the forest bathers?

Fill me in, what is that?

- A forest bathing is taking advantage of all of nature around you, especially right here in the middle of the city with so much going on, where you can just basically walk and be at peace with nature.

- I love it, I love it.

- Yeah.

- But is this a Japanese tea garden?

I think I need some tea to do that.

- Yeah, I think you do.

- Enter the Jingu House.

in the '20s and '30s, it was the home of Japanese artist, Iso Jingu and his family who actually lived in and tended to the garden.

Today, it's a delicious place for artistic Asian fair and boba tea, which is like a milky sweet tea filled with tapioca boba balls.

Boba is weird to me, y'all.

I know there's a bunch of fans out there.

My kids love it, but to me, it just tastes like somebody put sort of a flavorless gummy bear in my drink.

I think maybe I can get on board.

I'm gonna keep trying, all right?

This place is beautiful, y'all, waterfalls, scenic views, and I'm really feeling the forest bathe me.

So I get some of that forest, just scrub around.

- I don't think that means what you think it means.

- It's washing over me like a big soapy bathtub.

(calming music) - Chet.

- Stop, Daniel.

- No, no, no, check this out.

- What?

- Look behind you.

- What the heck?

Let's go meet that guy.

I told y'all they do lots of stuff in the garden, and this is John.

What do you call this art form?

- This is called Iaido.

- Iaido?

- Yeah, it's a traditional Japanese art.

It's about 450 years old.

So there's two components to sword fighting, if you will, in Japan.

- Okay.

- One is this Iaido, where you may not know you're gonna be in a fight.

- Okay.

- So the sword is here resting.

The other, you might call kendo.

- All right.

- And so in Kendo, the swords already out.

- Whoo.

- Yeah, buddy.

You know you're fighting in that case.

- Yeah.

- But these battles were tight, and they were nasty.

- All right, John, don't stab me, but I'm gonna stand here as if I'm your opponent.

- Yeah.

- I've got hands.

I've got the American fists.

(suspenseful music) Oh yeah, I'm done.

I just lost a hand and probably my guts, too.

- There's a lot of training involved, and it takes a few years to get at it, but... - See, I'm pointing it at you, Daniel, but I've gotta watch John out of the corner of my eye.

- I know.

- Because I know, at any moment, he's gonna rush me, and I'm gonna have to stab him in the gut.

Things you never knew existed until you got out and started exploring.

(upbeat music) San Antonio may be centuries old, but the land we're standing on is much, much older.

Our next stop is a monument to the long history of this place we call Texas.

Welcome to the Witty Museum.

The Witty houses a Texas sized load of artifacts and archives in its collection and is dedicated to preserving the history of both our state and land.

This is museum president Melissa Everbridge, to tell us about the museum's art, natural history, and dinosaurs.

- Dinosaurs, these dinosaurs lived here in Texas.

Here in San Antonio, we had this acrocanthosaurus that you see right here, millions of years older than a T-Rex.

- T-Rex meets Stegosaurus.

- Yeah.

Totally.

- Jurassic Park didn't have anything new to think of.

They just like, just looked at it, yeah.

- Millions of years after the acrocanthosaurus lived here, the T-Rex lived kind of Big Bend area in Texas.

- We did have T-rexes in Texas.

- Uh-hmm, we think of time as vertical rather than horizontal.

- Oh.

- So as you start to dig into the land, you might find things from hundreds of years ago.

- Yeah?

- And you kept going, you might find things from the first people of Texas.

If you kept going and you were super lucky, you might find a fossil from millions of years ago, and so we really wanna tell the deep time of Texas from millions of years to the present.

- Wow.

That's a task As tall as, well, Texas, and while the T-Rex gets lots of attention, I think I'd be more scared of the king of the Texas skies.

So this is one of the coolest animals to ever walk around Texas this year, Quetzalcoatlus.

Look at it, it's huge.

It's the largest animal ever to fly.

The wingspan is enormous.

It's like a fighter jet flying around.

Look, stay.

- Wait, you gotta- - Stay here, look how... - Yeah, you go over there.

- Look how huge this thing is.

- Oh, wow.

- Look, it's a timeline of the points of Texas.

So you've got the Clovis back here.

Look number two, that's definitely alibates flint.

We've been up to the Alibates Flint Quarry outside of border.

It's pretty cool, and this is mind blowing.

That's a 5,000-year-old sandal.

You think your feet hurt?

Think about that.

- It's like the earliest Chaco.

- See, this is the original puka shell necklace.

Frosted tips optional.

Hey, you can't just skip the '90s era of Texas history y'all, but walking through the museum, I'm pretty sure I'm already reliving my past.

So I feel like we're traveling back in time to our Seminole Canyon episode.

So we stood right below this.

Inside of the state park, this is the Fate Bell shelter.

What's cool is this is all perfectly to scale.

So it's like you're taking a trip to West Texas, but right here at the Witty.

This gallery, I feel like I'm just taking a lot of mini day trips, really feel like I've already stood in this exact spot.

It's like every day trip we've ever been on.

It's crazy how much they packed in this museum, one room after the other, full of truly priceless artifacts.

When they got Davy Crockett's fiddle.

So there's a famous moment before the fall of the Alamo that he stood on one of the towers in the corners and played the fiddle, both for his men but, also, sort of as a sign of defiance to the Mexican army that like, "Look, you guys aren't phasing us."

To stare man in the eyes and say, "I'm about to kill you," and he picks up a fiddle and says, "Oh, yeah?

Fiddle me this."

Well, one thing's for sure, the witty will certainly build your wits about Texas.

(upbeat music) - Austin has the phrase, of course, keep Austin weird.

I think San Antonians have the phrase, "Keep San Antonio boring."

Shh... (people laugh) Don't let everybody know.

San Antonio is underrated.

- I call it the cradle of Tex-Mex culture.

- Like the baby?

- Yeah, a little baby.

- The Mesopotamia.

- The Pangaea of Tamales.

- Also valid, also valid.

Now, it is hard to come to San Antonio and not eat Tex-Mex, but I think you'll understand why we're skipping the combo plate when you see where we're headed.

San Antonio's most historic and delicious culinary destination, the Pearl.

(jazz music) For over 100 years, these grounds were the home of Pearl Beer, which before prohibition, was the largest brewery in all of Texas and even pretty big by national standards.

Now, by 2001, the brewery had closed its doors, but this whole district has found sort of a second life as a culinary destination and truly a poster child for historic renovation.

Every historic building on this property was once part of Pearl Beer's massive operation.

The crown jewel of the entire thing is the stately Hotel Emma, that flawlessly balances rich leather and white linen next to weird, rusted metal tanks and valves.

It's super cool It's named after the strong Texas woman, Emma Kaler, who ran the brewery for decades after her husband died.

(upbeat music) So it's true this brewery no longer makes Pearl beer, however the restaurant right behind me, Southerleigh, is a microbrewery, and they make one called gold export.

It's a traditional German lager that they believe is pretty darn close to the brew they used to make here over 100 years ago.

So prost, y'all.

- Ah.

- That's a shame.

They only had the one beer in there.

- Yeah.

- Sorry guys.

- Micro brewery and whatnot.

(Chet laughs) - Beer aside, let's get to the food.

Now, you name the type of food, chances are they have it.

From the high end to the flip-flop casual, it's a food oasis in a town that's already known for great food.

So how did the Pearl district becomes such an amazing gastronomic experience?

Well, if I told you, I'd have to kill you as the Pearl is also home to the CIA, that is the Culinary Institute of America, and trust me, the flavors they can turn out will make you think you're dead and gone to foodie heaven.

The Institute teaches our country's brightest culinary minds and even has its own restaurant named Savor, where patrons can taste the budding genius firsthand, and this is Brent Holden, one of the secret agent, ah, instructors around here.

So these are all students.

- This is a completely student-run restaurant.

They're dealing with customers.

They're back in the kitchen cooking the food, and then we send them out into the real world as graduates.

- That's amazing.

- Yeah.

- Not only do the students change often, but so does the menu.

- Right now, this semester, we're doing Oaxacan cuisine.

- Oh, cool.

- Next semester, we're doing Indian.

So every time you come in, it might be a whole different experience for you.

- I imagine it gets pretty stressful in here.

- It is sort of like opening a new restaurant every seven weeks.

So we get a new batch of students, and they've never waited tables before, they've never cooked in the kitchen before, and we're starting all over again.

- That sounds like the worst part of running a restaurant.

- It's kind of the worst, but it's also the most exciting, and it's great to watch them grow as they progress through the program.

- This has got to be the best smelling classroom I have ever been in.

So let's head to the kitchen to chat with head chef and instructor Katrina Flores-Guzman.

Now, how often do you make a student cry?

- Hmm, I can't say I've made a student cry.

I do have that serious face that can scare some people.

- Okay, yeah.

- So you gotta be aware of that, but I always try to put a nice smile on.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

(Katrina laughs) - So chef, can we take a tour of the kitchen?

- Of course.

- All right.

- Students.

- Yes, chef?

- We ready to take a tour around this kitchen?

- That was awesome (Katrina laughs) by the way, yes, let's go.

All right, so you've designed the menu.

- Yes.

- And it's not just like mac and cheese and chicken nuggets.

- This is a fine dining experience.

- Yeah.

- So between three to four courses, people are able to order, but for this particular menu, it's Oaxacan inspired.

- When someone learns to cook, they're learning much more than just food.

- I came into this pretty much with no experience and low confidence, but after a while I just, I started growing as a person, growing as a chef, and it's just all in all.

- Oh, man.

- Been a great experience.

- Oh, that's cool.

So you're taking away a lot more than just, you know, how to cook a mean meal.

- Right, exactly.

(gentle music) - You're doing a great job, Chloe.

- Thank you.

- If she ever makes you cry, just hang in there.

It gets better.

- I keep it inside.

- Yeah.

(all laugh) Bury it deep inside.

Time to let the students take me to school.

My first course is a tetela, a thin masa pocket stuffed with chorizo and cheese and garnished so pretty, I'm gonna feel bad eating it, but gonna do it anyway.

That's culinary artwork, kinda like a hot pocket.

Most delicious hot pocket I've ever had.

(chuckles) Next course, a squash blossom stuffed with crab, lightly tempura fried, and served with mole amarillo, and when you come across something you've never had before, I get really, really excited about that.

Oh, I feel good.

Third chile fideo pasta, topped with grilled quail and fresh jikama.

I did get permission to use my fingers on this one.

I know, I know, we're in a nice restaurant, but I'm going in.

There are hearts of Tex-Mex in here, but then there's all these like traditional interior Mexican flavors that are coming out of it.

Oh, I love it.

To close us out, dessert, Mexican chocolate moose cake paired with a passion fruit ice cream.

I just ate like this chocolate truffle in the middle of that moose cake.

You know what I love so much about eating here?

It's the feeling that you're giving back to the next generation, and eating this food is a way that I like to give back.

- You think we could help the next generation?

- No, no you can't.

- I want the help.

- Only I... - The next generation.

- No, no, no.

It's a unique way I help.

(bright music) (upbeat music) Unique is the word, because there's no place in Texas quite like San Antonio, nature, history, a very cute potato, and food.

Oh, the food.

No doubt about it, the North side of San Antonio is a place to slow down and savor.

Now, one last spot to end the night.

Back at Hotel Emma, inside what has to be the coolest bar in Texas.

Man, it is amazing when you can finish the day up in a place like this that is well over 100 years old, but hey, that's San Antonio.

So I'll see all y'all out on the road.

Vaya con dios, amigos.

Howdy, y'all.

Follow along with my adventures at ChetTripper on Instagram, and at TheDayTripperTV on Facebook and YouTube.

Or head to thedaytripper.com for travel guides, past episodes and info on our mobile app and Team Daytripper.

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Don Hewlett Chevrolet, Buick, Texas true.

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