On a recent Saturday, in a bright room filled with boisterous conversation and bubbly mimosas, groups of men and women (mostly women) were bedecked in fascinators and finery like they were attending the Royal Ascot. But the only race here was to eat all the delicious pastries before one’s tablemates.
The pandemic means that the dining room at The Bread Box, named one of San Antonio’s best bakeries in the Express-News “Dining & Drinks” guide the last four years, is closed. But during brunch hours Wednesday through Saturday, the bakery breaks out the white linen, cake stands and vintage tea cups for what it calls tea parties. You bring the party; it supplies the tea and carbs for $25 a person.
And oh, what carbs. A three-tiered cake stand — a fun assemblage of glassware and plates glued together — came to my table for two filled with two each of mini quiche lorraines, finger sandwiches of chicken salad and cucumber tzatziki, lemon cupcakes, blueberry scones, chocolate raspberry brownies, lemon bars and fruit.
Days later, I am still thinking about those lemon cupcakes, moist and lightly sweet, with a burst of lemon in the icing, and the finger sandwiches, which made me wish there was a full-size lunch portion I could order separately.
If you have had a real English tea before, this isn’t it, and the tea part of the party was pretty woeful. We got three tea bags to choose from, English teatime, ginger and jasmine. Servers came by with teapots full of hot water they poured into teacups — yes, into the cups — for us to brew our tea one serving at a time instead of in a teapot as the queen intended. There was no lemon, only creamer, and no clotted cream for the scones.
Still, San Antonio just doesn’t have many options for tea service, so any fascinator in a storm, right? And clearly nothing was going to dampen the party mood for the other diners, from young girls and their moms to large groups of women who looked like they were at a power lunch but for their twee hats and fancy dresses.
For a $5 per bottle corkage fee you can bring in your own Champagne to make mimosas (the bakery provides orange juice), and that’s what most of the diners seemed to be doing. A hat, some champers and sammies, and you are off to the races.
The Bread Box, 555 W. Bitters Road, suite 115, in The Alley on Bitters, 210-277-8612, thebreadboxsa.com . The dining room is open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday for tea, and reservations can be made online or by phone.
espicer@express-news.net | Twitter: @Spiced1 | Instagram: @emilyspicersa
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July 20, 2021 at 10:43PM
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Tea parties at San Antonio’s The Bread Box in The Alley on Bitters a fascinator twist on brunch - San Antonio Express-News
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