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The chicken salad sandwich at Pacific Moon Bar & Grill
The Pacific Supreme sandwich at Pacific Moon Bar & Grill
Pacific Moon Bar & Grill features a large kitchen menu and bar and is located at 15140 San Pedro Ave.
Pacific Moon Bar & Grill features a large kitchen menu and bar and is located at 15140 San Pedro Ave.
The menu at Pacific Moon Bar & Grill
The menu at Pacific Moon Bar & Grill
In the classic 1985 film “Back to the Future,” a young Marty McFly was accidentally sent back to the year 1955. I would like to have that same tricked-out DeLorean time machine so I could go back to Pacific Moon Bar & Grill’s opening day in 1998 and become a longtime regular.
Pacific Moon is located in a nondescript shopping center at U.S. 281 and Brook Hollow. Its sign is easy to miss if you’re traveling north on U.S. 281. If you are traveling south, you’ll never know it’s there. But inside is a gem that is truly worth a drive from any part of San Antonio.
Pacific Moon Bar & Grill features a large kitchen menu and bar and is located at 15140 San Pedro Ave.
I feel like a genuine fool that this was my first visit as it produced one of the most exciting dining experiences I have ever had.
“Mama” Han Olmstead is the chef and owner at Pacific Moon, and with the cooking help of her daughter Marika, the avalanche of excellence ranges from a heavily stocked bar with more than 100 offerings, dishes influenced by Olmstead’s South Korean heritage, and — most importantly for this series — sandwiches.
Every sandwich here is a contender for the top spot, and you can forget your basic fries or bag of chips. Every sandwich comes with freshly fried wonton chips and cream cheese dip — plus a side salad.
During the day, Olmstead works the room like a consummate host, quick to engage in friendly conversation and make sure everybody is having a good time. She developed all the recipes, and she’s proud of them — as she should be. Such is her commitment to customer service that if a patron asks for a particular booze brand that’s not stocked, she’ll order it for their next visit.
“I wanted to create a restaurant that responded to what our customers wanted, from the bar to the menu,” Olmstead said. “And I continue to welcome new customers every day as if I have known them my entire life.”
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The teriyaki sirloin steak sandwich, with it sweet marinated steak, caramelized onions, scallions and provolone cheese, is the best version of a Philly cheesesteak the writer has ever tasted.
Best sandwich: The teriyaki sirloin steak sandwich ($11.50) earned the honor by a matter of a few tenths of a degree. It stands as one of the best sandwiches in the city and one of the best in the series so far.
The hoagie roll came loaded with so many thin slices of candy-sweet marinated steak, the meat overflowed the bun. Add the caramelized onions and the chopped scallions with the provolone cheese, and this sandwich beat out every version of a Philly cheesesteak I’ve ever tasted.
The chicken breast sandwich at Pacific Moon Bar & Grill
Other sandwiches: The chicken breast sandwich ($9.75) came with a tempura-battered fillet as big as your hand, with the sweet batter and moist chicken producing a bite as silky as a smoking jacket. The menu said the sandwich comes on a croissant, and while it had a nice, buttery flavor, it was a bun, not a croissant.
Regardless, it worked, and the thick slice of ripetomato, crispy green lettuce and slice of American cheese brought a great mix of flavors. This sandwich laughs at all those fast-food chicken sandwiches as it leaves them in the dust (here’s looking at you, Chick-fil-A).
The mastery of the yardbird continued with a chicken salad sandwich ($9.75) overloaded with a mountain of cubed white-meat chicken, chopped bell peppers and onions enveloped in a tangy mayonnaise. The stacked Pacific Supreme ($10.99) was made with layers of ham, turkey, roast beef and three types of cheese on a “croissant” with the zip of wasabi honey mustard setting it apart from its deli counter comrades.
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The Monte Cristo was different — but that doesn’t make it bad.
The one sandwich misstep at Pacific Moon — and it was a small one — was the Monte Cristo ($10.50). With no powdered sugar or fruity jam, the pan-fried assembly of ham, turkey, provolone and Swiss was more like a croque monsieur. And while tasty, it wasn’t what I was expecting.
Overall, Pacific Moon is special, and it’s a place that you should get to before the word gets out. Oops.
cblount@express-news.net | Twitter: @chuck_blount | Instagram: @bbqdiver
Pacific Moon Bar & Grill
Location:15140 San Pedro Ave., 210-402-3411, pacificmoonsa.com
Hours: 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Monday-Saturday; kitchen closes at 10 p.m.
Chuck Blount is an award-winning journalist with more than 20 years of experience at the San Antonio Express-News, and a tenure split between writing and editing about food, drinks, poker and sports, where he was part of the team that covered four of the five Spurs' NBA championships. He is a graduate of the University of Iowa.