Bolner’s Meat Company has been a food lovers’ tradition on the south side of San Antonio for more than 102 years.
Originally from Italy, the Bolner brothers, Antonio and Joseph, immigrated to Mexico in 1881. Antonio soon settled in Del Rio, where his descendants married into the oldest winery in Texas. Joe continued on to San Antonio where he bought a farm near Mission Espada. In 1914, he built a two-story brick general store on South Flores Street for $10,000. Joe and Mary, with their eight kids, lived above the store.
At one time the family’s empire included three large businesses along Flores Street. “My uncle Dave learned to be a butcher in the Army,” Richard Bolner, Joseph’s grandson, says. “When he returned from the war, he turned the pool hall into a meat market.” Richard and his brother Bobby turned the market into one of the premier meat purveyors in town. Another uncle branched into raising chickens. His son, Clifton, Richard’s cousin, got out of the protein business to start Bolner’s Fiesta Brand Spice Company.
Bolner’s Meat Company, 2900 S. Flores in San Antonio, offers a wide assortment of Texas-sourced beef, chicken, and pork along with rabbit, frog legs, and their own sausage. The beef skirt pinwheels with bacon and jalapeño are delicious. The butcher shop also carries a few general items and the largest assortment of cousin Clifton’s Fiesta Brand spices that you will find anywhere.
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This article appears in February 3 • 2017.
