I was at Randolph AFB in San Antonio for 18 months. The only time I ever went to For Sam was to see a dinner theater production of "The Bad Seed," at either the NCO Club or their Rec Center.
San Antonio was/is a real military town. Some of it has changed/consolidated since I was there, but at that time, there was For Sam (US Army), Lackland, Kelly, and Brooks (US Air Force), and Camp Bullis (US Marines) and maybe a couple I'm forgetting. When I got orders to the UK, I had to go up to Camp Bullis and (re)qualify with small arms and rifle, and I had to go back to Lackland (I think) to go through gas mask training again.
The number one thing I miss about San Antonio is all the good food and how cheap it was. Our favorite everyday place was Jim's, which really reminded me of our local Frisch's chain here, just with a Tex-Mex twist, and our favorite "fancy" place was The Old San Francisco, which was done up like an 1890's saloon. All the waitresses dressed like Kitty in Gunsmoke, and there was a giant block of cheese on the table to eat off of while you waited for your food, and I've never had a better baked potato anywhere.
There was a good German place in Castroville, not far out of town, and all the sausages in New Braunfels, and the peaches in Kerrville...we ate at some "romantic" place right in town, but it felt like being in the woods, very large grounds, and it's the first place I ever had mashed squash, and I loved it.
Ribs were dirt cheap, and our favorite place was "Al & Moe's" (get it?) out on I-10...two full racks of succulent ribs with two sides and iced tea for $13. There was also a little "they don't speak English" Mexican place near our apartment that was phenomenal, and there were always local Hispanic families selling the best foods from coolers on and off base. I had $1 egg burritos almost every morning from a guy who brought in several coolers in and sold out in no time.
One place I remember laughing my butt off in...we went to Gruene and ate a place called The Gristmill. Guess what? It was in an old Gristmill, and it was as untouched as possible, and the grinding stones were still there, and they had sacks of corn and wheat to add to the effect, and dozens of photos from years past, when it was a working gristmill.
The funny part: we were sitting in the bar area, waiting on our table, and a woman was looking all over, and she finally elbowed her husband and said, "Look at all this stuff...I wonder what this place used to be?" I'll remind you again that the name of the restaurant was...The Gristmill.
