{"id":856484,"date":"2026-06-10T02:34:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T02:34:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/856484\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T02:34:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T02:34:16","slug":"the-long-lost-soul-food-staple-san-antonians-still-hold-dear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/856484\/","title":{"rendered":"The long-lost soul food staple San Antonians still hold dear"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>William and Addie Garner were the powerhouse couple behind <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mysanantonio.com\/food\/article\/Eastside-soul-food-Mr-Mrs-Gs-closing-San-Antonio-17302054.php\" data-link=\"native\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">Mr. &amp; Mrs. G&#8217;s Home Cooking and Pastry<\/a>, a soul food staple that fed San Antonio&#8217;s Eastside for 32 years. From humble beginnings to a neighborhood mainstay, Mr. &amp; Mrs. G&#8217;s found a way into the hearts of locals during its lengthy run, which came to an abrupt end in 2022.<\/p>\n<p>In recent years, a new business has moved into the former home of Mr. &amp; Mrs. G&#8217;s, but the Southern-style eatery will continue to live on in the memories of every customer who spent time at the long-lost restaurant.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. &amp; Mrs. G&#8217;s was a dream come true for Addie Garner<\/p>\n<p>The Garners opened Mr. &amp; Mrs. G&#8217;s on July 16, 1990, fulfilling Addie&#8217;s dream of opening a restaurant after years of working in sales. William Garner told the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.expressnews.com\/sa-obituaries\/article\/Addie-Garner-Mrs-G-of-Mr-and-Mrs-G-s-Home-12191513.php\" data-link=\"native\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">San Antonio Express-News in 2017<\/a> that Addie was the heart of the business and that the duo worked in tandem to serve up &#8220;good home cooking.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It all started because of her,\u201d Garner said at the time. \u201cWe got well-known from word of mouth. We didn\u2019t have any money for advertising.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Mr. &amp; Mrs. G&#8217;s became known for its range of soul food dishes, including its famous crispy fried chicken, smothered steaks, okra gumbo and fried pork chops. Addie Garner&#8217;s specialties were of the sweet variety, with offerings like sweet potato pies, banana pudding and peach cobbler.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>William and Addie Garner remained steadily\u00a0active in the kitchen and operational sides of Mr. &amp; Mrs. G&#8217;s well into their golden years. Together, they made a huge impact on the lives of their customers and the surrounding community. Unfortunately, in her final years, Addie had to take a step back as her health declined, but her focus on family and food never wavered.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;She was a mom to the entire community,&#8221; said Deborah Thomas, daughter of the Garners, in a 2017 interview with Express-News. &#8220;The people that would come to visit and eat with us, they were family as soon as they walked through the door.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Addie Garner died <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legacy.com\/funeral-homes\/obituaries\/name\/addie-garner-obituary?pid=186757539&amp;v=batesville&amp;view=guestbook\" data-link=\"native\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">surrounded by her family<\/a> on September 11, 2017. In memory of his beloved wife, William carried on Mr. &amp; Mrs. G&#8217;s until his own passing in 2021. The Garners were both mourned deeply by longtime customers and their next of kin following both of their deaths.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>COVID-19 led to the closure of Mr. &amp; Mrs. G&#8217;s<\/p>\n<p>By 2022, Mr. &amp; Mrs. G&#8217;s had fallen on hard times, as so many restaurants had at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The restaurant inevitably called it quits in July 2022, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mysanantonio.com\/food\/article\/Eastside-soul-food-Mr-Mrs-Gs-closing-San-Antonio-17302054.php\" data-link=\"native\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">sharing a message on social media<\/a> about its impending closure.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It was a dream for William &amp; Addie to open a restaurant,&#8221; the announcement said. &#8220;They wanted to give back and help the community.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In the four years that have passed,\u00a0Grand Rodeo Mexican Restaurant has taken over the space at 2222 S. W.W. White Road, but over 32 years, Mr. &amp; Mrs. G&#8217;s made a lasting impression on San Antonio&#8217;s food scene.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"William and Addie Garner were the powerhouse couple behind Mr. &amp; Mrs. G&#8217;s Home Cooking and Pastry, a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":856485,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5133],"tags":[5229,324641,37066,330016,37065,7202,7203,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-856484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-america","tag-mysabusiness","tag-mysafood","tag-mysarealestate","tag-mysastaff","tag-san-antonio","tag-sanantonio","tag-texas","tag-tx","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116723480479697124","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=856484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/856485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=856484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=856484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=856484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}