A local newsroom like the San Antonio Report is always thinking deeply about which stories will resonate with our community.
From regular coverage of city government to business and development, education and more, we spend our days in the newsroom digging deep on how to better serve our readers, helping them be more informed and more engaged in San Antonio.
But any great newsroom has to balance that news coverage with features — longform storytelling that helps our readers better understand the world around them, not just through data, facts and figures, but through the faces and personalities that make up the unique flavor of San Antonio.
Which is why we’re excited to announce a new direction this year: The San Antonio Report is expanding the evergreen lifestyle section we launched in 2022 by adding our first full-time Live Like a Local features writer focusing on the culinary arts.
We’re adding a top-tier journalist to the team to lead that effort, with a byline that should be familiar to longtime San Antonio Report readers: Ken Rodriguez.
Rodriguez has been writing features for the San Antonio Report since it was known as the Rivard Report, writing hugely popular pieces on all sorts of topics, from a reflection on the history of Jefferson High School to a beautiful summary of the life of business magnate Red McCombs to a look inside Spurs’ Coach Gregg Popovich’s remarkable generosity.
Rodriguez is a San Antonio native with a 30-year track record of journalistic achievements. He’s had bylines at Sports Illustrated, the San Antonio Express-News and the Miami Herald, where he was a member of a reporting team that won the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting in 1999.
“Joining the San Antonio Report is a circle-of-life experience,” Rodriguez said of his new role. “When I was in third grade across the street at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church and school, I watched the top house rise to the top of the Tower of the Americas in 1968. That same year, I decided to pursue a career in journalism.
“Now here I am, with St. Mark’s in view of the newsroom, living out the dream.”
Rodriguez recently wrote a feature on Philippe Placé, who went from serving generals and the Queen and now serves San Antonio diners at Southerleigh. Expect to see a lot more of these culinary features in the days to come under Ken Rodriguez’s regular byline.
And there are plenty to tell; San Antonio is a UNESCO-recognized Creative City of Gastronomy, one of only two cities with that distinction in the U.S.
San Antonio’s application stood out from the pack because its culinary history goes back 11,000 years. Plus, the Culinary Institute of America’s campus at the Pearl that opened in 2006 has had a major impact on local restaurants and chefs. Last month, seven San Antonio-area chefs and restaurants were named semifinalists for the 2025 James Beard Awards, and last fall, the city earned its first Michelin star for Southtown modern Mexican restaurant Mixtli, plus five Bib Gourmand-designated restaurants and a number with the “recommended” distinction.
We followed our initial breaking news story on the Michelin awards with a step-back look at the team of women who make Mixtli what it has become, an example of the sort of behind-the-scenes story you can expect in our Live Like a Local coverage.
We can’t wait to get started.
If you’re new to San Antonio or looking for a crash course in the community’s local government, business and arts and culture, sign up for our Live Like a Local newsletter course, a series of evergreen emails that explain how a newcomer can live local, and how even a longtime San Antonian can get to know their community in a new way.
And please join me in welcoming Ken to the team. Make sure to send him story ideas at ken@sareport.org, or sign up for text messages from the San Antonio Report and text us your ideas!
