San Antonio's local favorite, Augie's Alamo City BBQ Steakhouse on Broadway, has served its last plate of brisket. On Sunday, barbecue enthusiasts gathered for a final taste of Augie's ribs and pulled pork, marking the end of the restaurant's ten-year stretch at the 909 Broadway location. The unwelcome closure comes as the long-standing establishment succumbed to the perpetual construction and the barriers it brought, a frustrating ordeal for patrons and the owner alike as maneuvering through the construction landscape became a daily hurdle.
Augie Cortez, the proprietor of the family-run barbecue joint, has been quite vocal about the impact of the construction on his business. "I feel 100% let down by the city," Cortez expressed his disappointment in an interview with KENS 5, lamenting the lack of adequate support from city officials and the challenges of keeping business afloat. Despite efforts to weather the storm, including taking a $35,000 grant intended to offset construction woes, the steakhouse couldn't maintain its operations. "But add 365 days times four divided into $35,000, that comes out to about 20 for 25 bucks a day. And that's the problem with our upper city management. The management of the grant, the management of the street closure is where our city fails on making things right for local small businesses," Cortez said.
A "construction mitigation pilot program" was proposed by City Council in 2022, earmarking nearly $400,000 to market businesses hit by the constructions effects, but the gesture fell short in Cortez's eyes. "We understand that the city is doing everything they can to make things better for the city," Cortez said in a statement acquired by Express-News. "We pray that someday they will find a solution to help work with and better support small businesses."
The community's fondness for Augie's Barbecue was evidenced by customers like Anthony Zamora, who visited the Broadway location on Saturday to savor the eats one more time Zamora, along with many others, lamented the Broadway location's closing due to its size and convenience despite preferring not to steamroll through the construction mess. "I’m a part of a running group and we have meetups either here or at some of the businesses back here and its deterred a lot of people because it’s just so hard to get down here," he told KENS 5, "The parking’s terrible and the streets are being shut down.”
While Augie's on Broadway has shut its grill for the last time, the memory of Cortez's smoked meats and the establishment's impact on the community will undoubtedly linger like the scent of barbecue on a summer evening. As the final coals cool, the question remains as to how the city will address and balance infrastructure development with nurturing the livelihoods of its small business community.
