A 136-year-old bar just rebuilt its patio. A Houston pizza chain is unlocking the door of a strip-center suite off Bulverde Road. And somewhere between those two openings, the whole community is being asked to vote on which local spot deserves a plaque this August. If you already live here, the interesting story of summer 2026 is not that Bulverde is growing. It is that the town's own residents are quietly redrawing the map of where a Tuesday night gets spent.
The Old Guard Rewrote Its Menu
Specht's Texas sits on land that has been serving the community since an 1890 general store. That kind of lineage usually rewards standing still. This spring it did the opposite.
The bar-and-grill north of San Antonio near Bulverde is stepping into a new era with a refreshed menu, an expanded bar and a climate-controlled back patio, and owners marked the moment with a ribbon-cutting earlier in April. The person driving the change is Aaron Selinkoff, who took over about 16 months ago and told MySA the overhaul is focused on tightening up the kitchen and leaning harder into fresh Hill Country ingredients. The kitchen has begun rolling out new dishes that include a pork chop, a king ranch chicken and a chocolate chip coconut pie, along with rotating "pies of the day".
What most residents will feel first is not the menu. It is the physical footprint. The team built an enclosure around a new playground to make the space more family-friendly and widened the tap list so more beers can now be served on draft. That is a deliberate signal. A honky-tonk that adds a shaded playground is telling parents with young kids that dinner on the patio is no longer a logistical negotiation. And a bar that expands the draft list at the same moment it modernizes the kitchen is trying to hold onto its regulars while making room for a different crowd.
The preserved elements matter, too. The restaurant's history page traces Specht's roots back to an 1890 general store and spotlights preserved touches such as "The Gin" event space, and those historic elements are set to stay in place even as the kitchen changes with the times.
The Strip-Center Arrivals Are a Different Bet
Not every summer opening is a heritage story. The Bulverde Crossing shopping center at Highway 281 and Bulverde Road is where a very different kind of arrival is happening.
Pepperoni's Pizza will open its first Alamo City outpost in the Bulverde Crossing shopping center at 18010 Bulverde Rd #107 in early 2026. The chain is not new. Houston restaurateur Ray Salti opened the first Pepperoni's in 1990, and although the chain has the same delivery and pick-up model as national giants like Domino's and Pizza Hut, it is known for its higher quality ingredients, using never-bleached flour and premium DiNapoli brand tomatoes. That the company chose Bulverde Crossing for its San Antonio-market debut is a data point worth sitting with. A Houston pizza brand looking for a first-market foothold picked a suburb north of 1604 over the city itself.
The strip-center story is not just national-adjacent chains. Cibolo Creek Eatery & Venue is a new gathering place designed to celebrate community, flavor, and the beauty of the Hill Country, inspired by the spirit of small-town Texas and the timeless rhythm of Cibolo Creek, with a concept bringing together rustic charm and modern comfort. The location on Bulverde Lane leans into the venue side of the business as much as the plate side. The eatery will feature a thoughtfully crafted menu inspired by local ingredients, seasonal flavors, and classic Texas hospitality.
Two openings, two theories of what Bulverde wants. One is a delivery-and-pickup pizza operator betting on rooftops. The other is a homegrown eatery-plus-venue betting on gatherings. Watch which one fills its parking lot on a Wednesday in September and you will learn something about the neighborhood that no census table can tell you.
The Weeknight Rituals Are Where Locals Actually Live
Openings make headlines. Habits make a town. A few of the recurring weeknight moves worth putting on the calendar:
| Night | Where | What |
|---|---|---|
| Tuesday, 7pm | Screaming Goat Yard & Tap | Tipsy Goat Trivia with live music and biergarten games |
| Most Saturdays and Sundays | Honey Creek State Natural Area | Guided walk |
| Rotating | Mammen Family Public Library | Family programming |
The trivia line comes straight from the chamber: Join us for TIPSY GOAT TRIVIA @ THE GOAT every Tuesday, with Live Trivia, Local Live Music, Drink Specials, and Biergarten Games, and all the fun starts at 7pm. The Goat has quietly become one of the recurring answers to "where should we go tonight" for households that want a beer garden without a fifteen-mile drive.
If your Tuesday is booked, the weekend has its own quiet ritual just up the road. Honey Creek State Natural Area Guided Walk is offered most Saturdays and Sundays. It is a low-lift way to hand out-of-town guests something more interesting than a lunch reservation.
Kid-facing programming has been steady, too. A representative example from earlier in the season: the Mammen Family Public Library hosted a Foam Party with Big Time Bubbles on Wednesday, June 24, from 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., featuring music, beach balls, and mountains of hypo-allergenic, non-staining foam that is safe for kids, pets, and the environment. The library's role in the summer schedule is worth checking each week rather than guessing at.
One small note for parents planning a July or August afternoon: the Bulverde Splash Pad was closed for maintenance through Memorial Day weekend after city staff identified the problem and ordered parts. Confirm the reopening status with the city before you load the towels.
August 11 Is the Real Story
Every one of these updates leads to the same room. On the second Monday of August, the community is going to name its favorites out loud.
The Best of Bulverde Spring Branch 2026 awards began on June 1, 2026, with nominations opening that day, each business could be nominated in up to two categories, voting ran from June 15 to July 15, 2026, and the awards will be presented on August 11, 2026, at Knibbe Ranch. If you voted, this is the night you find out whether the room agreed with you. If you did not, it is a fast way to get a curated map of what your neighbors actually rate.
The ceremony matters because it does the one thing a Google search cannot. It weights the room. A trivia bar that pulls forty regulars on a Tuesday will show up differently on a Best-Of list than a restaurant that pulls four hundred strangers on a Saturday. And in a town where a 136-year-old bar and a first-market pizza chain are opening within a few miles of each other, the residents' own vote is the tiebreaker between two very different theories of the same neighborhood.
A Late-Summer Weekend Plan, If You Want One
Nothing here is prescriptive. But if you like your Saturday planned by 10am on Friday:
- Friday evening. Book the patio at Specht's and try the pork chop or the pie of the day. If you have young kids, this is the summer that finally works.
- Saturday morning. Drive up to Honey Creek State Natural Area for the guided walk. It ends in time for lunch.
- Saturday night. Cibolo Creek Eatery & Venue if you want the room to feel like a small-town gathering, or Bulverde Crossing if you want to see whether the new pizza is worth the buzz.
- Tuesday. Trivia at The Goat, 7pm. Bring a friend who thinks they know sports.
- August 11. Knibbe Ranch for the awards. Even if you did not vote, the results will tell you what your neighborhood actually rewarded this year.
The Thesis, One More Time
Bulverde in the summer of 2026 is not adding restaurants at random. A century-old venue rebuilt its patio in the same season a Houston chain chose this town for its first regional footprint, and both bets get evaluated by the same room on August 11. The interesting question is not whether the neighborhood is changing. It is which version of the neighborhood wins the vote.
For longtime residents who have watched Bulverde evolve for a decade or two, that is a story worth showing up for. And when it eventually comes time to think about the home that supports the life you actually live here, Terri Taylor-Walker, Realtor is a calm, locally rooted place to start the conversation. Let's Connect.
