Culinary Institute of America's New Restaurant Opens in The Pearl

The recipient of a bachelor's degree in accounting from Penn State University, Reid Hackney is a retired financial executive who most recently served as vice president and chief financial officer of the retail enterprise AGACI. In retirement, Reid Hackney enjoys visiting the Pearl district of San Antonio, Texas, to check out new restaurants.

The Pearl district's reputation for quality restaurants that offer a diverse selection of food coincides with a $35 million investment by Kit Goldsbury in 2008 to bring an official Culinary Institute of America (CIA) campus to the area. When it first opened, the CIA established the student-run restaurant NAO, which emphasized Latin American cuisine. Although the restaurant closed in 2018, a new CIA-run establishment has opened in its stead. 

The new restaurant, Savor, opened in mid-January to a glowing review from mySanAntonio, which acknowledged both the space and the menu as a significant upgrade over NAO. The restaurant is located near the former NAO building in what was once the Sandbar Fishhouse & Market. It is both brighter and more intimate than NAO and houses an open kitchen concept that allows both students and instructors to cook for as many as 60 guests at any given time. Meanwhile, the menu reflects a more modern American dining experience over the Latin American flavors emphasized at NAO.

San Antonio’s Historic Network of Missions

Presently retired, Reid Hackney is a longtime Texas business executive who engaged with A’GACI as chief financial officer and vice president. An avid cyclist with a passion for exploring his local area, Reid Hackney enjoys visiting urban parks and missions in San Antonio. With French settlements in Louisiana sparking a rivalry, in the late 17th century, Spain established a network of a half-dozen missions across what is now eastern Texas. Several of these missions failed due to disease and drought, as well as changing political priorities that starved them of financial stability. Ultimately, three of the missions were relocated to along the San Antonio River in the 1720s, with five total riverside missions joining the Presidio San Antonio de Béxar. From the 1780s onward, friction between Mission Indians and tribes such as the Comanche and Apache, coupled with limited military reinforcements, led community members to move to safety within mission walls. Eventually, they were largely abandoned as US frontier expansion came to fore. Despite their prolonged decline, the missions have remained vital cultural artifacts over the decades and are now contained within the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park. The entire park spans 86 mission-related structures across 21 historical and archeological sites.