What Happened to Lulu's Bakery and Café After Food Paradise?

Food Paradise, Season 14, Episode 5

Lulu's Bakery & Café, a 24-hour San Antonio diner that opened in 2002, appeared in the Food Paradise episode "Food Paradise XL" (S14E5), which highlighted its three-pound cinnamon rolls and all-you-can-eat chicken-fried steak. Randy Santel's website reported the restaurant's permanent closure, and Yelp's listing for the address at 918 N Main Ave lists it as closed.

Man v. Food, Season 2, Episode 1 Aired August 5, 2009

On Man v. Food, Adam Richman visited Lulu's Bakery and Café in San Antonio to try the bakery's oversized cinnamon rolls, a specialty large enough to be a running theme of the segment, alongside the café's chicken fried steak. Lulu's operated as a bakery and café at 918 N Main Ave for years, drawing a local following for its outsized pastries. According to iHeartRadio, which reported on 2021-04-27, Lulu's Bakery and Café closed and auctioned off its entire inventory — kitchen equipment, tables, display cases and signage — through RCI Auction Group. Yelp's listing for the bakery, updated in August 2026, still marks it CLOSED, with no newer source found indicating it has reopened under the same or a different name.

Man v. Food, Season 8, Episode 18 Aired November 12, 2019

Lulu's Bakery & Cafe was the challenge restaurant in Man v. Food's San Antonio episode (Travel Channel, host Casey Webb, aired 2019-11-12), where Webb attempted the Cinnamon Roll Challenge: a 3-pound cinnamon roll glazed with two large scoops of homemade icing, per Wikipedia's episode list for the series. The 24-hour bakery and diner had operated in San Antonio for more than two decades and was known nationally for a roll recipe developed in 1992, according to San Antonio Magazine. San Antonio Magazine reported on February 4, 2022, that Lulu's had already closed, noting the bakery founder's son had begun selling the same cinnamon-roll recipe at his own restaurant, Green Vegetarian Cuisine, after customers kept asking for it. A Yelp listing for Lulu's Bakery & Cafe, at 918 N Main Ave, is marked "CLOSED," with the page showing an update dated August 2026.