Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Hidden Craft, a gastropub on the rails
All-day menu includes pour your own brews, trolley views
Nearly obscured by trolley tracks and the One America Plaza complex is the door to Hidden Craft.
The windows rattle when the trolley rolls past. Which isn’t surprising, given how the shape of the building is defined by the way tracks curl east coming out of Santa Fe Depot. They carve an S-curve between Kettner Boulevard and India Street, splitting the block diagonally in two. The skyrise complex at One America Plaza grew up along both sides, hugging the tracks with retail storefronts connected by a giant metal canopy. Tucked inside one curve is where we walked in the door marked Hidden Craft.
Inside it's a counter service gastropub offering a serve yourself taphouse model.
Instantly, the sooty, industrial grays outside were traded for wood grains, red bricks, and green wall planters. All around a food counter serving a more eclectic and overachieving menu than I would have expected, this close to the tracks. Did we just walk into a gastropub?
Yes, and the kind with self-serve craft beer taps. It’s one of those deals where they give you a coded card that activates the taps and charges you by the ounce for whatever you pour. I didn’t wind up drinking a lot but made the most of the opportunity by sampling a few ounces each of all the IPAs to decide which I wanted to drink with my meal.
Fried halibut makes these Baja inspired fish tacos tick.
I wasn’t surprised that food choices include flatbreads, burgers, and wings — add fish tacos and you pretty much looking at the official bar menu of San Diego.
Now that I think about it, there were fish tacos. Beer battered halibut ($12 for two), which is a heck of a lot better than the tilapia a lot of places fry up. They were pretty good, for fish tacos outside a Mexican restaurant.
A meat and cheese board for the casual set
Hidden Craft’s only culinary category would be beer friendly. Sharable plates include Belgian mussels ($16), brisket poutine ($13), and baby back ribs glazed with the Korean chili paste, gochujang ($16). There’s the proverbial something for everyone, including special dieters seeking salads, grain bowls, or vegan Korean beef tacos.
I had high hopes for a $15 “charcuterie and artisan cheese” board, but it leaned a little closer to something I might throw together for a third-date picnic than antipasto, with the likes of pepper jack and apple slices for every brie and prosciutto. So cheese snobs may not be impressed, but revisit that board after your second round of self-pours and tell me you aren’t glad you ordered it. Something on the belly will serve you well on the train ride ahead.
Baby back ribs glazed with spicy Korean gochujang paste
Oh, and try not to miss your train.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Hidden Craft, a gastropub on the rails
All-day menu includes pour your own brews, trolley views
Hidden Craft, a gastropub on the rails
All-day menu includes pour your own brews, trolley views
Nearly obscured by trolley tracks and the One America Plaza complex is the door to Hidden Craft.
The windows rattle when the trolley rolls past. Which isn’t surprising, given how the shape of the building is defined by the way tracks curl east coming out of Santa Fe Depot. They carve an S-curve between Kettner Boulevard and India Street, splitting the block diagonally in two. The skyrise complex at One America Plaza grew up along both sides, hugging the tracks with retail storefronts connected by a giant metal canopy. Tucked inside one curve is where we walked in the door marked Hidden Craft.
Inside it's a counter service gastropub offering a serve yourself taphouse model.
Instantly, the sooty, industrial grays outside were traded for wood grains, red bricks, and green wall planters. All around a food counter serving a more eclectic and overachieving menu than I would have expected, this close to the tracks. Did we just walk into a gastropub?
Yes, and the kind with self-serve craft beer taps. It’s one of those deals where they give you a coded card that activates the taps and charges you by the ounce for whatever you pour. I didn’t wind up drinking a lot but made the most of the opportunity by sampling a few ounces each of all the IPAs to decide which I wanted to drink with my meal.
Fried halibut makes these Baja inspired fish tacos tick.
I wasn’t surprised that food choices include flatbreads, burgers, and wings — add fish tacos and you pretty much looking at the official bar menu of San Diego.
Now that I think about it, there were fish tacos. Beer battered halibut ($12 for two), which is a heck of a lot better than the tilapia a lot of places fry up. They were pretty good, for fish tacos outside a Mexican restaurant.
A meat and cheese board for the casual set
Hidden Craft’s only culinary category would be beer friendly. Sharable plates include Belgian mussels ($16), brisket poutine ($13), and baby back ribs glazed with the Korean chili paste, gochujang ($16). There’s the proverbial something for everyone, including special dieters seeking salads, grain bowls, or vegan Korean beef tacos.
I had high hopes for a $15 “charcuterie and artisan cheese” board, but it leaned a little closer to something I might throw together for a third-date picnic than antipasto, with the likes of pepper jack and apple slices for every brie and prosciutto. So cheese snobs may not be impressed, but revisit that board after your second round of self-pours and tell me you aren’t glad you ordered it. Something on the belly will serve you well on the train ride ahead.
Baby back ribs glazed with spicy Korean gochujang paste
Oh, and try not to miss your train.
Comments