Upon entering the Malahat Spirits Co. tasting room in Miramar, customers find a small maze meant to invoke the smuggling operations once required to bring San Diego contraband liquor. It's also a nod to the …

Hillcrest coffee roaster Industrial Grind Coffee opened its second Hillcrest shop at the beginning of July — its fourth overall. Long-time couple Kathy Hansen and Barbara Jeanine opened the first Industrial Grind on Park Avenue …

Ocean Beach Brewery made its official debut July 1, after teasing a late 2015 launch on social media last December. The three-level restaurant sits four doors down from the O.B. Pier, and capitalizes on location …

Last year I likened the web-based Postmates delivery service to “a fleet of Uber drivers…waiting for you to order dinner…then rush it to you.” I’m not claiming the folks who run Uber read Feast!, but …

One of the beer community's most anticipated brewery debuts hit University Avenue at the end of June when North Park Beer Co. officially opened for business — an opening that resonates in urban culture as …

Summer crops are coming into full swing, meaning heirloom tomatoes are on the way. On the sweeter side, stone fruits will be joined by melons as the month goes on, with sweet and spicy peppers …

Donut Bar has been written about and written about, so most probably know about its wide and interesting selection of giant donuts including triple chocolate, salted caramel, raspberry pistachio, and Homer’s Donut (pink frosted with …

Julian's oldest operating brewery will be without a tasting room for a few months. Pizza Port and Port Brewing/Lost Abbey founders Vince and Gina Marsaglia have closed the Bailey BBQ, the mountain town's longtime pit-barbecue …

Carmel Mountain roaster Mostra Coffee took home a pair of trophies at the June 25 contest, Cold Brew City. Coffee enthusiasts gathered in Barrio Logan to sample cold brew served by a dozen roasters and …

Last August, HG Fenton's turnkey brewhouse division Brewery Igniter announced plans to convert a former North Park strip club into a trio of small breweries, and in February West Coaster magazine reported the first tenant …

Amid reports Petaluma, California-based Lagunitas Brewing Company has purchased stakes in three smaller, independently owned craft breweries around the country, comes the news it also plans to establish a presence in San Diego. According to …

For a while there, South Beach Bar & Grill was fish taco central for this San Diego transplant. When I moved to Ocean Beach in 2005, the restaurant facing O.B. Pier was so routinely jam …

The last weekend of June, AleSmith Brewing Company debuted a new tasting-room concept at its Miramar brewery. Dubbed Anvil & Stave, the first-of-its-kind-bar offers visitors a chance to blend barrel-aged AleSmith beers to taste. As …

“Fifty years.” I had to ask her to repeat it, because she was telling me Marvelous Muffins had been open in Shelter Island for 50 years, and she’s owned it for 20 of them. That …

Strawberries grow well in San Diego, turning up mid to late spring in great quantities all over the county. With the fruit-beer trend in full swing, it shouldn't be a surprise to see strawberry in …

I’ve made no secret of my affection for a particular spicy lobster grilled cheese. When I heard Supernatural Sandwiches traded up to a larger storefront within its Miramar shopping strip, I found any excuse to …

There’s a sense of romance to the very concept of a pop-up restaurant. It’s got something to do with the special place the underdog holds in the American imagination. The term “small business” fills us …

"What I like about brewing, what drew me to brewing, was endless possibilities." So says Dan Jachimowicz, brewer and founder of Longship Brewery, which is set to launch its Mira Mesa business with a brief …

By my latest count, there are no fewer than 37 active coffee-roasting businesses in San Diego county, and one San Diego-affiliated coffee roaster outside of San Diego County. Dark Horse Coffee Roasters became the first …

Professional brewers aren't the only ones who amass medals in San Diego. At the National Homebrew Competition held in Baltimore the second weekend of June, several local brewers came away winners. San Marcos resident Nick …

I’m a sucker for corned beef hash. I constantly order it, and I’m constantly disappointed. It’s offered on menus in breakfast diners all over the country, and I feel like I’ve tried them all. Sometimes …

Thorn Street Brewery is taking steps to become the first brewery in the country to package a beer flavored with marijuana. The microbrewer debuted its OG HighPA last month in its North Park tasting room, …

Since Amplified Ale Works launched in late 2012, brewmaster Cy Henley had been making beer on a three-barrel system in the company's Pacific Beach brewpub. That changed this spring, when Amplified officially began producing its …

Longtime Stone Brewing Company brewmaster Mitch Steele announced his departure today via YouTube, indicating June 30 will be his last day working for the nation's tenth largest craft beer company. Under his ten-year tenure, Stone …

Sushi fanatics on a tight budget in SD have been lining up at one of three Sushi Deli restaurants for years, expecting to dig in to some reasonably good fish at reasonably good prices. So …

Technically, no breweries from Brazil earned a medal at this year's World Beer Cup. However, a Brazilian-owned brewery did, and it's based in Chula Vista. Novo Brazil nabbed a bronze medal in the British-style imperial …

Being hungry in Oceanside is a good move these days. Restaurants have been popping up all over the Coast Highway, and a lot of what I’m seeing is a step in the right direction (rumors …

Thanks to recent changes in state law, the California Spirits Company will officially open its San Marcos tasting room to the public on June 9. While owner and distiller Casey Miles embraces the opportunity to …

There’s a new shop in North Park called California Tap Room, and it makes excellent use of water, yeast, and grain. But maybe not the way you’d expect. This tap room isn’t specifically in the …

Back in 2006, when John Scheri first moved to Oceanside, he found quite a different beer scene than the one he'd just left in his native New Jersey. The former auto mechanic has been brewing …

Its large, painted outside wall says Coffee + Flowers, but inside the storefront on the southwest corner of Texas and University there are actually two distinct businesses: Communal Coffee and Native Poppy flower shop. "In …

Summer is coming, and while summer squash harvests are well underway for farms around the county, as June progresses we’ll see more and more local tomatoes, especially good news as a couple of producers will …

It’s said the first pizza delivery was made in the late 19th Century to Italy’s Queen Margherita — and Neapolitan pizza joints still make the basil-and-tomato pie named for her. Everybody assumes it was delivered …

There's more than one way to start a beer company, and some take longer than others. California Wild Ales has been in the works nearly a year, and secured a Sorrento Valley warehouse in January. …

Since I live in the area and regularly “research” craft beer, I probably visit North Park’s Bottlecraft shop more than the average customer. While the Venissimo counter has been selling globally sourced cheeses out of …

Winners have been announced for the San Diego International Beer Competition, ahead of its June 17–19 festival at Del Mar Fairgrounds. As usual, San Diego breweries defended their home turf with a dominant showing. AleSmith …

This may be the most of-the-moment restaurant opening San Diego will see in 2016. Convoy Street’s new Pokirrito manages to capitalize on two current fast-casual trends at once, combining poke salad bowls and sushi burritos. …

A third San Diego beer company has announced plans to open a large production brewery in the state of Virginia. Ballast Point Brewing has agreed to buy a 260,000-square-foot property and invest close to $48 …

You should come home. Rod died. I got the text from my roommate on a Sunday night. “Oh, Rod,” I sighed. It was sudden news, and I wanted to be surprised. But I couldn’t be. …

Earlier this year, a Reader cover story highlighted changes to California law allowing small batch distilleries to sell bottles out of their tasting rooms. Only a few months later, this change is helping Spring Valley …

May 20 kicked off the fifth annual Shanghai Beer Week. Beer is huge in the world's most populous nation, and craft beer is growing — Shanghai's Boxing Cat Brewery even won a silver medal at …

Newport Avenue is in the process of becoming a beer hub. First to open in a spate of pending brewery projects along the Ocean Beach strip is Helm's Brewing. In mid-May the Kearny Mesa–based company …

With its Berlin brewery and restaurant expected to officially open this summer, Stone Brewing is already well on its way toward becoming a multinational beer company. This week it announced new venue in another country: …

Brewery anniversaries are getting bigger this year, and it has everything to do with a new state law. Effective January 1, AB 776 permits breweries to sell beer "on property contiguous and adjacent to its …

Over the past decade I’ve been something of a poke salad evangelist. Whenever a friend, acquaintance, or nearby stranger has mentioned going to Hawaii, my first piece of unsolicited travel advice has been: eat poke, …

While chatting with a friend in New York recently, he told me, “I know you don’t think we have good Mexican food in the city, but I just got the best cemita in Brooklyn.” “Yeah, …

New Zealand brewery Garage Project began distributing to San Diego for the first time last month, offering local beer fans a new glimpse of the emerging Kiwi craft brewing scene. This may be welcome news …

In Berlin there aren’t a lot of good places to eat burritos, so people eat döner instead. Also known as döner kebab, the Turkish import has been around for generations, and Germans have adopted the …

A new coffee brand has emerged in San Diego. Red Hat Coffee began doing business in January, following a model similar to other local cold brew specialists Jupiter Coffee and Bobo Cold Brew. Rather than …

Asada days and adobada nights — A little taste of Loreto in San Diego. by Mary Beth Abate Tacos where you least expect them — Looking beyond standard tacolandia. By Ed Bedford Taco mecca — …