A barbecue and craft beer haven is about to heat up the scene in the heart of San Diego's Pacific Beach neighborhood. Iron Pig Alehouse will open to the public on Thursday, October 30 at 1520 Garnet Avenue serving authentic, slow-cooked, smoked, Texas-style barbecue coupled with an extensive craft beer program. Get your first look inside PB's barbecue and craft beer hotspot and start salivating over the menu!
With only the highest quality beef, pork and poultry, everything at Iron Pig will be smoked using oak and hickory in the restaurant's namesake smoker, the "Iron Pig." The Iron Pig houses 60 square feet of meat and will be running constantly. PB is about to get smokey!
The interior keeps some of the historic space's attributes, including unfinished wood behind the bar and the exposed rafter ceiling in the main dining room. Custom iron, Edison bulb meat-hook light fixtures contribute to a rustic vibe. The building was constructed in 1945 and was first inhabited by PB Hardware, followed by Ingrid German's Delicatessen, then Haiku Sushi before Iron Pig took over and completely re-hauled the entire space.
Chef Rick Daniels will be manning the smoker at Iron Pig. Before making San Diego his home, Rick Daniels grew up in Texas where he was surrounded by a multitude of cultures and where he first fell in love with cooking. He was exposed to soul food, Southern style cooking, creole cuisine, and the flavors of Mexico and the Southwest. By the early 90’s, he was spending countless hours working at and supporting his grandfather’s popular BBQ joint, Buffalo Soldiers. He was determined to make his passion for cooking his career and worked his way through cooking school.
In 2005, Rick graduated from the Texas Culinary Academy, Le Cordon Bleu program in Austin, Texas. He immediately was hired into the kitchen of the infamous Barton Creek of Austin where he trained under Chef Mike Maples. When Rick finally arrived on the San Diego culinary scene in 2007, he quickly flourished in the popular farm-to-table movement at La Jolla’s Whisknladle with Chef Ryan Johnston. In 2009, as Sous Chef, he helped open the Whisknladle Hospitality Group’s first start-up expansion, Prepkitchen. In 2010, Rick was recruited to North Park’s The Smoking Goat. There is where he truly began to evolve and develop his own personal cuisine and flavors that popularized the restaurant’s menu. His unique blend of culinary-trained artistry and technique mixed with down-home style, supported The Smoking Goat expansion in 2012. Chef Rick is joined by sous chef Kristi Schlegel also from Whisknladle La Jolla. Schlegel has her BA in culinary arts and food service management from Johnson and Wales in Providence, Rhode Island. Iron Pig Alehouse aspires to be a neighborhood favorite and destination for tourists and San Diegans alike. It will be open at 5pm on October 30, then Sunday to Thursday from 11am to 12am and Friday and Saturday from 11am-2am. Expect a great happy hour on beers.
For more information, visit ironpigalehouse.com and check out the photos and menus below.
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