Por Frank Sabatini Jr.
The taps are flowing, the kitchen is sizzling and the circa-1902 house that contains all of it has received a loving redo to keep guests hanging around for a while once they step inside.
El tan esperado Brew Project brings the ever-growing craft beer scene into west Hillcrest, in the two-story Fifth Avenue structure that previously housed R Gang Eatery and Busalacchi’s before that.
Not since Hillcrest Brewing Company opened several years ago on University Avenue at Normal Street has the neighborhood seen such a serious infusion of locally brewed suds that we assume are more easily found in North Park.
The venture was co-launched by Beau Schmitt, a beer aficionado who initially introduced The Brew Project as an ambitious craft beer program he ran for a couple years at 57 Degrees wine bar in Middletown.
Here, he and business partner Mike Sill arrive with 30 taps, 24 of them devoted to local breweries, and the others designated for sparkling wine, kombucha and coffee. And if the nearby 7-Eleven doesn’t carry your must-have IPA or stout, The Brew Project sells dozens of choices in glass and cans to go, including the high-octane stuff like Horny Devil by AleSmith and Oculus Sauvage from Green Flash.
With a full liquor license in place, inventive craft cocktails enter into the scheme as well. (The seasonal Thora Birch using Malahat Black Tea Rum and house-made pumpkin soda is like gulping down the holiday season in one boozy swoop.)
Helming the kitchen is Tom Miller, a seasoned chef who well understands the interplay between food and beer since last working at Ballast Point in Miramar.
His menu at Brew Project appears straightforward on the surface, mostly tortas, sliders and sandwiches. But tucked inside the breads are creative combinations of proteins, veggies and condiments that can be altered or enhanced by an array of house-made sauces available for the asking.
With a flight of five very different styles of beer under our chins, the avocado toast offered a brilliant mix of spicy flavors and snappy textures that paired swimmingly to every beer in our lineup, particularly to the fruity notes of Cherry Blind Wit by Booze Brothers.
The “toast” was actually a crispy red and green tortilla laid over fresh guacamole. But it was the random mingling of other ingredients — pickled onions, red radishes, copious cilantro, cotija cheese and crema– that made every bite taste uniquely different from the other.
We also ordered mac ‘n cheese and a couple of sliders from the menu’s “share” category. The former featured orchiaetta pasta in a pleasing orange-tinted cheese sauce that remained creamy even after cooling down. We opted for the addition of roasted pasilla peppers, which made it blue-ribbon in our books.
The dish paired best to the mildly hoppy Mystic Gnome by Thorn St. Brewery because of its grapefruit undertones, which refreshed our palates between spoonfuls, much like sipping dry white wine when eating fondue.
Of the two sliders we tried, the chicken mole beat out the meatball. We loved the pickled carrot slice on it as well as the cilantro and savory mole sauce.
“I wish this were available as a whole sandwich, but it’s not,” my companion noted.
The meatball slider was fine, but it needed another dollop of red sauce to offset the leanness of the beef.
A couple of specs were off point in the avocado chopped salad, which the menu says includes candied bacon and roasted almonds. We couldn’t find either. Also, the blue cheese crumbles were scant, and it seemed as though the kitchen forgot to put the garlic in the roasted garlic vinaigrette.
The end result was a run-of-the-mill salad of iceberg and romaine lettuces strewn with sweet cherry tomatoes, red onions, avocado and a nicely seasoned, sliced chicken breast we requested as an add-on.
The slow-roasted pork butt sandwich my companion ordered came on a torta (bolillo) roll instead of toasted sourdough, as the menu indicated. But with the meat flanked by roasted tomatoes, arugula, Fontina cheese, avocado and caramelized onions, the combination would have performed equally as well between any types of bread. It was exceptionally tasty and filling, the kind of sammie that demands a lightweight pale ale from the beer list.
The “torero” is a carne asada torta, which came on a buttery bolillo with green onions, grilled salsa, cilantro, Jack cheese and avocado, the latter of which appears in pretty much everything here.
But the biggest redundancy is the presence of sliders, sandwiches and tortas comprising a majority of the menu. Though well-conceived in their constructions, we would have liked to have seen a few plate options.
Sill says that a couple new dishes, such as salmon, will start coming into play within a week. The operation is still new, but off to a rousing start with a talented chef and passionate owners intent on contributing a homey, beer-centric vibe to the neighborhood.
—Frank Sabatini Jr. puede ser contactado en [email protected].
