Casa pública de Queenstown
1557 Columbia St. (Little Italy)
619-546-0444
Prices: Salads and starters, $6 to $15; burgers and entrees, $11 to $20

Frank Sabatini Jr.| Restaurant Review

At first glance, Queenstown Public House looks like a preciously restored family residence with its oval windows and detailed woodwork. But at closer range, the circa-1905 Craftsman dwelling reveals that it’s been converted into a restaurant with baskets of fresh produce adorning the front porch and an old tub washer in the front yard that serves as a fire pit. Enter through the front doors and behold one of the coziest and most antiquated dining atmospheres in San Diego.

From its original farmhouse days, the structure was home to apartments and offices. Then in April, business partners PJ Lamont and Matt Baker turned it into a New Zealand-inspired kitchen and bar, retaining many of the architectural details from front to back.

The culinary concept is based on their travels to Queenstown, New Zealand, where they befriended the owner of a burger joint called Fergburger before returning to first open Bare Back Grill in Pacific Beach and Ragland Public House in Ocean Beach. Though the menus at each establishment differ, there is a running theme of lamb, grass-fed beef and beer.

“We actually worked at Fergburger to learn all of the recipes, including the homemade condiments. We were taken aback by the food, especially the lamb burger,” says Lamont.

At their historic landmark on Columbia Street, the burger-centric menu is augmented with boards, salads and full entrees. Among the starters is a quaint piling of skewers containing a unique mesh of ground lamb and shrimp. The combined meats are flavored with cilantro, mint, onions and chili flakes.

I tasted the lamb and shrimp equally, although my companion didn’t detect either distinctly, saying that the skewers reminded him of gyros. Either way, they paired exceptionally well to the accompanying peppery Romesco sauce and also to the New Zealand Moa Blanc Evolution Beer I ordered that’s brewed with coriander. Alongside were sweet beet chips and fresh veggies.

Seated in what was the front living room of the house, where cotton sheep now hang upside-down from the ceiling as whimsical décor, the entire afternoon passed us by with ease. The ambiance is so pretty and solid that you’ll want to sleep overnight, much like the feeling you get when stepping into a charming bed and breakfast that happens to have a bar serving decent brews and wine.

We continued with a jumbo, soft pretzel served with house-made mustard and warm jalapeno cheddar sauce – not of the Cheez Whiz ilk. An heirloom tomato salad with burrata cheese was a cut above most in that it contained curled slices of capicola. Other kickoffs include turkey and white bean chili, calamari with corn-dusted asparagus and the “porch board” containing chicken liver mousse and candied bacon.

Achieving my lamb fix from the skewers, I skipped the popular “bare lil’ lamb” burger accented with mint jelly and blue cheese crumbles in lieu of the “hogs & heffers.” Both are exact replications from Fergburger, says Lamont.

The bacon-crowned grass-fed beef patty receives its twist from Edam cheese, a mild, nutty curd that you don’t often find slathered over burgers north of the equator. And instead of ho-hum mustard and ketchup, it comes with house-made tomato chutney, which was a tad over-applied.

As with several other burger options at Queentown, such as the “Shiela’s cracked” crowned with a fried egg and shoestring beets, they’re served on flakey foccacia buns so that the juices and condiments seep into the bread pores rather than trickle down your chin.

My friend opted for the “meso tasty” involving a chicken breast fillet cloaked in sweet and savory flavors. The garnishments were aplenty: grilled pineapple, Maui onion chips, Swiss cheese, red pepper aioli and balsamic sauce. Yet everything gelled. Off to the side we picked on excellent matchstick fries and fresh white corn speckled with bell peppers and onions.

Had we visited for dinner instead of lunch, we could have been easily lured by the fuller entrees such as the “parlor pot pie” encasing slow-roasted hen or the rack of New Zealand lamb in Port demi glaze. Indeed, the virtues of this Down Under cuisine have landed on San Diego’s doorstep with accuracy that we trust, given the fact that Lamont and Baker made numerous trips to the country since initially falling in love with it a decade ago.

We capped off our lazy afternoon with a piping-hot skillet of roasted apples strewn over cinnamon rolls. On top were a few scoops of vanilla ice cream and sweet pecans. While exiting down the front steps, it felt as though we were leaving the house of a good friend who is never in a hurry to chase out guests.

Frank Sabatini Jr. is the author of Secret San Diego (ECW Press), and began writing about food two decades ago as a staffer for the former San Diego Tribune. He has since covered the culinary scene extensively for NBC; Pacific San Diego Magazine, San Diego Downtown News, San Diego Uptown News, Gay San Diego, and Living in Style Magazine. You can reach him at [email protected].