{"id":236123,"date":"2013-04-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-04-05T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/brunch-with-bertrand\/"},"modified":"2013-04-05T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-04-05T07:00:00","slug":"brunch-with-bertrand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/brunch-with-bertrand\/","title":{"rendered":"Brunch with Bertrand"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mr. A\u2019s to offer the popular weekend meal for first time in 48 years<\/strong><\/p>\n

Morgan M. Hurley | Redactor del centro<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bertrand at Mister A\u2019s will be offering their own take on Brunch starting this weekend, something the restaurant has never offered in its 48 years of operation. Brunch will be made available on both Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and starting on Sunday, April 7, and will consist of a complete new food and beverage menu and require a whole new staff to support it.<\/p>\n

\"Brunch<\/a>
General Manager Ryan Thorsen (left) and Chef Stephane Voitzwinkler in front of the incredible view of Downtown from Mister A’s. (Photo by SDcnn)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cBrunch has become a huge thing all over the United States,\u201d said Bertrand Hug, owner of Mister A\u2019s and the famed Mille Fleurs French restaurant in Rancho Santa Fe. \u201cIt was time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hug said he first approached Mister A\u2019s original owner John Alessio in 1993 about purchasing the historic Bankers Hill rooftop property, because the restaurant\u2019s \u201cperfect view\u201d was always the first place he took out of town guests. \u201cAt that time, it was the cat\u2019s meow,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Initially, Hug said Alessio had no interest in giving up even a majority share, but eventually the two restauranteurs reached a verbal agreement. Unfortunately, it never made it to paper before John Alessio passed away in 1998.<\/p>\n

Next, Hug had to convince the family and in 2000, the sale was final. Hug said he then closed the restaurant for three months to refurbish the kitchen and redo the interior design of the restaurant.<\/p>\n

Since then, he\u2019s uncovered all the floor-to-ceiling windows \u2013 and the magnificent view they offer. He also moved the bar to another wall offering even more viewing options for customers and more recently, opened up the deck that surrounds the outside of the building for dining and drinks.<\/p>\n

\"Brunch<\/a>
Every seat at Mr. A’s offers a magnificent view. (Photo by SDcnn)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another important change Hug made in recent years was promoting floor manager Ryan Thorsen to general manager. A Bankers Hill resident, Thorsen is arguably the youngest GA in the local restaurant industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel confident about my staff, I\u2019m really happy with Ryan, and the Chef has a really solid staff in the kitchen, although he has to hire a bunch of people for this, \u201d Hug said.<\/p>\n

Thorsen is really happy with working for Bertrand, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly there\u2019s a lot of challenges to [working here] \u2013 it makes every day new and fast and that challenge is what makes me want to get up for work and run in every day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis place has a certain energy that you can\u2019t find many places in town \u2026 it\u2019s got that history \u2026 everyone comes here expecting a certain experience and it is our job to make sure that never falters,\u201d Thorsen said.<\/p>\n

Opening for brunch was a dream of Thorsen\u2019s and he is excited about the new venture. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of like opening up our own little restaurant inside the restaurant because it\u2019s never been here before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hug, Thorsen and Chef Stephane Voitzwinkler all worked together over several months on both the food and drink menu, finally agreeing on draft number 20, which Thorsen said could still see minor changes before April 6.<\/p>\n

Menu options will be ala carte and vary from standard brunch classics with Voitzwinkler\u2019s specific spin, to the types of menu items one would come to expect from Mister A\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can piece together your own meal,\u201d Thorsen said. \u201cIt\u2019s a good entry way for new customers.\u201d<\/p>\n

A number of clever Bloody Marys and beer cocktails will be taking a prominent position on their new drink menu along with other unique offerings. No bottomless mimosas, of course, but refills will be offered.<\/p>\n

Thorsen encourages people spending their weekend days at Balboa Park to stop in for a drink or check out the new brunch. The weekend day dress code will be the same as their current lunch and happy hour \u2013 shorts only if they are Bermuda shorts \u2013 with close-toed shoes. Flip-flops are never an option.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe understand it is San Diego but we do want to maintain a certain status \u2026 we think that builds the experience for everyone,\u201d Thorsen said.<\/p>\n

Bertrand at Mister A\u2019s is located at 2550 Fifth Ave, #12.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mr. A\u2019s to offer the popular weekend meal for first time in 48 years Morgan M. Hurley |\u00a0Downtown Editor Bertrand at Mister A\u2019s will be offering their own take on Brunch starting this weekend, something the restaurant has never offered in its 48 years of operation. Brunch will be made available on both Saturdays and […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":236124,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"Brunch with Bertrand","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11600,11550],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-236123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-sdnews","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}