It\u2019s become one of the most popular sports bars and grills in Pacific Beach, and on Sunday, Aug. 26, Bub\u2019s at the Beach (1030 Garnet Ave.) is holding a 20-year anniversary party with a \u201990s theme, tipping a hat to their roots. But from the location, to the design, to the menu, the two decade-long success of Bub\u2019s is a story of both incredible persistence and unexpected improvisation. “Some restaurant owners say something stupid like, \u2018It\u2019s in my blood.\u2019 And I don\u2019t know, maybe it is, but I owned two bars previous to this and neither worked out,” said Todd Brown, owner and founder of Bub\u2019s. “That\u2019s the crazy part. You kind of have to be an idiot to be in this business. I think that\u2019s why I\u2019ve done so well.”
\nBrown and his former business partner started the first Bub\u2019s in Oceanside back in the early \u201990s. Though the building lacked a kitchen, fresh food was still a priority to Brown, who used the barbecue from his house to grill up wings on the sidewalk in front of the bar for hungry drinkers. They weren\u2019t fried, but people loved them.
\n“I figured the only chance I had at making it in the business was having good food,” said Brown. “That\u2019s what started it all. Food creates an atmosphere and it\u2019s kind of the core to the concept. You can get a cold beer up and down the street, but we knew we could really differentiate ourselves with food.”
\nUnfortunately, Bub\u2019s Dive Bar took a dive south, eventually going out of business altogether. Fortunately, Brown had another chance to make his grilled wings take flight when a cheap location opened up in Pacific Beach. So, in 1998, Bub\u2019s Dive Bar became Bub\u2019s at the Beach, grilled wing phenomenon and premier Pittsburg Steelers sports bar.
\n“It being nothing, and me having nothing, lined up pretty good,” said Brown, who was given the building after a previous buyer\u2019s grill failed after just 30 days. “My business partner convinced me to make the location another Bub\u2019s. Honestly, I didn\u2019t even really like the name, but figured, \u2018Why not?\u2019 It was my first opportunity to do my own thing.”
\nBrown made Bub\u2019s unique from the get-go, with East Coast menu items like “Steakums,” serving chunks of steak fajita-style, topped with peppers, mushrooms and the works, inspired by Brown\u2019s Virginia Tech college days. Bub\u2019s was also one of the first bar and grills to serve Tater Tots instead of fries, improvising off a fluke food delivery. Now, it\u2019s a staple in their menu, serving Nacho Tots, Ballpark Tots, Sweet Potato Tots, and, most popularly, Tator Skin Tots. Even the choice of an all-brick bar table, open wood ceiling beams and game tables came from Brown and his team trying to be “as creative as we could with the least amount of money we had.” But there is a sort of prophetic aspect to it as well.
\n“My landlord was sitting there watching me brick this bar up and he said it made him happy because it made him feel like I planned to stick around,” said Brown. Twenty years later, Bub\u2019s gets to celebrate their long-term, food-famous relationship with the Pacific Beach community. Leading up to the main event, the bar and grill is offering nostalgic throw-back specials all week long, like 25-cent wing Wednesdays. While the party on Sunday is invitation only from 7 to 9 p.m. for their regulars, 9 p.m. till closing time is open to the public. “We\u2019re just stoked to have been a part of Pacific Beach for 20 years,” said Brown. “We feel like we\u2019re a real part of the community. Who knows, maybe we\u2019ll get another 20 years. We don\u2019t plan on going anywhere anytime soon.” Bub\u2019s at the Beach
\nWhat: Celebrating 20 years on Sunday, Aug. 26.
\nWhere: 1030 Garnet Ave.
\nHours: Mondays to Fridays 11:30 a.m. to 2 a.m., Saturdays and Sundays 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. Info: bubspb.com.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s become one of the most popular sports bars and grills in Pacific Beach, and on Sunday, Aug. 26, Bub\u2019s at the Beach (1030 Garnet Ave.) is holding a 20-year anniversary party with a \u201990s theme, tipping a hat to their roots. But from the location, to the design, to the menu, the two decade-long […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":268272,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11559","_seopress_titles_title":"Bub\u2019s at the Beach celebrates 20 years of tots and taps","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11559,11551],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-268271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beach-bay-press","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268271","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=268271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}