SAN DIEGO — San Diego has a lot of great places to eat and drink, but because they are good, they can get crowded.
So, being ahead of that wave of people is the trick. The Gärten is located in the South end of Bay Park on Banks St. It is a collective of businesses offering San Diego food and drink in a garden setting.
Morris Nuspl or Mo is the co-founder of Deft Brewing which doesn't follow the usual IPA brewing path.
"We're more focused on the classic beers of Europe. Everybody's been looking for the cool interesting place to go and we've provided that here," Nuspl said.
Deft brewing lets you sit right next to where the beer is being made.
"Here you can come and get beers that are inspired beers but they're local fresh and brewed right behind me," Nuspl said.
This while enjoying the open garden setting. Next door is Lost Cause Meadery.
Wondering what mead is? Co-owner, Meadmaker Billy Beltz said, "The oldest alcoholic beverage in the world. The majority of the fermentable are honey, you can have fruit and spices, It can be dry or sweet, rich or light."
Lost Cause Meadery produces some of the best in the world.
"The Mazer Cup International is the world largest Mead competition... the most metals of any Meadery in the world," Beltz said.
What The Gärten does is it takes you into the workspace.
"Here you're getting the full experience of being immersed in the production, there's just something different about that."
To make The Gärten complete, Pizza Cassette was asked to join to complement the beverages. Jimmy Terwilliger is the co-owner and chef and when he says non-traditional, he's not kidding.
"We're using classic traditional methods to the dough... non-traditional to top the pizza. Our most popular is our Hornets' Nest, it gets tomato sauce, mozzarella, Soppressata salami, jalapenos and when it comes out of the oven it gets a drizzle of Thai chili oil," Terwilliger said.
Pizza Cassette focus on ingredients is that they are as local and fresh as they can be to go with the unique setting of The Gärten.
"I feel we lucked out partnering with Deft Brewing and Lost Cause they both have unique beverages and their own solid customer base," Terwilliger said.
And that's what makes The Gärten work, a sharing of different customers that cross over and the sharing of space that brings them all together.
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