Tender Greens Downtown and an Airport Eatery

Grid View

• Tender Greens Downtown, corner of First Avenue and Broadway
• Street entrance
• Interior Entrance
• Bradley Austin
• Pete Balistreri

Full construction won't begin until mid-January, but the local Tender Greens team is already making plans for their newest San Diego restaurant that'll make its home in a former Greyhound bus terminal downtown, at the corner of First and Broadway.

Eater got a first peek at the space from San Diego's Exec Chef Pete Balistreri, who also oversees Tender Greens' locations in Liberty Station and UTC, and Bradley Austin, an alum of The Lodge at Torrey Pines and the much-missed Blanca; Austin will move from Liberty Station to head up this newest kitchen.

Slated to open by the spring of 2013, Tender Greens Downtown will have ample outdoor seating and a kitchen so big that it might also function at TG's catering hub and hold a curing chamber. Chef Austin has designs for whole muscle cured meats (e.g. proscuitto, coppa, ham) and other foods that can be cured, preserved and fermented.

Balistreri's own side project, a line of hand-crafted artisan salumi, was just named a Good Food Awards finalist and can currently be found at Blind Lady Ale House, The Lodge at Torrey Pines, Beaumont's and all seven Tender Greens restaurants.

Tender Greens, along with a number of other local restaurants, is also expanding into airport concessions with a concept called Garden by Tender Greens — scheduled to arrive at the San Diego International Airport by May. Balistreri shared that the menu will be rustic, incorporating ancient grains and braised meats, as well as meat cooked to order on turning rotisseries, similar to a Brazilian barbecue.

The company is currently expanding its restaurants in Los Angeles, with locations to Denver and Seattle coming soon, and seeking out additional spots to open in San Diego.
· Tender Greens [Official Site]
· Tender Greens Bringing More Restaurants To San Diego [U-T]