New Cool Restaurants Apply Here: Bread & Salt

Grid View

• 1955 Julian Avenue

Joining the San Diego Public Market and the new Mercado del Barrio, with its anchor tenant, Northgate González Market, is a just-launched project that'll transform a 40,000 square foot Barrio Logan factory into a dynamic mixed-use center of art, food and urban living.

Public Architecture and Planning (Snooze in Hillcrest, the in-progress main Karl Strauss Brewery) has moved their University Heights offices into the building, a bread factory since 1891; James Brown, one of the firm's principal partners, gave Eater a tour of the space they're calling Bread & Salt. The name's a nod to the building's history and a representation of money and sweat equity; serving bread and salt is also a common way to welcome guests in many cultures.

A gallery called Pane et Sal will occupy one of the rooms, curated by Brown's wife, Isabel. And the San Diego Museum of Art has claimed a space for a permanent community gallery; they'll also store some of the museum's collection here. In the next few months, Public Architecture and Planning will move forward with plans to cut a 50 by 50 foot hole in the ceiling's center, and create a tree-filled courtyard in space below, ringed by glass storefronts.

They're also hoping to quickly find a restaurant concept to move into a 1,000 square foot space where Brown plans to install roll-up doors to let in light. Ideally, he hopes that this cafe or restaurant will source local ingredients and be open all day to service the neighborhood and the Bread & Salt community. It could also function as a stand-alone restaurant when the rest of the building is closed, since there's a separate entrance from the street that opens into a 1,000 square foot courtyard which could hold accommodate more seating or an edible garden. Additionally, there's a high-ceilinged 6,500 square foot space that's not yet spoken for.

Brown and co. have also purchased a lot behind Bread & Salt, and plan to build live/work units on the property. So, if you have a restaurant concept but no home for it, contact Public Architecture and Planning for more info or check out the space on Friday at a reception for Bread & Salt's first show, a set of installations from the artists of the Ice Gallery, a former North Park gallery who'll now permanently occupy a space in the factory. The free reception is from 6 to 9 p.m.
· Bread & Salt Opens With Ice Gallery Artist Installations [Urbanist]
· Bread & Salt [Facebook]