Craft & Commerce Owners Announce Seafood Concept

Earlier this month, the busy proprietors behind CH Projects (Craft & Commerce, Neighborhood, Polite Provisions) announced that they're bringing another branch of their ramen shop, UnderBelly, to North Park later this year.

Eater readers have been speculating about the group's plan for their new India Street space, a 4,600-square foot industrial warehouse in the heart of Little Italy.

Well folks, here it is: CH Projects' Arsalun Tafazoli has declared their next big project will be called Ironside Oyster.

San Diego has casual fish joints and high-end seafood restaurants; Ironside Oyster seeks to fill the niche in the middle. Though the menu is still developing, Tafazoli told Eater that you can expect to find an extensive raw bar component and dishes inspired by the local fishing community that founded the Little Italy neighborhood.

Internally, they're calling the concept "stoner seafood", i.e. food you'd crave while getting lifted.

Tafazoli also cites Manhattan Beach's Fishing With Dynamite and The Optimist oyster bar in Atlanta as influences.

For the bar program, they're thinking cocktails made with fortified wines and drinks featuring rum.

Tafazoli said they originally intended the space to be a breakfast eatery before switching gears in the direction of Ironside Oyster; they still plan to dedicate some resources to an in-house bakery, which may bake bread for all their holdings.

Because the property needs extensive renovation to make it restaurant-ready, Ironside Oyster won't likely debut until December or January.
· CH Projects [Official Site]
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