Little Italy Scores Two-Story, Midcentury-Inspired Steakhouse & Rooftop Garden

Local hospitality collective CH Projects has revealed more details about its fourth concept to land in Little Italy. Last fall, the group announced that it would be taking over the Nelson Photo space for a then-unidentified project, although Eater's tipsters whispered that it would likely be a steakhouse.

And the new India Street restaurant will indeed be a steakhouse. Slated to open in Late Summer 2016, Born & Raised is the 'turf' to Ironside Fish & Oyster's 'surf'. The meat-centric venture will be a classic steakhouse as filtered through the CH Projects lens, so expect something dramatic and thoroughly conceptualized.

The 8,000 square-foot restaurant, designed with mid-century modern influence by Paul Basile of BASILE Studio (KINDRED, UnderBelly), will span multiple bars and dining areas across two levels; a 1,500-square-foot terrace will share the rooftop with a 2,000-square-foot urban garden that will grow herbs and produce for the kitchen, which will also have a dedicated in-house dry-aging room for its meat program.

But all this good stuff is contingent on approval, as the building's location in the flight path limits its occupancy per airport safety regulations. CH Projects co-founder Arsalun Tafazoli is scheduled to appeal the ruling at a hearing scheduled for March 1 with the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority.