When the Cohn Restaurant Group shuttered OB Warehouse earlier this year, the hospitality group offered the above street level space to Rise and Shine Restaurant Group’s Johan Engman for another location of Engman’s booming Breakfast Republic concept. CRG intends to slot in another outpost of its arcade bar Coin Haus on the ground floor, though CRG president David Cohn says that is still in the planning stages.
However, Breakfast Republic is ready to serve restorative daytime eats to the Ocean Beach neighborhood starting today with the opening of its fifth location, which joins sibling eateries in North Park, Liberty Station, Encinitas and East Village. Operating daily from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., the restaurant has been given the Breakfast Republic makeover, with its signature design brought into the 125-seat space and some tweaks made to the bar and dining room layout. There are 25 craft beers and cold brew on tap, plus ten varieties of kombucha. The comfort food-focused menu from corporate executive chef Cesar Garcia has transplanted over, but there’s a new vegan dish from research and development chef Claudette Zepeda Wilkins, who has been traveling to various Mexican regions to the menu for El Jardin, Rise and Shine’s largest project yet which will land along with an edible restaurant garden in Liberty Station early next year. Engman is continuing to grow his breakfast empire; next to come online will be a Breakfast Republic in Carmel Valley this July, with North Park Breakfast Company, another morning eats-centric concept, also launching this summer.
