Connected to the Viejas Casino, the 128-room Viejas Hotel offers several spaces for meetings and events, including receptions planned around the pool. The casino also offers the 500-person Dreamcatcher Lounge, and a private dining room at the Grove Steakhouse, which opens this fall.
Andaz San Diego has added a retractable roof to create an indoor-outdoor venue called RoofTop600 as part of a renovation to the hotel's lobby and event spaces. The rooftop venue also features new cabana beds and outdoor seating. Future phases of the renovation will include new decor and furnishings in the main lobby and the Andaz Wine Bar, as well as the transformation of the existing nightclub into a private venue for meetings and events.
Located in the Gaslamp Quarter, Bailiwick, a playful restaurant and cocktail spot, has decor that mixes chandeliers, birdcages, and claw-foot bathtubs. Staff will offer guests Lewis bags and wooden mallets to guests to crush their own ice. The 3,000-square-foot space seats about 50 guests and fits 215 for receptions. Buyouts are available.
Avant, the new restaurant at Rancho Bernardo Inn, has three spaces for private events: La Taberna seats 50 and overlooks the golf course; El Biz seats 18 in a boardroom style in front of a fireplace; and Avant Kitchen seats 12 at an open-concept performance kitchen. The warm decor has whimsical touches in its 139-seat dining room, including house-made mustard on tap.
Located in a historic brick building, the unpretentious Southpaw Social Club is an American restaurant and bar that opened in late June near Petco Park. Its three patios all have a different feel—one with a fire pit and and lawn chairs covered in bright fabrics, another with picnic tables, and a third with bistro tables and chairs. The 5,000-square-foot restaurant seats 150 or holds 250 for receptions.
Tracy Borkum's second Cucina Enoteca is opening this month at Del Mar's Flower Hill Promenade. The two-story, 7,000-square-foot restaurant has a modern-kitchen-meets-historic-farmhouse concept, and the menu will feature Italian dishes with a California flare including pasta, artisanal breads, and house-made sausage. The design concept is similar to the Cucina Enoteca in Irvine (pictured).
Sycamore Den is a new cocktail lounge in Normal Heights that pays tribute to the late-'70s middle-class family—think wood paneling, a player piano, and colorful vintage light fixtures. Its beverage menu is heavy on classic cocktails and features 24 beers on tap. The 1,500-square-foot space accommodates 95 for receptions and seats 56.
Named after a famed West Coast sailor, Spike Africa’s Fresh Fish Grill & Bar opened downtown in February. The venue offers a semiprivate Captain's Room that seats 45 people. Overall, its dining room seats 80, and it also has an 18-person bar and outdoor space for 32.
Sea & Smoke opened in late July, offering responsibly sourced meats, seafood, and vegetables from its focal point wood-fired oven. It is the third restaurant from chef Matt Gordon following Urban Solace and Solace & the Moonlight Lounge. The Del Mar restaurant seats 220 and is 7,000 square feet spread over three spaces: a dining room, patio, and a sunken bar.
A new 6,000-square-foot beachfront sushi and tapas eatery, Cannonball opened at Belmont Park this summer. The restaurant and lounge seats 122 with an expansion set to open this fall which will allow the space to accommodate more than 400 guests. The aquatic concept includes pool tiles lining the restaurant with sayings like "no depth" and "lifeguard off duty," an oceanfront view, and fire pits throughout the space.
