Announcing: KINDRED! Vegan Fare, Craft Beer & Cocktails, Coming Soon to San Diego

Ya know when you’re absolutely sworn to secrecy, & it’s a secret so exciting that you are bubbling over with anxiety to have to hold it in? That’s how I’ve been feeling for months after getting an exclusive sneak peek into an awesome new establishment that will put San Diego’s vegan dining scene officially on the map!

When I first caught wind, KINDRED was still just a “dream,” but one I had absolute faith would come into full shape & fruition. The visionary behind KINDRED is my dear friend Kory, of the wildly successful LOVELIKEBEER ~ a very familiar name around here as I have documented all of their events since they emerged on the local vegan dining scene in 2011. With all of the success of LLB, I believe without a doubt, that this restaurant/bar concept will change the face of vegan dining in San Diego. Kory’s ambition, passion, style, & smarts are gonna create one hell of a space where plant-based & even “meat” loving foodies, craft beer nerds, & hipster cocktail sippers will be able to happily converge.

The San Diego Eater's Candice Woo broke the exciting news today & here are the first details below….

Vegan Food Made for Meat-Eaters & the Veg-Inclined, Plus Cocktails, Coming Soon to South Park

Since 2011, Kory Stetina has been organizing well-attended vegan/craft beer pairing pop-ups at eateries around town, from Tiger!Tiger! to Toronado to Tacos Perla, under the moniker LOVELIKEBEER. Fueled by the popularity of those events, Stetina has announced that he’s planting a full-fledged vegan restaurant in South Park. Dubbed KINDRED, it’ll take the place of Alchemy Cultural Fare & Cocktails (1503 30th Street), which opened in 2009 & just announced that it will shutter next month. An extensive remodel of the 2,800-square-foot restaurant is planned, which will include refreshing the exterior, reconfiguring the interior, creating more of an indoor/outdoor space & adding new patios at the corner of 30th & Beech Streets. Slated to open in mid-2015, KINDRED will aim to be both a buzzing bar & a solid community restaurant that will offer cocktails, “wild & inventive” vegan food & a curated selection of draft beers with a focus on food pairings; Stetina says that he’s developing an “elevated, artful & approachable” menu inspired by successful vegan eateries from around the country, including Portland’s Sweet Hereafter & City O'City in Denver. This is Stetina’s first restaurant but he’s got some serious firepower in his corner; CH Projects’ (Ironside Fish & Oyster, UnderBelly) Arsalun Tafazoli & Paul Basile have signed on as partners, with Tafazoli advising on operations and Basile co-designing the interior, though KINDRED is independent of the CH Projects’ brand. Stetina plans to document KINDRED’s journey from start to opening via social media & through its website, where the restaurant’s mascot, a four-eyed wolf with snake horns, gives a hint of what might drive the look & feel of the upcoming restaurant.

So there it is! Get excited San Diego, this is gonna be EPIC. And if you’re not in San Diego, all the more reason to plan a road trip out here! I will be sharing details as they emerge & you’d better believe that as soon as it is set to open I will let you know! Sign up for the newsletter & up-to-the minute details at barkindred.com.

(Images courtesy of barkindred.com)