It's hard to know where to start when you come back to a blog you haven't touched in almost two years. It's even harder when your life has completely changed... the last time I posted anything I was pregnant but not yet a mom, renting and not yet a homeowner. Now I'm a mom of two with a home in OB. Wild.
The hardest, though, is knowing where to even begin when the whole world has changed.
Rather than take on the daunting task of trying to navigate all of that in my first post back, I decided to start simple: with a little brewery review. Coronado Brewing Co.'s tasting room and kitchen in Bay Park isn't new or trending. But it is kid-friendly and that's what brought us there this past Friday afternoon.
In fact, finding kid-friendly spots to eat in San Diego is what drew me back to blogging altogether after a couple of weird, dark years.
Ever since we had our second son, Russell, this past July, I've started to get the itch to explore again. Unfortunately, post-COVID, a lot of our favorite places in San Diego have shut down. Finding new spots that are kid-friendly and not lame is tough - it's a huge gamble to show up somewhere new with two babies in tow.
It was when we were in the car and trying to google kid-friendly restaurant options on the fly a couple of weeks ago that I realized that I missed blogging. When I was actively reviewing places around San Diego, I felt like I had a much better lay of the land, an awareness of new spots and a general sense for where we could go in whatever neighborhoods we were in. I shared this with Ryan and he encouraged me to pick it up again.
Now here we are. :)
After picking up Ryan from work this past Friday, I asked him if he wanted to head straight to Coronado Brewing Co.'s tasting room in Bay Park. All I knew about it is that I had driven by it on the 5 almost daily for years and that they had a kid's menu, which meant they were kid-friendly.
It seemed as good a place as any to check out and maybe review to get back into the swing of this whole blogging thing.
When we showed up around 3:30pm, it was pretty quiet. We found street parking right outside the front entrance and headed into the bar.
Although I was tempted to try some of their new hard seltzers, I stuck to my 4oz tasters of beer and started off with a tropical IPA. We also put in our food order, getting a small Brewhouse Salad to start and ordered 3 of their small pizzas, one each for Ryan, Lincoln and I.
We found a shady picnic table outside and parked Linc's stroller. While there was more than enough space for him to roam around (and several other toddlers doing just that), he was waking up from a nap and stayed stroller-bound for the meal.
As far as safety goes, the patio is fenced in and the ground is smooth, painted concrete with a small gate exiting to a dead end street. There's also carabiners along the wall where you can leash your dogs to and water bowls for pups throughout the patio.
Our food came out super fast and everything we tried was awesome. I was surprised at how much I liked the dried apricots in the Brewhouse salad and loved how well it was tossed in their basil dressing. The individual pizzas were crispy on the outside and doughy in the middle - we ended up ordering the Mediterranean, the Great White and a plain cheese kid's pizza for Linc.
Several tasters later, I think my favorite brew was the Universal Love West Coast IPA. But I will definitely be sampling the hard seltzers next time. For wine drinkers, there are some outsourced options: they have two whites and two reds available.
Low key vibes, dog- and kid-friendly, great food, and a colorful and spacious patio made this a nice spot to grab an afternoon bite with the little dudes or to meet up with friends for a group hang or party in the sunshine.
