Hospitality Design - December 2016 - 58

perspectives

places san diego

4
4. With its black and
white palette and
rotating collections,
STK also acts as an art
gallery.

5
Photo by KELLY MARSHALL

the Kimpton Solamar San Diego with texturerich elements: eggplant-hued faux ostrich
leather luggage benches, chevron-patterned
bedside tables, geometric gold wallpaper, faceted
gold lamps, and black and white bathrooms that
feature surfboard-shaped vanity mirrors and a
brocade wallcovering. For the lobby's facelift,
mirror and glass tiles, glass pendant lights,
and gold tones add sparkle and movement,
referencing the sea and sun. Overall, the design
reflects the "casual Southern California lifestyle
with a bit of bohemian flair," says principal
David Lasker, adding the meeting space also
received a renovation. "We infused the palette
with youthful colors and finishes that reflect the
vibrancy of the Gaslamp Quarter."
The ONE Group's modern steakhouse STK
now has a new home at the Andaz downtown,
complete with a bar and lounge area, raised

058

December 2016 hospitalitydesign.com

5. Graphic touches
in Kimpton Solamar's
guestrooms include
chevron-patterned
nightstands, geometric
wallpaper, and faceted
gold lamps.

dining platforms, and the brand's signature
central DJ booth. Outfitted with a black and
white palette, white brick walls (another brand
standard) done in a pixelated pattern, gold
wire cluster lighting, and abstract neon wall
installations, the entire space doubles as an art
gallery with a rotating collection of work by
visionary designers and independent artists
native to San Diego and Southern California,
says Jesse MacDougall, director of strategy and
brand development at design firm ICRAVE, a
longtime ONE Group collaborator.

Little Italy

Kettner Boulevard has transformed into one of
the city's most popular dining destinations with
a long list of eateries headed up by celebrity
chefs including Richard Blais' Juniper & Ivy
(designed by Atlanta's Johnson Studio at Cooper
Carry) and the Crack Shack, plus Top Chef rising
star Giselle Wellman's coastal-inspired Pacific
Standard-a concept by T2 and developers
New School Consulting housed in an Art Deco
building with coastal chic interiors by local
firm Delawie featuring handblown glass light
fixtures, white marble countertops, chevronprint leather barstools, and two 16-foot long
natural walnut live-edge communal tables.
Also recently opened is chef Javier Plascencia's
Spanish Colonial-style Bracero Cocina de Raiz,

designed by LA firm Bells & Whistles with a
nod to the U.S.'s 1942 bracero program, complete
with a bracero hat installation, antique farm
tools, and vintage items sourced from Mexico.
One of the area's staples is restaurant
and cabana-filled rooftop destination Kettner
Exchange. Now its owners (who also operate
other San Diego-area hotspots) Matt Spencer
and Tyler Charmin have opened Grass Skirt
in Pacific Beach, designed by Costa Mesa,
California-based Davis Ink. A modern take
on the traditional tiki bar, it was a perfect fit
for principal Davis Krumins who has been
"obsessed with tiki for the past 25 years with
extensive collections of tiki ashtrays, table lamps,
glassware, and tropical vintage polyester shirts."
Guests enter through a secret refrigerator
door located inside the kitchen of an adjoining
poké restaurant; upon opening the door, fog
is released within a lava rock tunnel and a
projected image of a hula dancer fills the space.
Other highlights of the "fun, socially interactive
dream world," he says, are a 3-foot-tall custom
tiki with VIP seating in the open mouth; 16
gold-plated pineapple-head skulls (inside custom
front-lit wooden frames) set in a grid pattern
on an orange wall; a 15-foot-tall tiki "god fire"
feature; and a 28-foot-wide backlit acrylic wall
with an erupting volcano, a topless hula dancer,
and a Hawaiian sunset.
Chef Malarkey's self-proclaimed passion
project, Herb & Wood, meanwhile, is "based on
being inspired by simple cuisine and wanting
to get back to our roots and what we love most
about what we do," he says. Imagined in-house
with restaurant partner Christopher Puffer, it's
an exercise in masculine-feminine contrasts:
channel-back banquettes and roll-back Parsons
chairs mingle with captain's chairs and tufted
leather booths; delicate, pearl-like globe pendant
lights suspend from iron hanging-mounted
arms; modern portraits and nudes by artist
Johnny Lane abound; and a central bar made
from French Poly Var sits beneath a barrelvaulted ceiling. "It has an almost Southern
charm while somehow feeling perfectly at home
in Southern California," Malarkey says.

Point Loma

West of downtown at the reconceived Liberty
Station-a Spanish Colonial-inspired mixeduse development that once served as the Naval
Training Center-visitors can explore Liberty
Public Market (the city's first such venue, with
a mix of artisans and food purveyors and an
enclosed outdoor seating area), or choose from
restaurants including Fireside by the Patio (by
the Patio Group's creative director Bea Arrues
and Lahaina Architects) with a bohemian
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