Top Notch Torondao

I visited the Toronado in San Diego this evening. This is the world famous San Francisco Toronado's southern cousin. I've never visited the San Francisco version, but I liked the San Diego version. It is located on 30th Street in the gentrifying neighborhood of North Park. Toronado is clean and inviting, with a long bar and plenty of tables. The dark wood of the bar, tables, chairs and hardwood floors are an excellent contrast to the light walls. The walls are decorated with Belgian beer paraphernalia - mainly signs and logos from famous Belgian breweries. Toronado has a large draft selection and an extensive bottle selection. The beer list, heavily focused on Belgians, is a beer lover's delight.

I have read reviews that say the San Diego Toronado is sterile and uninviting. I did not get this impression at all. It was well-lit and the walls were painted a light cream color. The decoration, limited to beer logos, added to the interior. There is a huge black board above the bar listing all the beers on tap, along with their brewers and prices. Behind the bar are multiple refrigerators stacked with bottled beers and shelves with various beer glasses. The taps are in a back corner, near the kitchen that serves a minimal menu. The menu includes various sausages, a mainstay of the San Francisco Toronado. I have heard that the bartenders in San Francisco can be frosty to inexperienced beer drinkers and non-regulars. My experience in San Diego was just the opposite. The bartender gave us several generous samples before we made our selections.

I went local and had a Port Brewing El Camino IPA. This is from the San Clemente Pizza Port (Toronado also had beers from the Solana Beach and Carlsbad Pizza Ports along with Lost Abbey's Judgment Day). El Camino was a San Diego-style hop bomb, with typical Port balance, which equates to a highly approachable and drinkable beer. It is not a double IPA, but surely, at most breweries could pass as a double IPA. In a word, it was excellent. Here is a picture of a Franziskaner Hefeweisen with the Toronado logo in the background. (My pictures of El Camino, taken on my iPhone, were muddled.)

I plan to return to Toronado in the near future and delve into some of the Toronado's Belgian treasures.