Newport Pizza & Ale House

I heard about Newport Pizza & Ale House about six months ago and finally visited yesterday. It's in Ocean Beach, too close too where I live for me not to have stopped in for a beer. It's small and about a half block from the beach, along Ocean Beach's main commercial street, Newport Avenue. Newport Avenue is lined with with shops, restaurants and bars. Newport Pizza is unassuming from the outside, and without knowledge of the taps inside, it would be easy to overlook. I know, because I did for a long time.

(If you're not from San Diego, Ocean Beach is a throwback. It is populated by hippies, wanna-be hippies, rastas, beach lifers, college kids, surfers, and a variety of other individualists. Most of the businesses in OB are small and local and this is a source of community pride. Some may call OB seedy, I prefer eclectic. In my forty-five minutes at Newport Pizza I saw OB at its eclectic best.)

I went in for a quick lunch. I knew Newport Pizza & Ale House had a great craft beer draft list, but I was still impressed. It has an extensive bottle selection, too. I did not count the number of taps, but it must have been around twenty, with a local craft focus, but it had other craft beers, too, along with some Belgians, including the delicious St. Bernardus Witbier. The tap list seems in constant rotation, and the tap handles not in use are kept on the ceiling, so listing the available beers would not be beneficial. Pizza is sold by the slice or the pie and salads are available, too.

I asked if Pliny the Younger was available, and was told a keg was in reserve, but that Newport was waiting for other locations across town to run out of their Pliny the Younger before it taps its keg. Pliny hoarding. I had a slice of pizza that had huge dollops of ricotta cheese and a Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous IPA. The pizza was solid and the slice was good-sized. The beer was served in a chilled glass that had ice on the rim. I think chilled glasses are a bit of a beer faux pas. I am looking forward to going back to Newport soon. A constantly rotating tap list is a good reason for frequent visits. This place, with its beach location, is best visited in winter, at least for locals that don't want to deal with the summer tourist crowds and lack of parking.