Monday, November 4, 2024

Feast and Fareway Upgrade Plans in Place for Coronado Golf Course

Feast and Fareway project co-leader Johan Engman shows part of the Coronado Bridge and bay vista that diners and event guests will enjoy when the new restaurant opens in April 2019.

With progress of Feast and Fareway restaurant two months in at Coronado Municipal Golf Course, guests are already seeing changes to the site that will expand into several scenic bayfront venues when it opens next spring.

ā€œWe’re in the pre-construction phase of creating a space that will make the restaurant’s indoor/outdoor ambiance really come alive,” says Rise and Shine co-founder Johan Engman, who partnered with John Rudolph of Harry’s Coffee Shop and Tom Penn of Real Restaurant Solutions for the project. “It’s a really gorgeous place.ā€

You might know Engman and his inspired cuisine from his notable local restaurants Breakfast Republic, Fig Tree Cafe, El Jardin and North Park Breakfast Company. And like these establishments with their charming inception stories — the idea for Breakfast Republic, for example, came to Engman while sitting out a downpour by a hut next to a river in Borneo — Feast and Fareway, too, has an individual tale, albeit slightly more straightforward.

ā€œThe city put out an RFP (request for proposal) and my co-founder John Rudolph had the idea to see what we could do here,ā€ Engman explains. ā€œWe were excited to win the bid and get the opportunity to turn the space into something different and beautiful. I definitely call myself an opportunist, and this was a phenomenal opportunity.ā€

When it opens next April, Feast and Fareway will include several different venues: a dinner restaurant, a breakfast/lunch and event space, a large outdoor patio, a covered patio area with a bar, and a wedding site. Image from conceptual improvement plans.

Image from conceptual improvement plans.

What the Rise and Shine group is now cooking up for the current site is a space with several very different areas for dining and relaxing.Ā First is a wood-infused, teal-accented dining room offering classic, creative American cuisine with local, seasonal accents. Adjacent will be a breakfast/lunch restaurant that doubles as a spacious events area; sections can be closed off by partitions adorned with vertical gardens to suppress sound and enhance privacy. Wrapping around the building will be a comfortable patio area, partially covered and occupied by a broad rectangular bar, while another section will be an uncovered lounge that sprawls beneath twinkling lights. Finally, a fleet of roving golf carts will deliver drinks and snacks throughout the 6,530-yard, par-72 course.

“I’m always a big fan of doing a lot without doing a lot, and doing things that don’t cost an arm and a leg,” Engman says.

As for challenges of the visible construction phase, which will begin in January, Engman is hard-pressed to come up with any. He does note, though, that there will be major enhancements to the current food prep and cooking facilities.Ā “The kitchen will have really big changes because if we have a wedding in the event space and the dining room is full, we need a kitchen that will be effective, where we can make sure food comes out at a good pace,” he says. “So we’re making an investment there, to be sure we can serve good food, with good service, at pace that’s acceptable.”

In addition to the wedding area overlooking the bay, Feast and Fareway will have a two-person swing hanging in a nearby shady, breezy knoll.

The success of Feast & Fareway, however, is balanced on more than just cuisine and activities. Engman emphasizes that much of the site’s use will be for weddings. Drawn into the plans between the restaurant and the water is an outdoor chapel, complete with a transportable arbor, seating for up to 300 guests, and a swing for two set in a knoll beneath the course’s massive, gnarled trees.

Image from conceptual improvement plans.

One of the first weddings scheduled when Feast and Fareway opens in April is Engman’s own.
“I told everyone that if we’re not finished by then, I will have much bigger problems than the restaurant not being ready,” he jokes.” But of course we have a solid plan all the way through, and we will open on schedule. It’s a situation with a city partnership, and our success is also this city’s success.”

Councilmember Whitney Benzian agrees. He looks forward to “this being a restaurant that the whole community can enjoy. It will be a wonderful place for families and golfers alike to enjoy the views with great food and service.Ā It is one of the cityā€™s best assets and we hope more residents will come down to appreciate it.”

Feast and Fareway
2000 Visalia Row, Coronado CA 92118
(619) 522-6590

golfcoronado.com/feast-and-fareway



Holly Smith Peterson
Holly Smith Peterson
A longtime travel, business and lifestyle writer and reporter, Holly discovered Coronado while in San Diego for her sonĀ“s 16U baseball tournament; it was love at first sight. Six months later, after 20 years of raising three kids in Seattle and finally getting the last one out of the house, she made the jump to San Diego and is having the time of her life. Have news to share? Send tips, story ideas or letters to the editor to: [email protected]

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