San Diego's expanding Trust Restaurant Group has taken over the Mission Hills space that last housed Brooklyn Girl Eatery and will open Cardellino, an all-day restaurant, bakery and marketplace. The company is also closing its Hundred Proof concept and will rebrand it into a classic steakhouse called Rare Society.
The culinary crew made up of Chef/Co-Owner Brad Wise, GM/Co-Owner Steve Schwob, Pastry Chef Jeremy Harville and Director of Beverage Juan Sanchez (who has since left) are all Eat.Drink.Sleep (Tower 23, JRDN) alums that branched off in early 2016 for the opening of Trust Restaurant within design guru Jonathan Segal's neighborhood-redefining "Mr. Robinson" building on the corner of Park and Robinson in Hillcrest. Trust immediately received rave reviews and became one of San Diego's most popular dining destinations, resulting in the team expanding in 2017 with the opening of Hundred Proof - a more casual bar & restaurant located four blocks north of Trust. In January 2019, the team now dubbed Trust Restaurant Group unveiled the 3,400+ square foot Fort Oak within developer Jonathan Segal's The Fort mixed-use building in Mission Hills. Earlier this year, the hospitality company also partnered with Small Bar in San Diego's University Heights in an attempt to revive the flailing neighborhood gastropub.
Trust Restaurant Group has recently signed a lease on the 4,800 square foot Mission Hills space that last housed Brooklyn Girl, which closed in March after nearly 8 years in business. Sited a block away from the company's Fort Oak restaurant, the team will soon construct the multi-concept Cardellino, which means "Goldfinch" in Italian and pays homage to the street it occupies. Expect a California-meets-Italy design in a sprawling space that will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as house an bar, bakery, grab and go marketplace, wine shop, and walk up ice cream stand called Mr. Trustee, which will serve a dozen flavors available with house made waffle and French toast cones. Chef Wise, who is a New Jersey native, aims to bring some East Coast-style Italian flavor to San Diego and will offer an evening menu with pizzas, pastas, and other elevated "red-sauce Italian" dishes. The bakery manned by Executive Pastry Chef Jeremy Harville will pump out desserts, pastries, and bread for sale onsite service as well as to supply other area restaurants and the group's eateries. Cardellino will also have a wrap around patio and private dining space. Cardellino is expected to unveil in early 2020.
Trust will also close Hundred Proof after close of business on Friday, August 30, for at lease two months to remodel it into Rare Society, a nostalgia-fueled classic American steakhouse and cocktail bar. Expect a vintage design and value-oriented menu with typical steakhouse fare and an onsite dry-aging room. There will be room for almost 100 patron inside and out. Rare Society is expected to open by late fall 2019.
