Lisa Nelson, Jim & Paula Robinson, Jon Nelson, visiting from Minnesota. They stopped to enjoy a burger from Burger Church.
TR Robertson….Belching Beaver Brewery Tavern and Grill has begun, on a trial basis, serving lunches for patrons on Wednesday thru Friday’s, beginning at 11 am until 3 pm, or whenever the food runs out.
Using local food vendors and caterers, anyone looking for a new spot to grab a quick bite to eat, can stop by and try a delicious selection of items provided by food vendors.
Like Harrah BBQ or Burger Church or Grill Fellows of Emme’s Catering. General Manager, Ralph Lizarraga, said this is a chance to showcase local food vendors while providing a new spot in downtown historic Vista for lunch. Lizarraga said he got the idea for using food vendors or caterers when he was in the city of Portland, Oregon, and saw what they offered in their downtown area. They have an entire city block of food trucks, lined end to end, with crowds of patrons waiting in line to purchase a variety of food items.
Vista Village doesn’t allow food trucks in the downtown area, except for special events, but food caterers and food vendors are allowed.
Belching Beaver is now using their outdoor Beaver Beer Garden area, on Wednesdays thru Friday’s beginning at 11 am, allowing food vendors like Harrah BBQ, to set-up grills and smokers and offer selected lunch choices for customers.
Daniel Harrah, Owner of Harrah's BBQ
On the day I visited Belching Beaver, Harrah’s was preparing pulled pork sandwiches, sirloin steak sandwiches, chicken thighs offered with cornbread and Caesar salad. Prices ranged between $8-$12. We interviewed customers the day before that were enjoying hamburgers prepared by Burger Church. Their reaction was that the burgers were incredible.
Lizarraga said the idea of beginning to offer a lunch menu is to bring more people to the downtown area at lunchtime. By bringing more people to downtown historic Vista, people will begin to see that there are lots of choices and options for lunch.
Patrons can meet for get-togethers, business meetings, celebrations at lunchtime, as well as at dinner time. Both Lizarrga and Belching Beaver Executive Chef Ramiro Guerra, said the idea to work with everyone in the downtown area to increase the number of patrons for everyone throughout the day and by offering the lunches on selected days is one way to do this.
In addition to the week-day lunch experiment, beginning Friday, January 6 th, Belching Beaver will offer lunch selections prepared by their own kitchen staff, headed by Executive Chef Ramiro Guerra.
The selections will be a limited menu to begin with and changed as the lunch crowd grows. If the Friday lunch menu is successful, Lizarraga said they may offer the food vendor prepared lunches on a Tuesday thru Thursday trial.
Belching Beaver still offers delicious dinner selections, beginning at 5 pm, such as Brasilian steak, Brontosaurus Bone, apple butter pork chops, Beaver BBQ short rib sandwich and Beaver Den turkey chili to go along with there ever changing beer selections. Craft beers from other breweries are also offered as well as wine and spirit choices. Customers can log onto Tap Hunter App to see what beers are currently being sold at Belching Beaver.
If you in downtown Vista in the middle of the week around 11 o’clock, stop in Belching Beaver, check out what the selected food vendor is cooking for the day, make your selection, grab an indoor or outdoor table, order one of the craft beers and enjoy a quick or leisurely lunch.
