Liberty Station Public Market

When will it finally open? So looking forward to our new public market. Sources close to the project indicated to me that they were shooting for Valentines Day, but that date was still pretty optimistic. I was told that if they do make that date, there will still be multiple vendors that probably won’t be ready. Not sure it’s the best idea to have a grand opening without the expected critical mass. What do you think? Is is better to open sooner or later? Has anybody been to have a look around now that the fences are down?

Liberty Public Market

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One of the places that I’m super curious about is the Liberty Public Market restaurant, Mess Hall. Mess Hall is supposedly going to base their menu on meat and produce offerings from the Markets many vendors. It’s a very cool idea to showcase their local products and their potential. Kind of like a version of Public Market “Chopped”!

“Mess Hall will have a seasonal menu sourced from market purveyors and a format that ranges from family-style dinners to guest chef pop-ups.”

I’ll let you be the first one to order the pork bung special

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I think it will any way have problems to survive in SD (not many attractive vendors and bad location for tourists and San Diegans) but opening it without all vendors would be pretty stupid as often with every kind of business the first impression is most important (and I doubt they (including those in newspapers etc) will be great with a lot of stuff missing.

They need to open with as many vendors as they can. If I were to walk into an upscale market that was only half filled, with construction still in various stages for some of the vendors, I’d probably not be inclined to come back any time soon and would then proceed to forget about it.

And having just returned from Spain where there are multiple markets and food halls successfully operating at full capacity, I’m hoping LS Public Market can get it right. If they do, it’ll be a draw, in spite of Honkman’s concern about location. The one thing they do have going for them is that parking is fairly easy at LS.

How is the parking on Sunday at Liberty Station? We went once a couple of years ago, in the late morning and with all of the cars from The Rock Church, it was not a pleasant experience. Have not had the desire to go back, and this would probably be the time that we would venture down there. It was not Easter or Palm Sunday that we there.

I usually go in the back way by Corvette Diner. I find access easier that way - or from Harbor Dr. on the airport side - than off of Rosecrans. If I’m headed to LS I usually go on Saturday not Sunday. If it’s Sunday, I usually go in from the Harbor Dr. side.

Sundays is not a good day to visit Liberty Station. Especially if you are arriving from Rosecrans via the 5 Fwy.

Bad news all around.

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I would hate live in that subdivision contiguous to LS…

Look forward to the public market opening but concur with others it needs to be as full as possible with vendors opening to public…

Thanks for the heads up about Harbor Drive, because, yes, we usually come in on Rosecrans.

Take a look at Google Maps for the area. It’s also possible to come in from PCH on Barnett then on to Lytton. Turn at the stoplight by Corvette.

Rosecrans has ALWAYS been a traffic headache even without the Rock Church

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The entrance off Lytton is really the better way to go if you’re headed anywhere on the north part of Liberty Station, such as Stone Brewery or the Public Market location. The parking lot in that area is usually pretty empty during the day, although that could change if the Market is a success. We often go on Sundays to walk along the water and have lunch, and when we do, that’s where we like to park. If we’re going directly to the central area of Liberty Station, though, that route is out of the way.

The parking in the central area is ok even on Sundays, as long as you’re aware of the Rock Church schedule and where to park. The last morning service is at noon, so if you arrive at 12:30 or after 1:30, there’s no problem, at least around lunchtime. The part of the lot that’s marked as being for churchgoers is usually full, but not the other part.

We rarely have problems on Rosecrans on Sundays, actually. And during the week, the main traffic mess is that part that’s north of Sports Arena, which is actually Camino Del Rio West. The ramp off 5 puts you onto CDRW, not Rosecrans, in the worst area, traffic-wise. From where we are, we bypass most of this mess by going down Morena to Taylor St., and following Taylor across the tracks to the “real” Rosecrans, then continue on Rosecrans where it meets CDRW at Sports Arena, and down to LS.

DC You can access Old Decatur road from the Lytton entrance and get to the central part of LS pretty easily. The parking lots on that side of the complex are rarely full.

Well, yes, I know. But the Lytton entrance is out of the way if you’re heading to the parking lot that’s closest to the central area (Tender Greens, Von’s, etc.).

In any case, I’ve never had any problem parking in any of the lots (or on the street for that matter) at LS. The problem on Sundays isn’t an issue with finding a place to park. It’s the traffic going into and out of the access roads. But that’s only during certain time periods.

Bottlecraft Beer Shop will have 26 beers on tap and around 500 bottled beers to choose from. So go shopping at the Market and have a cold tasty brew! Cant wait for this place to finally open!


Bottlecraft Beer Shop at Liberty Market

I’m always wary of buying an uncommon beer from a place that carries “500” of them. Beer sitting out on a shelf exposed to fluorescent lighting can skunk, and they can’t possibly have enough turnover of all those beers to always have fresh stock.

By the way, San Diego Wine on Miramar (my favorite wine shop) now has a whole aisle of beer, as of several months ago. I wish they hadn’t done that. It reduced their wine inventory in the international area of the store. Plus they might have this same shelf-life problem with the beers.

Bottlecraft is a good example what I think is the biggest problem of the whole concept - there are already two Bottlecraft shops with hugh selections in SD (both easier to reach for the majority of people if you are not living in Point Loma). One of it has even a Venissimo inside. And having a large selection of draft beers in SD is about as unique as saying we are the only restaurant in SD serving burgers. With this unfortunate location this kind of market needs unique serious selling points (which based on their webpage so far hardly exist)

Alas, there is nothing as yet in LSPM that would make it a destination for me. I’m/we’re sure to stop in when walking around in Liberty Station, which my DH companion and I think is a wonderful place. But nothing so special in the market to make me/us want to go out of our way to go there for its own sake.

OT Postscript: When we went to buy caviar for New Year’s at Catalina Offshore, I may have been hallucinating, but I think there was a small Venissimo inside, left of the freezer. Maybe a popup, IDK. We left so quickly (I didn’t have an ice bucket) we didn’t check it out, and my DH doesn’t remember even seeing it.

I understand, but doesn’t San Diego, one of the biggest craft beer cities in the world, have to by default have a good craft beer option at their public market to legitimize it? I mean if we’re going to be walking around shopping, eating, and drinking, then craft beer must be an available option.

And the idea of this place is not any one vendor will be the draw, but the whole will be greater than the some of it’s parts allowing patrons to shop for every aspect of a whole meal or even have a delicious locally sourced meal and then shop goodies for home!

Their are lots of places that I am looking forward to including (But not only) Mess Hall, Paran Empanadas, Mama Made, Liberty Meatshop, Fresh Local Produce, Mastiff Sausage company (finally a brick and mortar), and Fishbone. Fishbone especially intrigues me with it’s fresh locally sourced seafood (from a local experienced fish monger) and raw bar featuring raw seafood as well ceviche’s, agua chiles, and pokes. I for one am excited that San Diego will have something like this and hope the community will support it so that it continues to grow and thrive.

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I also wish the market well and hope that it’ll not only survive but thrive. I guess we shall see. We’ll no doubt stop in for empanadas, and give Fishbone a try at some point, at the least, since we go to LS quite often (relatively speaking).