Touring Half Door Brewing’s East Village brewpub, it didn’t take long for an astute real-estate agent to notice some glaring similarities to an establishment an hour-and-a-half away. A white-paneled, two-story home with classic bones and early twentieth-century charm, it reminded him of the uncannily, near-identical 1904 domicile-turned-homey-restaurant at Villains Brewing in Anaheim. A cornerstone that business’ sprawling 33,000-square-foot hospitality campus, that site was carefully refurbished to present elements of the two-year-old concern’s whimsically dark thematic while preserving its historic features and providing a comfortable atmosphere for guests. Believing the hospitality team behind that project was ideally suited to duplicate those efforts at Half Door, the agent wasted zero time reaching out to see if they would be interested in touring the property.
It took mere seconds after stepping through Half Door’s eponymous front entrance for the Villains team to see what the real-estate agent had so quickly ascertained. The 10-year-old brewpub was perfect for them, and not just from a structural and aesthetic standpoint. Equipped with its own 10-barrel brewhouse and cellar, as well as a full liquor license and bars on both stories, it would allow them to brew and serve Villains house beers while also installing an extensive craft-cocktail program like the one they offer in Anaheim. They eagerly signed on the dotted line and began coordinating with Half Door co-founder Stacy Drayne to transfer the business’ license over to Villains.
During that span, news of the sale led many to wonder about the identity and origin story of the entity that would be replacing the family business that had occupied the white house at the corner of Island and Ninth for the past decade. Even in this age of readily retrievable information, little about Villains is available online other than the fact it was founded at the ambitious Liesuretown venue constructed by Modern Times Beer two miles northeast of Disneyland. A six-building site comprising a brewery, restaurant and coffee shop (which was located in the aforementioned double-decker house) plus a large courtyard and a party-ready swimming pool, it took more than half a decade to build before opening in 2020, months ahead of both the pandemic and accusations of sexual harassment that led Modern Times’ founder and CEO, Jacob McKean, to step down. Both of those negative items contributed to a severe downturn for the company, forcing a court-ordered receivership sale and the closure of all of the Point Loma-based company’s venues outside of San Diego County. That included Leisuretown, which shuttered in October of 2022.
Clearly, such a large space with so many moving pieces would require a versatile, well-rounded concept from an established, experienced entity, and that is what it got in the form of Smoke & Fire, a fast-growing hospitality company with businesses in Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside and, with the acquisition of Half Door, San Diego Counties. Villains is the group’s tenth unit and its third beverage-manufacturing site, joining the Anaheim brewery and the production headquarters for sister-brand Broken Spirits Distillery in Long Beach.
Smoke & Fire’s management team is a tightknit squad of individuals with varied experience and distinct baileywicks, ranging from culinary prowess to restaurant management, bar programs and brewing. The latter is headed by Brad Kominek, who came on board to head beermaking operations when the group opted to take over Leisuretown and establish Villains. A veteran who started his career at Anaheim’s Noble Ale Works more than a decade ago before moving on to join friend and former Noble coworker Evan Price at his Orange-based venture, Green Cheek Beer Co. (which operates a brewpub in Oceanside), Kominek’s involvement instantly legitimized Smoke & Fire’s foray into beer. His expertise has since made good on that promise.
The styles of beer Kominek focuses on are largely in step with current consumer tastes. A West Coast IPA called Fire is offset by hazy counterpart, We’re Goin’ in Circles! There’s also a maltier, more bitter old-school IPA dubbed Kayfabe and a double West Coast called Brethren of Filth. An Irish-style red ale and fruited beers round things out, along with Villains’ best-seller, Saca la Bolista. That Mexican-style lager, which earned a bronze at the Great American Beer Festival, is served with a packet of limon salt clipped to its rim. Kominek expects to brew the above offerings in San Diego, but hopes the smaller size of that system will allow him to also craft site-specific one-offs for Villains’ new clientele.
In Anaheim, Smoke & Fire was able to extend its restaurant success to the brewpub realm with its barbecue-centric take on elevated comfort food, which sees high-quality proteins treated with care and kitchen smarts to make identifiable staples into something special. Prime examples include a sizable Wagyu beef carne asada burrito and nachos loaded with avocado salsa, barbecue sauce and tender brisket smoked for twelve-and-a-half hours. Vast yet relatable to SoCal residents, Villains Anaheim’s menu includes burgers of the smash and “thiccc” varieties, sandwiches, tacos, barbecue platters, wings with a variety of house-made sauces and rubs, and more.
Smoke & Fire ringleader Isaias Hernandez spent years in high-level positions with Red Robin, Landry’s Restaurant Group, Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. and Wood Ranch Bar & Grill. It was while with the lattermost company (during which he opened its Mission Valley location) that Hernandez developed an affinity for low-and-slow barbecue, one which would color the rest of his culinary future.
While Villains’ San Diego location will carry forward much of what has been perfected in Anaheim, Hernandez says the Half Door site has a much smaller kitchen. As such, the menu won’t be quite as expansive, but will include plenty of dishes that have been well received up north. He expects to also apply some San Diego touches here and there, a method that will be applied to every aspect of the new space, including the cocktail program. The bar menu will feature classic cocktails along with seasonal creations (including some incorporating house beers and hard seltzers), many of which will be given twists based on local culture, weather, tastes and ingredients.
And while Hernandez and company could simply apply the same treatment to the Half Door space that they did to Modern Times’ old digs, they want to fine-tune their approach so that it is best suited for the locals and San Diego tourists it will serve. The Anaheim location is built as a macabre “villains’ lair” playfully celebrating scourges of cinema with light-hearted black-and-white mural work featuring A Nightmare on Elm Street’s Freddy Kruger, Chucky from Child’s Play and Jason from the Friday the 13th franchise (pictured, at right). The renovations planned for the Half Door space will feature more refined, sophisticated elements, including custom oil paintings and a more family-friendly vibe. And whereas the Anaheim site pays tribute to Walt Disney and the Magic Kingdom (that 1904 craftsman sports iconic artwork from the park’s Haunted Mansion ride), its spinoff will honor the Padres and the history of downtown San Diego.
The Friars will also be the focus of watch-parties during away games, which are planned to take place on the brewpub’s outdoor upper deck. Other events intended for the new location include trivia nights, karaoke and multi-course dinners featuring pairings of beers and other beverages, including spirits and cocktails.
The transfer of Half Door’s TTB (U.S. Alcohol & Tobacco Tax & Trade Bureau) license is still underway, but once that is complete it will trigger a fast and furious renovation process Smoke & Fire is eager to take on and complete as quickly as possible. The team’s goal is to unveil their local incarnation of Villains Brewing by mid-summer.
Villains Brewing is located at 903 Island Avenue in downtown San Diego’s East Village community