Infusion Lab Brings Coffee, Culture, and Design to PB

Hospitality-centric businesses are starting to work smarter, not harder. Some are leaning into experiential concepts, like Harland Brewing’s golf course taproom. Some are joining up with other businesses to share space and costs, like Scoopy Scoopy. Then there’s the multi-hyphenate approach, using food and drink as a jumping-off point for bigger aspirations—like Infusion Lab, a specialty dessert and coffee shop opening in Pacific Beach this summer.

The name is strategically vague, explains co-founder and finance director Baran Aydin. Initially, the space will offer a menu of specialty coffee—traditional espresso-based drinks, plus matcha and signature ube beverages alongside breakfast, lunch sammies and desserts like cookies made in-house and European-inspired desserts.

Aydin and co-founder/coffee director Aselin Bay plan to expand into a lifestyle brand with streetwear-inspired merch—shirts, hats, bags, socks, and more that are “designed to reflect the lifestyle and culture behind Infusion Lab,” he explains. 

“The goal is to create a space where people can work, socialize, create content, and become part of a growing community,” says Aydin. 

Pacific Beach is growing, with major residential expansions like AVA Pacific Beach adding units to a market that’s tightened nearly 30 percent over the last year, according to the Whissel Beer Group real estate team. Currently, there are fewer than 20 coffee shops in Pacific Beach for a population of around 41,000—plus 10,000 to 20,000 more people visiting during summer and weekends. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Infusion Lab (@infusionlabcoffee)

Infusion Labs’ design is elemental white-and-maroon, with line drawing art. Their space, next to the now-closed Copper Top Coffee & Donuts, will feature some Chesterfield-style seating (deep button sofas) and a dedicated social media area. 

Holy Matcha may have helped start the “camera eats first” coffee shop experience with its explosive pink floral wall backdrop, but between Saya Brasserie’s entire social media-centric business strategy, S3 Coffee Bar’s over-the-top coffee concoctions, and Infusion Labs’ online oasis, it seems San Diego coffee shops are still making sure they feed your body and your follower count. 

Infusion Lab opens at 4638 Mission Blvd. in Pacific Beach in late June or early July. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ash (@ashton.mcclaskey)

San Diego Restaurant News & Food Events

Sungold Point Family Diner Soft Opens in Bird Rock

The owners behind Hermosa Surf in Bird Rock soft-launched their new cafe, Sungold Point—right next door at 5632 La Jolla Blvd. It’s a modern take on an old-school diner, explains Stirling, with seating for around 35 people and lots of pink, burgundy, turquoise, checkerboard, and terrazzo to feast your eyes on. Owners Stirling and Benny Walter designed the breakfast and lunch menu to use organic ingredients whenever possible and make everything from scratch, including breakfast sandwiches, salads, bowls, and a full espresso menu. 

Beth’s Bites

• San Diego classic La Valencia Hotel is hitting 100 years. Dubbed the Pink Lady for her antacid-colored blush exterior, the hotel kicks off centennial celebrations on May 28 with the launch of 1926 Social Club, a Roaring Twenties-themed weekly event on the Med Patio each Thursday from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Expect Prohibition-era cocktails (always felt like an oxymoron to me, but I guess cocktails were being sipped behind well-placed walls), plus a limited-time Centennial prix-fixe menu for two by executive chef Ernest Lopez.
• When does Chef Aidan Owens sleep? On top of being the culinary director for Herb & Wood and Herb & Sea, he appears on the new Survivor-meets-Iron Chef series Chopped: Castaways, which premiered on the Food Network on May 12. Owens is competing for a $100,000 prize through physical and cooking challenges against 11 other chefs on a remote island, and with judges Marcus Samuelsson, Gabe Bertaccini, and Maneet Chauhan at the head of the table. This might be the show that actually gets me to watch reality TV. 
• Anyone of a certain age who grew up in San Diego has probably spent at least an afternoon or two in El Cajon’s Parkway Bowl, sucking down soda and crushing nachos between gutter balls. The dated destination finally got a long-overdue facelift and reopened earlier this week—with 68 redone bowling lanes and the new Parkway Social restaurant which boasts a full bar, axe throwing, and golf simulators. Twenty more refreshed bowling lanes are on the way, plus pool tables—but based on the first pictures, it’s about to regain its title as the de facto destination for kid’s birthdays and Friday night family fun.

The post Infusion Lab Brings Coffee, Culture, and Design to PB appeared first on San Diego Magazine.