Ironside Fish & Oyster echoes San Diego’s fishing roots with twists of design oddities. Completed by Paul Basile of local firm Basile Studio, the seafood and raw bar concept introduces a quirky maritime aesthetic to San Diego’s Little Italy neighborhood.
Set in a 1920s-dated warehouse, the restaurant still retains the feel (and name) of its former occupant, wrought iron gatemakers Ironside Metal Works. Exposed industrial rafters showcase whitewashed beams and ductwork over the large, open dining space. Among communal tables and booth dining, four bars each offer a specialty, including an oyster raw bar, a chef bar, pastry bar, and a craft cocktail bar. “The space was vast and we felt it need to be closed,” says Basile, so five large steel doors and glass panel windows—created to easily flip up—can either divide the space or open it up to the outdoors.
Outside, the aphorism “A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats” crowns the structure, while inside the seaworthy concept continues with a “bright and clean look with a nautical theme,” explains Basile. Deep shelving niches in the back of the dining room mimic the cargo hold of a cruise ship, and stacked behind brass ship railings, antique luggage, old trunks, and model ships in glass bottles fashion the feel of an old boat.
Vintage boardwalk-inspired seafoam green benches span the dining space and pair with copper riveted tables with cast iron bases. Throughout the back corridors, walnut paneling with birch inlays recall the distinctive look of Chris Craft boats. “We pride ourselves on using natural materials,” says Basile, who adds that the restaurant also features touches of bronze, cold rolled steel, a maple butcher block, and copper accents.
In one of the space’s more memorable elements, roughly 2,000 faux piranha skeleton heads made from plaster line the south wall of the main dining space. “We were going to create a museum of oddities with the most obscure fish and only display their skulls,” says Basile. “We ended up seeing the piranha skulls and thought we would recreate the skull wall from Noble Experiment [another Basile-designed restaurant featuring a wall of faux human skulls].”
Playing off of the oddities museum theme, a carved wood octopus entwines its tentacles in the main bar’s iron trellis, while twin-tusked walruses flank either side of the counter. In addition, iron arms recalling octopus tentacles with oversized lightbulbs as their suction cups stretch over the bar. “I wanted to create a ‘cockpit’ for the cocktail craftsman and use these details to give the guest something to investigate and try to understand,” Basile says of the addition, which was designed after the bridges used to dock ships.
The octopus reappears in a porthole window near the restrooms. Wrapping around an oversized globe, the cartoon-like Kraken tentacle complements siren sculptures holding large block bulbs on the floor above. Polished brass kerosene lamps echo nautical lighting on the main dining tables and anchor logos are inlayed on the concrete floor.
Introducing guests to this nautical motif, a white, black, and red-letter marquee by the front bar offers a daily oyster pun, such as “The world is your oyster; it’s up to you to find the pearls.”
