From early morning to late at night, Mission + Garnet arrives to feed the neighborhood
Dominating one of Pacific Beach’s busiest corners, Mission + Garnet officially opens Thursday, February 16 at the former Denny’s site which has been thoroughly transformed into a 4,000-square-foot, 108-seat communal dining space holding six distinct restaurants. Its developer, Scott Slater, founded the Slater’s 50/50 chain and opened Understory at the Sky Deck in 2021.
Slater also owns Head Lettuce and Spitfire Tacos in the UTC area and recently launched a Spitfire outpost inside of JuneShine’s Scripps Ranch headquarters. Head Lettuce, which offers customizable chopped salads, and Spitfire, which centers around tacos and burritos based on spit-fired meats like al pastor and Korean pork belly, are anchoring the Pacific Beach project along with two previously virtual brands that now have their own storefronts: Earlybird breakfast burritos and bowls and Checkered Churros, which serves churro waffles with sweet fillings and toppings.
Activating in March will be two new restaurants, a whole-animal sandwich shop called Harvey Carvers and Scotty Dogs, which will feature Slater’s signature bacon-studded beef hot dogs. Frutas Chamoy, a cart serving Mexican fruit cups, will also be posted up on the 2,600-square-foot patio.
Most of the restaurants at Mission + Garnet will keep all-day hours but some, like Earlybird, will be open from 7 a.m. to 3 a.m. to feed early-rising surfers as well as the after-party crowds. An adjacent parking lot offers several short-term spots for customers just picking up food as well as a free hour of parking for customers dining in.
Slater tells Eater that he hopes to find more big-box restaurants or other second-generation spaces that can be converted into this configuration, with a central kitchen fueling multiple food spots. He has two more brands up his sleeve, one revolving around chicken tenders and the other focused on Greek kabobs, which will be able to be mixed and matched with the existing ones.
