Review: Pacifica Brewery, Pacifica
Summary: Big place, can get busy, good pizza, good beer. A solid choice for the south end of Pacifica.
Pacifica Brewery is just across Hwy 1 from Nick's Rockaway, next to a bowling alley. Where Nick's is a time capsule, Pacifica Brewery is quite modern, but more importantly: the food & beer at Pacifica Brewery is pretty damn good.
We went on a Thursday evening, on an abnormally hot day, figuring it would be cooler by the ocean. Everyone else in the area must have thought the same thing, because there were quite a few people waiting outside to be seated. Because there were only two of us and we weren't picky about seating, we got a table within a few minutes. They put us on an enclosed porch at the front of the building, which had pretty good air flow. Dogs are apparently allowed on said porch and on the big patio out back.
Beers: I had an English-style pale ale and a hazy IPA. Both were good, but the pale ale was far better. The IPA was a little too piney for my taste.
Food: We ordered a margherita pizza and beignets. The pizza had a very nice crust that reminded me of Italian pizzas. The sauce was good too; I think it was a proper Italian-style sauce of uncooked San Marzano tomatoes and seasonings. They drizzled a pleasant pesto sauce over the top of the pizza instead of the usual basic leaves, but I felt it worked well. The beignets were rolled in sugar and drizzled lightly with a brown sugar sauce, with a cold pear and apple sauce on the side for dipping. The cold sauce made an excellent contrast against the warm beignets.