Earthbound Beer launches tiki food program Friday

Earthbound Beer has swapped barbecue for musubi. The Cherokee Street brewery announced it will introduce a new in-house menu of “groovy 1970s tiki lounge food.” The new food program replaces Mothership, the barbecue concept inside Earthbound that closed up shop in June.

Co-owner Stuart Keating said the new menu, with items ranging from $3 to $8, kicks off Friday, Aug. 17 and is centered around musubi sandwiches, a Hawaiian specialty with Spam, sushi rice, furikake and nori. In addition to the standard version, there will also be a vegan variation with marinated grilled tofu and deluxe “royale” upgrades of both with pineapple and various sauces. The bill of fare will be rounded out with Hawaiian macaroni salad.

“I actually saw some tacky TV show a while back on musubi sandwiches, so I made some for a book club meeting,” Keating said. The sandwiches were a hit, and he thought they’d make a solid, affordable grab-and-go option for the bar.

Keating said the menu may also expand down the line to include other items, and the brewery also plans to collaborate with area chefs for pop-up events in the future.

“We’d love to have some up-and-coming chefs come in,” he said. “It’s a great space to try things.”

Matt Sorrell is staff writer at Sauce Magazine.