Guerrilla Street Food will take over 2nd Shift kitchen

Two local favorites, 2nd Shift Brewing and Guerrilla Street Food, are teaming up for a one-two punch of food and drink. The popular Filipino food purveyors will run the kitchen at 2nd Shift’s brewery and tasting room at 601 Sublette Ave., starting Wednesday, July 5.

Co-owner Brian Hardesty said he and co-owner Joel Crespo had always enjoyed working with 2nd shift co-owners Steve and Libby Crider.

“Back before 2nd Shift had food, Joel and I both thought we’d love to sell food there. Their beer is great and they’re super-cool people,” said Hardesty.

But he soon found out that the Tilford Restaurant Group (of Mission Taco Joint and Milagro Modern Mexican) had signed on to run the kitchen. “When that ended up not working out, we heard about it and let them know ‘If you’re still interested, so are we,’” he said.

Since there’s already a kitchen in place, Hardesty said he expects to be moved in by Monday, July 3. Hardesty said initially, the menu will feature familiar items, including customer favorites like the 800-pound Guerrilla, chicken adobo, Flying Pig and pancit. The kitchen hours will remain the same.

“Our food goes great with beer, so I think it’ll be a really great fit,” Hardesty said. “As time goes by, we’ll finish moving in. We hope to eventually offer a few different things that you can only get at 2nd Shift. But everyone can always expect to get the classics.”

Hardesty said the new venture won’t affect operation of the Guerrilla Street Food food truck, the current brick and mortar location at 3559 Arsenal St., or the upcoming location inside Tropical Liquers in The Grove, which Hardesty said should open by the end of summer.

“We already have staff hired because of The Grove location, so we’re just going to shuffle things around a bit,” he said. “They’re already trained and ready to go.”

2nd Shift operations manager Mike Sweeney thanked the Tilford Restaurant Group “who helped us get set up as we were trying to find something more permanent,” and looked forward to working with the Guerrilla Street Food team.

“We’ve always been really excited about their food. We couldn’t be happier about this,” he said. “They make some fun, quirky and very traditional food, and we make some fun, quirky and also very traditional beers sometimes, so it all works out.”

Matt Sorrell is a staff writer at Sauce Magazine.