Top chef, homebrewer and restaurateur: Amanda Baumgarten

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Top chef, homebrewer and restaurateur: Amanda Baumgarten

Written by Annie Tobey

Tickle the Tastebuds - Cuisine & Restaurants

Pairing 2 of her favorites (and mine)

In a time when specialization is often a key to success, in a place where the competition is stiff, Amanda Baumgarten and Waypoint Public are rising to the top with creative cuisine paired with an extensive beer selection. Given that Waypoint Public is located in San Diego, home to some of the nation’s most respected breweries, the beer-drinking public is hard to impress. But the new North Park bistro and beer bar is doing just that.

A large part of the restaurant’s success is Amanda Baumgarten, who is not only the executive chef, but also a partner in the business. Amanda spent over a decade training and working at several of the most prestigious restaurants in the industry, including four separate Michelin-starred dining destinations (La Tante Claire and Le Gavroche in London and Melisse and Patina in Los Angeles). The Bravo Network’s Top Chef veteran has gone on to become the executive chef of both Water Grill in Los Angeles and Herringbone in La Jolla.

Not only is Amanda a top chef, she’s an avid home brewer. And she’s good. So good that San Diego’s renowned Stone Brewing Co. has tapped her to do a limited chef collaboration beer this summer - the first of its kind in beer collaborations for Stone. She will be brewing

her homebrew recipe on Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens - Liberty Station's 10-barrel system. For Amanda, this partnership is one of the proudest moments of her professional career.

The beer for this collaboration will be an Apricot & Arbol Saison, brewed with apricots, chile de arbol, juniper berry, savory and vanilla pods, which she’ll be creating alongside Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens - Liberty Station Brewing Manager, Kris Ketcham.

To further highlight the top-notch beer and food pairing, Waypoint Public is presenting a Brewmaster Dinner Series, combining Amanda’s cuisine with beers from Ballast Point, AleSmith, Dogfish Head, The Bruery, and more.