When you think of global coffee powerhouses, cities like Tokyo, Seattle, and Melbourne may pop to mind first. But San Diego’s coffee scene, while not as numerous as Shanghai, or as unique as Vienna’s UNESCO-recognized scene, is percolating in its own right—notably, with Unison Coffee’s omakase experience.
Two Saturdays a month (two seatings per day), guests take their seats at the sleek blonde wood counter at Pizza Kaiju in Barrio Logan, the space that hosts Unison’s coffee omakase ritual. Omakase means “I leave it up to you,” allowing the person behind the counter carte blanche to create four unique drinks over an hour or so. Unison’s setup is serious but unstuffy, with plenty of gadgets and gizmos that hardcore coffee fiends probably recognize, but may boggle java newbies.
For the first course, Unison partner Aaron Gajo places a surprisingly light and bubbly beverage in front of me as an aperitif. It’s not coffee, but a tea drink made with black tea from local brand Este—a hint of raspberry, sparkling water, and kokuto (Okinawa black sugar with a deep, spiced flavor). It’s designed to invite guests into the space and experience.
“To pause is the point,” he explains.
The next piece of equipment looks more like it should be in a chem lab—a siphon that uses an open flame to create a vacuum, which over time draws the steeped coffee grounds from the top globe through the filter into the bottom globe. (It’s certainly theatrical and the coffee itself tastes delicate and delicious. But between waiting for the water to boil and a slight mishap with the vacuum seal that led this to take far longer than 10 minutes, I can’t say I’m anxious to replace my Cuisinart Grind & Brew for everyday home use.)
Third course: Gajo serves a simple pourover of local roaster Modern Monk Coffee’s cofermented beans (green coffee beans are fermented alongside other ingredients like fruit, herbs, or yeast strains to emulate wine or beer). Finally, a s’mores-inspired concoction arrives, complete with a graham cracker garnish over a chilled layer of whipped oat milk, a hint of liquid smoke and saline, some vanilla, espresso, and his own toasted marshmallow syrup. Maybe I have a child’s palate for fun drinks, but I’ll admit this fun finale was my favorite.
Partner JB Verances explains that the drinks themselves change every month, but the four-course format is a constant—specifically designed to cleanse your palate, showcase different techniques to serve coffee, different methods for roasting coffee, and highlight how the cocktail and coffee worlds can draw inspiration from one another. Every tasting seats eight guests, and while they’re currently booked out through March, Unison will release its April schedule on January 1, 2026 on Instagram.
If you don’t snag a seat at the omakase experience, Verances encourages people to come by Pizza Kaiju during the scheduled timeframe to try Unison’s regular bar menu, which is open to the public during the ritual. “It’s a way to introduce people to what we can offer in our experience,” he says.
Eventually, the partners hope to open a brick and mortar that offers beans from multiple roasters—something Verances says a lot of local shops have moved away from in favor of roasting its own beans: “We want to kind of revitalize that again and be able to be a multi-roaster, where we’re not a roaster ourselves, but being able to work with Das Güd Coffee, or Modern Monk, or any other roaster down here in San Diego and support them. So that way we can feel the community aspect of it.”
San Diego Restaurant News & Food Events
New Year’s Nomin’ Eve
We’ve already put together a killer list of things to do on New Year’s Eve this year, but allow me to add a few particularly delicious-soundling last-minute ideas to the list. Kingfisher in Golden Hill is doing things family-style with seven shareables over four courses plus a champagne toast (reservations are required), and Finca in North Park will also hop on the four-course prix fixe train with goodies like steak frites, fresh ravioli, and yes, a group toast to 2026.
Beth’s Bites
- Cheeky dessert company High-Pie announced that as of January 4, 2026, the business will officially move out of The Graves House, a.k.a. the “Top Gun House” in Oceanside. Not to worry—you can still pick up its hand pies next door at High/Low, so it’s less “Goodbye” and more of a “See you… a few feet that way”
- After an uncomfortably long stretch of restaurant and bar closures in the second half of 2025, 2026 is already showing some promise. Monday Morning, a bottleshop for the alcohol-free that opened in Pacific Beach in 2024, will open its second location in Ocean Beach on January 2. NA is looking real nice.
- I had a chance to check out Gaylord Pacific’s newest restaurant, Marzul, a few weeks ago, and executive chef Josh Mouzakes is cooking with fire. The Baja-California menu ranges from fresh seafood like an octopus salad (I can honestly say I’ve never had a dish quite like that before—and that’s a compliment) to slow-cooked comfort food like a lamb shank birria with a side of hand-pressed blue and white corn tortillas. The meat basically melts in your mouth, as does the churro sundae. I’ll admit that parking was either annoying to find or expensive, but it seems like the property caught on to that, so none of us have any excuse not to head over there for a beer and some fresh oysters ASAP.
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