Born in Rancho Bernardo. Built for You.
Our Story
One Address. Four Passions.
The Cork & Craft was born from a question that seemed obvious once someone asked it: why do the best craft beer and the best wine have to live in different places? And while we were working through that question, a second one followed: why does great food have to be a secondary consideration when you are building a serious drinking destination? And then a third: what if you added a sushi bar?
We opened in Rancho Bernardo with a singular ambition — to build a gathering place for our community that could hold its own against any restaurant in San Diego, with the added magic of an in-house brewery, a working winery, and a sushi program that brought genuine Japanese craft to the North County table. We wanted to create something that felt both deeply local and genuinely exceptional. A place where a first-generation craft beer drinker and a seasoned sommelier could sit at the same table and both find something that made them lean back and exhale.
Today, The Cork & Craft has become exactly that place for thousands of guests from across Rancho Bernardo, 4S Ranch, Poway, Carmel Mountain Ranch, and the broader North County San Diego community. We are the restaurant our neighbors did not know they needed until they walked through the door for the first time. And we are more grateful for that trust than we know how to adequately express.
Quality in Everything, Pretension in Nothing
We believe that exceptional food, craft beer, fine wine, and handcrafted sushi should be accessible — not reserved for special occasions or downtown dining rooms or guests willing to endure a 45-minute drive. We believe that a restaurant in a suburban community like Rancho Bernardo can be genuinely great. We believe that the guest who comes in for a burger and a beer deserves the same level of care as the guest who comes in for a five-course omakase with a wine pairing. And we believe that the best hospitality feels like something a good friend is offering — warm, genuine, knowledgeable, and without any trace of condescension.
These beliefs drive every decision we make: how we source our ingredients, how we develop our tap list, how we curate the wine program, how we hire and train our team, and how we measure a successful evening. For us, success is a guest who leaves feeling like they were well taken care of and immediately starts planning their return visit.
Our Team
EXECUTIVE CHEF
EXECUTIVE CHEF
Our Executive Chef brings over fifteen years of refined American cuisine experience to the Cork & Craft kitchen. Trained in the classic brigade tradition and seasoned through positions at acclaimed restaurants in Los Angeles and San Diego, our Chef's approach to the menu is rooted in quality sourcing, seasonal thinking, and the conviction that comfort food at its best can be genuinely moving. Every item on our menu was conceived with both culinary integrity and pairing potential in mind — the kitchen and the brewery and winery communicate daily.
BREWMASTER
Brewmaster
Our Brewmaster holds a degree in Fermentation Science and spent nearly a decade at craft breweries across California and the Pacific Northwest before joining the Cork & Craft team to build our brewery from the ground up. The tap list you find here is entirely the product of the Brewmaster's creativity, discipline, and genuine love for the craft. The rotating lineup — always changing, always intentional — is a direct reflection of a person who considers brewing an art form and treats every batch as a chance to say something specific about flavor, place, and season.
SOMMELIER
Wine Director & Sommelier
Our Sommelier completed formal certification through the Court of Master Sommeliers and has spent the better part of a decade building wine programs at restaurants across San Diego. The wine program at Cork & Craft is both technically rigorous and deeply approachable — a list that rewards knowledge without requiring it. Our Sommelier's singular gift is the ability to help any guest feel confident and excited about what they are drinking, regardless of their prior experience. Pairing suggestions are offered freely and enthusiastically, and the team is trained to the same standard.
Proudly Part of Rancho Bernardo
We are not just a restaurant that happens to be located in Rancho Bernardo. We are committed to being a genuine part of the community in the fullest sense. That means sourcing from local and California suppliers wherever we can. It means participating in neighborhood events, supporting local schools and nonprofits, and showing up as a business that is invested in the long-term health and character of the communities we serve. It means hiring locally, training seriously, and building a team that reflects the diversity and talent of North County San Diego.
It also means treating every guest — the regulars who know us by name, the first-timers who found us through a Google search for restaurants near 92127, the families celebrating birthdays, the couples on date nights, the solo diners at the bar reading a book — with the same warmth and attentiveness. Everyone who walks through our door deserves to feel like the most welcome person in the room. That is not a marketing statement. It is a standard we hold ourselves to every single service.
PRESS & RECOGNITION
- Best New Restaurant — Rancho Bernardo, San Diego Magazine 2024
- Top 10 Craft Beer Destinations — North County San Diego, Eater San Diego
- 4.7 stars across 800+ Google reviews
- Featured in North County Times dining guide two consecutive years