Brewpub Grub: Pizza Solana, Pizza Port, Solana Beach, CA

This is where it began 25 years ago: craft beer, good pizza, and the beach. I chose Solana Beach's namesake for my lunch: Pizza Solana.

The Solana is a sea foods delight: it comes with shrimp, clams, onions, olives, bell peppers, mushrooms, and is covered with a generous portion of cheese.

Pizza Solana

The Pizza Solana is chock full of juicy shrimp and chewy clams topped with a rich tomatoey sauce and plenty of good melted cheese. There is so much topping to this individual size pizza that bits and pieces of topping sluice off the dough that you'll have to pick up the pieces with your fingers-a great way to eat a pizza. The baked dough is thick, crisp and filling. The Solana is so filling that I and other patrons walked out with pizza boxes of left-over lunch-a very welcome dinner.

For my brew, I chose the satisfying California Honey Ale. The beer drank down more like a lager, crisp and light to the palate. There is a slight clean honey taste along with mild hoppiness that lends itself well to the filling pizza and makes for easy drinking

Solana Beach Pizza Port is a real beach pizza place, reminiscent of 1960s beach culture; surf

a few blocks down the street and Harleys buzzing along the Coast Highway. Solana Beach was the Great American Beer Festival's Small Brewpub of the Year in 2003 and 2004. It's well worth the visit for a taste of good pizza and SoCal beach culture.

135 N. Highway 101