{"id":10303,"date":"2015-02-03T10:14:54","date_gmt":"2015-02-03T18:14:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/?p=10303"},"modified":"2015-02-03T13:00:16","modified_gmt":"2015-02-03T21:00:16","slug":"fathom-bistros-2nd-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/2015\/02\/03\/fathom-bistros-2nd-anniversary\/","title":{"rendered":"Fathom Bistro’s 2nd Anniversary"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"314704_342423792501653_1537531537_n\"<\/a>\u201cAt the end of the day I\u2019m the guy with a little hot dog stand on the pier,\u201d states\u00a0Dennis Borlek, proprietor of Fathom Bistro, Bait & Tackle. Armed with a simple menu and 15 taps on Shelter Island\u2019s pier – the place isn\u2019t large. However, Fathom and its owner occupies a special spot in San Diego beer lore. The pub celebrates 2 years in business Saturday, February 7th.<\/p>\n

In 1989, Dennis was working at a record store by San Diego State and living in a house nearby. One of his roommates, Chenin Cilurzo, went to study abroad for a semester. Wanting to get out of his hometown of Temecula for a change of pace, Chenin\u2019s brother Vinnie moved into her room – bringing with him cases of Cilurzo Family Vineyard wine. During a night of enjoying wine, the idea was hatched to start homebrewing. The following day, Vinnie & Dennis visited Beer & Wine Arts in El Cajon – which was then the only homebrewing supply store in San Diego. That night, a batch of beer was made. The laundry room of the house was promptly converted into a home brewery. The brewing bug took hold, and Danger Brothers Brewing was born.<\/p>\n

After a few years, Vinnie went on to start Blind Pig Brewing Co. and eventually Russian River Brewing Co. Dennis remained in San Diego, frequenting\u00a0Montana\u2019s American Grill (now closed). \u201cIn 1989-90, Montana\u2019s was probably one of the first restaurants in San Diego to really care about craft beer,\u201d says Dennis. The late Beer Hunter and critic Michael Jackson was in attendance for one of Montana\u2019s beer pairing dinners.<\/p>\n

Working as a licensed vocational nurse\u00a0full time, Dennis continued to work in the beer community part-time. In 2004, Dennis helped open Liar\u2019s Club in Mission Beach with high school friend Louis Mello. When Hamilton\u2019s Tavern opened down the road from his South Park house, Dennis approached owner Scot Blair for a few shifts. One shift turned into several, and eventually Dennis became the General Manager of Hamilton\u2019s. He quit his nursing job at Grossmont Hospital at 2006: \u201cI couldn\u2019t work two full-time jobs – working at Hammie\u2019s was way more fun and paid more money.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dennis helped with opening up Small Bar, Eleven, and then also Monkey Paw. He then went off on his own. \u201cI always planned on having a bar called \u2018Danger Abbey\u2019\u2019, however, the name and idea for Fathom came to him in a dream. \u201cMy father was a submariner in the Navy and I\u2019ve been a fisherman and scuba diver my entire life. I wanted something nautical, but not junky. I wanted something to reflect my interest and my family\u2019s interest in the sea.\u201d By chance, Dennis saw the \u201cFor Lease\u201d sign posted in Shelter Island\u2019s bait shop.<\/p>\n

He made the call that day and then went to buy books on how to put together a business plan that night, submitting his business proposal to the Port Authority. Port officials accepted his proposal, citing that Fathom\u2019s concept was the most unique use of an underutilized property. Fathom opened for Groundhog\u2019s day 2013, February 2nd.<\/p>\n

Thanks to connections made over the years, Fathom enjoys tremendous support from the brewing community. While the draft list is just 15 beers strong, there\u2019s an emphasis on quality and supporting friends. \u201cI try and keep beer on tap from breweries that I have a personal connection with,\u201d nodding to the chalk beer list with offerings from established breweries like Russian River and Sierra Nevada as well as newer breweries such as Societe, Mike Hess and Fall Brewing.<\/p>\n

This Saturday, February 7th, Fathom celebrates its 2nd Anniversary with 10-12 sour beers going on tap. Beer drinkers can expect to see Russian River\u2019s Supplication & Temptation, Black Market\u2019s 5th Anniversary, Lost Abbey\u2019s Cuvee de Tomme, Brasserie de Silly\u2019s Stupid Silly Sour and more.<\/p>\n

\"Dennis<\/a>
Dennis shortly after opening circa 2012<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cAt the end of the day I\u2019m the guy with a little hot dog stand on the pier,\u201d states\u00a0Dennis Borlek, proprietor of Fathom Bistro, Bait & Tackle. Armed with a simple menu and 15 taps on Shelter Island\u2019s pier – the place isn\u2019t large. However, Fathom and its owner occupies a special spot in San […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-10303","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-san-diego-beer-beverage-news","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","wps_subtitle":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdtr4y-2Gb","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10303\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}