Omni San Diego, the downtown hotel connected to Petco Park via a skybridge, has revealed its $30-million renovation. The revamp includes two new restaurants, including its ground-floor mainstay eatery and a tropical-themed pool bar.
That sixth-floor pool bar is called Tortuga, which is also the name of a new craft gin created in a collaboration between Omni and East Village bar/restaurant/distillery Storyhouse Spirits.
The hotel and the bar are roughly half a dozen blocks away from each other.
Storyhouse representative Nick Griffin says his company’s team met with hotel staff to brainstorm a perfect spirit for the new poolside bar.
“For Tortuga Gin, we used more citrus and floral components to help bring out flavors that would be reminiscent of a poolside cocktail,” Griffin says. “You’re going to taste lemon peel, orange peel, and lemongrass. Those flavors do well in cocktails during hot weather.”
The new signature cocktail: Tortuga Coast Breeze, which mixes the gin with St. Germaine, lemon juice and cucumber-mint simple syrup.
Griffin says Storyhouse has also partnered on cocktail creation with two other downtown hotels, the Manchester Grand Hyatt and the Marriott Marquis San Diego Marina.
The Omni’s Tortuga bar was recently showcased during a grand-opening party. The 10,000-square-foot terrace offers a north-facing skyline view of the city. The pool is surrounded by more than a dozen cabanas, plus chaise lounges, firepits and a dining area.
The ground-floor eatery has been renamed Ace Porter. The 95-seat, baseball-themed space used to be inhabited by McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood & Steaks.
The Ace Porter and Tortuga menus are overseen by executive chef Wenceslavo Zavala, who specializes in Baja California cuisine. SDSun
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