{"id":427871,"date":"2025-12-06T03:08:22","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T03:08:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/427871\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T03:08:22","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T03:08:22","slug":"carlo-a-new-speakeasy-bar-in-mission-hills-opens-this-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/427871\/","title":{"rendered":"Carlo, a New Speakeasy Bar in Mission Hills, Opens This Week"},"content":{"rendered":"

If Cardellino<\/a> tells a story of fire and Italian bravado, Carlo<\/a> is its soft, sensual counterpart. The cream to the cookie. Sophia Loren to Sylvester Stallone. According to owner and executive chef Brad Wise<\/a>, it\u2019s exactly the balance Cardellino needed.<\/p>\n

Carlo\u2019s story begins this weekend when it opens inside Cardellino. It\u2019s not really a speakeasy<\/a>. More a hidden cocktail bar within the restaurant, tucked behind a wine wall that wasn\u2019t there a few months ago. The newly constructed, intimate space fits 32 guests at a time. Wise says the time was ripe for adding a new layer to the Cardellino experience. That particular part of the building never quite had the right feng shui.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere you walked in the front door previously, there was always a 750-square-foot, rectangular-shaped portion of the restaurant that I was just never in love with,\u201d he explains. After seeing the huge success of sister restaurant Fort Oak<\/a>\u2019s \u201cSnowed In\u201d experiential holiday bar<\/a>, he wondered if something similar would work.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cIf you\u2019re not figuring out how to create a different experience for people to come back multiple times over and over, the food and service these days is only going to do that so much,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

The idea is that guests can pop in for a drink before dinner at Cardellino or after they dine at Communion<\/a> or Fort Oak. It\u2019s designed to be a local\u2019s spot and an arena for beverage director Jess Stewart and her team to flex their cocktail muscles in a smaller, more obsessive setting.<\/p>\n

Carlo is reservation-only<\/a> and specifically designed to be a bit more chic than Cardellino\u2019s brick and bulbs. \u201cIt\u2019s reds, mauve, purples\u2014there\u2019s a really beautiful flower installation hanging from the ceiling,\u201d Stewart says. \u201cWalk through a curtain, and we really want it to transport you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Courtesy of Cardellino<\/p>\n

Stewart adds that it\u2019s a traditional cocktail menu, so patrons can request a dealer\u2019s choice. But she\u2019s confident that the drinks she and lead bartender Marina Ferreira have concocted will blow your socks off. The menu has two themes: The Fates (whimsical house creations) and The Legends (elevated takes on classics). One example of a Fate cocktail is The Prophet, with bourbon, cognac, dates, palo santo, and bitters, while a Legend is Carlo\u2019s spin on a negroni, starring a Schwarzwald dry gin with 47 different botanicals, Barolo chinato instead of sweet vermouth, Campari, and a pinch of salt to counter the bitterness.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wise says his team is already working on another hidden bar that will open in the next two to three months (he wants to keep the details close to his chest), but now that he\u2019s back in the bar world, it\u2019s game on. Carlo may just be the start.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Reservations for Carlo are available on Resy<\/a>. For more information, visit ciaocarlosd.com<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ChefPhoto Credit: Maria Russo
Chef Alex Caballo<\/p>\n

San Diego Restaurant News & Food Events<\/p>\n

N\u00f3mada to Debut in Early 2026<\/p>\n

Chef Alex Carballo has helped launch ambitious concepts like Haven Farm + Table<\/a> at Fox Point Farms in Encinitas, managed huge kitchens like Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens in Escondido, and made an appearance on San Diego Magazine\u2019s 2025 cover featuring the biggest and brightest food stars<\/a> in San Diego. The man\u2019s a talent, gives a damn, and is a rock of the scene when it comes to launching new concepts that actually run. And come January, he\u2019s opening N\u00f3mada<\/a> in Carlsbad as the newest partner of Grand Restaurant Group<\/a> (GRG).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Carballo\u2019s menu will feature different regional cuisines from around Mexico. The group\u2019s new beverage director, Sean Ward (Lumi, Huntress, Nolita Hall, Duck Dive), will focus on agave spirits from producers in Mexico and California. It may be the first time Carballo is at the helm as a partner, but considering he has over two decades of restaurant management, operations, and chef consulting under his belt, it sounds like GRG made an AJ Preller\u2013level genius acquisition.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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