Hangar 24 Craft Brewing will open a taproom and restaurant in Riverside’s Canyon Crest Towne Centre on Sunday, Sept. 1.
The project required a 10-month overhaul of a space occupied for 24 years by Romano’s Canyon Crest, an Italian restaurant and concert venue. Romano’s closed in June 2023 and work began last winter.
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“We tore it down to concrete and studs,” said vice president Brandon Montilione at a preview on Wednesday.
“It used to be three buildings years and years ago. We combined everything. We moved the kitchen. We made bigger restrooms. We did more than just a face lift. This was a whole makeover, ground up.”
The taproom has an indoor-outdoor bar facing a patio with rollup windows and doors. The restaurant, previously divided into two dining rooms, now has one L-shaped dining room with a stage on one end.
Hangar 24 was founded by Ben Cook in 2008 across the street from Redlands Municipal Airport. In keeping with that tradition, the Riverside taproom is decorated with memorabilia on loan from March Field Air Museum, including a portion of a wing from a World War I biplane known as a Tommy.
This is Hangar 24’s fourth taproom, after Redlands, Lake Havasu, opened in 2016, and Irvine, opened in 2020.
The Riverside kitchen has a full kitchen with a menu similar to Irvine’s, said Montilione.
“We like to call it elevated bar food. American, Mexican, a mix of everything. We do it all here.”
The eatery provides the 22-acre shopping center with a new anchor, according to Canyon Crest’s general manager Jeff Lerch
He said the shopping center is coming out of “an unexpected time of rebuilding” after the death of its founder, Mark Thompson, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Several tenants departed or were asked to leave and were replaced by new tenants such as Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream and the upcoming Bushfire Kitchen.
“We’re reintroducing the center with a whole new mix,” he said. “When you lose the patriarch, it changes its shine a little bit, and we had to recapture that.”
Thompson’s family still owns the shopping center, and the Thompson and Cook families are linked by marriage. Ben Cook’s brother Chris is married to Mark Thompson’s niece Danielle.
“We all grew up coming here,” said Ben Cook. “When we saw this spot was availalbe we thought it was a good idea.”
Hangar 24 Riverside is at 5225 Canyon Crest Drive, Unit 58. Hours are 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Thursday and 11 a.m.1 a.m. Friday and Saturday.
Information: hangar24brewing.com
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