Oceanside’s Flying Pig restaurant set for move across town

Flying Pig Pub & Kitchen, a popular Oceanside restaurant that marked its 10th anniversary this month, is pulling up stakes this weekend for a move to a new location three-quarters of a mile to the north in downtown Oceanside.

Flying Pig’s last day at its longtime location at 626 S. Tremont St. is Sunday. Owners Roger “Roddy” Browning and his wife, Aaron Browning, have purchased a new building at 509 Mission Aven., where they plan to reopen their restaurant on June 1.

Construction work is now under way on the new location, which was formerly a ramen shop. Roddy Browning said the footprint of the new restaurant space is similar to that of the existing Flying Pig, but work is being done to the 1940s-era building to remove the drop-down plaster ceilings to expose the original redwood ceiling. He has also exposed some of the original red brick walls and is building a large front dining patio.

The new restaurant will feature decorations from the current Oceanside location as well as the couple’s former Vista restaurant building, which the Brownings sold a few months ago to Best Pizza & Brew. The new Flying Pig will have about 70 seats, including 45 indoors and 30 outdoors.

Because the restaurant industry has struggled through uncertain times the past year, Browning said it wasn’t easy getting a loan on the property. Fortunately, the building they purchased includes the shop occupied by the Sandy Toes souvenir shop next door, so that guaranteed tenant income helped swing the loan with Endeavor Bank.

Browning said the move will allow him and his wife to “push the reset button and bring back the soul of the Pig.”

Over the past year, the restaurant’s menu has been changed quite a bit to adapt to what worked in a to-go box rather than on the plate. New chef Harrison Hackett replaces original chef Mario Moser, who moved to Colorado last fall. Hackett plans to move back to a menu more in keeping with the Pig’s original menu concept, which Browning called “Southern-inspired California fresh soul food.”

For current and reopening information, visit flyingpig.pub.

Kragen writes about restaurants for The San Diego Union-Tribune. Email her at pam.kragen@sduniontribune.com.