GTC Design and Grind & Prosper Hospitality bring a southern-styled restaurant to The Brick Hotel! 

San Diego Eater | by Candice Woo 
Sep 12, 2022

After recently unfurling CocoCabana, a tropical cocktail bar, across the rooftop of the Brick Hotel, GTC Design and Grind & Prosper Hospitality (CocoMaya, Miss B’s Coconut Club) have opened another dining establishment on the ground floor of the building, adjacent to the hotel’s lobby. Named after culinary director Quinnton “Q” Austin, the new Q&A Restaurant and Oyster Bar is a North County extension of Louisiana Purchase in North Park, where Austin, who trained at the Culinary Institute of New Orleans and spent 15 years cooking in Louisiana, first shared his perspective on Southern cuisine.

Q&A showcases Austin’s take on NOLA classics, from gumbo to crawfish etouffee, fried catfish, and shrimp jambalaya-based risotto. The Big Easy’s famous chargrilled oysters are offered here dressed with cajun spice, garlic lemon butter, and parmesan or sriracha lime butter sauce, ghost jerk spice, cilantro, and lime, but there are also Rockefeller-style oysters baked with a topping of spinach, herb sauce, and cheese, along with platters of raw oysters and boozy oyster shooters. The bar’s oyster selection is sourced from the West and East Coasts as well as the Gulf Coast of Louisiana.

Its cocktail list, which hews to New Orleans signatures, includes a Hurricane, a tropical twist on a Sazerac, and a Vieux Carre variation smoked tableside.

The restaurant will also provide a different set of food offerings to Frankie’s and Stone Tap Room, which are connected to the Brick Hotel.