Carnitas' Snack Shack

Carnitas' Snack Shack is a new concept restaurant in the heart of North Park. The restaurant was envisioned to revitalize a dilapidated facility and create a true outdoor dining experience. The previous building was a rundown drive-through restaurant that was uninviting and did not belong to the community. This project set out to do two things: provide affordable high-end local food and create a sense of community in this pocket of North Park. The project focused on creating a warm, natural and inviting place for diners to congregate, eat, drink and be merry.

For Phase One, the existing building was painted and updated, but for budget reasons and to stay true to the purpose of the restaurant, it was essentially left in its original state. At the rear of the building, the outdoor dining structure was designed and fabricated to serve as a conceptual outdoor amphitheater to showcase the food and the community. Custom-milled, natural-finished shiplap cedar was used to soften the urban space. The simple structure extends and cantilevers out and up to make the space open and inviting. To create a lower, human-scale point of entry, there is a small reverse-sloped cantilevered roof structure closer to the building.

The project was completed in December 2011.