The Crack Shack - Little Italy in downtown San Diego opened in 2015 on Kettner Boulevard as the fast-casual concept from Top Chef All-Stars winner Richard Blais, owner Michael Rosen, and James Beard Award-winning Chef Jon Sloan. The entirely open-air layout — bocce court, lawn games, walk-up counter, and a full cocktail bar with 20 local taps — occupies a compound adjacent to the team's fine-dining sister restaurant Juniper & Ivy, sharing a Kettner Boulevard corridor that also includes Kettner Exchange's rooftop cocktail program. The kitchen uses organic, free-range Jidori chicken — raised on an all-vegetarian diet with no hormones, steroids, or antibiotics and delivered within 24 hours of processing — across a menu of fried chicken trays, creative sandwiches like the Señor Croque, and anti-salad power bowls. Blais developed a proprietary spice blend called Crack Spice for the fried chicken program, a recipe that anchors the brand's expansion to additional locations in Encinitas, Costa Mesa, Pasadena, and Las Vegas, plus stands inside Petco Park. The same Jidori sourcing extends to the egg side of the menu — breakfast sandwiches, Mexican poutine with schmaltz fries — pairing craft-sourced poultry with the local-brewery tap focus found at Stone Brewing Tap Room - Kettner down the boulevard. Full-compound private buyouts accommodate rehearsal dinners, corporate events, and launch parties with custom chicken-and-cocktail menus across the entire outdoor space.