San Diego Magazine's Happy Half Hour

Absinthe sure got pigeonholed. We are all aware that within 15 minutes of drinking it, you speak in tongues, dictating the next great American novel onto the bar napkin. Another 30 minutes, and you descend into madness. Such a mythologized spirit, the drink of long-dead poets and thinkers and ascenders and descenders. And now it has its own restaurant in San Diego, sort of. Wormwood just went into the space recently vacated by the beloved Jayne’s Gastropub. It’s the project of Amar Harrag, who brought a jolt of modern blood to Old Town with Tahona and its accompanied secretish bar, Oculto 477. Beverage director Ben Marquart (Ironside, Saiko Sushi) has been tasked with creating the city’s first absinthe bar, proving that the black licorice-flavored, green golbin-colored spirit is far more diverse and nuanced than once believed. In the kitchen is chef Danny Romero, a native of Calexico who moved to San Diego 15 years ago, fell in love with the fire and grit and hustle of the restaurant kitchen. He worked at two