Exploring San Diego County one restaurant at a time

Full Metal Burgers and Black Plague Brewing

A large photo of half a bacon cheeseburger blown up next to the Full Metal Burgers logo. A cutout photo of Matthew looking surprised while wearing glasses with a tall beer. In the background is a photo of the front of Black Plague Brewing in Oceanside, CA.

A North County hidden gem for beer and burgers

Black Plague Brewery
Full Metal Burgers Food Truck
Location: 2550 Jason Ct, Oceanside, CA 92056

In front, are common tables with black metal chairs. There are paper displays on the table of QR codes of the Full Metal Burgers menu. In the back of the room is a brewery. On the black wall, Black Plague Brewing written in large white letters.

In Oceanside, CA, Black Plague Brewery has been serving great brews since 2017. Pair that with a resident food truck called Full Metal Burgers, and you have one of the best casual, gourmet hangouts in North County San Diego.

The setting for burgers and brews is a dissonant rebel, gothic vibe mixed with a relaxed, carefree SoCal clientele. Black Plague is tucked away in a corporate park off the main road in town, Oceanside Blvd.

Find parking along the street and walk into a warehouse-like building. This can be a challenge in the corporate park, so give yourself enough time to park if you’re meeting people. The brewery is in the back, and in the front is a spacious taproom with big common tables.

Dogs are welcome.

A gourmet food truck

An open food truck, Full Metal Burgers, with a woman outside holding a bag of chips. A man is standing at the cash register ready to ring her up, and is looking at the camera person giving them a thumbs up. In front of the food truck are Full Metal Burgers tshirts and merchandise, soda, and chip options. It is evening, and the sun is starting to set.

Full Metal Burgers is the resident food truck outside the brewery. You can order through their app, and they’ll bring your food to the table inside.

I interviewed Ben Burley, owner of Full Metal Burgers. He said, “We were just metalheads, jamming in the backyard on the weekend, grilling up burgers and having brews. I was in the foreclosure business and wanted something different from my 9-5 office job. I went full-time in February 2016.” And he never looked back.

Ben, with the help of artist groobzbros, put together the logo, branding and menu developing the concept from his passion for Heavy Metal. Starting out with next to zero food experience, Ben learned so much in the past few years about the restaurant business and running a commercial kitchen. He couldn’t be more excited about moving into their new full kitchen space in Escondido when the new location opens.

A new Black Plague Brewing taproom is coming with full service kitchen!
Address: 239 E. Valley Parkway, Escondido, CA 92025

Burgers

Jennifer's shroom burger and small beer at Black Plague Brewing. Comes with bacon, swiss, grilled onion and secret sauce.

The simple menu of eight burger options works well. They have a classic cheeseburger you can customize, mushroom, pesto, vegetarian (black bean), vegan, and over-the-top spicy burger options. Also available are nachos, hot dogs and a chicken sandwich.

I’ve had a classic cheeseburger (double patties) with cheddar, lettuce, tomato, added grilled onion, pickles, and spicy mayo both times I went.

I love the rustic, earthy flavored buns they use for their burgers. They’re light, fluffy, and still retain their shape as you eat through. They use quality ingredients and every order is made from scratch.

The char on the burger here is just right, and the grease adds a nice, rich flavor but won’t make the bun too soggy. Grilled onions add a nice hearty smokiness. I like adding pickles to get a bit of tangy acid with the tomato’s juiciness. The salads here are just fine, but they only have Thousand Island dressing. The other side option is chips and salsa.

One thing Full Metal Burgers could add to the menu is some good, hand-cut fries or beer-battered onion rings, maybe with a beer-battered coating from a Black Plague beer. I’d love some great fries alongside these delicious burgers.

Beer

The menu of beers that changes daily at Black Plague Brewing. They have reliable favorites and new, experimental beers.

Black Plague brewing has a fantastic selection of craft beers and variety for everyone. I love these beers because they’re not too hoppy and overpowering like most brews in San Diego.

This city is known for its bitter, hoppy IPAs with intense flavors that might be good for some palates but hard for many (including me) to gulp down. Too sour for my taste buds.

The beers at Black Plague brewing don’t suffer from this. Sure, if you want a strong IPA, they have a few up on the board, including a partnership with legendary local and pro skater Tony Hawk called the Tony Hawk IPA.

You can tell their leadership and staff emphasize quality. Their beers are flavorful and smooth, not hoppy and acidic. I know the IPAs here aren’t going to overpower, but mellow out and be able to wash down a good Full Metal Burger.

The beers I’ve tried are Gothica Mexican lager, The End is Near pale ale, and Bring Out Your Dead IPA. My partner, Jennifer, had the Tropicus, a tropical pale ale.

I’ve never had a bad beer here, and I don’t think anyone else has either.

Judging by how popular this place was on a lazy Wednesday afternoon, I understand why they’re expanding and getting an additional taproom in Escondido.

Atmosphere

Matthew holding a beer from Black Plague brewing with fresh salad with tomato and cucumber and a cheeseburger open faced with the bun on the side. Behind are 3 arcade games like Pac-Man and a pinball machine next to a black wall.

The brewery has a fun brand motif around images of the Grim Reaper and the Plague Doctor, a figure cloaked in black with a beak mask who historically treated victims of bubonic plague.

They have a huge mural of the two on the back wall, hugging and drinking beer. There is a merchandise store with cool shirts and limited edition fancy pint mugs.

There are musical acts and a weekly trivia night with a makeshift stage anchored by skeletons in coffins. Black Plague has a great community feel you might find at a small-town bar, where people can check out from the hustle of the everyday and truly unwind.

Check out the Black Plague Brewing Facebook page for upcoming events.

On a wall, a black and white mural painting of the plague doctor and the grim reaper toasting each other with full beers and their arms around each other. The grim reaper is smoking. At the top it says "Beer makes friends."

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A funny pic of Matthew with his mouth open looking at the beer menu before eating his burger. This was before I noticed the camera.

Thank you for reading! 

Next week, check back for another post from Best San Diego Eats.

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