The parking lot at Alvarado Street Brewery’s Salinas Taproom hosts a veritable parade of delicious food.

One of the great things about beer is that it goes well with almost anything. A tasty IPA and a slice of wood-fired pizza? Absolutely. Buffalo chicken wings and an ice-cold pale ale? Yes, please. A platter of birria tacos and tall cerveza? Claro. Or how about a delicious platter of smoked brisket to go with a nice frothy lager? Don’t mind if I do.

Some things just go well together, and the folks at Alvarado Street Brewery and Taproom in Salinas are executing it to perfection. The popular local brewery, with restaurant locations in Oldtown Salinas, Monterey and Carmel, offers its Dayton Street warehouse parking lot to food vendors to fill the cravings of thirsty taphouse patrons.

“We have been supporting local food vendors at our taproom location off and on for years now,” says Brooks Crumley, beer curator at ASB. “But when we reopened after the pandemic we really made it a priority to schedule as many vendors as possible.”

And schedule they did. Since the pandemic, the team at ASB has partnered with dozens of local food vendors over the past several years and currently has a fixed rotation of different food vendors almost every night of the week.

The food parade begins on Wednesday with the arrival of Wings Uncommon. Managed by Micah Wilson and Emilia Rodriguez, Wings Uncommon offers high-quality, free-range, bone-in or boneless chicken wings cooked with, well, uncommon, recipes. One of the favorites, according to Rodriguez, is the chile verde chicken wing option, which offers a spicy twist on the classic recipe along with a slight dash of cilantro.

“I love that particular item because the recipe comes from my mom,” says Rodriquez. “Our concept is all about family, celebrating, watching games, and of course, cooking.”

But the options don’t stop there. Wings Uncommon offers other unique flavors like garlic alfredo (think pasta without the noodles), the BB (Blueberry) King, diablito, teriyaki fusion, and California gold. All of which are made with handcrafted recipes, rubs and sauces, and overseen by the chicken wing maestro Wilson.

Now, if wings aren’t your thing, stop by the Brewery on Thursday and say “hi” to Francisco and Helen Ledesma, owners of Pancho’s Craft Pizza, and stalwarts of the Thursday night slot in the Dayton Street lot.

“Coming (to ASB) has been a great opportunity for us,” says Francisco (known as Pancho) of his wood-fired pizza business. “My wife and I started this business with the goal of making high-quality craft pizzas just for fun. But the public was so receptive to our product, we purchased a larger oven and started doing larger catering events along with our regular gig at Alvarado Street.”

Pancho’s features an array of handcrafted pizzas including the meat lovers, spicy island (jalapeños, pepperoni and pineapple), margherita and more.

“We take a lot of pride in our dough,” Francisco says. “We use top-notch flour and a longer fermentation process that makes it both delicious and easy to digest.”

Friday night belongs to the headliner, award-winning Showoff California Craft BBQ (recently profiled by the Weekly). Owner Hondo Hernandez has set the standard for food vendors at the brewery, and also helped pave the way for others.

“Hondo has been a tremendous help to me, personally,” says Danny Zavala, whose Double Dz Birrieria will soon occupy the Saturday evening time slot. “He recommended me to Alvarado Street, and he’s done the same for others. It’s part of the reason I love this community.”

Armed with a brand-new food truck, Double Dz is another family run pop-up, with Zavala and his wife Dani serving up birria-style tacos and quesadillas with unique flavor profiles.

“Our birria is made with love,” Zavala says. “We slow cook it for 12 hours and use a unique blend of seasoning that our customers clearly appreciate. That’s why my wife and I decided to make this our full-time career.”

So now the only question is: What night will you be there?

ALVARADO STREET BREWERY AND TAPROOM is located at 1315 Dayton St., Salinas. Open Tuesday through Sunday with food vendors most evenings.