The Buzz on Bar Agricole
San Francisco’s Bar Agricole has definitely got it going on.
The winner of this year’s James Beard Award for “Outstanding Restaurant Design,” this one-year-old, South of Market Street establishment fairly exudes coolness behind a fortress-like redwood fence that fronts a spacious courtyard for eating al fresco, and an herb garden for use by the kitchen and bar.
The building’s warehouse-like facade of concrete and corrugated metal gives way to a long, narrow interior. It’s made more inviting by an entire expanse of wall made of reclaimed whiskey barrel oak planks, as well as massive sculptures hanging from the ceiling that look for all the world like swaths of billowing fabric but are really hundreds of glass cylinders fused together.
We expected a youthful, hipster crowd when my husband and I were invited to dine as guests of the restaurant recently. But what we didn’t count on were the many middle-aged and beyond diners who also were having a great time over food and drink.
Our server explained that was nothing out of the ordinary for this restaurant. Turns out that Generation Xers and Yers rave about the place so much that their parents can’t help but want to check it out, too. How’s that for the ultimate sign of cool?
After unfurling denim napkins at our bare wood table, we were all set to order a cocktail. After all, you can’t go to a restaurant that’s named for a type of rum made from freshly-squeezed sugar cane juice and not order a cocktail. Especially when proprietor-mixologist Thad Vogler is so meticulous about the freshness and precision of his cocktails that he also makes five types of ice to keep them cold.
