"Eighth time’s a charm," joked Bar Agricole owner Thad Vogler in his acceptance speech, after the place won the James Beard Award for Outstanding Bar Program following annual nominations going back to 2012.
As you may or may not know, the James Beard Awards, the restaurant and chef prizes anyway, were given out Monday night in a ceremony in Chicago. And as you also may or may not know depending on if you follow these things, the tradition is that once you become a finalist in one of the big categories that isn't Best New Restaurant, you tend to just get re-nominated every year until you win. Such was the case with Bar Agricole, which has been nominated eight times in the Bar Program category, basically since the SoMa spot first opened.
The other big local winner was Benu, which won in the Outstanding Wine Program category. Benu's chef Corey Lee took home the Best Chef: West prize back in 2017, and he was nominated again this year in the Outstanding Chef category.
In the Best Chef: West category this year, Los Angeles's Michael Cimarusti of Providence took home the honor after being nominated about as many times as Bar Agricole.
And another SF restaurant, the new SoMa Mexican spot El Pipila, took home a design award for designers Schwartz and Architecture (S^A), in the quick-bite restaurant category.
Below, a photo of El Pipila's very modern, very tiny interior at 879 Brannan.
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