Bix is a San Francisco bar and restaurant founded in 1988 by local restaurateur Douglas “Bix” Biederbeck (1952– ) and known for the elegant, formal bar service and classic drinks that helped lay the foundation for the coming West Coast cocktail revival. In a city known for its casual style, Bix instead draws inspiration from the swanky, tuxedoed nightlife of the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. Its location, on a quiet alley in the former Barbary Coast neighborhood, just steps away from the site of the old Bank Exchange, proffers a modest speakeasy vibe, with an unassuming front door belying Bix’s interior grandiosity—a dark, voluminous, mahogany-paneled interior is anchored by towering columns and a baby grand piano (live jazz is a staple). See Bank Exchange and speakeasy (new). In the open dining area, waiters bustle between white-tablecloth-covered tables. Yet Bix’s physical and spiritual heart is its long, arcing mahogany bar. On it ready-and-waiting cocktail glasses nestle, stems up, in massive bowls of crushed ice. Bartenders, many of whom have held court there for decades, sport white jackets and black bowties. Excelling in the preparation of classic cocktails, they stir and shake Martinis and Manhattans in endless profusion, while the drink menu perpetually lists standards such as the Pisco Punch, La Floridita Daiquiri, and Blood and Sand. Neither a center of cocktail creativity or spirit-world exploration, Bix is San Francisco’s bastion of the urbane, sexy cocktail culture of another era.
See also
O’Neill, Eve, and Doug “Bix” Biederbeck. Bixology, San Francisco: Chronicle, 2009.
By: Jordan Mackay