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Italian sports cars, speed and screen stars inspire the interiors of Perbacco’s new little sister.
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By Mary Scoviak
When Perbacco Ristorante + Bar's co-owners Umberto Gibin and executive chef Staffan Terje decided to open a casual complement to their upscale Italian eatery, they clearly didn't want any sibling rivalry. Their mandate to Cass Calder Smith and his team at CCS Architecture (San Francisco and New York) was to borrow just enough from their design for Perbacco to create a family resemblance, not a clone. Targeting the workers in the Financial District as well as foodies, Gibin and Terje envisioned “a sexy little” sister to their award-winning eatery that could transition from a casual trattoria by day to a happening enoteca (wine bar) at night.
The proportions of the space in the 1912 Hind Building that would house the new 66-seat Barbacco Eno Trattoria provided the designers with their biggest challenge and their muse. “Our goal was to create an urbane, Italian-inspired place,” says Smith. “As I was looking at the room, the long, narrow space made me think about sports cars. Both the materials and the colors derive from that—especially the gloss yellow and the long mirror.”
Ferrari yellow serves as a signature, racing through the restaurant in decorative stripes, frames around pictures and a beverage case and big, bold angled pieces that top half-wall dividers. Walnut and chrome details on the tables and chairs reference the dashboards of luxury cars. Blurred photos work with the bias-patterned floor tiles and angled signage to suggest movement and speed. Mirrors are interspersed throughout the interiors as focal points that lead the customer through the space.
Finding ways to keep traffic moving through the narrow footprint required new thinking from top to bottom. “We needed solutions that would make the rear of the space as desirable as the front,” Smith says. One answer was to curve the high ceiling in the front area down toward the low ceiling of the back. CCS took advantage of the openness near the front entrance to create a convivial atmosphere with large communal tables. At the rear, more intimate tables and chairs shelter under the lower ceiling. Bridging the two is a signature marble-topped bar counter that extends the length of the room.
Getting the right look within the budget required close coordination. “This project wasn't as much about innovation on the part of the vendors and suppliers as it was about building to our design and specs—which is something they did really well,” says Smith. “What made it work is that everything was ready when the crews came in, so they could move quickly and keep to the schedule.”
Another plus was the designers' focus on simple materials that were readily available and easy to work with. For example, the millwork is painted, high density fiberboard and the floors are tile. It's the way in which they were used—like the angled juxtaposition of colors in the flooring—that delivers the impact.
According to reviews, Barbacco's Northern Italian cuisine and urbane style have a struck a chord with a broad market. So has recession-conscious pricing with average lunch checks around $20 and dinner checks around $35. No wonder that reports like one in The Wall Street Journal cite Barbacco as one of the city's up-and-coming spots for power lunches and more.
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