Y ou’d be tempted to call The Madrigal an upscale cocktail lounge with elevated bar food, ideal for pre-and post-show imbibing near the San Francisco Symphony, Opera, Ballet, Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, and SF Jazz. And it is. But it’s much more. Debuting on Van Ness Avenue in December 2021 from Hi Neighbor Hospitality (Trestle, The Vault Steakhouse, The Vault Garden), The Madrigal feels like what the space should have always been.

It’s as consummate as their other spots with affordable but gourmet food, thoughtful cocktail, wine and beer selections and friendly service. Madrigal looks like a retro-modern lounge centered around a generous drink selection, the half sweep of the lofty, curved room feeling current, yet with classy 1950s-60s ethos. A balcony dining area gazes over the curved, centerpiece bar, kitchen and half moon banquettes, while floor tiling and chandeliers call on the 1960s with a vibe that would have suited Sammy and Dean, Doris and Rock, even your artsy-intellectual types like Newman and Woodward.

What I found returning on a May weeknight was that Madrigal is more than “just” a pre-and post-show or “cocktails with bites”… it is a restaurant with inspired dishes that look like exalted comfort food but are actually more exciting. Playful, balanced cocktails suit the chic, dramatic space. It’s a night out on its own merit; the kind of quality “bar with food” we haven’t seen debut at this caliber in awhile outside of the likes of Bottle Pub Club, which offers more straightforward gourmet pub fare.

With Madrigal’s strong cocktail focus, bar director Mikey McCardle’s cocktails are a central piece alongside savvy wine and beer offerings. Initially, I found McCardle’s French Fit cocktail a standout with its classic cocktail ethos. Its silky-bitter combination of Yellow Chartreuse, Suze Gentian Liqueur, tequila, and Cocchi Americano will appeal to fans of everything from a Last Word to a White Negroni. My second fave cocktail was the lightly creamy-tart Screen Test: dark rum, kumquat liqueur, basil, coconut milk, Thai chilies, bitters, lime.

This visit, I found even more drink standouts: Dew Claw, a gin, lemon, matcha, nasturtium leaf cocktail served in a Nick & Nora glass, is as nutty-creamy with house pistachio orgeat as one would hope. Ojo de Oso is another tequila cocktail but completely different: refreshing, tart and salty with jalapeño syrup, pomegranate extract, sal de gusano (worm salt) and lime, garnished with a candied jalapeño. The Bowie cocktail is an ideal beginning (aperitif/aperitivo) or end (digestif/digestivo) to the night, its bitter base of Cynar and Aperol going lighter with bubbly cava and sea salt.

Madrigal’s cocktail range is draw enough. Then I found about McCardle’s “Secret Service” cocktail menu. The form the menu comes in changes, but I’m going to reveal what it was on my recent return: a bowl of fruit loops. Ask for it, flip it and scan a secret menu of whimsical cocktails with childlike fun. I skipped Hello Krispie, described as “cinnamon toast crunch, Saturday morning cartoons,” since I was informed it leaned sweet. But it’s already a crowd-pleasing drink of Haku Vodka, Vietnamese cinnamon date honey, rice milk and rice krispies sipped out of a heart straw.

The rosy-pink Kirby cocktail is garnished with cotton candy (described as “Italian cookie, your first trip to the circus”), thrilling me with its anise hit from Meletti Anisette, mixed with St. George Bruto Americano, nutty with sunflower seed orgeat. On the opposite spectrum, Open Container is my ideal herbaceous sipper of Siete Misterios Doba-Yej Mezcal, Green Chartreuse, sal de gusano (worm salt again), thyme honey and lime. A rocks glass graced with ice and green twisty straw comes with the cocktail in a paper bag-cloaked bottle. For those of us who want more adventurous drinks, McCardle delivers on this secret menu, but in such a playful way, it feels approachable to the risk-averse. I like where he’s going with both menus, already making it one of the best bar newcomers of the year.

But I’m pleased to say I’m here just as much for the food. Chef Jason Halverson and Joe Humphrey’s dishes could certainly be heralded as gourmet bar food, from house garlic bread in nasturtium honey butter to a grass-fed cheeseburger. But after a second visit, it’s clear Madrigal’s food stands on its own, thankfully not playing it predictable, a copycat of countless other menus, rather expressing the chefs’ voices. As Chef Halverson and team cook in view of the dining room, his affability and sunny cheer come through in the food.

Dissolve-in-your-mouth California sweet onion rings dipped in pickled fennel tartar sauce are about as good as it gets, the sweet onions recalling my beloved Maui onions when in Hawaii. But don’t skip over uber-crispy patatas bravas, which taste and look like the traditional Spanish tapas, veering a unique direction with beech mushroom escabeche, dipped in uni (sea urchin) aioli.

Likewise, ubiquitous beef tartare is not just another tartare. Oyster cream adds briney lusciousness, while perfectly-fried Nashville hot oysters bring a briny, spicy pop… the perfect “foil” or contrast to silky, raw beef. Cornmeal-battered chili pepper rockfish exudes a fish-and-chips vibe, but wrapped in lettuce cups with jalapeno, basil leaves and slivers of pickled plum (or peaches), it feels almost light and “healthy.”

On my first visit, yellowfin tuna crudo drew me in, as I crave silky crudo with drinks. Here, crudo is given a savory, darker bent with toasted garlic, saffron and shiitake mushrooms. Another lighter starter is red butter salad, vivid with pickled gold beets and crispy shallots in a lush avocado-hazelnut crema.

Then there’s that Liberty Duck confit smashburger. On a gratifying, grocery store-type bun, it tastes as heartwarming as childhood, but “fancy” with fall-off-the-bone duck confit, fontina cheese and black truffle mayo. It’s melting, meaty goodness, begging for a cocktail pairing.

Generous, charred quail tikka masala with roasted cauliflower and steamed basmati rice satisfies, but was the one dish that didn’t quite sing as much as the rest. Monterey squid risotto is another unexpected standout. The risotto’s on-point al dente-meets-creaminess is punctuated with the briny tang of fried capers, luxurious in Mendocino seaweed butter. It’s yet another confirmation of Halverson (and Humphrey’s) vision: give more common dishes refined twists that surprise on the palate.

For dessert, a reasonably-sized medjool date cinnamon roll gets a needed tart kick from Meyer lemon ice cream, which quickly melts over the warm roll already swimming in a restrained amount of salted butterscotch sauce, given crunchy contrast from candied pistachios.

More realized than Corridor was in the space previously, The Madrigal calls to my martini and jazz-loving, retro soul. Classy and consummate with top-notch food. But from the secret menu to chef Halverson’s infectious joy, it’s a restaurant as playful as it is classy, chill as it is a “night on the town.” Yes, Madrigal is your new pre-and post-show staple. But it’s also both restaurant and bar that dares to exude personality on an unsung restaurant stretch of Van Ness Avenue. Another round, please.

// 100 Van Ness Avenue, www.themadrigalsf.com

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Founding The Perfect Spot in 2007, Virginia is World’s 50 Best Restaurants’ Chairperson, judging & writing/editor at 60+ publications on dining & drink globally