Back Bar — Equipment

Vol. II §9 spec’d the Cacao Martini as cold brew rather than espresso, deliberately sidestepping the cost and complexity of an espresso machine while still giving the bar a credible coffee-cocktail program. The 12″ allocated here is for countertop pieces: a refrigerated cold brew bottle (kept full of fresh batch from the batched cold brew workflow), a manual Aeropress for the rare hot-coffee request and brunch backup, a Baratza Encore grinder, and (added during the May 11 review) two Bodum Chambord 8-cup French presses for the brunch “To Sip” menu.

These are smallwares, not capital equipment — but they’re worth getting right because they sit on the visible back bar in the bartender’s working sightline.

The hot water dispenser does triple duty: hot chocolate (the brunch Cacao Hot Chocolate is the obvious one, but tableside hot chocolate as a winter cocktail companion is on the menu), tea service, and Aeropress hot water. The 12″ allocation is tight — the Bunn HW2 is the only commercial-grade plumbed unit at this footprint, fortunately.

All hot water dispensers at this size are Bunn or Bunn-similar. There’s no real second brand worth comparing against at the 12″ footprint — Curtis, Fetco, and Marco all start at ~14–18″ wide. One-option slot.

Induction is the right technology here for three reasons. First, no flame and no Type I hood requirement (same code logic that lets the chocolate prep room skip a hood). Second, instant temperature response, which matters for hot chocolate where milk scalds at 170°F and the desired finish is 150–160°F. Third, the surface stays cool when the pan is removed, so the bartender doesn’t burn a hand reaching for something behind it.

The 140″ pastry slab is the visual centerpiece of the back bar and the working surface for chocolate flight plating, cocktail prep, and any tableside finishing the bartender does in front of guests. This is millwork — fabricated by a stone shop, installed by the GC during construction. No buy link, but a real material decision.

Material decision: quartz vs. marble vs. soapstone

The east-end reach-in #1 was originally spec’d to hold cheese, charcuterie, prepped fruit, garnishes, and cocktail mise. The May 11 review repurposed it: charcuterie and cheese now live in the Food Prep UC fridge, so Reach-in #1 becomes cocktail mise + wine backup. Standard refrigerator-temp range (33–42°F). Vol. II spec’d 27″; that width doesn’t exist as standard. Realistic options are 24″ (Perlick HC24RS) or going up to 36″ — 24″ for both back-bar reach-ins is the call, freeing 6″ of east-end real estate back into the marble slab.

The east-most reach-in is dedicated to opened red wine bottles and red wine bottle service stock. 58°F is the canonical red-wine cellar temperature — colder than room temp (so reds stay fresh on opened bottles) but warmer than refrigerator (so they pour at proper service temperature without warming up in the glass). This requires a wine-temp unit with a 40–65°F range, not a standard refrigerator.

This is also the slot that needs to be reconciled against the front-bar 48″ dual-zone fridge. The front-bar HC48RW has a wine-temp side; if it’s doing the wine staging job, this slot becomes redundant. Recommendation is to keep this slot doing the active red wine job (closer to the bartender’s working hand) and reassign the front-bar HC48RW’s wine zone to bottle service stock or repurpose it entirely. GM/Beverage Director makes the final call.