I liked the original bacar. They served food until 1:00 a.m., they had live jazz every night, a fantastic wine list, 100's of wines by the glass, and the staff was professional and attired in white tuxedo jackets. I spent many a night sitting at the bar eating cesar salad, and wok roasted mussels while sipping a glass of wine and listening to the live band. Unfortunately, the black-attired wealthy didn't show up in the expected numbers and things started going downhill. The tuxes went, the food preparation got sloppy, the wine list dumbed down, and the kitchen closing time kept creeping earlier (I went over there at 9:30 a few months before the shakeup and the kitchen was already closed that night).
Then, earlier in 2007, there was a shake up. Debbie Zachareas (wine) and Arnold Eric Wong (food) left. The restaurant got a new chef, and closed for remodeling to make it quieter (the kitchen was enclosed and the jazz moved downstairs). So now that it's been open for a few months, hows the new bacar?
