Featured Bar; July

BUCKHORN BAR
4923 Primero Street, New Cuyama, CA

Upon entering the Buckhorn Bar you may think you have stepped back in time to 1952 when the roadside motel, Cuyama Buckhorn in which the bar is located, was first built and owned by the Atlantic Richfield Oil Company to give their visiting employees a place to stay. One wall is lined with buck heads, prizes from a local hunter while another one is papered with old Cuyama newspapers. Here you will find local ranchers chatting up visiting city folk who may have made the drive from as far as Los Angeles and as near as Bakersfield or San Luis Obispo. Bar Lead Sam Seidenberg is doing something twofold at Cuyama Buckhorn’s Buckhorn Bar – he is encouraging and creating cultural exchanges unlike perhaps anywhere else in the state, and he is taking the idea of outdoors-to-glass to the next level. For example, his drink, the drink God’s Country, made with Rye, 3H Wagyu Beef, Coors Light and Corn is basically an homage to the ranch traditions of the Valley itself. As with the layered stories behind each drink, Seidenberg, who has a deep personal passion for the area and the Los Padres National Forest.

He’s always on the hunt for what he can bring back into the bar and ultimately the glass.  General Manager and Sommelier Scott Augat is also passionate about both creating conversation and inciting curiosity with bar patrons. Augat’s beer list includes some local favorites and some serious outliers, and his wine list of 60 wines offers more than a few surprise-and-delight moments. Between Seidenberg and Augat and their team, locals and hotel guests are in good hands where libations are concerned. Not only is everyone guaranteed a stellar beverage experience here, but they may get an education at the same time. Everyone who works behind the bar shares a passion for talking to people and sharing stories, which seems to create an environment where guests find themselves talking and learning, intentionally or unintentionally, about the area and each other.