176) Restaurant Americana

Ah, restaurant slash bar trend known as Americana. Rustic and warm, it's characterized by lots of grainy, unstained wood, dim lantern-like lighting, mason jar decorations and/or cups, flannel-clad clientele, and the pieces de resistance, the taxidermy. Basically, picture yourself in a log cabin.

The woodsy, manly charm of Americana establishments has been popping up in major cities for the past five or six years. Reminiscent of hipster idol John Deere and with shades of Thoreau's Walden, it harkens back to a time of masculine self-sufficiency. The whole, I-shot-this-deer-and-smoked-its-meat-and-mounted-its-head idea. Modern architecture and interior design allows for this roughin-it aesthetic to be applied and enjoyed in a more polished way.

Some examples. Notice the names:
Freemans in New York. Considered by some as l'original.

(Photo from feastwilliamsburg.)

Bigfoot Lodge West in Los Angeles.

(Photo from LA Weekly.)

Lodge in Williamsburg. Notice the lack of a definitive article.

(Photo from Lodge.)

Bourbon and Branch in San Francisco.

(Photo from Esquire.)