Note: Today's post is a preview of content from the Upper Haight/Cole Valley version of Haighteration, which will be launching in just a few weeks. Stay tuned! ************* Today at noon, proprietress Juliet Pries will open the doors of the latest culinary venture to hit the Upper Haight and Cole Valley.

The Ice Cream Bar is a full-fledged vintage soda fountain and diner, replete with sodas, syrups, diner fare, black-and-white tile floors, wood paneling and swivel stools. It's an artisan, San Franciscan, Rexall redux -- missing only the undiscovered Lana Turner. Over a year and a half in the renovation-and-permitting process (it was originally slated for a spring 2011 opening), The Ice Cream Bar has been picking up buzz steadily since it started remaking the old Cole Foods storefront at 815 Cole Street. Now, after a long series of hurdles with the city's Planning Commission, excitement in the neighborhood is palpable. Passersby this week stopped and peeked through the Ice Cream Bar's open doorway. Inside, they spied a crew of construction workers and waiters bustling around, making the last preparations for this weekend's launch. And just yesterday, the wraps finally came off the menu, which reads like a Willy Wonkian fantasy: floats, shakes, phosphates, and crushes in flavors like anise, Turbinado, chicory coffee, dill weed, birch, sassafras, rosewood and candy cap mushroom. (Click to view a larger version in a new window.) While the menu is currently limited to sweet concoctions, Eater reports that savory fare and alcoholic beverages will be added to the lineup in a few weeks -- as soon as the restaurant's liquor license comes through. The Ice Cream Bar could be Cole Valley's answer to Bi-Rite Creamery in the Mission or Joe's Ice Cream in the Richmond. It promises to be a well-imagined, family-friendly supplement to the neighborhood's cuisine. If you swing by the shop this weekend, do report back. We can't wait to find out how it tastes.