A microbrewery with a grain silo and artwork that pays homage to Ladyface Mountain will open in the space previously occupied by Chuy’s Mesquite Broiler in the Agoura Point shopping center at Kanan and Agoura roads.

The Agoura Hills Planning Commission approved the new business, called Ladyface Alehouse and Brasserie, on Aug. 6.

Jean Luc Nouzille of Old Agoura presented the application to the panel on behalf of his wife and brewery owner, Cyrena Nouzille, who is a member of the Planning Commission. She recused herself from the hearing, citing a conflict of interest.

The brewery signed a 10-year lease for the 4,360-square-foot space at 29281 Agoura Road for a reported $1.5 million. It’s scheduled to open in November.

The brewery will the first business to be granted a conditional use permit under the city’s new alcoholic sales ordinance. The law allows some businesses to sell alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises as well as sealed bottles of beer, wine and spirits to be taken off site.

The City Council adopted the new law on July 8.

Doug Hooper, Agoura Hills assistant planning and community development director, said in a report that the majority of the handcrafted beer will be sold and served at the restaurant, but about 15 percent will be sold to outside accounts as packaged sales. Jean Luc Nouzille said he hopes the locally made ale will be purchased by restaurants in Agoura Hills and neighboring cities.

Nouzille said the idea for the business started with the name “Ladyface” and the connection between the mountain and the community. The logo for the business—an art nouveau-style face of a woman—relates to Ladyface Mountain, a Santa Monica Mountain peak that resembles a profile of a woman and is an emblem for the city.

Ale and beer will be brewed on site, Nouzille said. Restaurant fare will include roasted vegetable salads, classic fish and chips and “great french fries with unusual dips.” Vegetables will be purchased from the new farmers market scheduled to open Aug. 23 in the Agoura Hills City Mall.

Cyrena Nouzille said she has been a home brewer for some time.

“I started several years ago just cooking beer on my stove top,” Cyrena Nouzille said.

She said she had been working on the business plan since 2005 but had “been dreaming about it longer than that.” When she heard that Chuy’s did not want to renew its lease, she jumped at the opportunity.

“I always thought it would be a great place because of the view of Ladyface Mountain,” she said.

Ordering a tall one

A 35-foot grain silo prompted questions from commissioners, but all eventually agreed that the feature was not only functional, but a unique architectural characteristic to be welcomed by the city.

The silo will store the grain used in brewing process.

The Ladyface logo will be a prominent feature on the silo but won’t state the name of the company. While all the commissioners personally liked the logo’s design, John O’Meara said the sign issue really didn’t have much to do with “us liking or not liking the sign, but whether it (fell) within the definition of the sign ordinance.”

A city ordinance prohibits signage on top of roofs, including the prominence of logos with or without words, O’Meara said. He asked the panel to consider whether the Ladyface insignia was a logo that advertised the business, or was just artwork. All agreed that the logo should be considered art.

“If we took that literally, we’d have to find that the silo itself attracts attention,” O’Meara said. “I’m not reading the sign ordinance that literally. I’m okay with the silo, and I’m okay with the Ladyface artwork.”

Commissioner Illece Buckley Weber said she “loved” the artwork, calling it “art in a public place.”

“It’s not necessarily how big something is or how high something is but how it fits where it’s intended to go,” O’Meara said, and believes the brewery will be a “kickoff” of what’s to come in Agoura Village.

“It is the very essence of the grow local, produce local, shop local movement,” Agoura resident Robyn Britton said. “It’s the difference between bad fast food and really, really good cooking. I love that the venture has local residents behind it and love that it’s not a chain. The grain silo is not only practical but a shout-out to Agoura’s agricultural history.”

Although the brewery will open in November, the silo, a custom feature, will be finished later.