Category Archives: Bartenders

Barmoire, Bartenders, Competitions and Honors, National shout-outs, People

Shaped by father’s legacy, Dallas bartender headed to New York to compete on the national stage

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The Standard Pour
Christian Armando Guillen of Dallas’ Standard Pour, among a handful of U.S. bartenders competing in Wednesday’s Disaronno contest.

If you’ve ever seen bartender Christian Armando Guillen in action, you know how passionate he is about his craft – confident in manner, slightly intense with a burnish of flair. As lead barman at The Standard Pour in Uptown, he’s largely learned the ropes through observation and curiosity, with a particular talent for reining in sweeter flavors.

That has served him well, as he now has his first chance to compete on the national stage. Guillen, a 25-year-old native of Peru who came to Dallas 10 years ago (along with brother Daniel, another accomplished Dallas bartender), is headed to New York City today as the South Central regional winner of Disaronno’s Mixing Star International competition.

Guillen’s “Latino’s Legacy” cocktail was named the best submission among the region encompassing Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri. He’ll go up against a half-dozen other regional champs for the chance to represent the U.S. in global competition — and to attend this summer’s Tales of the Cocktail festival in New Orleans.

Produced in Saronno, Italy (hence the name), Disaronno’s recipe is said to trace back to 1525, but it’s not an ingredient typically found on craft-cocktail menus. “It’s kind of the underdog of Italian liqueurs,” Guillen says.

The Mixing Star competition asks bartenders to create their version of the Disaronno Sour, a simple mix of Disaronno, simple syrup and lemon wildly popular in the 1970s (when simple and lemon would most likely have been some sort of sweet-and-sour mix). But the classic Amaretto Sour – which famed Portland mixologist Jeffrey Morgenthaler effectively fancies up with egg white and a bit of bourbon – has fallen by the wayside in today’s craft-cocktail renaissance, with bartenders generally shying away from sweeter liqueurs.

Some of that is reputation, since amaretto is known for its almond-sweet character. As a result, Disaronno is in the midst of a purposeful reinvention, attempting to shed its amaretto associations in hopes of reaching a more youthful audience. Sweet it is, though, with a syrupy texture: Britain’s Whiskey Exchange describes it as “showing marzipan or Battenburg cake flavors on the palate… This is definitely for anyone with a sweet tooth.”

However, Guillen is skilled at taming sweeter flavors and has found a way to harness Disaronno’s nutty properties toward good use. His winning drink merges Morgenthaler’s Amaretto Sour with the classic Godfather (basically Scotch and amaretto), outfitting a base of Cutty Sark Scotch whiskey with a healthy layer of Disaronno, lemon, orgeat, egg white, an apricot-vanilla-clove tincture and ornately applied Angostura bitters.

Christian Armando Guillen
In more ways than one, Guillen’s Latino’s Legacy lives up to its name.

Scotch is another ingredient fairly absent from cocktail menus, its smoky or peaty flavors often too strong for American drinkers. “That was a challenge on my part,” Guillen says. “I wanted to use something bartenders aren’t comfortable using.”

In his native Peru, his father always had a bottle of Scotch around the house that would appear at Christmas or birthday gatherings. Cutty Sark’s toffee and maple notes, he says, work well with the Disaronno, which in turn enhances the whiskey: The drink is sweet, but in an endearing and not saccharine way, with a pleasant texture and smooth, slightly nutty flavor.

As Guillen conceived his cocktail, his father was undergoing some major health issues in Peru that have weighed heavy on his son 3,000 miles away. That partly influenced the cocktail’s name: While it refers partly to the drink’s Italian influences, it also reflects Guillen’s Spanish European origins – and his father’s influence on his own life. “I am his heritage, his legacy,” he says. “Whatever I’m doing, I wouldn’t be here without him.”

Wednesday evening, Guillen will make three of his cocktails in 10 minutes for the New York judges at bar No. 8, presenting each with a very European board of Mascarpone cheese, Marcona almonds, prosciutto and orange blossom honey.

“I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished,” he says. “It’s been more vision and passion than ambition. Everything follows. You’re going to deliver if you’re passionate enough.”

Guillen left for New York City today. “What a better opportunity than making my debut representing the place that saw me become who I am now doing what I love doing the most, bartending,” he said of his first-ever visit to the Big Apple. “Not gonna lie, I’m a bit nervous (weird right?) on how things will turn out in this national competition. I am sure of one thing though, I will do everything in my power to bring that victory home!”

Disaronno Mixing Star contest
Guillen’s winning cocktail: The full presentation.
Bars, Bartenders, Cocktail craft, Fancydranks, Soda

You need a sherry milkshake in your life: At Remedy, the fizz is in

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Mate Hartai, Remedy
Sherry, baby: Embrace your inner child with the RxPx.

There was a moment as I was savoring Remedy’s delicious RxPx cocktail when everything else became insignificant – any thoughts of calories, my tendency to shun “dessert-y” drinks, the bustling bar around me, the very fact that I was an adult – and I simply lapped up my ice cream like an 8-year-old kid. Such was the allure of Mate Hartai’s decadent drink, which perfectly suits the motif at recently opened Remedy on Lower Greenville Avenue.

Pedro Ximenez sherry is probably the richest player among the Spanish fortified wine’s many varieties, and its raisin-like notes make it a welcome garnish for vanilla ice cream. Hartai, the beverage master at Remedy and formerly of Libertine Bar, took that idea further, adding ice cream to an ounce of sherry and topping it with a balsamic cherry. The result is sinfully good. “It’s basically a Pedro Ximenez milk shake,” he says. “The three flavors play really well together, and then you have that cherry, and it’s, like – boom.”

Remedy’s approachable and unique bar program is inspired by the elegant soda fountains of the first half of the 20th century, before they settled into stuffy, Leave It To Beaver versions of themselves. And sodas (available straight-up) are the driving force behind Hartai’s compact, simply conceived drink menu, from its breezy highballs to the more adventurous wild cards and after-dinner treats like the RxPx.

Mate Hartai, Remedy
The Oleomaize: Among the anchors of Remedy’s cocktail lineup.

At Libertine, Hartai’s wonkishly thoughtful enthusiasm for the craft made the neighborhood bar’s cocktail program an under-the-radar gem, so it’s not surprising to see him undertake Remedy’s mission with a similar zeal. The innovation here is the carbonated water itself, produced in a recirculating fountain that constantly roils the water to promote carbon dioxide absorption, which Hartai says gives it “the same level of carbonation as Topo Chico, if not better.”

The heightened fizz means Remedy’s bartenders can pump soda water into drinks without having to stir, which lets the drink retain more carbonation. In other words, upping the carbon levels itself becomes a mixing tool. (And skipping that step also means bartenders can theoretically get your drink to you faster. So there’s that.)

For the most part the cocktails pack a light-handed punch, the very definition of soft drinks to complement Remedy’s hearty comfort dishes like fried bologna sandwiches and chicken pot pie. But while the lineup has little to echo the obvious heft of, say, a Sazerac, its soda-jerk pep offers a spirited diversion.

Mate Hartai, Remedy
Hartai and his Mustachio.

Among the highlights: The French-75-like Bitter Lemon, with Meyer lemon syrup meeting gin, sparkling wine and the herbal bitter Suze; the sturdy Oleomaize, Hartai’s twist on a classic Corn and Oil employing dark rum and lime syrup in its Cuba Libre-like favor, and the playful Mustachio, whose white-chocolate shavings begin to descend into the drink about halfway through to be straw-slurped along with rye, cacao and an orgeat syrup made from pistachio and pumpkin seeds. And the fantastic spiced apple soda is one worth having on its own. “It’s like Christmas in a glass,” my pleasantly surprised friend Hollie said.

The mindfully seasonal menu is about to undergo a revamp with ingredients like Meyer lemons going out of season, but Remedy sports a sufficiently good foundation to ensure that happy days will be around for some time. The warmer weather to come should prove an ideal setting for soda drinks to shine. Not to mention sherry milkshakes.

Barmoire, Bars, Bartenders, Deep Ellum, Fancydranks, Restaurants, The maturing scene, You gotta eat

Twenty Seven’s cocktail game: Whatever it is, that thing put a spell on me

Moses Guidry, Twenty Seven
Hey. Smoke Ring: Let me stand next to your fire.

In Twenty Seven, I found Nirvana. And the Doors, Joplin and Hendrix, too. The recently debuted Deep Ellum restaurant from “underground dinner” purveyor David Anthony Temple has been open barely a month, but it’s not just the food that may take a little piece of your heart.

Twenty Seven’s compact bar, with barely a handful of stools, assumes the spotlight late Saturdays when the place burns the midnight lamp as XXVII Antique, with live lounge music from 11:30 pm to 2 am. But with a solid, just-launched cocktail menu from bar manager Moses Guidry, it shouldn’t be overlooked anytime.

“It’s a classic cocktail menu to go with the mystique of the place, the energy,” says Guidry, who works most nights at the Front Room Tavern at the Hotel Lumen near SMU. “(Twenty Seven) definitely has that classic, speakeasy vibe.”

The restaurant operates Thursday through Saturday, with four tasting menus and two seating times nightly. The space nicely reflects Temple’s animated, stylishly gonzo personality, from the dining room’s vintage touches to the barrage of art paraphernalia honoring rock icons Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin and Kurt Cobain – all lost to the world at age 27 – in the restrooms and adjacent corridor.

David Anthony Temple
Twenty Seven recalls the iconic rockers of the so-called 27 Club.

Aside from a classic Old Fashioned and a slightly altered Aviation, Guidry’s drinks are off the beaten path, appealing to the earnest imbiber. Vodka is nowhere to be seen. Instead, there are variations on lesser known gems like the martini-esque Ford Cocktail and the A La Louisiane, a cousin of the Vieux Carre.

Guidry’s Smoke Ring, an agave-based spin on the Pisco Sour, is especially notable. Subbing mezcal and tequila for milder pisco, it enlivens the standard mix of simple syrup, lime, egg white and bitters with bracing cucumber. Cool and smooth with the faintest bit of smoky heat, it’s offered with a swirl of Peychaud’s bitters and a sea-salt-sprinkled jalapeno coin to entertain the eyes and nose. “It’s just a great way to introduce mezcal to people who haven’t had it or who think it’s too intense in other cocktails they’ve tried,” Guidry says.

The hardy A La Louisiana is another standout, pumping up the rye quotient and adding chocolate bitters to A La Louisiane’s classic formula of Benedictine, sweet vermouth and a bit of absinthe. The shade of summer tea, it breathes of orange peel and cocoa, with a warm rye finish tame enough to break on through to most palates. “I’m not a bourbon drinker, but I could drink that,” said the foxy lady sitting to my right.

Moses Guidry, Twenty Seven
A La Lousiana: For the La. Woman in you.

Less successful during one visit was the Night Rider, a bold after-dinner-style cocktail that marries the herbaceous French bitter liqueur Suze with an espresso-infused Cynar (an Italian artichoke-flavored bitter) and an attending party of vermouth, orange juice, egg white, vanilla extract and chocolate bitters. However, its potential was lost in a purple haze of aggressive coffee.

The list also features the Ford’s Cocktail, a blend of the longstanding Ford and Vancouver cocktails, but done with Ford’s gin; meanwhile, the Aviation sports the sweet Luxardo cherry liqueur and eschews the usual lavender Crème de Violette altogether. In all, there are 10 drinks on the menu, but that will grow by several in the coming weeks and rotate when called for.

“We’re going to keep it seasonal,” Guidry says. “David’s got the freshest ingredients in the kitchen, so clearly we’re going to use those at the bar as well.”

The drink list currently stands at nine but in time will likely hover around a dozen.  Among the additions will be the Purple Reyes, which will light your whiskey fire with bourbon, ancho chile liqueur, Cynar, cherry liqueur and chocolate bitters.

Excuse me while I kiss the sky.

Twenty Seven
Bar manager Moses Guidry stirring up smoke.
Barmoire, Best-of lists, Cocktails, Community

2014: It was the best of times, it was the thirst of times

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Michael Martensen, Abacus
An unforgettable cocktail launched an unforgettable year: Martensen’s Apple Boilermaker.

It was the best of times, it was the thirst of times, and 2014’s constantly unfolding craft-cocktail kaleidoscope unfurled a spirited array of events for DFW’s imbiberati. Here’s a look back at the year’s top stories:

Abacus
Campbell and Martensen: Spittin’ spirited rhymes at Abacus for all too brief a time.

JANUARY: Eddie “Lucky” Campbell and Michael Martensen together behind the bar at Abacus

From darkness, light: For a brief but glorious time, the chaos set in motion by Eddie “Lucky” Campbell’s displacement from the late Chesterfield and Michael Martensen’s abrupt exit, along with his bar team, from Bar Smyth and The Cedars Social actually set the stage for two of the city’s most talented and influential bar men to pair up behind the bar at Abacus. The two have a longstanding rivalry – “I’m Seabiscuit and he’s War Admiral,” Campbell once told me. “I’m hard working, and he’s a fucking genetic miracle” – that continued to unfold at Abacus to customers’ benefit, especially late, once the kitchen had closed. One evening we rolled in and the two went back and forth like b-boys, throwing down cocktail creations to put each other’s to shame until Martensen slipped off to a corner to focus on a bit of handiwork. “What’s he doing over there?” Campbell wondered with his sly smile. Martensen emerged with what you see at top: A frothy apple boilermaker made with Deep Ellum Blonde, Cointreau, apple brandy, whole egg and a hollowed-out half-eggshell cupping a whiskey shot. Boss.

Libertine Bar
Libertine’s influential former head barman doing his thing.

MAY: Mate Hartai says goodbye to The Libertine Bar

For years, Hartai — chief barman at Remedy, opening tonight –was synonymous with the Libertine, which he helped transform from solid neighborhood bar to a den of craft-cocktail prowess and innovation. But after five years at the Libertine, Hartai decided it was finally time to move on to other things – namely The Cold Standard, the craft ice business he’s been shaping for some time – and most recently, Remedy, the new Lower Greenville project from HG Sply owner Elias Pope.

Tales of the Cocktail 2014
The Dallas crew, clockwise from upper right: Hartai, Brian McCullough and Charlie Moore; Bonnie Wilson, Trina Nishimura and Julian Pagan; Josh MacEachern and Josh Hendrix.

JULY: Texas Tiki Throwdown at Tales of the Cocktail, New Orleans

The DFW presence at the spirit industry’s biggest annual gathering has gotten larger and larger, with dozens of bartenders and spirit reps on hand for 2014’s event. Among the festival’s kickoff happenings was the Texas Tiki Throwdown, where DFW drink-slingers went mano-a-mano with others from Houston, Austin and San Antonio. It’s fair to say everyone left the conference room with Lone Stars in their eyes.

Driftwood
Um, this.

JULY: Driftwood introduces an oyster shooter flight

They say the world is your oyster, but sometimes oysters are your world: This little bit of brilliance from Oak Cliff’s disappointingly defunct seafood establishment briefly brightened up my existence. Four oysters on the half-shell, each shell filled upon consumption with one of four spirits or liqueurs: Manzanilla sherry, mezcal, single malt whiskey and Pernod. Let bivalves be bivalves!

Hendrick's Gin
Out of the wilderness, a mysterious elixir.

AUGUST: Hendricks Gin’s Kanaracuni unveiling

Dallas was one of a handful of cities this summer in which Hendricks Gin chosed to unveil its rare Kanaracuni gin, a single-batch production made from a plant culled from the Venezuelan rainforest. Hendricks knows how to put on an event, and the fancifully exotic tasting, conducted at the Dallas Zoo, did not disappoint: Bordering on elaborate fantasy, it featured tales of adventure and large insects and finally samples of the amazing kumquat-flavored gin, which in intentionally ephemeral fashion shall never be seen again.

Proof + Pantry
Josh Maceachern, among Michael Martensen’s reunited bartending crew at Proof + Pantry.

AUGUST: Parliament and Proof + Pantry open

As noted above, Lucky Campbell and Michael Martensen’s longstanding rivalry can occasionally reach ridiculous proportions, so it was only logical that their two long-awaited projects would open on the same night — Parliament in Uptown, and Proof + Pantry in the Arts District. (“How ridiculous is that?” Campbell told me a couple of nights before the big event.) Both have met expectations, garnering local and national acclaim.

Dallas cocktails
Everything is illuminated: The new gem in Dallas’ cocktail scene.

OCTOBER: Midnight Rambler opens

Behind their Cuffs and Buttons consulting enterprise, cocktail masters Chad Solomon and Christy Pope have long been influences in DFW’s drinking scene, but it wasn’t until this fall that Midnight Rambler, the bar the two have long dreamed of opening, launched at the Joule Hotel. The swanky subterranean palace and its lineup of well-conceived libations take the city to another level, marking another step in its craft-cocktail evolution.

Windmill Lounge
Venerable barman Charlie Papaceno: No longer tilting at the Windmill.

NOVEMBER: Charlie Papaceno leaves the Windmill Lounge

After nine years at the landmark lounge he co-founded with Louise Owens, Papaceno left the venerable dive spot to pursue plans to open a new bar in Dallas’ Cedars neighborhood. One of the scene’s elder statesmen, Papaceno’s bespectacled mug was a steady presence behind the bar at Windmill, which became an early haven for Dallas’ budding craft-bartender scene and went on to garner national attention – including a nod as one of Esquire’s best American bars.

Henry's Majestic
Slinging tiki drinks at one of five pop-up bars at Henry’s epic Trigger’s Toys benefit. (Mary Christine Szefzyk)

DECEMBER: Trigger’s Toys annual benefit event featuring five pop-up bars

I was crushed to miss this epic event, which made use of the long-unused warren of space at recently opened Henry’s Majestic in the Knox-Henderson area. Five pop-up bars featuring teams of bartenders from DFW and beyond went all out to raise money for a Dallas charity serving hospitalized kids. From sports bar and tiki bar to country saloon and nightclub, it was a raucous party that garnered $100,000 for the cause.

IMG_20141025_152349

ONGOING: Collectif 1806’s bartender book club events

The bartender education and support arm of Remy Cointreau USA, helmed locally by Emily Perkins, has helped remind that the whole craft-cocktail thing is less revolution than revival. At its periodic exclusive book club gatherings, bartenders page through some of Cointreau’s extensive collection of vintage cocktail tomes, perusing recipes and gleaning old knowledge and then passing the reaped benefits along to consumers. Everybody wins.

Bars, Bartenders, Knox-Henderson, Pop-Up Bars

Henry’s Majestic unveils a forgotten hideaway just in time for Sunday’s benefit bash

Henry's Majestic
Henry’s Majestic, transformed: There’s more than meets the eye.

Oh, Alex Fletcher. You sneaky little dude.

There are so many reasons why you should drag yourself to tonight’s benefit bash for Trigger’s Toys at Henry’s Majestic in Knox-Henderson – the five pop-up bars, for instance, and the fact that the whole thing benefits hospitalized kids. But here’s one more: Mr. Fletcher is about to play the little ace that he’s been holding up his sleeve.

Some were surprised when the craft-cocktail wunderkind announced he was leaving venerable Victor Tango’s, and the bar program he’d helped lift to new heights, for Henry’s, the latest venture in the curiously unfertile space at McKinney and Monticello.

True, he’d known owners Jim and Cindy Hughes of Bread Winners Cafe since his days at the cafe’s adjoining Quarter Bar in Uptown. But still… “It’s more of a leap forward for me,” he told me just after the announcement. “It’s going to open some doors.”

Apparently those doors were more than figurative, because now it all makes sense: At Henry’s, just like a Transformer, there’s more than meets the eye. Turns out there’s an unused nook or cranny or two that have been ripe for the renovating, and the space once home to Cretia’s and Acme F&B has been – surprise! – a rabbit warren of bar potential.

Henry's Majestic
Do not play poker with this man: Head barman Alex Fletcher expressing himself at Henry’s Majestic.

Welcome to Atwater Alley, a long narrow corridor behind Henry’s kitchen – accessible on the Monticello Avenue side – that leads to a cozy, two-story den falling somewhere between modern Victorian and Old West saloon. Though larger, the dimly lit upstairs area is especially submarine-snug. And both stately back bars are a throwback; Fletcher thinks the upper one was actually shipped in from The Old Absinthe House in New Orleans. But incredibly, the space has sat here apparently unused for a decade — if it was ever used at all.

“This is kind of why I joined this whole team,” the typically understated Fletcher says. “I knew there was something really cool back here. I was like, `Oh, okay.’ It’s like a playground.”

It took a little work to revive, but the area is now ready to house two of tonight’s benefit pop-ups – the & and & cocktail lounge and the Booty Bar and Half-Mast Tiki Lounge. (The other three will be in Henry’s main bar area.)

For those unfortunate enough to miss tonight’s event, Fletcher plans to keep Atwater Alley going from here on out every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. “It’s a great little space,” he says.

Bars, Charity, Community, Events, General revelry, Knox-Henderson, Pop-Up Bars

Coming soon: Five pop-up bars all under one roof — and it’s all for charity

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The Standard Pour
Bolsa’s Kyle Hilla, left, is all smiles as the pop-up bar “draft” gets underway in preparation for Sunday’s annual fundraiser.

As Ryan Fussell of Fort Worth’s Bird Café put it, it was a veritable who’s-who of craft bartenders, dozens of them assembled on a weekday afternoon for the first of several steps toward a purpose greater than themselves. The site was Uptown’s Standard Pour, where five boards had been posted above the bar, each topped with the name of a trusty tipple maker.

Yes, there’s a story there, but here’s what you really need to know: That on Sunday, Dec. 14, five teams of drink-slingers will face off at Henry’s Majestic as part of the Trigger’s Toys Fantasy Draft Main Event – not only for your imbibing pleasure but for the benefit of Trigger’s Toys, a Dallas charity serving hospitalized kids and their families.

As if that’s not enough reason to get yourself over there, consider this: The agency’s third annual fundraiser will feature five pop-up bars of varying tongue-in-cheek themes, and if you’re wondering how Henry’s – the recently opened Knox-Henderson gastropub in the space once occupied by Acme F&B – is going to pull that off, you’re going to have come see for yourself the little ace that bar manager Alex Fletcher has been hiding up his sleeve.

The Standard Pour
Your five pop-up bar captains: Campbell, Sanders, Orth, Moore, Hilla. Yup, it’s going to be a party.

So on this afternoon, the gathered bartenders were at The Standard Pour for the “fantasy draft” that would produce the five teams of 13, along with bar concepts and sponsored spirit lineups. Organizer David Alan, the Austin-based Tipsy Texan himself, was here with his team, the lot of them dressed like referees. Actually, it wasn’t so much a draft as a draw, with each captain – Parliament’s Lucky Campbell, Bolsa’s Kyle Hilla, Knife’s Charlie Moore, LARK at the Park’s Matt Orth and, from Austin, Drink.Well’s Jessica Sanders – picking names out of a bowl to compile their teams.  While most of the crews represent the Dallas-Fort Worth area, a number are coming in from elsewhere to aid the cause from places like Austin, San Antonio, San Diego and Los Angeles.

The Standard Pour
Knife’s Moore, left, meets outside The Standard Pour with members of his team, including Windmill Lounge’s Reith, Windmill co-founder Charlie Papaceno and Proof + Pantry’s Hendrix.

“Dang, my team looks good,” Moore crowed after drawing Fletcher’s name from the batch, adding to a lineup that already included Bolsa’s Spencer Shelton, Proof + Pantry’s Josh Hendrix and Michael Reith of the Windmill Lounge. “That’s it! It’s over. Everybody go home.”“Stacks on stacks,” Hendrix added.Your pop-up bar lineup will include a sports bar, honky-tonk saloon, nightclub, tiki bar and, of course, bespoke cocktail lounge.  Each ephemeral entity is already being promoted on Facebook and other social media, and you’ll find them here:

Burning Saddle Saloon: https://www.facebook.com/burningsaddledallas

Red Card Sports Bar: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Red-Card/597869657005457

Klub Dreemz: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Klub-Dreemz/628717833906094

Booty Bar and Half Mast Tiki Lounge: https://www.facebook.com/bootybartiki

The & and &: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-And-/317489505118782

The event runs from 8 pm to midnight at Henry’s Majestic, 4900 McKinney in Dallas. Pre-purchased tickets on Eventbrite (available here) are $20, which includes two drinks. You can also buy tickets at the door for $10, then spring for your drinks inside.

The Standard Pour
LARK’s Matt Orth, center, meets with his “drafted” team at The Standard Pour. The nightclub-themed pop-up will be called Klub Dreemz.

Along with donations from sponsoring spirit producers, last year’s bash at The Standard Pour pulled in a whopping $45,000 for Trigger’s Toys, which in addition to financial aid provides kids with toys and therapy aids. With the help of the bartenders giving their time on Sunday, founder Bryan Townsend – who named the agency for his dog after seeing the animal’s positive effect on a child in need of therapy – hopes to take that to new levels.

“Not only are you changing this industry,” an emotional Townsend told the group. “What we’re doing today will change lives.”

 

Bars, Bartenders, Follow the bouncing ball, People

Charlie Papaceno leaves the Windmill Lounge with plans to open a new bar

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Windmill Lounge
Esteemed barman Charlie Papaceno: No longer tilting at the Windmill.

Charlie Papaceno has officially left the venerable Windmill Lounge to launch a new project, marking an end to one of the craft-cocktail scene’s longest-running tenures.

The bespectacled barman will be missed, having been a droll and steady presence at the landmark lounge he co-founded nine years ago with then-wife Louise Owens. Though the two eventually divorced, they continued to operate the bar as business partners, a relationship they managed to negotiate for some time.

Papaceno, who has a new bar in the works in Dallas’ Cedars neighborhood, had effectively paved the way for his departure with the hiring earlier this year of Nora’s Michael Reith at the Windmill. But his exit earlier this week came to pass without fanfare or farewell.

That’s fine with the under-the-radar Papaceno, who has fond memories of the dive-y Dallas institution named among Esquire magazine’s best bars in 2013. “The Windmill’s great,” he says. “Look what it’s become. I feel like we cut a new path in this town that wasn’t there before.”

And they did: Papaceno and Owens opened the Windmill in 2005 on a dingy stretch of Maple Avenue after Papaceno was laid off from a corporate gig, freeing him up to pursue a longtime dream. His classic-drink know-how would help make the unassuming lounge essentially Dallas’ first craft-cocktail establishment, even though it never promoted itself as much more than your basic watering hole. It became a mainstay and occasional playground for those scattered upstarts who would eventually lead the city out of its craft-cocktail wasteland toward the vibrant scene it has now become – people like Parliament’s Eddie “Lucky” Campbell; Proof + Pantry’s Michael Martensen; and The 86 Co.’s Jason Kosmas, co-founder of Manhattan’s famous Employees Only, freshly arrived from New York.

The no-frills bar, with its angry jukebox and come-as-you-are regulars, has remained a favored hangout for local craft bartenders, but whether that status continues in Papaceno’s absence remains to be seen.

Papaceno says his new place, whose name has yet to be finalized, will hopefully open by year’s end. “It’ll be funky and homey,” he says. In other words, just like the Windmill. “Hopefully people will feel comfortable there.”

Bars, Bartenders, Uptown

Eight things you should know about Parliament, Eddie “Lucky” Campbell’s long-awaited cocktail den

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Parliament
Eddie “Lucky” Campbell, all smiles on opening night.

No doubt no one’s happier that Parliament is finally ready to launch than Eddie “Lucky” Campbell, the man who’s spent a good portion of his life dreaming about opening his own bar. Now, with the help of business partner Andrew Brimecome, the Man With The Fedora has finally achieved that goal in Four Lounge’s former space in Uptown’s State and Allen neighborhood.

Here’s eight things you should know about the place, which officially opens tonight.

1. The menu is gorgeous. In fact, it may be the most beautiful – if crazy ambitious – drink menu I’ve ever held in my cocktail-craving little hands. Within its heavy-duty exterior rest more than 100 libations separated into a dozen or so categories, each colorfully illustrated, pleasantly organized and sprinkled with historical tidbits.  “London Roads” is where you’ll find the gin, for example; in “Forbidden,” the absinthe. And somewhere toward the back is a page dedicated to pie-in-the-sky libations (with prices to match); one even comes with a gift certificate for a hat.

Eddie "Lucky" Campbell
A thing of beauty: Parliament’s tome of tipples.

2. The menu won’t go live until next week. Until then, Parliament will be featuring its happy-hour menu — including one of Campbell’s favorites, the Ramos Gin Fizz.

3. The bar is a bit of a looker too. You wouldn’t be crazy if you felt somehow reminded of another place in Campbell’s past: From its chandeliered elegance to its wallpaper to its dark woody interior, it boldly recalls the Chesterfield, the cocktail haven that shone all too briefly in downtown Dallas, then fizzled when Campbell and then-partner Ed Bailey parted ways in late 2012. But it’s the half-decagon of a bar that’s the star here, a luxurious theater in the (half)-round that puts the drink makers on display.

Eddie "Lucky" Campbell
Parliament’s vintage interior, reminiscent of a former Dallas bar.

4. There’s no kitchen, but you can order food. And then, like magic, or at least like your Uncle Morrie pulling a quarter from behind your ear, it comes from State & Allen Kitchen + Bar just down the street.

5. Those doorknobs are swans. And they come with a backstory. Seems Campbell and Brimecome were out shopping for door handles for their venture-in-progress, and Campbell came across the fowl knobs. There then followed some back-and-forth involving The Queen of England and potential bird consumption, and – well, suffice it to say it’s worth having Campbell himself spin the tale.

Parliament, Uptown
Yup.  Those are swans.

6. The wallpaper is another story. A tale of coincidence and fate. Might want to ask about that one too.

7. The barstools tell their own story. Nestled around the comfortable half-circle bar that dominates the room, each bears a titular nameplate dedicated to Dallas cocktail-scene luminaries and others who have found their way into Campbell’s good graces, including Jason Kosmas (“The Pioneer”) and Michael Martensen (“The Professor”). I am humbled to be among them.

Parliament
“I got a surprise for you,” Campbell told me. “And I learned a new word.”

8. The bar is strong enough to stand on. But don’t, unless you’re Campbell himself. The gravelly-voiced bar veteran is a natural entertainer, and every now and then he likes to climb on stuff to deliver his pronouncements from on high. At Monday’s soft opening for industry friends that preceded this week’s official launch, he did just that, thanking almost everyone who helped breathe life into his dream, including the man with whom he’s shared a friendly rivalry for five years. “Nobody has taught me more about this cocktail game than Michael Martensen,” he said.

And with Martensen’s Proof + Pantry also officially opening tonight, Dallas’ craft cocktail scene is much the better for it.

Parliament
All the bar’s a stage when Campbell’s feeling the urge.
Barmoire, Bartenders, Follow the bouncing ball, On the move

Stir-crazy: Dallas drink crafters lately on the move

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Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek
She’s over here: Lauren Festa, now at The Mansion.

Bar peeps are on the move again.

If you’ve been looking for Lauren Festa, who until recently was working mushroom and elderflower wonders at FT33, she’s now overseeing the bar program at The Rosewood Mansion at Turtle Creek. It’s a much-heralded place in Dallas bar lore, having been presided over by some of the city’s most respected mixerati – names like Michael Martensen, Lucky Campbell and Rocco Milano. “An opportunity like this doesn’t come around very often,” Festa said just before leaving FT33 – and spied not long ago, the hospitality-minded bartender seemed content to have ditched the chain mail of her former Design District home for the proper vest of her dark, new Uptown den. She was expecting to roll out her new cocktail menu by last week.

Spoon Bar & Kitchen
From Knife to Spoon: Bartender James Slater

Another new lineup of libations is up and running at Spoon Bar & Kitchen, where James Slater is the new bar program manager. When chef John Tesar opened Knife in the Palomar Hotel space where Central 214 used to be, Slater was among the bartenders who made the jump. The understated Panamanian is an able bar man and now has a chance to make his mark at Tesar’s acclaimed seafood restaurant in North Dallas.

After a nice stint with Rocco Milano at Barter, Stephen Halpin has joined the crew at Parliament, the craft-cocktail pearl that itinerant barman Eddie “Lucky” Campbell has spent the last year or so forming in Uptown’s State and Allen area. Formerly of Whiskey Cake, the Irish-born Halpin has proven himself an adept mixologist and should find a worthy challenge in Parliament’s extensive tome of tipples when the bar opens this week.

Parliament
He’s a member of Parliament now: Bartender Stephen Halpin.

Joining Halpin at Parliament is Will Croxville, fresh from Libertine Bar and a stretch last year with the celebrated Bar Smyth. Croxville has the distinction of preparing to adjust his schedule around the nearly simultaneous openings of two highly anticipated Dallas bars: He’ll also be doing time at Proof + Pantry, Michael Martensen’s long-awaited spot in the Arts District, which officially opens Wednesday.

Perhaps you’ve noticed the absence of another bearded chap at Barter; Brad Bowden, a veteran of The People’s Last Stand, says that’s because he’s lying in wait for his new gig at Midnight Rambler at the Joule Hotel. The coming speakeasy-style bar is the venture of Chad Solomon and Christy Pope, whose Cuffs and Buttons cocktail consulting firm has put its stamp on many a bar program throughout the Dallas area.

Midnight Rambler
Ramblin’ Man: Brad Bowden, formerly of Barter, is on his way downtown.

In other news, Chase Streitz, the former bar manager at Sissy’s Southern Kitchen, has been spotted behind the bar at The Standard Pour (where Cody Sharp, former sous chef at the excellent Casa Rubia in Trinity Groves, has taken over the kitchen). And finally, when we last saw Matt Perry, he was making the most of the tiny bar space at Belly & Trumpet, Apheleia Restaurant Group’s restaurant in Uptown; after the briefest of cameos at Oak – one of Apheleia’s two Design District restaurants – he’s now behind the better-than-average bar at Neighborhood Services on Lovers Lane.

Arts District, Bars, Bartenders, Fancydranks, Food and spirits

Michael Martensen’s Proof + Pantry officially set to open Wednesday, Aug. 27

Proof + Pantry
Josh Maceachern, among the reunited bar crew of Proof + Pantry.

Attention, craft cocktailers: Set your timepieces for Wednesday, Aug. 27, when Proof + Pantry, the long-awaited concept from mixmaster luminary Michael Martensen and  hospitality management firm Misery Loves Co., officially opens its doors to the craft-cocktail public at One Arts Plaza in the Dallas Arts District.

OK, other publics are welcome, too, but it’s no secret that the fancydrank faction has been chomping at the bitters to witness the now-imminent reunion of some of Dallas’ most talented mixologists, whose diaspora was set in motion in November when Martensen left celebrated Bar Smyth and The Cedars Social to pursue his own ventures.

Last week, as first reported here, we caught a brief glimpse of that reunion when Proof + Pantry hosted a private 80s-themed party for those attending the 10th annual TEXSOM 2014 conference in Las Colinas. The space was still a work in progress at that point, with no menus to speak of, but that will change next week when Proof + Pantry unfurls its bar program (that’s the “proof”) and a food lineup heavy on global cuisine (aye, that be the “pantry”) from executive chef Kyle McClelland.

With Eddie “Lucky” Campbell’s Parliament also on the horizon, it should be an exciting next couple of weeks.