Category Archives: Uptown

Barmoire, Drinks around the world, Food and spirits, Plano, Shochu, Uptown, West Dallas

You can handle the proof: Shochu, Japan’s national spirit, making inroads in DFW

shochu
Shochu, once a spirit of the Japanese working class, is becoming increasingly available as the craft-cocktail renaissance prompts interest in global spirits.

A man and woman sitting at the bar eye the glass curiously at Jettison, in West Dallas, not sure what to make of this liquid they’ve barely heard of, which has been poured over ice. The man picks it up and brings it to his nose. “I can smell the sweet potato,” he says.

The vegetal sweetness is evident on the tongue, too – that’s the beauty of shochu, the centuries-old, national spirit of Japan, which is slowly gaining a steady, if still uncertain, foothold in Dallas-Fort Worth as a casual Japanese food scene blossoms throughout the area.

“Because it’s only one-time distilled, you really taste the base ingredient,” says Jettison’s bar manager, George Kaiho, who grew up in Japan until he was 18. “And potato and rice shochu will taste totally different.”

Bowen House, shochu
In Uptown, Bowen House’s Do, Re, Miso cocktail supplements delicate rice shochu with fennel flavor and white miso paste

Shochu’s single distillation keeps its alcohol level between 20 and 25 percent, not as strong as most spirits but still heftier than wine, making it a great accompaniment to yakitori and other small dishes over convivial, leisurely dinners at Japanese izakayas.

“I enjoy the nuance and complexity,” says Justin Holt, sous chef at Lucia in Bishop Arts, who plans to feature shochu at his upcoming restaurant, Salaryman. Shochu’s low-proof nature, he says, means more of them can be sampled in a single sitting – typically as a mix of shochu and soda (or juice, or occasionally iced tea) called a chu-hai, basically a shochu highball (hence the abbreviated name).

Besides rice and sweet potato, the spirit is made from things like soba, sugarcane and, most commonly, roasted barley, giving the category a broad range of flavor profiles, from mild to aggressively earthy.

Barley-based shochu is typically dry and spicy, while sweet potato is at the root of many premium shochus prized for their natural sweetness. Some rice shochus have a mild sweetness similar to sake, though some, Kaiho says, can seem nearly flavorless. The types of yeast used in the fermentation process also play a role in flavor profiles.

shochu
At since-closed Yayoi in Plano, bartender Lyndsy Rausch featured shochu in its traditionally popular highball form, mixed with tea or soda.

While shochu began as a working-class spirit, the global craft spirits trend has ushered in higher quality versions fit for drinking on the rocks, or with water. One brand, a sherry-cask-aged sweet potato shochu called Angel’s Temptation, can sell for as much as a fine whiskey.

In addition to Jettison, you’ll find shochu at Niwa Japanese BBQ in Deep Ellum, Plano’s Yama Izakaya and Irving’s Mr. Max. This being America, its rising availability means bartenders are exploring its use in cocktails: In Uptown, Bowen House features the spirit in its delicious Do, Re, Miso, served in a small bowl, while Oak Lawn’s Izakaya RoMan (at which Kaiho consulted) spins several shochu variations of classics like the Negroni and Martini.

At since-closed Yayoi in Plano, in addition to a number of traditional chu-hai combinations, bartender Lyndsy Rausch blended shochu with matcha, yuzu and soda in her Meet Your Matcha cocktail as well as in a wasabi-spiced Bloody Mary.

“It’s a wonderful liquor that unfortunately is still a little hard to find in Dallas,” Rausch says. “Adding matcha to it was really the first thing that came to mind, because I wanted something earthy to match its complex flavors.”

shochu
At Jettison, in West Dallas, George Kaiho’s Earth Wind and Fire is a fine example of how shochu’s delicate flavor can be used effectively in a cocktail.

One reason shochu hasn’t yet found popular footing in the U.S., Kaiho believes, is because there’s no definitive shochu-based cocktail. He sees shochu following a path similar to pisco, the national spirit of Peru, in that it’s easily subbed in cocktails for spirits like vodka or gin – except that it offers the added benefit of being low-proof, a slower-paced option that’s trending around the country.

“In order to popularize shochu, there needs to be a cocktail,” Kaiho says. “If you can make a good cocktail with potato shochu, you’ve got yourself a good cocktail.”

Kaito’s latest shochu cocktail wouldn’t be a bad place to start: His Earth Wind & Fire supplements Shiranami’s sweet potato shochu with a harmony of smoky mezcal, the sweetly vegetal backbeat of Green Chartreuse and a citrusy yuzu tincture. The mezcal and Chartreuse boost the drink’s alcohol content while still allowing the earthy shochu to take the lead.

Thankfully, the sweet potato flavor is strong enough to meet the task, since, as bartender Tommy Fogle of Industry Alley in the Cedars notes, many shochus are so subtle that they’re better off being consumed straight.

“I feel like shochu is so light and delicate, it gets lost really easily,” Fogle says as he pours a sample. “Why put it in a cocktail? The point of this is to buy a bottle with a buddy and just take shots until the bottle is gone.”

Bars, Clever marketing, Most excellent ideas, Seasonal, Uptown

Parliament, in Uptown, breaks new ground with ‘Arbor Day Eve’ party

Jesse Powell, Jermey Elliott
Bartenders Jesse Powell and Jermey Elliott weren’t so much in the weeds as they were the trees at Parliament’s Arbor Day Eve party Thursday night.

It’s probably fair to say that no other craft-cocktail bar in America has marked Arbor Day in the way that Parliament did last night in Dallas.

That’s because the Uptown bar’s celebration started on Arbor Day Eve, which you might not know was a thing, because it really wasn’t until Parliament somehow made it one. With Eddie “Lucky” Campbell’s able cocktail crew managing a typical cacophony of drink orders, you could barely see the chorus for the trees towering over the bartenders like a rowdy Rainforest Café.

Jesse Powell
You could be forgiven for thinking you’d walked into a cocktail-infused Rainforest Cafe.

Leaf it — ahem — to Campbell, whose flair for showmanship has made him one of the most familiar bartenders in the city. The vest and fedora might be gone, but as he showed Thursday night, he’s still willing to clamber atop the bar top to lead a New-Year’s-Eve-like countdown through the branches as the seconds ticked toward midnight.

“Happy Arbor Day!” everyone shouted in unison, a little unsure whether to take it all seriously or not. (A few found it hard to believe the trees were even real.)  And admittedly, Arbor Day, a day on which Americans are encouraged to plant trees, might be the nation’s most unsung holiday.

SungJoon Bruce Koo
Bartender SungJoon Bruce Koo delivers a drink from beneath the canopy at Parliament’s Arbor Day Eve party.

Bartender Jesse Powell had been a little uncertain himself a couple of days earlier when Campbell informed him that he had bought a pair of 13-foot-tall red oaks to mark the day. “It’s such an underappreciated holiday,” Campbell observed.

“Then Lucky was, like, ‘Can you go buy 200 coconuts?’ ” Powell said, and the next thing he knew he was marching out of H Mart with two shopping carts full of them.

A lineup of tree-themed drink specials featuring the aptly chosen Greenhouse Gin was designed for the occasion, including the Cocos Nucifara, a mix of gin, fruit and coconut water served in a coconut. That joined a pair of other delicious cocktails including the lychee-pearl-topped Weeping Willow and There’s A Tree In Your Bar?, enhanced with turmeric.

You could say that Parliament’s Arbor Day Eve celebration was off the hook.

And on the fly, Powell even renamed the bar’s popular smoke-infused Old Fashioned variation the “Forest Fire” for the night.

The trees, adorned with glowing green rings, were positioned behind the bar so that the crew could maneuver beneath the canopy, though Powell finally tired of bumping his fedora and ultimately hung it on a branch.

When the night was over, there naturally remained one challenge: What to do with the trees.

With that, Campbell and Powell got to the roots of the holiday: On Friday, they procured a trailer and one of the trees was taken to and planted in a location undisclosed “for his safety and well-being,” Powell said. “We look forward to taking care of him and watching him grow…. We really hope he gets along with the other trees.”

On Friday, Arbor Day, the largest tree was taken away and planted, to live on to see many more Arbor Days — which is what the holiday is all about.
(Photos by Jesse Powell)

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Bummer, Deep Ellum, Plano, Seasonal, The Cedars, Uptown, West Dallas

Fall is here, but it still feels like summer. Here are some cocktails to help with that.

Yes, it might be fall, but summer don’t care. It’s decided to linger around North Texas and deliver one last beatdown, with temps in the mid-90s until early next week.

You don’t have to sit there and take it. Because when life hands you lemons, you make Sidecars, and when it hands you unbearably hot weather, you’re going to fight back with cool, refreshing cocktails.

Here are six drinks you should enjoy before autumn finally sets in.

BIG STICK MOJITO, The Theodore, NorthPark Center

Hugo Osorio, The Theodore
At The Theodore, Hugo Osorio’s Big Stick Mojito is nothing to speak softly about.

First of all, just look at this. This is a gorgeous drink. And the Big Stick Mojito – the “big stick” a reference to the famous “speak softly” quote from the president this NorthPark Center restaurant is named for – is as fun and delicious as it appears, a visual feast of green, white and red from bartender Hugo Osorio.

This mojito sweetened with tropical pineapple features a brilliant raspberry coulis that rests at the bottom of the glass, perfect for slurping through a straw while simultaneously offering balance in taste and texture.

“We wanted this cocktail to be super approachable,” says Kyle Hilla, bar director for Turn The Tables Hospitality, the group behind The Theodore as well as Bolsa, Smoke and other restaurants. “And on top of that, we wanted something incredibly stunning to look at.”

Mission accomplished, sirs.

RASPBERRY-WATERMELON FREEZE, Fat Chicken, Trinity Groves

Stephen Halpin, Fat Chicken
When it’s hot outside, your body naturally craves snow cones. It’s science.

You’re probably not surprised to see a snow cone on the list. When it’s hot out, your body naturally craves snow cones. It’s science.

However, you may be surprised to know this snow cone comes from Fat Chicken, the fried chicken joint at Trinity Groves. One of a trio of frozen drinks designed by Stephen Halpin, global mixologist for Patron tequila, the Raspberry-Watermelon Freeze is summery and fruity with a bit of DIY mischief: The mix of Patron silver, watermelon and lemon juices and muddled raspberries is presented in a small carafe that you get to pour into the heaping glass of Hawaiian shaved ice presented alongside. (Though I’d recommend first using your straw to dig out a shaft into which the liquid can descend so it doesn’t end up all over your table.)

“I wasn’t sure when I got here if people would want to drink their drinks out of a snow cone,” says manager Christopher Garrison. “But they love it.”

MEET YOUR MATCHA, Yayoi, Plano

Lyndsy Rausch, Yayoi, Plano
Shochu: It’s big in Japan.

When Lyndsy Rausch took over the bar program at Yayoi in Plano, shochu – the featured spirit at Japanese izakayas – was a natural starting point. “Adding matcha to it was really the first thing that came to mind,” she said, “because I wanted something earthy to match the complex flavors in shochu.”

A low-proof liquor distilled from rice, barley or sweet potatoes, shochu likewise is earthy; Rausch paired Iwai barley-based shochu with matcha powder, added citrus-y yuzu and mint to cut the bitterness, and topped it off with club soda. The result is radiantly green and highly drinkable, a liquid hammock to lay your thirst in when temperatures climb.

FROZEN GIN AND TONIC, Harlowe, Deep Ellum

Harlowe, Deep Ellum
This is probably why Billy Joel wrote the lyric “makin’ love to his tonic and gin.”

It’s got gin.

It’s got tonic.

And it’s frozen.

There’s much to like about Deep Ellum newcomer Harlowe, including the brunch-time lobster waffle and an expansive rooftop bar, but the simplicity of the Frozen Gin and Tonic is nothing short of genius on a 90-degree day. With nothing but a bit of star anise stranded atop the blindingly bright tundra of its surface, it’s a stone-cold certain way to punk that nasty summer-like warmth.

DUE SOUTH, Parliament, Uptown

Jeremy Koeninger, Parliament
If you’re wondering how to cool off in Uptown, I will point you Due South. (Photo by SungJoon Bruce Koo)

Another way to beat the heat is to fight fire with fire. At Parliament, bartender Jeremy Koeninger’s Due South puts a Texas spin on the tropical Painkiller, adding jalapeno to the tiki staples of rum, coconut and pineapple with a dash of orange and nutmeg.  “Being from Texas, I like the combination of spicy and sweet,” he says.

Presented with a jalapeno coin atop the foam, Due South is a terrific hot-weather refresher, showcasing creamy pineapple, cool citrus, peppery heat and a nutty finish. (I’m always surprised at how well coconut and jalapeno pair up, which is probably the one reason I never get tired of watching Scarlett Johansson and Bill Murray in Lost In Translation.)

The name of the drink, Koeninger says, refers partly to the happy coincidence that any south-of the-border spirit – except for cachaca – works in the drink; pisco, in particular, is excellent.

ABSINTHE MAKES THE HEART GROW FONDER, The Cedars Social, The Cedars

The Cedars Social
If you’re both in need of refreshment and absinthe-minded, this drink is for you.

It might be hard to imagine absinthe as the basis of a soothing refresher, because unlike shochu, it’s notoriously anything but low proof. The Cedars Social’s Absinthe Makes The Heart Grow Fonder is a drink to ease the pain of a sweltering summer night, or a starry starry night, or in this case, an autumn night that still feels like summer.

Copper & Kings’ 130-proof absinthe is the star of this show, backed by a remarkable pecan-based orgeat and a chorus of soda. A fortifying fusion of licorice and pecan, it’ll almost make you wish the hot weather would linger a while longer. Almost.

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Deep Ellum, Knox-Henderson, Mezcal, The maturing scene, Uptown

Smoke gets in your drink: Mezcal is having its moment and you should enjoy it

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Mexican Sugar
Mexican Sugar’s Benito Juarez: A cocktail worthy of the name.

In case you hadn’t noticed, mezcal is having a moment. The once misunderstood Mexican spirit has been seeping into the mainstream at a pace that has revved up in recent years, riding a craft-cocktail wave that has seen imbibers clamor for more and better ingredients.

For a spirit that at one time was known mostly as “that bottle with the worm in it,” this cousin of tequila has not only come a long way, but, it turns out, is way more interesting: a markedly smoky concoction that rewarded early adopters with broad (and wormless) expressions deriving from its ability to be cultivated from a range of Mexican agave plants. (Tequila, on the other hand, can only come from blue agave.)

“It’s just a great way to introduce mezcal to people who haven’t had it or think it’s too intense in other cocktails.”

— Bartender Moses Guidry, of Twenty Seven’s Smoke Ring

The plants’ hearts are roasted in pit ovens prior to fermentation, producing the spirit’s smoky influence that for many first-timers presents a line in the sand. But the days when mezcal cocktails were found only in mixology dens are over; I knew the U.S. had reached a milestone when, several years ago, I saw a mezcal-tinged cocktail appear on the menu at P.F. Chang’s. Now you’ll find mezcal cocktails everywhere from Pappasito’s to Frisco’s 3 Stacks Smoke and Tap House.

Many of those drinks, like the ones first rolled out even in craft-cocktail bars, have eased mezcal onto unfamiliar palates by placing it alongside tequila, like a kid brother riding sidecar. But drinks putting mezcal front and center are getting easier and easier to find.

Here are some of my favorites thus far in 2015.

BENITO JUAREZ, Mexican Sugar (pictured above)

In Oaxaca, where most mezcal is produced, the traditional way of consuming the artisan spirit is in small cups flanked by orange wedges and a spice mix of sea salt, crushed chilies and the ground remains of toasted moth larvae that feed on the agave plant. The combo is a mouth-pleasing explosion of smoke, citrus, heat, nuttiness and saltiness – and Plano’s Mexican Sugar pays homage to the tradition with this excellent blend – named after Mexico’s beloved former president – of mezcal, chipotle puree, orange, lime, honey and orange liqueur, slapped with a splotch of imported sal de gusano.

Laura Ball, Origin
The Mexican Martini showed how well agave spirits and Yellow Chartreuse play together.

MEXICAN MARTINI, Origin

Alas, this one is no longer on the menu at the Knox-Henderson restaurant, but ask for it and you might get lucky.

Agave spirits and herbal Yellow Chartreuse liqueur are swell buddies and play nice here in Laura Ball’s south-of-the-border creation, along with lemon, agave, jalapeno and apricot liqueur. It’s sweet and piquant, tantalizing you with its boozy charms before fading away in a haze of spice and smoke.

Hector Zavala, Henry's Majestic
Doing things the Old-Fashioned way is a fine approach for mezcal.

MEZCAL OLD-FASHIONED, Henry’s Majestic

Hector Zavala has learned a thing or two in his many years as a bar back for luminaries such as 86 Co. co-founder Jason Kosmas, not the least of which that the classic Old Fashioned packs a kick in any language. Now bartending at the Knox-Henderson one-two punch of Henry’s Majestic and Atwater Alley, the Torreon, Mexico-born Zavala subs Wahaka mezcal for whiskey with a bit of agave syrup and bitters, and his handiwork lets the spirit announce itself like a poncho’d Clint Eastwood waltzing through your whistle’s saloon doors.

Creighten Brown, Tate's
More layers than an enchilada casserole: Mr. Brown Goes to Oaxaca takes you places.

MR. BROWN GOES TO OAXACA, Tate’s

Mixmaster Creighten Brown’s deceivingly demure doozy may look like a mere wallflower in its Uptown surroundings, but it’ll impress your taste buds with its flavorful gift of gab. Supplementing mezcal with bittersweet Grand Poppy, dry vermouth, Hellfire bitters and chocolate bitters, this off-menu creation cuts through the smoke with floral and citrus swirls while the bitters offer lingering complexity.

Moses Guidry, Twenty Seven
Mezcal boldly steps in for pisco in Twenty Seven’s weekend tipple.

SMOKE RING, Twenty Seven

At Deep Ellum’s Twenty Seven, Moses Guidry’s frothy Smoke Ring is basically a mezcal Pisco Sour, subbing the smoky spirit for tamer Peruvian brandy alongside tequila, simple syrup, lime, cucumber, egg white and a sprinkling of Peychaud’s bitters. “It’s just a great way to introduce mezcal to people who haven’t had it or think it’s too intense in other cocktails,” says Guidry, who’ll you find behind the bar on Saturdays.

Gabe Sanchez, Black Swan Saloon
Remember that scene in True Romance where Christopher Walken and Dennis Hopper face off? This is that scene in a cocktail.

TRUE ROMANCE, Black Swan Saloon

At this Deep Ellum fixture, Gabe Sanchez’s riveting play on the Copper Cocktail gives mezcal the starring role over rum with a supporting cast of herbal Yellow Chartreuse, bitter Averna, lime and a bit of Szechuan pepper tincture. While the mixture might sound overpowering, the end result nicely shapes the best of each ingredient into something unique and memorable.

 

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.
Bars, Bishop Arts, Dallas, Design District, Lower Greenville, Uptown

Six places to put on your cocktail radar right now — because duh, everyone needs a cocktail radar

Driftwood, Oak Cliff
Absinthe and root beer combine to make Forbidden Beer, one reason Driftwood’s pastis-powered program should be on your list.

With Dallas’ craft-cocktail cogniscenti waiting on Pimm’s and needles for the long-anticipated official openings of Michael Martensen’s Proof + Pantry and Eddie “Lucky” Campbell’s Parliament, even a practiced imbiber could be forgiven for failing to notice the other libationary locales making marks around town. And as it turns out, some of them have Martensen’s and Campbell’s DNA on them anyway.

Here’s six places worth putting on your cocktail radar while you wait.

Uptown, Dallas
This old house is your new cocktail haunt just off the McKinney Avenue madnress.

 

BOWEN HOUSE

It would be easy to get lost in the charm of this little house of a bar. A one-time vintage clothing shop off McKinney in Uptown, Bowen House evokes a Prohibition-era estate with its bookshelves and old photographs and your great-grandmother’s precious furniture. Don’t look for a cocktail menu beyond the pair of specials scrawled on the blackboard; there isn’t one. Instead, cite your tastes and preferences to steady bartenders Erikah Lushaj or Brandon Addicks, who are eagerly devouring cocktail knowledge as they strive to build a quality bar program. They’re also capable of devising their own creations – like Lushaj’s lusciously sweet 1874 (a nod to the year the house was built), a mix of rum, Galliano, vanilla and pineapple puree that she came up with for Dallas’ recent Tiki Week celebration.

Oak Cliff, Dallas
Clockwise from top: Bartender Julian Pagan taking care of business; some of Driftwood’s pastis and anise collection; absinthe and oysters, your new favorite combo.

DRIFTWOOD

In case you haven’t been keeping your ear to the ground, Dallas now has an absinthe bar – and it’s right there in the reinvented space at Driftwood, the Oak Cliff seafood restaurant on Davis. The minimal bar that once felt more like a holding area for diners awaiting tables has been expanded into a formidable L-shape that proudly proclaims its own identity. More importantly, bar manager Ryan Sumner’s spirit selection has been pumped up with anise-flavored concoctions from around Europe and the U.S., including 14 absinthes and three versions of French pastis. The absinthes – with notes ranging from juniper to honey-plum – can be enjoyed in the traditional louche style (slowly diluted with ice water and sugar); there’s also four related cocktails, including Hemingway’s classic mix of pastis and sparkling wine, Death In The Afternoon. Menu creator Michael Martensen says the idea of pairing absinthe with seafood occurred to him the more he researched seafood. “We’re doing like they do in the south of France,” he says. You’d do well to take in your Van Gogh experience with a round of fresh-shucked oysters – and even if you haven’t been keeping your ear to the ground, you can still keep your ear.

Palomar Hotel, Dallas
From upper left: Michael Martensen stirs up his salt-water additive; a pair of tropical tipples; shaking things in Central 214’s former space; Knife’s olive oil martini.

KNIFE

John Tesar’s new paradise of meat in Central 214’s old space in the Palomar Hotel comes with a solid bar program, too. Another project from barman Michael Martensen, it includes nods to often disregarded “retro classics” like the Long Island Iced Tea, Harvey Wallbanger and Sex on the Beach, the idea being that if the drinks are properly made with high-quality ingredients, they’re actually quite good. For the most part, that’s true – but it’s some of the bar’s other innovations that brighten my day, including the choose-your-own-ingredient Negronis or Gin and Tonics and a smooth, floral olive-oil gin martini softened with a hint of Green Chartreuse. The delicious, slightly salty Planter’s Punch was influenced by Martensen’s recent visit to Martinique: Among a group of bartenders there to learn about the island’s rum industry, the group was enjoying Planter’s Punches on a rollicking boat ride as the craft bobbed in the rough surf. “We were getting salt water in our drinks,” Martensen said. “I tasted it and thought: This is better.” He came back and made Knife’s version with a hint of house-made salt water. He says: “Dude, once you put the salt water in there, it’s like – bam! It takes me right back to the boat.”

Design District, Dallas
Do the Moth: It’s not just for beer anymore.

MEDDLESOME MOTH

There are probably two things you think about when you hear Meddlesome Moth: 1) the flutter and thump of a lepidopteran under the shade of your bedside lamp; and 2) beer. While there are indeed a mighty number of quality brews to be had at this Design District mainstay, cocktail program director Lauren Loiselle, with the help of beverage director Larry Lewis, has compiled a formidable selection of craft drinks, too, from a lineup of seasonal drinks (including dandy spins on the Margarita and Moscow Mule) to a top-notch supply of barrel-aged concoctions. One recent highlight: Loiselle’s divine barrel-aged Negroni, uncorked in time for last month’s National Negroni Week, with Ford’s gin, Aperol and Dolin Dry and Dolin Blanc vermouths.

Uptown, Dallas
A local stronghold gets stronger: Bartender Ian Reilly pours a line of “snaquiris” at Tate’s.

TATE’S

Hump Day is already worth the trip to Tate’s in Uptown for half-price specials on most of their extensive whiskey selection, but even more so now that craft bartender Ian Reilly has joined the team on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Reilly, a one-time People’s Last Stand stalwart who’s also played significant roles behind the bar at Bowl & Barrel and Chino Chinatown, is a bit of a whiskey connoisseur who has written about Japanese whiskey for both CocktailEnthusiast.com and The Dallas Morning News. With the addition of Reilly to GM Robbie Call’s crowd-pleasing squad and a stable but solid cocktail list, Tate’s is golden right now.

Greenville, Dallas
Vagabond: Worth wandering over for.

VAGABOND

The former J. Pepe’s space on Greenville has been reborn as a neighborhood bar with bocce ball and a quirky array of local art. (My favorite is the one of the dog that reminds me of a Chihuahua mix my family used to have.) So yes, come to Vagabond for the art and the kitschy bar-top lamps. Come for the quality food, like excellent beef tongue pastrami. But you should also come for the drinks: The house menu devised by mixologist Eddie “Lucky” Campbell includes delicious versions of under-recognized vintage cocktails like the Bijou and Scofflaw as well as tasty modern ones like the red-pepper-influenced HydroTonic and the rum-and-white-wine-combo Ninja Sangria. (In a nod to GM Stewart Jameson, there’s a handful of Jameson whiskey cocktails, too.) Cocktail director Stephen Vasquez plans to roll out a revised menu by next month, including the excellent Aurelius, a slightly bitter, refreshing drink featuring apricot-infused Aperol that he first made for me while doing time at downtown’s LARK on the Park.

Brunch, Events, General revelry, Most excellent ideas, Tiki, Uptown

Texas Tiki Week is almost over. Why are you still sitting there?

Barter, Uptown
Tiki yourself to Barter for this Tradewinds cocktail-for-two before Texas Tiki Week goes away forever, or at least until next year.

Texas Tiki Week has been stomping through town, and if you want to get your boozy coconut on, there’s still two days left to go.

Already the week has brought a Mount Gay Rum-sponsored tiki dinner at Victor Tango’s, an Uptown tiki bar crawl and a Papa’s Pilar Rum-sponsored party at the Windmill Lounge – which not only featured the tropical-style drinks associated with the California-born genre but the meaty handiwork of barman Charlie Papaceno, who produced for the peckish late-night masses (in the words of bartender Trina Nishimura) an eye-popping “deconstructed, reconstructed Spam-ham.”

Thursday’s Uptown tiki crawl breezed through five McKinney Avenue-area destinations – Barter, Nickel & Rye, Bowen House, Tate’s and The Standard Pour –with each featuring their own umbrella- and flower-topped tiki spins (all of which should be available through the weekend). My favorites: Erikah Lushaj’s “1874” cocktail at Bowen House, a smoky-sweet mix of Brugal silver, Galliano, vanilla and smoked pineapple puree; and Mike Hamilton’s Timebomb at Nickel & Rye, which paired Brugal 1888 aged rum with peach liqueur and Hum, a botanical spirit for which I’ve been known to carry a tiki torch from time to time.

Bowen House
Bowen House’s 1874 cocktail made me want to party like it was 1874.

But wait, you say. What good does this do me, the thirsty reader, who also wishes to partake in such tropical revelry?

Simmer down: Here is your remedy. Friday night brings tiki revelry to Knife, where Omar YeeFoon and Michael Martensen will be doing it up with The 86 Co.’s Cana Brava rum.

This weekend, you’ve got two tiki brunches to choose from – Standard Pour will host one on Saturday from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm, while Barter will offer another on Sunday from 11:30 am to 2 pm. If you want to make a full night of it, there’s still a few seats left for Saturday’s Tiki Bus Tour, which will rumble to destinations including Bolsa, Driftwood and Dallas’ first renaissance-age tiki bar, Sunset Lounge. Tickets are $65 and can be reserved by emailing Steven Doyle at steven@cravedfw.com.

The week will culminate with a tiki luau at The Standard Pour, which knows a thing or two about throwing a party. Sponsored by Utah’s High West Distillery, the event will run from 6:30 to midnight. Price is $20 and includes roast pig and a cocktail.

Tiki on.

Nickel & Rye
Another Tiki Week hit: The explosive Timebomb at Nickel and Rye.
Brunch, Cocktails, Most excellent ideas, Restaurants, Tiki, Uptown

Tiki brunch: Why not? Barter dares to ask

Barter, Dallas
Tiki: It’s not not-for-breakfast anymore. The Polynesian Pearl Diver’s Punch, from Don The Beachcomber.

Peanut butter and chocolate. Chicken and waffles. John Denver and the Muppets. So wrong and yet: so right.

Well, here’s another contender: Brunch and tiki cocktails. Wait, what?

Hold on: Hear Barter’s Rocco Milano out.

“Brunch really lends itself to the tiki experience,” Milano says. While traditional brunch cocktails like Bellinis and Mimosas are marked by fruit and effervescence, tiki drinks likewise complement breakfast-y foods with fresh juices and refreshing, vibrant flavors. “They sparkle and pop in the same way,” Milano says.

If that’s about all the convincing you need to try a Mai Tai with your eggs Benedict, then you’re in luck: Barter debuted its tiki brunch this weekend, and it’s a welcome wrinkle to the whole morning-after routine.

Tiki brunch at Barter, Dallas

Despite its “Dallas cuisine” theme, both Milano, Barter’s beverage director, and bartender Brad Bowden had been looking for a good reason to launch a tiki brunch menu at the newly opened restaurant. They spent hours scouring old cocktail books for viable recipes, and among their research materials was a recently published tome of tiki-dom, Beachbum Jerry’s Potions of the Caribbean. Inside, they found a reproduction of a 1940s-era tiki menu from an old Dallas hotel – drinks like the Navy Grog, Bird of Paradise, Samoan Fog Cutter and Polynesian Pearl Diver’s Punch. “We were kind of blown away by that,” Bowden says.

That, plus the fact that patio weather is just around the corner, was all the inspiration they needed. All four cocktails are among a half-dozen on the new brunch menu. (And at $7 apiece, not a bad deal.)

Barter, Dallas
Ice, ice, baby: The Navy Grog and Hula Girl are among Barter’s tiki brunch lineup

Tiki cocktails flourished in the 1930s and 1940s, a California-born craze popularized by bars like Trader Vic’s that gave us fruity rum classics like the aforementioned Mai Tai and the Zombie. Though tiki would fizzle within a few decades, the re-emergence of craft-cocktail culture revived interest in the trend; places like Smuggler’s Cove in San Francisco and New York’s PKNY breathed life back into a genre borne of rum, brandy, fruit juice and kitsch, giving tiki drinks a modest, if still mostly a niche, footing.

Tiki reappeared in Dallas a couple of years ago, with The People’s Last Stand crushing ice and whipping up flaming punch bowls on Sundays; meanwhile, the now-defunct Chesterfield had a handful of Polynesian tipples submerged in its menu’s oceanic depths. Early last year, the resuscitated Sunset Lounge on Ross Avenue became the first of the area’s new craft-cocktail bars to embrace a full-on tiki identity.

Barter, Dallas
The Samoan Fog Cutter: A lot of good stuff going on here.

Barter’s mini tiki production gives the often-underappreciated cocktail genre a new stage, one worth adding to your brunch tryout roster. The rummy Navy Grog and acai-liqueur-based Hula Girl, with their flamboyant ice cones, are solid; and I grew to love the heady Samoan Fog Cutter, with its aggressive mix of brandy, sherry and a trio of rums. But the star of the bunch may be Bowden’s favorite, the Polynesian Pearl Diver’s Punch, which requires a pre-assembled “Pearl Diver’s mix” of clarified butter, allspice dram, cinnamon and vanilla syrups. Tasted alone, the goopy mix has a candy-corn-like taste, but it gives the cocktail – including three rums, orange and lime, plus the nutty, spiced-citrus liqueur Velvet Falernum – admirable depth.

The drink is also referenced by Leonardo DiCaprio’s Calvin Candie in Django Unchained, though it technically wasn’t invented until 70-plus years after the movie’s time period at the pioneering Polynesian-themed Hollywood bar, Don The Beachcomber. But apparently even Quentin Tarantino knows a good drink when he sees one, and now, 70-plus more years after its invention, you can judge for yourself. It won’t be served up in a coconut, but isn’t that a minor quibble when you can pair rum with your breakfast hash?

BARTER, 3232 McKinney Ave., Dallas. 214-969-6898. Brunch starting at 11 a.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Bars, Deep Ellum, Events, Most excellent ideas, Uptown

Put me in coach: The report from Dallas’ inaugural cocktail bus tour

Central 214
Central 214’s red-sorrel-accented Last Monkey Standing, one of last week’s cocktail bus tour highlights. (Marc Ramirez)

“There are going to be times when we can’t wait for somebody…. You’re either on the bus or off the bus. If you’re on the bus, and you get left behind, then you’ll find it again. If you’re off the bus in the first place — then it won’t make a damn.”

Ken Kesey, as quoted by Tom Wolfe in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1968)

***

So, here’s how things went on Dallas’ first-ever cocktail bus tour: Festively. By 7:05, two dozen imbibers were on the bus, a dazzling white coach and our carriage for the evening. Already, at The People’s Last Stand at Mockingbird Station, the evening’s initial libation had been sampled, some flouncy red thing with gin and Campari and watermelon and rhubarb liqueur.

For $60 apiece, the inaugural “chartered bus tour of some serious libations” would ferry us to six craft-cocktail bars from Uptown to Cedars to Deep Ellum. As you might expect, the evening’s mood was progressively buoyant; few cared that the excursion was less an actual “tour” than a series of stops via luxury taxi.

For one glorious moment, Tate's Dallas' Robbie Call was on the bus -- and then he was not
For one glorious moment, Tate’s Dallas’ Robbie Christian was on the bus — and then he was not. (Marc Ramirez)

It was a group primed for fun, but not one of people looking to fog up their night in clouds of vodka and Red Bull. Those on board were willing to be led down new paths — believers in, or at least curious about, the concept of craft cocktails with their artisan ingredients, fresh-squeezed juices and creative depths. As former Private/Social barman Rocco Milano once described an evening of imbibement to local cocktail enthusiast Manny Mendoza, who’s working on a documentary about the Dallas cocktail scene: “You’re going to be inebriated at the end of the night. The difference is in how you get there.”

Wise words indeed. But to get there you had to be on the bus, and so we were. The idea was to showcase Dallas’ craft-cocktail diversity; not everyone had been to all six spots and certainly not all in one night. First came the Palomar Hotel’s Central 214, where we enjoyed bartender Amber West’s Last Monkey Standing – a bouquet of Monkey Shoulder blended scotch, Lillet Rose, chamomile, lemongrass syrup, lemon and a touch of red sorrel from Tom Spicer’s gardens.

Cocktail fan Manny Mendoza enjoys the Last Monkey Standing at tour stop No. 2, Central 214
Cocktail fan Manny Mendoza enjoys the Last Monkey Standing at tour stop No. 2, Central 214 (Marc Ramirez)

Then, back on the bus. “Everybody here?” asked tour host and mastermind Alex Fletcher, general manager at The People’s Last Stand. Hmmm. He paused. “OK,” he said, “if you’re not here, raise your hands!”

Havoc.

At Uptown’s The Standard Pour we encountered the Mexican Standoff – a tequila-and-mezcal concoction from Pozo, TSP’s sister-establishment next door and one of my favorite tastes of the night – before hoofing it down the street to Tate’s, tour stop No. 4.

Standard Pour's Brian McCullough, cranking out Mexican Standoffs.
Standard Pour’s Brian McCullough, cranking out Mexican Standoffs. (Marc Ramirez)

Levity ruled the occasion, thankfully never descending into sloppiness. “I’m surprised at how calm everybody is,” said tour co-host Brad Bowden, also of The People’s Last Stand. “I thought there’d be a lot of drunk people walking around.”

The bars themselves, too, performed admirably, firing up twenty-something drinks in quick fashion and keeping us on schedule, and somehow the bus we managed to collect a bartender or two, as well as CraveDFW’s Steven Doyle, along the way.

At Stop No. 4, tour-goers had a choice -- a basil gimlet or this bit of Scotch beauty
At Stop No. 4, tour-goers had a choice — a basil gimlet or this bit of Scotch beauty. (Marc Ramirez)

After Deep Ellum’s divey Black Swan came the pioneering Cedars Social south of downtown, where bartender Julian Pagan wowed with his tiki-esque Yacht Rock: “It’s Sailor Jerry rum, Velvet Falernum, cinnamon syrup, lime, and… yeah.” Yeah!

The Cedars Social's Yacht Rock cocktail. (Marc Ramirez)
The Cedars Social’s Yacht Rock cocktail. (Marc Ramirez)

By the time the call came to head back to The People’s Last Stand for a nightcap and munchies, we were having trouble corralling even our hosts. Personally, I’d love to see more tour-like features in something like this – more info about the bars we visited, for instance, or the Dallas scene itself, but all in all, it had been a good night. Fletcher figured he’d be lucky to break even with the trial-run event; it was more about getting people out of their cocktail comfort zones.

And that was just fine with Calissa Gentry, a Cedars Social regular who’d taken the tour with friends Elaine Lagow and Genevieve Neyens. “We usually like vodka on the rocks,” she said. “But because we go to Cedars, we try new things.”

Trying new things was the reason Lagow was on the tour, too. “I’d do it again in a minute,” she said.

"By the way, guys, great idea," said bartender Danno O'Keefe. "I hate you, because I didn't think of it first." (Marc Ramirez)
“By the way, guys, great idea,” said bartender Danno O’Keefe. “I hate you, because I didn’t think of it first.” (Marc Ramirez)
Night-night: Genevieve Neyens smooches pal Elaine at tour's end. (Marc Ramirez)
At night’s end, smooches: Genevieve Neyens bids pal Elaine Lagow farewell. (Marc Ramirez)
Central 214's bartender extraordinaire Amber West hopped aboard the tour at Stop No. 2 (Manny Mendoza)
Central 214’s bartender extraordinaire Amber West hopped aboard the tour at Stop No. 2. (Manny Mendoza)