Tag Archives: bolsa

Cocktails are everywhere, Fancydranks, Knox-Henderson, People

Even the five-stars get Lucky sometimes: Bartender Campbell now at Abacus

Lucky Campbell: Now making your drank amid some swank (Photo by Sheila Abbott)
Lucky Campbell: Now making your drank amid some swank. (Sheila Abbott)

Don’t look now, but The Man in the Fedora is on the move again. And apparently, so is his fedora. After five months at Uptown’s Standard Pour, Lucky Campbell has taken his crafty talents to The Bar at Abacus, the five-star Kent Rathbun restaurant in Knox-Henderson.

It’s a significant move for the elegant, Pacific-Rim-themed restaurant, which is looking to ramp up its bar program as Dallas cocktail culture continues its rapid maturation beyond hipster bar territory. “We’ve always had a great wine program, but we wanted to give a little more attention to our mixology and cocktails,” says Abacus manager Robert Hall.

It’s also a big step for the gifted, gravelly-voiced Campbell, who’s swapped his trademark fedora for the clean-cut, all-black duds of the Abacus bar corps. Though that might sound a bit like Superman doffing his cape, Campbell was giddy in his third day on the job, riotous hair tamed back into a ponytail as he roamed his posh, dimly lit new surroundings Saturday night like a youthful Steven Seagal.

“I’ve never worked with a kitchen of this caliber,” he says. “It’s good to be around people who understand what you want to do.”

Campbell's latest creative venue is a whole new environment. (Marc Ramirez)
Campbell’s latest creative venue is a whole new environment for the freewheeling bartender. (Marc Ramirez)

Campbell, whose resume includes the Mansion at Turtle Creek, Bolsa and the ill-fated Chesterfield, is now flexing his frenetic, creative energies alongside barmen Jason Long and Jordan Gantenbein, and he hopes to eventually have some influence on Abacus’ evolving drink menu and bottle selection, which typically trends toward martini spins and classic variations.

The kitchen, he says, has a Zen feel to it, a sort of flowing, if regimented, rhythm that the bar staff hope to instill as well. That means more efficient use of space and time. It could also mean barrel-aged cocktails. “Nobody here is waiting for a drink,” Campbell says.

“I miss my boys (at Standard Pour),” he says. “But I am loving the new gig.”

In a place where creativity is nourished, where the pastry chef and other staff are responsible for the gorgeous artwork gracing the walls, you get the sense that Lucky is feeling very lucky indeed.

Austin, People, Texas

Jason Kosmas is taking his talents to Austin

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At Libertine Bar
Austin-bound badass Jason Kosmas, who leaves an indelible mark on Dallas’ cocktail culture. Monday, at Libertine Bar on Lower Greenville.

Bolsa, in Oak Cliff, was among the pioneers of Dallas’ early cocktail scene, and Standard Pour’s Eddie Campbell, who headed Bolsa’s bar program at the time, remembers the first Friday he ever worked there with a new guy from New York named Jason Kosmas.

It was 2011. Fridays were ridiculously busy, and that night was no different: people were shouting orders from three or four deep, and Campbell and his regular sidekick Johnny were getting killed. “Hey, should we check on the new guy?” Johnny asked.

Campbell had forgotten all about Kosmas amid the flurry, so the question threw him into a mild panic. He ran over to the other end of the bar and asked what he could do. Without an ounce of stress, Kosmas turned and said, “I think I’m okay.”

“And he was,” Campbell recalls. “Everybody on his side of the bar was happy, with a full drink — beautiful colors and garnishes…. every drink looked like a masterpiece. That’s when I realized: Jason Kosmas is a total badass.”

Kosmas is a total badass, but you would never know it from his demeanor. Co-founder and co-owner of New York City’s renowned Employees Only and one of the bartending luminaries behind new spirits line The 86 Co., Kosmas is one of the most humble, upbeat and likeable guys around. But if cocktail culture in Dallas has gone from practically zero to 60 in the last two years (and it has), it’s fair to say that Kosmas has been among those at the wheel.

Now Kosmas is taking his talents to Austin, which will no doubt benefit immensely from his arrival.

It’s difficult to fully capture the impact that Kosmas has had on Dallas since arriving here with his unflappable, affable scruffiness. You can talk about the places he worked at and helped put on the map early on (Bolsa, Windmill, Neighborhood Services Tavern) and the places he opened (Marquee) and the very many places he’s left his mark on (Malai Kitchen, The Greek, etc.), but for many in the scene, it’s his ready assistance and mentorship behind the scenes that resonate most powerfully.

“Gonna miss you J,” wrote The People’s Last Stand’s Brad Bowden on Facebook. “Thanks for all the advice and words of wisdom you have given me… meant a lot to me.”

Kosmas came to the Dallas area for both family reasons and business opportunities, and that’s what’s taking him deeper into the heart of Texas: The capital city is more centrally located, putting him in better touch with amped-up drinking cultures in Houston and San Antonio as well. Besides, he’s done what he can in Dallas, which has now eclipsed adolescence, a vibrant cocktail city ready to move forward on its own.

“What I can contribute is over,” he says. “There’s not a lot of challenges left for me here.”

Other people have helped make that happen too, and the city’s collaborative atmosphere has propelled it forward. Kosmas was instrumental in instilling that sense of teamwork.  “As time went on,” says Standard Pour’s Campbell, “we all got to know him better and realized what an incredibly nice guy he is, and watched as he offered help to anyone who wanted it. I’ve constantly been amazed at how easy he makes everything look.”

Kosmas, who has already been moving back and forth between the two cities, doesn’t plan to be a stranger here once he leaves for good, by week’s end.

In his own modest way, he wrote about his departure:  “I have been embraced and am grateful to have been a part of a rapidly growing restaurant community….  It is bittersweet. I feel so fortunate to have been able to watch the city change and play some small role in it.”