Tag Archives: TEXSOM

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.

Proof + Pantry party drops a bomb on One Arts Plaza, hints at what’s to come

TEXSOM 80s Party
Though still a work in progress, Proof + Pantry hit a groove Sunday night.

The official opening of one of Dallas’s most anticipated craft-cocktail bars is about a week away, but sometimes it pays to be into wine: Attendees of last weekend’s 10th annual TEXSOM conference, one of the country’s biggest wine gatherings, got a lucky peek at Michael Martensen’s Proof + Pantry space at a 1980s-themed bash that dropped a Super Freak bomb on One Arts Plaza Sunday night.

Beats dropped, wine corks popped, glasses were topped. Roast pig was served. Meanwhile, the mad bartending skills scattered to the winds when Martensen and his team left Dallas’ Bar Smyth and The Cedars Social in November crafted five shades of Negronis for a workshop-weary crowd eager to party like it was 1989. As reunions go, seeing bartenders Julian Pagan, Trina Nishimura, Josh Mceachern, Josh Hendrix and back-from-Denver Mike Steele simultaneously behind the bar again was sorta like Eric B. & Rakim getting back together – “and you ain’t seen nothing yet,” Mceachern said. “We’re just getting started.”

Proof + Pantry
Josh Maceachern, one of Michael Martensen’s reunited bartending crew.

And indeed, Proof + Pantry’s rustic wood and metal interior is still a work in progress. In fact, one would have been hard-pressed on Saturday morning to believe any sort of gathering would be happening in the space 36 hours later, given its warehouse-like disarray. (Deadlines help.)  But many features were already evident, like the Restoration-Hardware-esque decor, the classy illuminated modular shelving suspended above the marble-topped bar and the exterior courtyard with its Arts-District view.

There was more wine than anyone could drink, and with air-conditioning on the fritz in the immediate area, the sweltering atmosphere was like a jungle sometimes, it made you wonder how you kept from – well, you know.  By night’s end, the contentedly reunited Proof + Pantry team was nonetheless exhausted, having worked nearly around-the-clock to make this moment happen. Still, it was clear that they wanna be startin’ something: This was just a taste of what’s to come.

TEXSOM 2014
Attendees of TEXSOM didn’t stop ’til they got enough.
TEXSOM 2014
P+P’s exterior courtyard got a generous pour from TEXSOM 2014 attendees.
TEXSOM 2014
True that.
Proof + Pantry
This is how you 80s.
Proof + Pantry
Five shades of Negronis on the menu.