During Hidden Gems Week, the Observer food and drink writers are celebrating an abundance of diverse, delicious restaurants and bars around Dallas, places that don’t often (or ever) get mentioned by big-name food media, trendsetters, bloggers or chefs. We’re taking you outside of the ordinary to help you discover something new.
Looking for a new cocktail spot this weekend? Try one of these cozy cocktail spots that are tucked away inside other bars and, in some cases, barber shops and coffee shops.
Jettison
1878 Sylvan Ave.
If you're wandering Sylvan Thirty in the late afternoon, you might come across someone asking where to find that "bar behind the coffee place." As the sun sets, its even easier to find Jettison, one of the city's best cocktail bars that happens to be tucked away next to Houndstooth Coffee's Sylvan Thirty location. Try the robust selection of mezcal and sherry cocktails.
Sometimes cocktails take a dictionary to understand the ingredients, but there's nothing lost in translation with this cocktail.
Courtesy of Austin Marc Graf
2823 Main St.
Harlowe MXM is a massive new food and drink complex in Deep Ellum that boasts a full restaurant downstairs and a massive rooftop patio upstairs. At street level, you'll also find a separate bar with a fun premise: Trick Pony, which changes its menu and concept a few times a year. Now, you can pop into Trick Pony for a fun Bill Murray-themed cocktail menu. Order the Groundhog Day, and you'll receive the same cocktail delivered to you three times during the course of your visit.
Atwater Alley's Deadly Angel is made with Nikka Coffey Grain Whisky and Amaro Montenegro.
Susie Oszustowicz
4900 McKinney Ave.
To get to this hidden Uptown cocktail den, you'll have to walk around Henry's Majestic, past a dumpster and to the back door, where you'll find Atwater Alley. Often the host of industry events and fundraisers, this cozy cocktail bar has plenty of dark spaces to hide out with a drink and a date.
Past Bowen House's main bar, you'll find a tiny mezcal bar only open a couple of days a week.
Melissa Hennings
2614 Boll St.
It's only open on off days like Monday, but hidden away inside Uptown cocktail bar Bowen House is a tiny little mezcal room where you can sip this smoky spirit straight or mixed into cocktails.
High & Tight's The Wonderful World cocktail, served last year, took warm mulled wine cocktails to the next level.
Susie Oszustowicz
2701 Main St.
Everyone knows about High & Tight by now, right? To get to this stellar cocktail bar, you'll have to walk through a Deep Ellum barbershop, but once inside, you'll find some of the neighborhood's best cocktails. Even Jack White knows how to find this Deep Ellum gem.
