Bars & Breweries

Jaxon Beer Garden offers cocktails to-go like their Jaxon Lights Out.

As difficult as it can be to imagine just how everyday life during this pandemic may look and feel in a month — let alone how we’ll all be getting along years from now — local restaurant, bar and brewery operators don’t have the luxury of sitting calmly to see…

Il Bracco’s signature cocktail is a frozen version a greyhound and is being offered to-go.

There’s a segment of local bar owners who feel they are being unfairly restricted by Gov. Greg Abbott’s June 26 executive order that mandated they shut down. While restaurants are allowed 50% indoor capacity, outdoor seating, plus food and mixed-drinks to-go — several restaurants recently reported the latter has sustained their…

As a way to support local business, the Brewers Association has designated July 3 as National Independent Beer Run Day, which should be self-explanatory, but in case it’s not, it means you need to hit a craft beer drive-thru. There are around 70 independent breweries around North Texas, and now…

Bullion is giving us the chance to enjoy their cocktails from home.

It’s July. While that would normally mean we could be at a Texas Rangers game succumbing to the employee who’s sweating in the heat yelling “Lemon Chill,” we’re at home. But it’s still hot: As of now, it looks like we could reach 100 degrees this week, something we know…

Friday morning, Gov. Greg Abbott snatched up the welcome mat to bars, which were ordered to close at noon that day as more COVID-19 cases surged across the state. Also, restaurants were required to go back to 50% capacity, down from the 75% at which they had been operating.  However,…

Legacy Hall’s adult sipper frosé is making the kid (and adult) in all of us happy.

Dive bars don’t happen by design. There’s no script or blueprint. They’re unimpressed with plans. Usually they  have odd touches of character in both people and furnishings that just fall into place. Over time, they evolve into a retreat where we yearn to wet our whistles. The Grapevine Bar seems…

The Texas Alcohol and Beverage Commission got busy last weekend. Last Wednesday, it issued a warning to businesses that weekend plans included “strictly monitoring bar and restaurant activity” to ensure compliance with the state’s protocols. They warned they would take swift action and suspend liquor licenses for 30 days for first-time…

Bowen House, our favorite neighborhood cocktail den, just released their new menu. Ironically, one of my favorites is their Darkest Hour.

The raw plywood boards got pulled from the windows. In the days prior, Omar Yeefoon’s restaurant looked like it was in storm-prep mode: The glass was protected, the doors were locked, and, inside, the stools and booths sparkled from sterilization. He had already parted ways with his chef, faced a…

This month, Dallas-native rapper Post Malone is launching a new French rosé, alongside music manager Dre London and entrepreneur James Morrissey of Global Brand Equities. Maison No. 9 is largely inspired by Morrisey’s time in Provence. Malone chose the name after his favorite tarot card, the Nine of Swords, which is believed…

Weathered Souls Brewing Co. in San Antonio recently launched a “Black” is Beautiful initiative “to bring a collaborative effort amongst the brewing community and its customers, in an attempt to bring awareness to the injustices that many people of color face daily.” The idea is that other brewers use Weathered…

Raise your hand if you need a drink. How about seven? Yeah, we figured. Here’s an excuse to make a drink and do something nice for someone else. Salud! Dallas bartender Fernando Soto was on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last week shaking things up in the spirit of helping fellow bartenders…

As Texas breweries received permission to begin reopening, individual business owners had to grapple with a difficult question: How do you safely open an alcohol-dependent business during a health crisis? Many local breweries delayed their openings to spend more time contemplating that question. Welcoming the public back into a taproom…

On Monday, Phase 2 of the Governor’s Strike Force to Open Texas was released, which allows bars to reopen at 25% indoor capacity, with no restrictions on outdoor areas, starting Friday. A bar, according to the state, is any establishments where 51% or more of their sales are alcohol. Also…

I miss eating alone. I mean, when you live alone during the time of COVID, you do that a lot. Too much. Way too much. So let’s get to what it’s really about: I miss sitting at the semi-circle bar top of Cosmo’s, eating broth-drowned dumplings by myself. Everyone who’s…

The need to distance during the COVID-19 pandemic combined with people working from home or not working at all, combined with cabin fever, has created an unprecedented demand for trails and parks. Major cities around the world have responded to this demand by closing streets to automotive traffic to make…

When restaurants and drinking establishments were forced to close their dining rooms and bars due to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in March, part of Texas’ disaster proclamation allowed restaurants to sell alcohol to-go. It was a huge break for them.  Margaritas and quarantine survival kits with bottles of…

In March, when the Texas restaurant industry had the emergency brake slammed on it, Gov. Greg Abbott threw it a life ring: As part of the disaster proclamation, for the first time ever restaurants were allowed to sell booze to go and for curbside pickup.  As owners and operators have…