Hey Dallas, Thomas Avenue Beverage Company Is Back

Eddie “Lucky” Campbell knows a thing or two about bars. An innovator in Dallas’ craft cocktail scene, Campbell owns the Standard Pour on McKinney Avenue and Parliament, the craft-cocktail haven that’s a fixture on our Top 100 Bars list, on Allen Street. When Campbell and his team decided last year to branch out with a new establishment, they wanted to stick with what they knew.

“We had looked in different neighborhoods at several places where brokers were saying, ‘Oh the walk-in traffic is bonkers,’ and we’d go look and wonder where the people are,” Campbell tells us. “I told my team, we should stick with something close by. Then three days later, this listing opened up.”

The listing was for the former home of Thomas Avenue Beverage Company at Thomas Avenue and Allen Street, not far from Parliament. Since the original TABC closed in 2013, the building has been home to several restaurants. This time, Campbell thought he should bring back the iconic Thomas Avenue Beverage Company name. After checking with the Texas Secretary of State and learning the name was available, Campbell reached out to Russell Hayward of Ascension Coffee, who owned the previous TABC iteration, for his blessing.

Over the past year, Campbell and his crew have been renovating the 100-year-old building. We sneaked in a week before the grand opening on December 12 to see what Campbell has in store.

Inside the white brick building, the vibe is mid-century Hollywood, with dark burgundy leather banquettes making up most of the seating against exposed brick walls. An impressive wood bar spans nearly the full length of the interior, and most people’s eyes will be drawn to a fantastic stylized Pegasus mural on the far wall painted by Dallas artist John Freeman, who has artwork at Campbell’s other establishments. Next to the mural is a door that leads to a sprawling patio, with a new deck and a half dozen fire pits that Campbell’s team were firing up for the first time when we stopped by.

“Here in Texas, you might get to use it 50% of the time,” Campbell says of the patio. “No one wants to be outside when it’s 103 degrees. But we’ve made it a lot of fun for the good days.”

Campbell describes himself as a “drink nerd,” and on the beverage front, his fingerprints are all over specialty cocktails. TABC is infusing their own spirits like a thyme vodka, a shisito pepper tequila and a fat-washed bourbon as part of the nine signature cocktails on the menu. Campbell tells us that number is fewer than he would normally offer, but TABC is offering more beers and seltzers to keep in touch with what the neighborhood asks for.

We had a chance to watch Campbell at work creating a few drinks for our photographs, which, given his history in Dallas mixology, is something akin to watching Picasso doodle or hearing Chopin tickle the ivories. There’s a Karma Chameleon with thyme vodka, cucumber, ginger and honeydew. There’s a nod to the Mambo Taxi called that Meringue Rideshare with black cherry sangria and a bourbon Old Fashioned smoked with applewood and made with the fat-washed bourbon, which Campbell describes as his signature drink for the new bar.

The food menu gets plenty of attention, again with a focus on what Campbell believes the neighborhood would enjoy eating. Under the guidance of chef Nate Edwards, the menu is stocked with paninis, pizza and pastas as well as some bar snack favorites.

Texas Italian on the Menu

“Everything has an Italian backbone to it, but with a Texas and Southwest flair,” Edwards says.

Edwards’ kitchen team was preparing dishes for photos on the day of our visit, and we had a chance to sample some gems after we snapped photos. There’s an elote arancini that pops with the sweetness of corn, wildly addictive house-fried potato chips with a blue cheese mornay sauce and pizzas that sparkle with a thin cracker crust.

On the entree front, the shrimp and sausage bucatini has ground sausage from Jimmy’s; the burger is a thick and hefty blend of ground chuck, brisket and short rib dressed with a zesty “bastard” sauce; and the perfectly cooked petit tenderloin in the steak frites is given a twist with parmesan gnocchi standing in for traditional French fries.

The new version of Thomas Avenue Beverage Company feels more grown up than we remember, and the locals seem ready to fall in love with the new space. Campbell tells us the pedestrian traffic has been peeking in the windows with increased regularity of late in anticipation of the opening.

For the grand opening on Dec. 12, TABC will offer a complimentary glass of Champagne, plus carriage rides to Parliament and Standard Pour. For Campbell, the reasons for reinventing TABC are steeped in his own history of drinking in this city.

“To me, there are two iconic bars in Dallas: the Loon and TABC,” Campbell says. “When I moved here and got a job at Jasper’s in the Shops at Legacy, the last night of training, we went to TABC for drinks. So there’s sentimental reasons for me, too.”

Campbell believes that his newest bar is keyed into everything the neighborhood wants, which happens to be his wheelhouse.

“We do good at mature neighborhood taverns. We’re for grownups,” Campbell says. “Whenever I get outside of my lane, I get in trouble.”

Thomas Avenue Beverage Company, 2901 Thomas Ave. Opens December 12.