After 10 years of providing excellent cocktails in Deep Ellum, Black Swan Saloon’s Gabe Sanchez announced Wednesday the bar was closing.
“I’ve drug my feet trying to figure out the best way to convey how deeply grateful I am to have you all become part of my life,” Sanchez posted.
Sanchez has been named the best bartender in the Observer’s Best of Dallas issues more than once.
“With its large glass jars of house-made fruit and veggie infusions, Sanchez's narrow, woody saloon, tucked on a Deep Ellum street corner, has the vibe of a medieval chemist's lab (a very cool, inviting lab). Tell him how your tastes run, and he'll whip out various liquids, infusions, ice cream, pixie dust, whatever and whip up something you've never had before but realize you've been hankering for all along,” we wrote in 2011.
And it really did stay that cool up until this pandemic wiped away those perfect cocktails.
Along with it goes Crossroads Diner, where chef Tom Fleming announced their closing just five days before their own 10-year anniversary.
Tuesday, he took to Facebook with a message we’ve heard too often this year: “I’m truly saddened that I am writing this, but the time has come. We have decided to close Crossroads Diner permanently.”
It was just a couple of months ago we named the spot the best diner in Dallas, too.
"We're the best diner in Dallas that just died," Fleming said. "...I just come to grips with it, that we had a great run, great staff throughout the whole years, the original staff to the ones I had to fire three days ago, they were all really good people. The restaurant business is absolutely the land of misfit toys, and I had some of the best misfits in the world."
For now, Fleming is going to spend more time in woodworking, more time cooking at home and more time in physical rehab for an injured shoulder. There's more light at the end of this bad news, too.
"There will be sticky buns eventually," he said, noting he's already been approached by some to help launch concepts and grow other ones.
It’s been a favorite place for this writer since she was in college and the restaurant was on Walnut Hill Lane. They had massive, decadent sticky buns and biscuits and gravy that proved to be worth a 30-minute drive.
This news comes after hearing the superb Salaryman in the Bishop Arts District closed.
