Kanpai Coffee + Beer Garden Is Deep Ellum's Newest Hangout for Local Artists, Workers

Kanpai Coffee + Beer Garden, located in the old Mama Tried space, is a new day-to-night venue in Deep Ellum that blends the best of Asian-inspired cuisine, coffee and cocktails.

The chef and co-owner, Michael Carranza, has some impressive credentials. After graduating from Le Cordon Bleu, Austin, he delved into Asian cuisines. He was the head sushi chef at Uchi, helped open She's Not Here and later trained at Musashino (both in Austin). He now has two other restaurants, including the Michelin-starred Omakase Tare in Austin. His second restaurant, Texas Sushiko, also in Austin, shares a space with the Texas Sake Company.

Kanpai, which means drink up, isn't a sushi omakase, though. It's easy-breezy and down-to-earth, a catch-all dish for working remotely, casual meet-ups and late-night hangouts. There's a massive 7,000-square-foot grass patio out back, and the entire space is dog-friendly and has fire pits. Kanpai is a breath of fresh air in this neighborhood for many (beloved) veteran businesses. Big NKOTB energy.
The beer garden unofficially opened in September, but the grand opening has been drawn out due to the construction off Commerce Street, which is sucking business out of newcomers like Kanpai and longtime neighborhood favorites like Cane Rosso.

According to one of Kanpai's Instagram posts, the city was supposed to wrap up construction by the end of September. We visited in mid-December and it's still a mess over there. However, that should be all the more reason to come by.

The main headache is parking, but we got snubbed so you don't have to:

Don't park in the lot next to Ruins off Commerce Street. They're charging $30 (or did the night we were there).

Do park in the garage right across the street from Kanpai. It's a more manageable $15 and is accessed via Henry Street. Or snag a meter.

Once you manage to park, it's time for a drink, and Kanpai has some cool offerings. The screen behind bar lists the selection of beer and spirits. There are also signature cocktails, and standard coffee offerings in the morning. If you stop by to WFK (work from Kanpai), there's free drip coffee and wifi.
We fumbled our drink order a tad.

When we sat down we weren't given any menus. We assumed they didn't have them printed yet and that the menu on the TV was all they had. When we asked about cocktails, the bartender didn't mention any signatures and just asked what we liked to drink. It was a little confusing, but, yes there are menus, so make sure to ask for them.

Thinking we only had draft or not draft options, we went with the Sabe Sake, the house sake. It's served cold in a small shooter glass. Sake is something our taste buds haven't been fully acquainted with. This one was very light with a slightly bitter finish.

The cocktail menu starts with a Wagyu fat-washed old-fashioned and diversifies into a coconut fat-washed highball, Paloma, yuzu daiquiri, coyote carajillo (made with Noble Coyote coffee) and a gin fizz. Next time, the carajillo has our name on it.

A majority of the food here is well-priced and affordable. A small menu offers a cucumber salad, karaage, Frito pie, chicken sandwiches, egg sandwiches (medium-boiled egg with Kewpie mayo and furikake on Texas toast) and elote for $15 and under. Topping off the menu are caviar and Pringles, which go for $90.

Had we planned on a longer night, we would have grabbed the meal deal: a pork katsu sandwich and beer for $15, but we already had our first round, so we went with the karaage chicken.
If we had asked what seasonings were in the dredge for this fried chicken, we think the answer would have been, "All of 'em," because these bad boys were SEASONED. They packed a ton of flavors but were nearly too salty. You'll want a beer with these. The ketchup here is sweeter, which creates a nice little harmony with the meat.

The place is still in soft opening, so we imagine they're still working through kinks.

We're curious about the elote, which is served street-style with mayo and pico, as well as the Frito pie, which is said to be a remix of the classic with sushi rice, tuna tataki, pico, serranos and green onion. We'll be back soon to try both.

All of the upcoming events are posted on the Kanpai Instagram page. The most recent was the Say Less Music Festival, with a lineup of up-and-coming Dallas talent like La Bell and Justin King. Recent events include spray paint parties, board game nights and omakase pop-ups, a feature chef Carranza brought from Tare.

On Wednesdays, there are $2 Busch Lights [record scratch]. That's some versatility.

We're excited and rooting for this unique addition to Deep Ellum supporting local talent.

Kanpai Coffee + Beer Garden, 215 Henry St. Sunday and Wednesday – Thursday, 11 a.m. – 10 p.m.; Friday – Saturday, 11 a.m. – midnight; closed Monday – Tuesday.