The Black Swan Is Back, Baby

Black Swan in Deep Ellum was, actually, a black swan of sorts. When Gabe Sanchez opened in 2010, it helped usher in a classic cocktail scene to Dallas. We can't pinpoint exactly when the old fashioned became a staple on every restaurant and bar menu, but we're pretty sure the Black Swan had a feather in it. Not explicitly or exclusive, but if you squint, it lines up.

Barman Gabe Sanchez has a proclivity for well-balanced drinks and superior barside manners, and the Black Swan was his realization of that. It had a good run for a decade, but couldn't outpace the disastrous effects of the pandemic and closed in 2020.

At that time Sanchez thought that was it.

"I thought it was done, it was over," he says now. "I gave away most of the art, sold some of it, gave most of it away. I didn't even want to see it anymore."

Sanchez went on to manage The Midnight Rambler at the Joule Hotel, which he still does. And last year he partnered with Ryan Payne of Tiny Victories to open Saint Valentine in East Dallas, a hipster yet humble watering hole and an instant East Dallas classic.

New collaborations in a new neighborhood helped spur new ideas. Today Sanchez dropped the news that the Black Swan is back. This time around it's a collaboration with several other local service industry veterans including Payne, Brian Rutt of Alice and Columbian Country Club, and Pasha Heidari of St. Martin's, Bowen House and Mike's Gemini Twin. We literally love all of those places and are giddy for this Black Swan 2.0, baby.

"Being around the right people with Midnight Rambler and all the people at Headington are amazing, and obviously Ryan's amazing to work with day in and day out," Sanchez says. "And then Pasha and Brian, those are two of the most positive, warm-hearted people you're ever going to meet. So it was kind of one of those things where when Brian asked,  'Hey, you ever think you want to do this again?' It didn't take a lot of convincing knowing that he and Justin, his righthand man, were going to be there the whole time."

The new space is in East Dallas at 1623 Hall St., next to Alice, which was most recently the Fiction Coffee.

And it's set to open in just a couple of weeks.

Sanchez says he kept the velvet Clint Eastwood from behind the bar at the original Black Swan and has dusted it off for the new space.

The space will mimic the original; moody and swanky, with dim lighting, art-lined walls and kitschy touches (velvet art).

Black Swan 2.0 will also have some small bites prepared next door by Alice's Guam-born, Filipino chef Randall Braud.

Cocktails start at $13 and are at center stage. They'll have local beer on tap along with a selection of wine.

The bar is open Wednesday through Monday and will close on Tuesdays because industry veterans know to keep the house open on Mondays when their people are off.

Black Swan, 1623 Hall St. Wednesday – Monday, 5 p.m. – 2 a.m.