Day Drinking in The Big D

Or DDD (Dallas Day Drinking)…but we heard that has already been taken. Plus, we have been waiting for a legit way to use “The Big D”

We found out how much there really is to do in Dallas (Things to do in Dallas), but we also found out how much there is to drink.  You know day drinking is our jam but looking back, I feel like we really should have buckled down and hit so many more spots. In our defense, there really is only so much alcohol you can consume in the heat.  However, I assure you, we gave it a good go, and found you some amazing spots to try!

Sister Side Note (ssn) – and also we had a family commitment that evening that we wanted to be coherent for.

Honorable Mentions

Before we start with a rundown of our full day of bar hopping, I need to throw out an honorable mention to the night before when my son, his girlfriend, and I found The Ill (that’s ill, not 3) Minster Pub in the Art district.

The Ill Minster Pub

This bar is known for doing pop-up themes, and we were lucky enough that they were doing “Gotham” as their current theme, and my son is a huge Batman dork.  They crushed this theme, with a Riddler room covered in neon green question marks, the hallway done as a Joker tribute, plenty of posters, movie memorabilia, an Arkham Asylum mugshot wall

But my favorite part was the shot wheel. $5 a shot, 12 different shots, all Batman themed drinks.  I landed on the Ba-na-na-na-na-na-na shot, while Emmy sadly spun to Penguin Piss.  Additionally, they had eight different themed cocktails to choose from, including a Mr. Freeze.  It was a cool experience.  If you are in Dallas, check out this bar and see what pop up they are currently doing.  The staff were super cool, and it had a great vibe to hang out in.

The Nodding Donkey

We needed bar food after this and chose The Nodding Donkey based solely on the name.  It was loud, it was open air, it was packed, and it was fantastic!  Patio seating, great food, and tons of TVs, pizzas, burgers, deep fried bar foody goodness!

The 3Eleven Kitchen & Cocktails

Not from the night before but worth a mention, The 3Eleven Kitchen & Cocktails. We hit this lovely place while we were waiting for our JFK tour. Such a great interior and classic cocktail menu – we had a drink and some calamari to sustain us through our tour. Looking at their menu now, I don’t know why we didn’t have the carpaccio bites (doesn’t sound like something we’d skip). Anyway…definitely worthy of a stop.

side ssn – The carpaccio bites were our first choice since we wanted something quick, but they were out of them, so calamari was had because Emmy had never tried calamari.

Day Drinking Official

And now, back to our regularly scheduled Day Drinking post.

We arranged to meet Emmy (my oldest son’s girlfriend) in Deep Ellum so she could tag along. She will be making guest appearances in this story for her ability to rally for the cause. 

In Dallas, the best drinking area, with the most bars and fun to be had is Deep Ellum.  We decided that it was definitely a walkable distance from our hotel.

Elm Street Cask & Kitchen

Peggy and I grabbed a quick mimosa at Elm Street Cask & Kitchen. They had a fantastic menu, but we hit it on a day where it was breakfast buffet only.  It’s southern inspired food as well, and they had a great feel to the place, was bummed we couldn’t just get a little breakfast snack.  But loved our mimosas in the cut glass goblets!

ssn – One of my favorite interiors. Would love to have spent a little more time.

Renaissance Saint Elm

On the next block is the Renaissance St. Elm hotel, and naturally, hotels have bars! And this one has the Brasserie Toussaint and get this, it’s French, New Orleans, Vietnamese fusion!  Holy cow, Marriott crushed this place.  Only we were too early for that kind of food, so drinks were had instead.

Opting for my wheelhouse I went with the Lapse in Judgement (seemed on theme) which was Aperol, peach, rosemary, lemon, and wheat beer, while Peggy had the RHOD, vodka, peach, lemon, and vanilla, YUMMERS, she won this round!

ssn – another great interior. Plus the bartender was fantastic (he spent summers in Pueblo, my current town, growing up and we talked all things Southern Colorado). AND…they had the beautiful knobby blue highball glasses from Pottery Barn/Crate and Barrel/Williams Sonoma that I’ve been obsessed with forever. They are pretty spendy in the stores but the manager agreed to let me buy a set if I came back at the end of the day. Sadly, I didn’t make it back but next time!! Some people make back alley drug deals, I go for back alley glassware.

The next block up took us right by Kitchen+Kocktails, which had made Peggy’s short list of planning.  We popped in quicky, because Cotton Candy cocktails must happen, even for breakfast.

We are still super sad we didn’t eat here. The next table had the chicken and waffles, and some seriously amazing looking southern comfort food.  But Peggy’s cocktail bubbled, and we will be considering this our second home next trip. 

Deep Ellum

The Biscuit Bar

We had planned this route intentionally to take us by The Biscuit Bar. They had cocktails and great reviews. Bright and sunny atmosphere, order at the counter for some fantastic sounding food, or go right to the bar and have a mimosa.

We bought a bachelorette a signature cocktail but had to jet after just one drink (servers were slam packed busy), to make our reservations at one of our new favorite spots on the planet The Neon Kitten.

ssn – that poor bachelorette was not having a good time – literally every one of her friends were scrolling on their phones. So we had to step in…we felt like it was our obligation as Cocktail Godmothers to bring free drinks and smiles to her. Also, I had some sort of Cinnamon Toast Crunch breakfast drink and it was awesome!!

The Neon Kitten

We walked by The Neon Kitten twice trying to find the place, we even stopped and took a picture of this adorable sign on a patio, which later turned out to be their patio. But dang, for some reason we had a hard time finding this place.  Here’s a hint: look for a neon kitten out front.

We walked in, first ones there for the day. The entire staffed stopped what they were doing and cheered! It was the welcome home we had been looking for.

Neon Kitten is an Izakaya and Dim sum, so plan to stay a while and have many plates of food.  But their cocktail menu!  Oh my goodness, so well thought out, and such amazing presentations.  We ate so much, we drank plenty, I didn’t want to leave.

Highlights included Pichifizu (peach and vodka again!), Kiraimupai Mimosa (Key lime pie flavored bubbly), and the signature Osaka, which was a sake, cherry blossom and gin creation that was served in a hello kitty looking glass!

Food, omg, we could have cleared the entire menu:  Pork Belly Benedict, Pork Belly Bao Buns, and Dim Sum including morel shrimp dumplings, prawn and pork sui mai, these crazy bright green mushroom dumplings, and the chili and peanut wontons.  I’m dying just now reliving the experience in my head!

ssn – this was seriously incredible. Each item was perfection and we could have stayed all day. Patti didn’t mention the matcha french toast – it was special that day, off-menu, and insanely delish. We never get sweet breakfast food but so glad we didn’t pass on this one.

The Blackbird Society

THEN, omg, THEN, as I was exiting the bathroom, I noticed the bookcase to the back of the room was propped open at a weird angle, so had to check it out. I peaked behind it, and there was an entire room, the manager was back behind the bar and invited me in: it was The Blackbird Society!  A speakeasy that was on our list for later in the evening that we were super excited to check out.  It was a gorgeous room with the great blue velvet feel to it.

Hawkers

Sadly, it was time to move on, but bars line the street, so we had tons of options.  We settled on across the street, Hawkers Asian Street Food.  Unfortunately, we were too full for more food.  But Emmy decided it was time for Sake Bombs, and I can’t say that she was wrong!  The staff at Hawkers were amazing!  Loved them, felt like we had new family in our bartender.  The atmosphere was fun, the drinks were great, and next time we will try some food!

ssn – Hawkers website gets it right when they claim it is a Total Vibe. This place was fantastic.

Double Wide

Needing to walk it off we headed for Double Wide bar.  This place was on our list, I was excited and ready for it.  But it was also hot out, Dallas level hot.  And we were slightly dying by the time we got there, only to find out they were closed for an event that night.  Super sad because it looked so cute.

Thunderbird Station

But we managed to duck into the Thunderbird Station on the next block to cool down. Built out of an old gas station, with a huge outdoor patio area, it was a fun little place!  Vintage feel with craft cocktails, and frozen drinks to rectify the sweaty betty swampy feeling!

Las Almas Rotas

We were starting to wind down from the heat, so we hopped an Uber to our final stop of the day. The Mezcaleria, Las Almas Rotas.  I mean, Mezcal, it’s a great way to finish strong.  And you know they had tacos, and esquites (corn, lime, cotija, cream, yes, yes, and yes!).  While it was too late in the day for me to convince anyone to do tequila shots with me, I had a Pajaro Loco. That’s super fun to say, and it had banana and pineapple!  The back of the restaurant had a speakeasy-esque Spirits Room, which would have been a good time if we could have come back.

Day Drinking Conclusion

There were so many places we wanted to stop and didn’t.  We definitely could have done two or three days of day drinking just sticking to Deep Ellum alone.

A little side bar to close out this story, the night of the Nodding Donkey, we managed a quick stop into Truth & Alibi.  It’s considered the go-to speakeasy in all the research we did for this trip.  It’s cute in that you enter through a fake candy store, but inside I was shocked at how loud and night-clubby it was.  Speakeasies tend to be more quiet, hidden gems. This was full in your face smoke and lights, but it did lend an opportunity for me to be present for my son’s very first burlesque show, and that made this momma happy!  Happy Birthday, Tanner!!!

More in the Day Drinking series:

• Seattle – part 1
• Seattle – part 2
• Savannah
• Boise
• Kansas City