Hotel News

Hotels with weatherproof rooftop 'igloos' are a thing in Dallas-Fort Worth

Life inside the bubble.

Photo courtesy of Hotel Vin

2-11-2021 UPDATE: By popular demand, the "Winterproof" celebration at Waterproof, the rooftop lounge at the iconic Statler, is being extended an additional two weeks. The life-size snow globes, which seat parties of 2 to 8, will remain through February 28. Specials on Winterproof cocktails will be offered on their final night.

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A new hotel in Grapevine has introduced fun little igloos on their rooftop which let you hang outside in a weatherproof environment.

Hotel Vin, which opened in September 2020, has added what they call rooftop "bubbles" on their Rioja Rooftop Terrace, where you and five of your friends can make merry for two hours or more.

A release lists the things guests may do in these igloo-like bubbles, as follows:

enjoy specialty cocktails, fine wines, craft beer and light bites
listen to their own playlists
take in the views of historic Downtown Grapevine

They don't say anything about PDAs but one presumes that very restrained dancing and light necking are also permitted.

The hotel has four of these bubbles, each equipped with speakers, furniture, and heaters. All bubbles are fully sanitized between seating. They're available on a first-come, first- serve basis, but reservations are required.

If you miss out on renting a bubble, Rioja Rooftop Terrace has additional seating and fire pits. You can sit by the firepit and gaze longingly over at the merriment happening inside the bubbles and wonder where in god's name you went wrong.

The bubbles are available Thursday-Saturday from 5-11 pm, and are $250, which comes with a bottle of Cava (Segura Viudas Reserva Heredad) from Spain, and a Mediterranean mezze medley for six.

Call 817-251-3077 to book. If you book one during Happy Hour, from 5–6 pm, they go for $100 which gets you the bottle of Cava, but no mezze medley.

Waterproof Lounge
This roofop bar on the 19th floor of the Statler Dallas hotel in downtown Dallas was actually first to introduce this igloo concept to Dallas back in December 2019.

Also referred to as garden igloos, they're made of plastic with stitched triangular segments that form a polyhedron. You guessed it, they're basically a geodesic dome, and they've caught on in other cities such as San Francisco, which was laughably in awe of them when they first appeared in the Rice-A-Roni city in August 2020. You could theoretically buy one yourself for just under $2K.

Waterproof has them in two sizes: Small, which is what the Hotel Vin has, with seating for up to six; and a large, which seats up to eight.

At Waterproof, the small goes for $200 per hour during peak hours (weekends and Thursday-Friday nights), and $100 per hour during non peak hours (Sunday-Wednesday, 10 am-12 midnight, and Thursday-Friday 12 noon-7 pm), with a two-hour minimum. The large is $300 per hour.

While they obviously serve as a deterrent to the cold weather, they're also being couched as a good solution for dining during coronavirus times. Assuming your entire party is your family, that is.

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Healthy Eats News

Alabama chain Urban Cookhouse opens first DFW restaurant in Prosper

Urban Cookhouse

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A healthy restaurant chain from Alabama has made its DFW debut: Urban Cookhouse has opened its first outpost in Texas at the Gates of Prosper, a small center at 1151 S. Preston Rd. #10, taking over a former location of Sauce Pizza.

Urban Cookhouse was founded by David and Andrea Snyder, an entrepreneurial couple who opened their first location in Homewood, Alabama in 2010. The chain now has eight other locations in Alabama and one in Tennessee.

The concept has a healthy, homey vibe with a menu featuring more than a dozen sandwiches and wraps, salads, soup, and fork and knife offerings such as pork tenderloin with red chimichuri, lime-marinated steak & rice, and ‘The Down Home’, a BBQ-style plate with smoked turkey, pasta, and broccoli salad, as well as vegetarian options and a kids' menu.

A weekend brunch on Saturday and Sunday features a breakfast charcuterie board for $25 with pastries, deviled eggs, yogurt parfait, and bread. There are mimosas, bloody Marys, Micheladas, sangria, beer, and wine by the glass, plus a coffee bar with a signature blend from 1418 Coffee in the works.

There's a whole thing with their orange rolls, one of the three items Urban Cookhouse is best known for (along with their Broccoli Salad and Half-Baked Cookie). It's like an orange version of a cinnamon roll, featuring a yeast roll been smeared with a sweet paste flavored with orange zest, baked, then and topped with a thin orange glaze that hardens as it cools.

Urban Cookhouse serves a complimentary orange roll with its meal-size salads and entrees.

Their other shtick is that they prepare their meats on The Big Green Egg, the dome-shaped ceramic oven favored by many a gourmet home cook.

A portion of the Prosper restaurant is dedicated to a petite market selling sauces, dressings, chicken salad, broccoli salad, the signature orange rolls, spiced pecan, honey and pickles and cheddar pasta to-go. Family-style meals are also available for pick up after 3 pm.

Bringing the concept to Frisco is James Zemlock who has 30 years of culinary and management with Grimaldi’s Pizzeria, The Capital Grille and Tommy Bahama.

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