Coffee News
Brewery and bread bakery coming to Bishop Arts from veteran Dallas team
The Oak Cliff wizards behind Oddfellows and Revelers Hall are expanding with an intriguing new brewpub-deli hybrid they're opening in the same neck of the woods: Called Jackuval — for "Jack-of-All Trades" — it'll be a combination brewpub, coffee roaster, bakery, and deli opening in the Bishop Arts District, in the former Chan Thai space at 436 W. Davis St. (Chan Thai relocated to 409 N. Zang St.)
Jason Roberts, who's opening Jackuval with partner Amy Wallace Cowan, says they're hoping to have it open in June.
The concept will be multi-faceted, serving as a catch-all for their current coffee roasting operation as well new initiatives that include baking their own bread and brewing their own beer, for consumption on-site and for their other restaurants, which include Oddfellows next-door and Revelers Hall, their live music venue a block away.
"We roast our own coffee already and have been doing that in a little space beside us," Roberts says. "We've been thinking it would be nice to bake our own bread and had also been talking about beer for a while. We're selling all these Lone Stars and it seemed like we could figure out how to make that ourselves."
It'll be a nano brew pub which allows restaurants to brew and serve beer in addition to food. "And it's all so close that we'll just be able to just roll the kegs right down the street," Roberts says, half joking.
In preparation, they've already acquired brewing tanks and are seeking an experienced brewer to take on brewing and cellar operations.
"It's going to be a mash-up, like Willy Wonka's Factory," he says. "It'll be a market concept, open to the public, with a backdrop of bread-making, coffee, and beer, that's open to the public, with a small table service and a bar, plus a pub food menu for late at night to go with beers. We definitely want it to have an AM /PM presence."
For their bread operation, they're getting advice from renowned Dallas baker David Madrid, head baker and executive pastry chef at The Village, who is working with them as a consultant.
"Traveling a lot, I've been exposed to good bread, and feel like Dallas doesn't have that great baguette that I love," Roberts says. AGREE.
Jackuval represents another member in a family of businesses that also includes AJ Vagabonds, their hipster outdoorsy retail store in Oak Cliff, and Frenchmen For a Day, a cafe they opened in New Orleans in 2021. Roberts and Cowan like to stay busy.
"We've always loved the idea of vertical integration," he says. "At Oddfellows, we started roasting our own coffee, so it seems like a natural progression to make our own beer, and make our own bread. We're just taking the energy we'd spend in buying these things from other folks and doing it ourselves instead."
