Bar News
Bar veterans infuse suburban Shakertins with Uptown Dallas sensibility
A new bar with an unusual name is opening this summer from a team with lots of bar experience in Dallas. It's called Shakertins. Say it with me now: Shakertins. Hey, let's go grab a drink at Shakertins!
As bartenders know, shaker tins are the stainless steel cups used to make a cocktail. The bar-lounge concept opens this fall in Austin Ranch, a complex in The Colony, from Brian Harder of Harder Concepts fame, Brad Hawkins, who once managed Sfuzzi Uptown, and Anthony Morel, one of the top bartenders at the Dram on Henderson Avenue.
"It'll basically be a neighborhood bar for the Austin Ranch community. Technically it's The Colony, but another mile and it's Lewisville," Hawkins says. "It'll have a casual atmosphere with an upscale twist, with cocktails, craft beer, boutique wines and a menu of creative bites."
There's already a market of sorts, because it's going into the space that was formerly Zen Austin Ranch, a local bar that had some success before it fell on hard times. Hawkins came in to give it some of that McKinney Avenue pizzazz.
"The Uptown scene is what I'm used to, where if you walk down McKinney or Oak Lawn, you trip over a bar," Hawkins says. "Out here, it's more spread out. The Shops at Legacy has its own bar scene, but in this corner, there's not much around.
"We're trying to offer an Uptown feel but a little more relaxed. We'll bring those concepts here, the craft cocktails, the upscale food."
The space came with a fully equipped kitchen, so they can focus their energy on remodeling the front of the house, including the expansion of an open-air patio.
The cocktail portion is being supervised by Morel.nHawkins, who will continue juggling his duties marketing for Chop Shop Sports Garage in Carrollton, Three Squares in Frisco and Kenichi Dallas at Victory Park, is meeting with chefs for ideas, but he knows the menu will be tapas-oriented.
"We'll do bite-size items, maybe four to an order," he says. "Not too filling, not a full entrée, but appetizers and items to share more conversational to fit the concept."
