Where to Drink

Where to drink in Dallas right now: 8 best happy hours for June

Bites and drinks from Te Deseo.

Te Deseo

If you're truly committed to your cocktails, then drinking can take place any time of the day and any day of the week. But why shouldn't you avail yourself of the generosity of Dallas' hospitality industry, ready to woo you to their establishments with a dollar off here, a free wing there?

These eight happy hours all feature something new or especially discounty that make them worth the trip:

Al Biernat's North
Steakhouse is serving an exclusive cocktail and appetizer menu, available only during June. The steakhouse has partnered with Scottish Isle of Harris Gin to be the first restaurant in the U.S. to serve this ultra-smooth small-batch Gin. The special menu features three cocktails paired with a specialty mixed appetizer plate for $35, as follows:

Grapefruit Martini with grapefruit juice, St. Germaine, prosecco
Singapore Sling with Angostura bitters, lime juice
Bee's Knees with lemon juice, honey

The Mixed Appetizer Plate includes Goat Cheese Bruschetta, Roasted Prosciutto Dates stuffed with goat cheese over sweet potato crostini, Smoked Salmon Avocado, and Caprese featuring tomato mozzarella topped with basil gremolata on a cracker.

Bonchon Addison
Korean fried chicken concept has launched a special Friday Happy Hour featuring free fried chicken and $2 on all beer, including Deep Ellum Brewing Co., Asahi, Kirin, and Sapporo. You get a free order of Bonchon's Korean fried chicken including one chicken wing, chicken drum, and boneless chicken strip, prepared in one of Bonchon's three sauces. The offer available for dine-in or takeout orders only, and limited to one order per customer. You'll probably want to pick up some kimchi and japchae, while you're there. The special runs every Friday night in June - June 11, 18, and 25 - from 5-8 pm.

Dive Coastal Cuisine
Snider Plaza spot recently rolled out two new cocktails for summer: the Poolside Paloma with Avion tequila, grapefruit soda, agave nectar; and the Hibiscus Margarita with Avion tequila, hibiscus syrup, and lime juice. Their new Happy Hour is available weekdays from 2–5 pm, and all-day on Saturdays, featuring $9 margaritas.

Mot Hai Ba
French-Vietnamese concept has reopened its location in Victory Park with a Happy Hour for both food and beverage every day from 4-6 pm — not just weekdays! There's an additional 20 percent off the entire wine list on Wednesdays, while Victory Park neighbors and industry workers get 20 percent off on Tuesdays. They're open Tuesday-Saturday, closed Sunday-Monday.

Palmer's Hot Chicken
Hot chicken concept on Mockingbird Lane has created a new cocktail called the Kevin’s Sunrise, with Espolon Reposado, pineapple juice, orange juice, elderflower, and grenadine, garnished with cherry and orange. They host Froze Fridays every week, featuring $5 frozes, year-round.

The Rustic
Uptown hang has new happy hour specials, served 3-6 pm every day, featuring $5 Frozens — House Margarita, Frose, and one rotating frozen drink — and $5 Bites – Meatballs, Deviled Eggs, and Queso. They also offer a $9 "Legendary Margarita," which is, no, not $5, but still a value. And you can add a "Tequila pop" to any frozen for $3.

Shakertins
Every Tuesday through June, it's "Rock Band Karaoke" featuring Live 80, a cover band, who provide the soundtrack while you belt out the lyrics to your favorite songs and show the crowd what you’ve got. It'll end with a $500 grand prize karaoke competition. Whether you perform or not, you can can still partake in their Tuesday happy hour, featuring $2 tacos, Milagro tequila shots, and Sol beer, from 9–11 pm.

Te Deseo
Harwood District hosts a happy hour every Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday from 5-7 pm featuring $5 bites, $5 margaritas, $5 beers including Dos Equis on tap, and a $5 sparkling wine on tap. If you're feeling spendy, they've also introduced new seasonal cocktails including:

Bad Bunny, with Bacardi Superior, carrot, lime, pineapple, and Campari
Soleada Sour with passionfruit rooibos, Tito’s vodka, acidified guava nectar, soda
Dragon’s Breath with ypióca cachaça, Bacardi coconut, pomegranate, passionfruit, lime, and absinthe

where-drink cocktails lists bests

Burger News

Fun family-owned Big Mike's Bar and Grill from TV star debuts in Plano

Tommy LeBeouf

Big burger from Big Mike's in Plano

A charming family-owned restaurant with TV star ties has debuted in Plano. Called Big Mike’s Bar and Grill, it's an elevated sports bar that just opened at 3200 Alma Dr., in a former Pancho's Mexican Buffet where it's serving tasty Angus burgers and beer-battered onion rings, hand-battered in-house.

Big Mike's is from husband-and-wife Mike Cancelmi and Jennie Marie; she gained fame as the star of the 2018 TLC show Mama Medium. The couple is from Rochester, New York, but fell in love with the Dallas area with their four sons after visiting a friend in 2021.

Their signature Big Mike's burger is a biggie: a half-pound patty with cheddar, bacon, lettuce, tomato, and a fried egg on a brioche bun, served with choice of hand-cut fries, tater tots, or sweet potato fries, for $18.

They bring their Northeast influence with dishes such as a Reuben sandwich with corned beef on marble rye, and their own version of poutine, the Canadian specialty, which they make with fries, cheese curds, brown gravy, and thick-cut crumbled bacon.

One dish reflects their hometown roots: Called the Trash Plate, it's inspired by the Garbage Plate, a sloppy comfort food dish that's the unofficial signature dish of the city of Rochester.

Big Mike's version combines macaroni salad, home fries, and choice of hot dogs from Rochester-based Zweigle’s (which they fly in from New York), or two smash burger patties with hot sauce, mustard, and onions.

Their menu also features a few entree items like NY strip steak, their priciest item at $35, served with garlic mashed potatoes and Brussels sprouts; and chicken-fried steak with mashed potatoes and green beans for $24. Portions are abundant.

Big Mike's family: Mike and Jennie Marie and their four sons.Big Mike's

“I created the menu based on things I like to eat," Mike says. "Everything we make is made from scratch, the way I would do it if I was cooking for my friends."

They host weekend brunch on Saturday and Sunday until 2 pm with a cinnamon roll skillet, frittatas, avocado toast, and a hash version of the Garbage Plate with home fries, mac salad, onions, diced Zweigle's hot dogs, eggs, and meat hot sauce. There are mimosas — they have a full bar — and they also do a daily happy hour from 3-6 pm with appetizer specials and domestic beers for $3.50.

Mike's background as a former contractor can be seen in the restaurant's spiffy remodel. The space sits 270, with enough room to host events that include karaoke every Wednesday, live music during brunch, and a ticketed group psychic event where Jennie Marie draws from her TV show days, performing readings and mediumship, with food and drink.

The restaurant has a wonderful family-oriented atmosphere. Many of their employees are friends of their sons from school or ice hockey, giving the restaurant a comfortable, homey vibe.

“We try to visit every table — that personal touch is important to us," Jennie Marie says. "We want that hometown feel, get people what they want so they come back."

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