Where to Drink

Where to drink in Dallas right now: 5 fun and different new bars to try

Frozen drinks at the Dream Cafe.

Dream Cafe

For this latest installment of CultureMap's monthly "Where to Drink" feature, the question is more, where not to drink. It's summer, Dallas has reached herd immunity, and the oppressive heat is in the Pacific Northwest. There's no place in Dallas right now that's not good for drinking.

Rather than use our usual filter of best new happy hours, this edition pulls together five places with unique draws.

Here's where to drink in July:

Atlas
Bishop Arts lounge that's a sibling to Cajun-Asian restaurant Krio (also in Bishop Arts) opened about a month ago. This is a place with a theme: to showcase the world, in food, drinks, and music. Travel your way through their drinks menu via the Pisco Sour (Peru), Pimm's Cup (London), and Singapore Sling (Singapore). They serve international-themed snacks, too, including a trio of cheesecakes with worldly themes: Turkish baklava, English banoffee, and Swiss chocolate.

Dream Cafe
Beloved Uptown restaurant just moved to a new location facing McKinney Avenue, which seems to make their breakfast and lunch taste all the more fresh and wholesome. In addition to the expected bloody Mary and mimosa (with fresh-squeezed OJ, because this is the Dream Cafe), they have a couple of frozen drinks that really do require a field trip: Ema's Frose, thick and cold with a strawberry garnish, and the Frozen Frenchy, with brandy, Dream coffee, and cream, topped with whipped cream and a cherry.

Elm & Good
Restaurant at the Kimpton Pittman Hotel in Deep Ellum is surely best known for its acclaimed chef Graham Dodds, but it also has an elegant bar running the length of the restaurant that just feels good to sit at. Their cocktail and wine list is limited, but everything on it is A+: 10 great cocktails, some named for local institutions such as the Gypsy Tea Room with rum and green tea. They have the best local beers on tap and a killer selection of wines by the glass, thoughtfully chosen, and in very generous pours.

Mermaid Raw Bar & Champagne Room
New bar opens in Bishop Arts on July 12 with loads of personality, including a South-Beach-meets Boca vibe that’s just in time for summer nights. Decor sets the stage, with antique chandeliers, a scalloped aquamarine bar, vintage shell accessories, and a sculptural mermaid-&-dolphin table. There'll be a raw bar with oysters and the like; plus ocean-inspired cocktail pairings served from three swirling, built-in sculptural glass dispensers. Wine will include trendy orange wine, bubbles, and rosé. Throw on your muu muu and puka shell necklace and look for the turquoise neon sign.

Urban Seafood Company
New seafood spot in downtown Plano at 1104 14th St. is a sibling to Urban Crust and Urban Rio, all easily reachable via DART's Red Line. The inspiration here is New England destinations like Nantucket and Boston, and that means lobster rolls and an oyster bar, if you're up for a bite. But don't sleep on their bar program, which hits all the trends: from frozen cocktails to no-alcohol "mocktails" to wine and bubbles on tap.

bests lists cocktails where-drink

Hummus News

New Mediterranean restaurant in McKinney spotlights Greek and Lebanese

Ilio's

Chicken shawarma plate at Ilio's Greek & Lebanese

A new Mediterranean restaurant starring two cuisines has debuted in McKinney: Called Ilio’s Greek & Lebanese Restaurant, it's now open at 210 N. Custer Rd. #130, with a collection of Middle Eastern favorites like gyros, shawarma, kebabs, hummus, falafel, and pita wraps.

The restaurant, which opened in mid-May in a center on the newer west side of McKinney, is from a pair of restauraunt veterans, Anas Abu-Ziad, nicknamed "Ziad," and Talal Hammad, who owned a similarly-themed and similarly-named concept in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Managing the front of the house is Ziad's affable wife Jessica Gardener, whose doting customer service has quickly made her a diner favorite.

"The idea with combining Greek and Lebanese was to make the restaurant inviting to everyone," Gardener says.

Baton Rouge has a reputation for good Greek and Lebanese food, even boasting a few restaurants that feature "Greek & Lebanese" as part of their name. Those two cuisines are slightly less common in Dallas, where the Middle-Eastern restaurant scene has been dominated mostly by Turkish and Syrian places.

Ilio's, which was the ancient Greek name for the city of Troy and is a popular moniker for Greek restaurants across the U.S., specializes in sizzling grilled kebobs, which are available in chicken, beef, shrimp, and kafta, the Lebanese favorite consisting of ground meat — often a combination of beef and lamb, with spices, onions, and herbs — molded into a long cylinder.

Greek dishes include dolmas (stuffed grape leaves with rice), spinach pie, and lamb shank — all dishes that can appear on many Middle Eastern menus but are most closely allied with Greek cuisine. That includes moussaka, the homey casserole dish made with eggplant, meat sauce, and bechamel — although Ilio's version is deconstructed, which is easier for restaurants to execute than the traditional layered version favored by home cooks.

Hummus comes in three options: traditional, Mediterranean, and Sultan, topped with chunks of meat. Other Mediterranean classic dishes include chicken shawarma, gyro plates, falafel, and fried halloumi cheese.

Most dishes come in under $15 and the restaurant is also BYOB.

There are extra-healthy dishes including salads, lentil soup, and pita wraps, made with pita that's a little softer and less doughy than many pitas in town. And there's also a fusion twist that's very Texas: a "Greek quesadilla" with your choice of grilled meat stacked between pita bread.

greek cuisine lebanese cuisine mckinney mediterranean restaurant middle eastern favorites openings