Where to Drink

Where to drink in Dallas right now: 5 hot new bar deals for August

Botany is the study of plant life.

Courtesy of Botanist

CultureMap's monthly Where to Drink column usually focuses on the best new happy hour specials being offered around Dallas, because what's better than drinking on the cheap?

For this August edition, the theme is broader. There's still a new happy hour, but also a few new bars, and for the beer crowd, a new lineup of IPAs.

Here's where to drink in Dallas right now:

Botanist
If you want to drink at the newest bar in town, this bar in Oak Cliff is opening on August 2. It's at 308 N. Bishop Ave., in the new Bishop Arts development owned by the Nazerian family. A spokesperson says it's a cocktail lounge with the feel of a vintage laboratory of sorts, featuring an ever-changing menu of botanical drinks. Ingredients include flowers, herbs, house-made infusions, and other edible curiosities. Sounds intriguing. Cocktail examples include the Bob Ross, with jalapeño-infused beet tequila, lime juice, agave, and dry Curaçao; the Chrysanthemum, with Fernet-Branca, Bénédictine herbal liqueur, turbinado sugar, absinthe spritz, and a chrysanthemum garnish; and the Mitchell, with Cynar, Del Maguey Vida Mezcal, and lemon juice. There are bites, too, including oysters from both coasts, shrimp cocktail, tostones and caviar, fried baby artichokes, cheese, and charcuterie.

On Rotation
This White Rock bar/micro-brewery has some of the most creative beers in Dallas-Fort Worth. Right now, they're celebrating an IPA theme with four new releases of their own, enhanced by a "hopped up" tap list of guest brewers. Their house IPAs include a hazy IPA with Citra, Huell Melon, and Pacifica hops, resulting in notes of citrus, lime, honeydew melon, and strawberry. One very experimental IPA is the ZERO Poms Given, brewed with no hops in the boil. The end product is flush with passionfruit, pineapple, mango, and honeydew aromas while an infusion of pomegranate puree adds a sharp, slightly sour note. You can sit and have a pint, with a pizza from Cane Rosso next door, or take it to go in a growler.

Shark Club
Fresh in from Canada, Shark Club Bar & Grill opens its first location in the U.S. in Plano. This sports-centric destination with quality food and drink is from Tom Gaglardi, owner of the Dallas Stars, and the Plano location has a live scoreboard specifically for Dallas Stars games. The bar has 40-plus TVs and two 20-foot seamless HD media walls — one of the largest custom-designed ROE LED video wall systems in Texas — plus patio and game room with foosball, table hockey, shuffleboard, and skeeball. The food includes spaghetti & meatballs, chicken wings, mini-mac sliders, a Shark Burger with bacon, cheddar, onions, and mushrooms, and an "adult" Mac & Cheese with bacon, jalapeños, breadcrumb crust, and spicy ketchup.

Taco Cabana
Taqueria chain continues expanding its alcohol program with new drinks and specials including $2 shots of Fireball Whisky, Sauza Tequila, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey, and a new drink called the sopapilla shot, featuring Rumchata and Fireball Whisky. Other additions: a Blue Margarita on the Rocks for $4, and new $4 pitchers of beer, frozen margaritas and swirls. Margaritas are $3 on Mondays, and there's a daily happy hour from 4-7 pm with $1 off beer and sangria, plus food snacks that include $4 nachos. During this initial phase, the program is available only at these locations: 9210 ERL Thornton Fwy., Dallas; 4360 Dallas/Fort Worth Turnpike, Dallas; 4313 S. Fwy., Fort Worth; 2601 Dean St., Balch Springs; 5959 Broadway, Garland; and 104 West FM 544, Murphy.

Thirsty Lion
Gastropub chain is doing a temperature-themed special: When temperatures are 95 degrees or higher, Moscow mules and margaritas are half-price. Thirsty Lion is also launching its new Social Hour this month every day from 3-6 pm which includes $6 cocktails & wine, $1 off draft beers, and a $6-8 food menu.

where-drink

Spring Arrival

West Dallas gets new Spanish-Peruvian restaurant with big-name chef

Photo courtesy of Ulloa's

Paella will be on the menu.

A new restaurant with a high-profile culinary director will bring Spanish and Peruvian flavors to West Dallas: Called Ulloa’s, it is coming to 727 Fort Worth Ave., with a projected opening in March 2027.

The concept is from philanthropists Susan and Woodrow Gandy, who were previously investors in the historic Belmont Hotel just around the corner. They've teamed up with Dallas celebrity chef Kent Rathbun as culinary director, along with Christopher Tunnell as general manager to lead the front of the house.

Rathbun is a name Dallas diners know well, with a resume that includes The Mansion on Turtle Creek, the Landmark Restaurant at the historic Melrose Hotel, Seventeen Seventeen at the Dallas Museum of Art, Abacus, Jasper's, Rathbun’s Blue Plate Kitchen, and more. He's won numerous awards and made multiple appearances on Food Network. He was most recently behind the launch of On The Rocks, an Italian bistro in Burleson.

Chef Kent Rathbun will be the culinary director of Ulloa's. Photo courtesy of Kent Rathbun

Tunnell’s background spans both culinary direction and front-of-house operations. He worked at Los Angeles hot spots Ketchup, Geisha House, and Les Deux, as well as the Mandalay Bay and The Mirage in Las Vegas, before moving to Dallas to open The Mexican, the upscale restaurant in the Design District.

“I am truly excited to partner with Chef Kent Rathbun, whose reputation is amazing — not only in the DFW Metroplex, but in the culinary world,” Tunnell says. “He has been with this project since the beginning, helping develop it; this will be a very chef-driven, culinary-forward restaurant.”

The team's vision for Ulloa’s is both culinary and urban, with hopes of anchoring the corridor and attracting other businesses to Fort Worth Avenue — a stretch connecting downtown Dallas with Oak Cliff that remains somewhat underdeveloped despite its panoramic skyline views.

The restaurant is named for Spanish explorer, astronomer, and scientist Antonio de Ulloa, who spent extensive time in the Mexican peninsula before becoming Louisiana’s first governor. During his travels, Ulloa documented a fogbow — a circular rainbow formed when sunlight meets mist that causes silhouettes standing between the sun and fog to appear ringed in light, a phenomenon known today as “Ulloa’s Rings.”

That vibrant phenomenon inspired both the restaurant's identity and logo. The concept promises "bold, worldly flavors in a welcoming neighborhood setting inspired by exploration and discovery,” the owners say.

Ulloa's Rendering of Ulloa's.Rendering courtesy of Ulloa's

While the menu remains in development, Tunnell describes the culinary direction as “Spanish soul with a Peruvian heart.” The kitchen will merge the coastal flavors of both traditions — ranging from paellas and ceviches to crafted cocktails and signature adaptations by Rathbun.

The 200-seat, two-story space will feature a downstairs dining room, a large bar, and an outdoor patio. Upstairs, plans call for a secondary bar, a private dining room, a patio, and an expansive balcony patio, offering views of the city's skyline and of the Margaret Hunt Hill and Margaret McDermott bridges.

While the upstairs space will be available for private events, the owners intend for it to operate primarily as an organic extension of the main restaurant. The buildout will include a guest elevator along with ample parking, including both self-parking and valet options.

The team says the restaurant will have have an aesthetic that's “warm, theatrical, generous, elegant but alive, with the energy of a great Spanish tapas bar and the soul of Peruvian hospitality.”

Ulloa’s plans to launch with dinner service first, followed by lunch and weekend brunch.

restaurants bars peruvian flavors west dallas oak cliff kent rathbun