Brewery Down

Dallas craft beer innovator Union Bear closes at West Village

Union Bear in West Village has thrown in the towel.

The unique beer-centric bar Union Bear has closed at West Village. It served its final meal on August 31.

Chef and co-owner Matt Spillers founded Union Bear not only as a place to celebrate craft beer, but also as a home-brewer haunt, with the idea that beer aficionados could come in and try experimenting with unique brews. When Spillers dreamed up Union Bear in 2012, it was a pioneer in the craft beer world and came far ahead of the current explosion.

"It was probably too early in the craft beer trend," says spokeswoman Stacey Rives. "It opened a year and a half before the changes were made in the legislation regarding brewpubs, and I think that made the journey more difficult. The brewing concept never got off the ground."

Rives says the concept has been sold to restaurateur Preston Lancaster, founder of 33 Restaurant Group and owner of Taverna Rossa, the pizzeria in Plano that featured recipes devised by Brian Luscher, chef-owner at The Grape. Lancaster has plans to relocate it.

Uptown is currently seeing a great wave of new openings, many of which have a craft beer presence, from Public School 214 and Eureka to LYFE Kitchen. Union Bear gets points for paving the way.

"We'll miss being part of Uptown, and it's been a pleasure to work with the people of West Village," Spillers says, polite to the finish. "But the sale of Union Bear allows us to focus on what we're doing in Oak Cliff with Eno's Pizza Tavern and Oddfellows."

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Flour power couple

Oprah-endorsed Cookie Society rolls out 3 new Dallas-area locations

Photo courtesy of Cookie Society

Stuffed banana pudding cookies are among the rotating seasonal offerings.

There are secret societies and honor societies, but the sweetest sort of society will soon boast several new Dallas-area storefronts: Cookie Society, the wife-and-husband-owned gourmet bakery, will open at 232 W. Campbell Rd. in Richardson on November 21, and at 906 W. McDermott Dr. in Allen on December 4, a spokesperson says.

An Inwood Village store will open next year at 5560 W Lovers Ln., the website says. No date has been announced.

When Jeff and Marissa Allen opened their second Cookie Society in Addison in 2022, they spoke of plans to expand across North Texas. With Addison and the original Cookie Society in Frisco — plus Mansfield, Prosper, and Southlake — the three new stores will make eight, and the Allens do not intend to stop there. In a release, they say they are preparing to announce another location inside Dallas proper, besides Inwood Village, "very soon." (It is not yet listed on the website.)

The expansion plan may seem ambitious, but there is reason for their confidence. Back in 2020, when they had just one store struggling in the face of a global pandemic, Oprah featured their cookie Gift Crate on her famous "Oprah's Favorite Things" holiday gift list, published in the December issue of O, The Oprah Magazine.

That gave them a jumpstart, and the rest ... involved no rest but relied on the couple’s hard work and consistent production of an irresistible product.

“Before there were storefronts, there were pop ups and markets and a whole lot of hustle,” Marissa says on Instagram.

cookie society Marissa and Jeff Allen, both retired athletes, began testing recipes in their home kitchen before building their doughy empire.Courtesy photo

It started small, with Marissa, a former college soccer star, baking at home. She experimented with nostalgic flavors like banana pudding, apple pie, and frosted oatmeal. Jeff — a former NFL player with a Super Bowl ring — and his teammates tested her output.

The menu includes six year-round classic cookies — chocolate chip, salted caramel, frosted oatmeal, banana pudding, snickerdoodle, sugar — and an array of featured flavors (pumpkin white chocolate, cookie butter milkshake in November) that keep things interesting. All are described as Texas-sized (big) with a crisp edge, soft chewy insides, and bold flavors.

The couple adds on their Story page that Cookie Society is the largest Black-owned cookie brand in Texas. In addition to the numerous storefronts, they offer nationwide shipping and a monthly subscription program.

"The company has grown, but the soul of the kitchen stays the same," they add, "real butter, uncompromising ingredients, and a relentless drive to make the perfect cookie."

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