Happy Power Hour

Where to drink on the cheap: 9 top happy hours in Dallas

This guy at Union Bear really needed a beer.
Union Bear/Facebook
Union Bear in West Village boasts a pretty impressive beer selection.
Union Bear/Facebook
The Quarter has specials most nights and Saturday day, when drafts are $4 fromnoon until 6 pm.
The Quarter/Facebook
Yes, we could use a drink about now.
Park Tavern/Facebook
Park Tavern is teeming weeknights with the post-work crowd.
Park Tavern/Facebook

Happy hour is what gets some people through the workday. We can’t really blame them; alcohol is the best. So we thought about it and came up with an array of bars, lounges, taverns and places of general moral decay for some happy hours worth daydreaming about.

Quarter Bar
Bread Winners Cafe’s next-door bar brings a little New Orleans to McKinney Avenue. The two-story establishment is full of nooks and rooms that make it possible for you to relax in peace — or at the bar with everyone else. Quarter Bar has specials most nights, like $2 wells and domestics and $4 house wine on Thursday from 4-10 pm.
Day to go: Monday, for half-price pizza and $1 PBR from 4-10 pm.

Union Bear
This West Village eatery is a beautiful blend of quality pizzas made with fresh, organic ingredients and a plethora of craft beers from all over the country. It’s in the heart of Uptown, ensuring a trendy crowd just looking for a low-key but worthwhile time out. Look for $3 drafts, which change daily.
Day to go: Monday, when you can keep the glass when you buy a pint.

The Grapevine
One of the best dive bars in Dallas, the Grapevine is where you retreat when Uptown and downtown get you, um, down. The tiny interior keeps you protected from the bright sunlight, but if you need a breath of fresh air after being pent up all day, go outside to the patio and enjoy the colorful crowd.
Day to go: Tuesday, for $3 domestics, frozen drinks and house wine, plus $2.50 wells. Best part is that it goes from 3 pm (opening) all the way to 2 am (closing).

The Corner Bar
Don’t confuse it with the Quarter Bar. This place has a neighborhood-hangout vibe perfect for groups. Get a little rowdy while watching sports or playing pool or embarrassing yourself at karaoke.
Day to go: Tuesday, when there are $2 wells from 4 pm to 2 am. If done effectively, you’ll forget you still have three days to go in the work week.

Ozona Bar and Grill
Part of the SMU bar scene, Ozona has a huge patio perfect for perching on a sunny afternoon or late at night. Inside, you’ll find plenty of tables to watch the Cowboys win (or lose, probably) and maybe fit in a game of pool.
Day to go: Wednesday, for dollar drafts that will transport you back to college. Just don’t take it too far, because college kids can — and will — drink more than you and not show it.

Mansion Bar
We’ve touched on this place before — and for good reason. There might not be a higher class of drinking in Dallas than the Mansion Bar, which means that the best time to hit this place is during happy hour, when those $15 cocktails get a bit more reasonable.
Day to go: Wednesday, as a personal celebration of having made it halfway through the week. Enjoy half-price specialty cocktails, beer and glasses of wine from 5-7 pm.

Bryan Street Tavern
The outside of BST isn’t much to look at, but inside you’ll discover a pretty good dive bar. That means there are a bunch of local brews — Deep Ellum, Franconia and Peticolas — on the lineup, plus some killer pizza, at this East Dallas establishment.
Day to go: Thursday, because although those local beers are worth drinking, it never hurts to switch over to $2 well drinks, which are available from 11 am-2 am.

Absinthe Lounge
This trendy little haunt in the South Side on Lamar puts you in an elevated state of mind. Enjoy a cigar to take the edge off the workday, and get a head start on the weekend in the cozy atmosphere that is cooler than you.
Day to go: Friday, when the weekend is calling you to $2 drafts, $3 wells, $4 calls and — drum roll, please — $5 martinis from 4-9 pm.

Park Tavern
This new gastropub at the Shops at Park Lane is a high-end yet low-key date destination that happens to serve a bevy of Texas brews and quality plates ranging from street tacos to New York strips. During happy hour you get $3 domestics, Texas drafts, well drinks and margs, as well as $3 off appetizers.
Day to go: Sunday, so you get the benefit of an all-day happy hour without the crush of the post-office crowd.

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Skewers News

Chinese restaurant Yang's Smokehouse in Plano has sensational skewers

Yang's Smokehouse

Crispy tofu balls at Yang's Smokehouse

A new family-owned Asian restaurant specializing in skewers has opened in Plano: Called Yang's Smokehouse, it's a Chinese place now open at the Mitsuya Marketplace center at 240 Legacy Dr #306, with a menu featuring dishes you won't find anywhere else in Dallas.

That includes skewers of all kinds: meats such as beef tongue, pork belly, lamb, sausage, mini pork ribs, pork skin, and duck gizzard; and veggie skewers including green beans, cabbage, eggplant, zucchini, and lotus slices.

These skewers have a history that dates back to the restaurant's roots in China, says Yang's founder Candice Cao.

"The legacy of Yang's Smokehouse began in 1980 with secret family recipes from my Grandma Yang, which were passed down through generations," Cao says.

After being widowed at the young age of 30, Grandma Yang launched a charcoal stall from which she served skewers, enhanced by her hand-crushed spice blends and cooked over live fire. She eventually built a small chain with six locations, each serving about 10,000 skewers per day, Candice says.

Candice's mother joined the business and now Candice, who came to Dallas more than a decade ago to attend Dallas Baptist University, represents the third generation.

"I'm proud to follow the family tradition of women owning their own business," Candice says.

While skewers are the star, Yang's also serves unique dishes that are native to the Guizhou province in southwestern China where Candice is from.

That includes spicy stir-fried clams in black bean sauce with garlic, ginger, scallion, and cilantro; and a dish called Spicy and Numbing Chicken Knee Cartilage featuring a delicacy taken from the small joint connecting the drumstick to the foot.

"Asians know about this dish — it has a really strong, spicy flavor that almost has a numbing effect," Candice says.

There are also crispy tofu balls, popular snacks in Guizhou featuring a crisp tofu skin wrapped around soft mashed tofu filling which is dressed up with radish and spices and fried.

"It's crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, and we serve it with a spicy dipping sauce that has radish and cilantro," Candice says. "We recommend poking a little hole and adding some of the radish to make it juicy. It's one of our most popular items, equally loved by vegetarians and diners seeking truly authentic Chinese food."

Other menu items include egg fried rice, Korean kim chi egg rice, stir-fries, potato pancakes, potstickers, cucumber salad, and "Southern" cold noodles — featuring sweet potato noodles in a simple but satisfying sauce made with soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, and chili, topped with cucumber, perfect for summer.

They recently added an all-you-can-eat skewers offering at lunch, Monday-Friday, for $40 that'll last through the summer.

To guarantee a smooth and successful launch in the U.S., Candice brought in a secret weapon: Grandma Yang herself.

"Grandma traveled here to help get Yang's off the ground," Candice says. "That's her coaching the team in the kitchen."

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