Sports + Drinks = Good Times

8 great Dallas watering holes for celebrating the inevitability of sports

In the battle for McKinney Avenue supremacy, it's a close one between Frankie'sand Christies.
Oak Cliff Social Club aims to elevate your average sports dive with a DJ,karaoke and couches.
6th Street Uptown makes you feel like you're in Austin for a little bit,especially when the Longhorns are playing.
Photo by Jennifer Chininis

Watching sports is best experienced communally, in our opinion. Whether it's for the elation of victory or the depression of defeat, it helps to be around people to share in that experience. It's also more acceptable to get tanked while watching the game if you aren't alone.

The bars we list here are not all “sports bars,” per se. But they're all places where you can watch sports with a drink in your hand and people around you. That's what's most important.

Christies
If there was a picture next to the term “sports bar” in the dictionary, it would look something like Christies. Sure, that’s a cliché, but so is Christies, and we mean that in a good way. What would come off as forced and kitschy at most places works here. Maybe it’s that this place has been around since ’91 and has survived all the McKinney Avenue madness. The no-fuss interior is full of dark wood paneling and tons of TVs. Enough said.

Milo Butterfingers
This SMU Boulevard classic may not look like much to anyone walking in for the first time, but for any seasoned veteran, Milo’s has an undeniable charm. Besides having a ton of pool tables and TVs (a recurring theme on this list), the best part of Milo’s is how diverse the crowd can be. You’ll find your SMU fraternity guys killing pitchers, the early 30s crowd just spending an evening with co-workers, and geezers at the bar watching the game and complaining about all those damn kids.

Oak Cliff Social Club
This Bishop Arts bar calls itself an upscale dive, with an emphasis on the word “upscale.” Oak Cliff Social is a sports bar with a modern twist. There are the requisite pool tables and TVs, plus couches and an occasional DJ. Oak Cliff Social Club hosts watching parties for every Cowboys game, and if it’s an early game, that usually means brunch is in play too.

Three Sheets
Three Sheets boasts that it’s a Cheers-like like bar, but we’re not sure Cheers ever had a library in it. Or a covered patio with foosball, pool and beer pong. But we’ll roll with it. It’s located just east of Central Expressway on Ross Avenue, and it has many leather-bound books and smells of rich mahogany. So you know it’s good.

Windmill Lounge
This isn’t a true sports bar. But it’s a bar, and it’s got TVs, and, more often than not, there are sports playing on those TVs. So it’s a sports bar, dammit. But the real draw here is that, despite its dive-ish atmosphere, the Windmill does great old-school cocktails. New York mixologist Kyle Ford, who knows a thing or two, says the Windmill is one of his stops whenever he’s in Dallas. So trust the man and get something better than Bud Light to watch the game.

Frankie’s Sports Bar & Grill
Just down McKinney Avenue from Christies, Frankie’s might take offense at not being the picture next to the definition of “sports bar.” We’ll say it’s a close call. They are both very much sports bars, and you’d do fine at either one. Heck, watch one half of a game at each and call it even. We won’t hold it against you if you go into our fictional dictionary and paste Frankie’s picture in there.

King’s X
It’s a bar in a strip mall on the northeast corner of Greenville Avenue and Forest Lane, so if you’re here it means you are probably trying to get away from it all. We understand. Look, there’s nothing “sporty” about this place, but the people are nice, and usually there's a game on. If not, just ask, okay? Not every game has to be watched with 200 strangers yelling at Tony Romo. Sometimes it’s best to be with 10 strangers yelling at Tony Romo. The misery is more comfortable that way.

6th Street Uptown
We’re already on record as fans of this place. Styled after Austin’s most famous drinking street, 6th Street Uptown has three bars and about 30 TVs. If you can’t see the game here, then you won’t be able to read this. (We’re saying you’re blind, you see? Oops.) Anyway, this corner of Uptown is quickly becoming one of the better drinking spots in the neighborhood, and for sports — particularly UT sports — it doesn’t get better than 6th Street.

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Where to Eat

Where to eat in Dallas right now: 10 hot new restaurants for November

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Catch Seafood

This month's installment of Where to Eat is bursting at the seams with newcomers and spinoffs. For November, we've got a vast range of cuisines, from Asian to seafood to the beloved Dallas staple, the Irish pub. To find many cuisines in one spot, there's also a new food-hall near downtown Dallas.

Here's where to eat in Dallas this month:

Boxcar
Train-themed restaurant recently rolled into a former laundromat on Greenville Avenue. The concept from owners Jordan Carson and Patrick Gorman features wall screens that simulate the interior of a train. The menu, crafted by chef Eric Freidline, includes a meat & cheese board, Wagyu pastrami French dip sandwich, cheddar corndog with garlic aiolim and butter croissant beignets for dessert. Cocktails have a train theme, and to really elevate the experience, all the meals are served on fine china.

Catch
Upscale seafood restaurant from Catch Hospitality recently opened in Uptown’s Maple Terrace. This is the eighth location in the U.S. From partners Tillman Fertitta, Mark Birnbaum, and Eugene Remm, the concept is known for its simple seafood menu and Wagyu program. Signature dishes include a lobster and caviar roll, mushroom spaghetti, and Cantonese lobster. They also offer sushi straight from Tokyo, Japan, such as hamachi crudo and truffle sashimi.

Dirty Birds
San Diego sports bar chain made its Texas debut in Plano's Lakeside Market shopping center, serving wings, drafts, and burgers. Wings are the standout item, boasting 37 flavors of bone-in and boneless wings, including apple bourbon chipotle, habanero lime, and teriyaki. They also offer bar snacks, such as crispy fried pickles, chicken tenders, and fried okra. As for beer, they have 16 options on tap, like the Dirty Birds IPA.

Donatos
Ohio pizza chain established in 1963 is now open in Frisco with its famous edge-to-edge pizza toppings. Introducing the brand to Texas are Ohio natives and franchisees Dr. Rico Singleton, Casey Dennis, and Cameron Hopkins. The menu features over a dozen pizzas, including hot honey pepperoni, mariachi beef, four cheese, and hot chicken on a choice of cauliflower or thin crusts. Visitors can start as small as a 7- inch pizza or go up to a 14-inch. Additionally, they offer baked wings, subs, and salads.

Empire Baking Co. - West Village
The former Bisous Bisous Patisserie in Dallas' West Village is now home to the Empire Baking Co., whose owners Robert and Meaders Ozarow took over the lease to expand their presence beyond their Lovers Lane and SMU locations. That means not only Empire's award-winning artisan breads, but grab & go sandwiches, salads, pastries, muffins, and weekly specials, too. They’re also ramping up their coffee menu at this location.

Feng Shui
Uptown Pan-Asian concept from hospitality veterans Fawn Zhao and Alan Ho is the realization of Fawn's vision to offer traditional dishes from three distinct cultures — Chinese, Japanese, and Thai — in a warm setting. The menu includes hamachi, a potato stir fry served cold, Thai-style beef jerky in sriracha sauce, and sushi rolls. A full bar includes sake, champagne, Japanese whisky, and specialty cocktails, and there's an especially robust selection of desserts, from green tea cheesecake to mini doughnuts.

Le PasSage and Rose Cafe
The Terminal at Katy Trail just welcomed two sibling restaurants: Le PasSage is an Asian-inspired concept with Cambodian, Vietnamese, Thai, and Chinese dishes, such as green prawns with cashew, Peking duck, and winter squash. Rose Cafe is a French-Asian restaurant with quick bites, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, including overnight oats, lemongrass shrimp summer rolls, cucumber-dill cream tea sandwiches, and pork shoulder bao buns.

Old Monk
After 25 years on Henderson Avenue, this revered Irish pub just opened a second location on Davis Street in Oak Cliff, in a brick building that was once F45 fitness. It has the same menu as the original location: fish & chips, mini whiskey cheddar bacon burgers, Guinness beef stew, smoked salmon sandwich, cheese boards, and lots of European and craft beers.

Scarlet Lounge & Kitchen
Deep Ellum concept just opened in the former Truth & Alibi speakeasy space where it's serving Spanish and American fare, such as Spanish risotto, flank steak with chimichurri sauce, and portobello steak until 10 pm, then segueing into a nightclub vibe. Though it's a switch from the speakeasy concept, owner Victor Garcia — a former Truth & Alibi bartender who knows the space inside-out — kept some of the original fittings including the glamorous chandeliers.

Victory Social
New food hall in Dallas' Victory Park from Hospitality Alliance recently opened with six eateries. Some of the featured concepts will ring a bell for anyone who visited AT&T's Discovery District which Hospitality Alliance previously managed, includeing Birdie, Rise & Thyme, Park Bistro, Itza Cocina, D'oro Italiano, and Victory Grill. The food ranges from tacos to in-house pasta to steak frites.

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