Bar News
Lone Dallas hot spot recognized as one of the Best Bars in the South
The editors at Southern Living recently released a “highly opinionated” roundup of the Best Bars in the South, due out in the February 2013 issue of the magazine. Despite the fact that Dallas is gaining some serious street cred on the craft cocktail front, only one Dallas spot made the cut, on the list of best outdoor bars: The Foundry.
Southern Living doesn’t have a lot to say about The Foundry — “Twinkling strings of lights stretch across a beer garden lined with shipping containers” — and the recommended drink is any of the nearly 50 beers on tap. So allow us to fill in the gaps.
We admit we have had a bit of a love affair with The Foundry. It recently made our list of top bars for playing games— an unconventional choice by resident bar-hopper Jonathan Rienstra, but the lone pool table did the trick for him. So does the Austin-esque vibe and laid-back attitude: He also named it one of his favorite new bars of 2012.
Music writer Alan Ayo also has a thing for The Foundry: It made his list of the most underrated live music venues in Dallas. “With gravel under your feet, picnic tables galore, a mile-long list of beers and plenty of diversity on stage — from electronic and avant-garde duos to indie-rock acts from Austin — this isn’t the first time someone has written that The Foundry begs to be a legit live-music venue,” Ayo writes.
Other Texas bars on Southern Living’s list are the West Alabama Ice House in Houston, also noted as one of the best outdoor bars; Anvil Bar & Refuge in Houston, recognized for its “killer cocktails”; John T. Floore Country Store, a weekends-only dance hall in Helotes; Ocho, the bar at Liz Lambert’s Hotel Havana, just off the San Antonio Riverwalk; and Austin speakeasy Midnight Cowboy, a “seedy massage parlor turned plush Victorian-era lounge.”