Where to drink
Where to drink in Dallas right now: 5 hot new happy hours for October
The October edition of Where to Drink in Dallas returns to a favorite theme: happy hours. It's a perennial theme, one that is always of interest, especially during these inflationary times. Discount drinks taste better!
These five entries consist of four newly-introduced happy hours and one newly-relocated bar that has brought its happy hour along to its new address.
Here's where to drink in Dallas right now:
Bulla Gastrobar
Legacy West spot has a new tapas happy hour menu offered daily at the bar from 5-7 pm — daily, as in every day — featuring discounted pricing on iconic Spanish dishes like potato tortilla, ham croquettes, and Andalusian gazpacho. (They also have some new lunch dishes including quintessential autumn item butternut squash soup and fish tempura, but that has nothing to do with happy hour, let's stay focused here, people.) In celebration of Halloween, they'll host an extended happy hour costume contest all Halloween weekend long, from 4-7 pm on Saturday, October 28 through Tuesday October 31, for a chance to win a gift card.
Grapevine Bar
Beloved bar is newly-reopened at 2213 Butler St., where they've magically recreated their highly personal, charmingly eccentric atmosphere, with a motley collection of lights, signs, artsy collages, and other memorabilia to give the new space that lived-in feeling. They're still offering a generous happy hour that runs Wednesday-Friday from 3-7 pm, and all day Monday-Tuesday from 3 pm-2 am, with $5 well drinks, $7 premium, $4 domestic beer, $5 for imports, $6 for their very-popular frozen drinks, and $4 for house wine. Anything else is $2 off.
Ocean Prime Dallas
Swanky Uptown Dallas steakhouse hosts a happy hour Monday-Saturday from 4-6 pm in their Lounge, with half-off appetizers and sushi, as well as specially priced cocktails, beer, and wine. The Lounge is still pretty sophisticated, don't think you're stepping down for your light bites and cocktails at a discounted price. It's a good deal, even if they don't list a menu on their somewhat challenging website; if you go to "Lounge Menu," knock half off those prices. The Prime beef sliders, for example, listed at $18 would be $9, and the spicy tuna roll would be $14 instead of $28.
On Rotation
Brewery and brewpub near Love Field which takes price in its eclectic tap list and small-batch brews does a reverse happy hour - meaning it's on Friday and Saturday nights from 8-11 pm (versus weekday afternoons) and all drinks are $1 off. Not a huge discount but hey, it's prime time, and just in time, they've brought back their color-changing Mexican Lager, Blue Agave, on tap. It has blue agave nectar which provides floral undertones and a hint of smokiness, and also butterfly pea flower, an all-natural food coloring that turns food a grayish blue. They also have food including tacos on Thursdays and a Sunday brunch that runs all day from 11 am-4 pm.
Renny’s Bar & Grill
North Dallas restaurant at 11661 Preston Rd is the sibling to longtime restaurant Maguire's, which owner Mark Maguire opened in late summer. With its brighter, more contemporary vibe, Renny's is a departure from the darker, clubbier Maguire's, and has a broader, less formal menu. They recently debuted their Happy Hour on Tuesday-Friday from 3-6 pm, and it covers not only drinks but food, too: $2 off appetizers, $2 off wine and cocktails, $1 off beers, $7 martinis, and $10 cheeseburgers.