Uptown Bar News
Uptown Dallas is a lucky dog to score this divey New York-style saloon
Lucky Dog Saloon, new in Uptown Dallas.
A new bar has debuted at a prominent Uptown Dallas address: Called Lucky Dog Saloon, it's from Buddy Cramer, owner of the hugely popular Katy Trail Ice House, and it just opened at 2701 Cedar Springs Rd., AKA the space occupied for many years by Asel Art Supply, which closed in 2022.
Cramer originally bought the land where Lucky Dog sits with the idea of expanding parking for Katy Trail Ice House, before pivoting to opening a new concept.
“It’s a 100-year-old building, and we wanted to preserve as much of it as we could,” he says. “We want it to have a neighborhood feel.”
He says he wants it to feel like a New York style tavern, and that includes exposed brick walls, shuffleboard table, jukebox, and vintage furniture.
The bar program includes 10 beers on tap ranging from Brooklyn lager to German beer, plus lots of tequila, whiskey, and bourbon.
“I think we have the most extensive whiskey list in the city,” Cramer says. “If it’s a dive bar, it’s the most expensive dive bar you’ve ever seen."
The food menu is compact: Wagyu brisket taco or sandwich, a burger, chicken salad sandwich, a hot dog from Thuman's of New Jersey, plus a trio of sausages: bratwurst, jalepeño cheddar sausage, and spicy Italian sausage. Prices range from $8 for the brisket taco to $16 for the brisket sandwich.
Cramer says the goal was to have a variety that was easy, handheld, and small.
With the bar being a former art supply store, artwork is a key element of the bar’s charm, from vintage black-and-white photographs to 20th-century advertisements to neon signs to Dallas memorabilia such as a red Pegasus horse, the unofficial city of Dallas mascot.
Some of it is sweetly personal: There's a photo of the bar’s namesake, Cramer’s dog Boss, who also shows up in the restaurant's logo and as a cartoon-like character in a vivid neon sign on the side of the bar.
