Coffee News
Scary Good Coffee in downtown Dallas is spooky twist on usual coffee shop
![Scary Good Coffee chair Chuckie doll](https://dallas.culturemap.com/media-library/scary-good-coffee-chair-chuckie-doll.jpg?id=52969480&width=2000&height=1500&quality=65&coordinates=0%2C0%2C0%2C26)
Chucky likes the coffee at Scary Good Coffee.
There's a new coffee shop in downtown Dallas with a fun spooky theme: Called Scary Good Coffee, it's located at 1910 Pacific Ave. in an unusual location, perched on a second-floor sky bridge, where it's serving coffee and espresso drinks to residents, visitors, and downtown office workers.
Scary Good is from Jami Binkley, who works in the building, and her husband-to-be Adam Johnson, a barista, latte art master, and "coffee lifer" who's worked at area shops such as Cultivar and Houndstooth.
It's a second-generation shop that takes over a space previously occupied by the similar-sounding Stupid Good Coffee, which opened in 2013. When the owner of Stupid Good was ready to retire, Binkley and Johnson swooped in, seizing the opportunity to have a shop of their own.
"Stupid Good was Jami's everyday coffee spot, and she was devastated at the idea of losing it," Johnson says. "We'd already talked about wanting to open a shop, and when the owner mentioned she wanted to sell it, we decided it was a great idea."
Pacific Place is a mixed building with offices and apartments. The building is also connected via a skybridge to 1700 Pacific. The coffee shop had a built-in audience of regulars, so the couple have made updates to the menu while still accommodating customer favorites — such as, for example, keeping coconut milk on the menu per request.
“We love the convenience of this place, a lot of people park in the garage on Elm Street and have to go by the shop," Adam says. “We know what they are expecting, so we did not want to change too much."
They do brewed coffee, cold brew, and espresso drinks — macchiato, cortado, cappuccino — plus chai latte, iced tea, and flavored lattes like Nutella, brown sugar maple, and buzzy lavender. They rotate in seasonal flavors such as pumpkin spice and “spooky spice”, made with sophisticated cardamom. Prices range from $3.50 to $6.
They get their beans from Cultivar, using a blend for espresso and a rotating single origin for drip and cold brew.
For food, they've partnered with local purveyor La Casita Bakeshop for croissants, cinnamon rolls, monkey bread, berry muffins, vegan pop tarts, and gluten-free doughnuts, plus a weekly Friday special featuring Southern Maid Donuts from Oak Cliff. Hours are weekdays from 7:30 am-3:30 pm and they're closed on weekends.
One area where they have made a big change is theme and branding. They've added a fun, unique spin that reflects their love for scary things.
For example, their logo is a cute cartoon of two coffee cups that look like skulls, nestled next to each other. Their welcome sign is an old-school letterboard menu, which just so happens to be coffin-shaped. It's joined by a little friend: a skeleton figure, lounging in a cup.
Pillows with skull portraits are tossed on lounge chairs — black, of course — and joined by horror film memorabilia such as a red-headed Chucky doll and a lifesized Freddy Krueger cardboard cut-out. The whole thing is clever and irreverent, with a personality that stands out from the usual coffee shop.
"Check out our new cozy seating nook!" they say on their Instagram page. "Kick back and relax, but be careful falling asleep—you never know who you might meet in your dreams."