Where to drink

Where to drink in Dallas right now: 5 cocktail spots to elude the heat

Pretty cocktails from Chama Gaucha

This edition of Where to Drink around Dallas comes a little late in the month, because who has the energy to do anything in this heat? Then again, this heat is enough to drive you to drink.

These five options include some happy hour specials, a fun limited-edition themed menu, and two places that are offering drinks worth driving for.

Here are the five best places in Dallas to drink right now:

Andrew's American Pizza Kitchen
Plano pizzeria has launched a new happy hour program on Sundays-Thursdays that runs for an expansive 2-7 pm. Drink specials include $7 wine by the glass, $5 select draft beer, $10 cocktails, $10 martinis, and $8 frozen drinks. Food specials include $8 bites such as buffalo wings, fried pickles, and chips & queso; and $10 bites such as pizza skins, meatballs, coconut shrimp, cheesy fries, calamari, and fried mushrooms. Cocktails worthy of mention include Grapefruit Rose Spritz, Fig Old Fashioned, Spicy Margarita, and Duel in Manhattan. Andrew’s is known for their array of pizza styles: Dallas-style pizza (the style of pizza Picasso’s was known for), Chicago-style, Detroit-style, Tavern-style, and New York-style.

Apothecary
Acclaimed cocktail spot has launched a whimsical new themed menu called The Zodiac, with 12 never-before-served items that have an astrological theme. There are six drinks and six dishes, with each sign getting a themed dish or drink. There's a Scorpio cocktail topped with a scorpion, a crudo dish for Pisces, a quail dish with an arrow through it for Sagittarius, and a cocktail with a sugar moon for Libra. The items are presented in a wheel format, so you can match your dish and your drink. The menu will run for only 12 weeks. (Other menu items will also still be available during this time.)

Chama Gaucha
If you're willing to drive for a discounted drink, then this Brazilian steakhouse in Grapevine has an extensive Happy Hour menu with food that differs from the standard zzzz churruascuia offering, plus marked-down prices on drinks. Rib eye sliders are 3 for $14, yuca fries for $5, lobster bisque for $11, charcuterie board for $22, and Wagyu bruschetta for $15. Cocktails like capirinha, margarita, and four flavored martinis - lemon drop, jolly rancher, espresso, and cheesecake, oh my a cheesecake martini - are $9 to $10. Wines by the glass are $8 and beer, including Revolver Blood and Honey, are $5.

Nobu
Sushi restaurant in Uptown has added two new cocktails made exclusively for the Dallas location. Can't get these in Miami, Toronto, Las Vegas, Chicago, Hong Kong, or any of the other 50-odd Nobus across the globe. Although it should be noted that these are zero-proof. But don't hold that against them! Alcohol can be hard for your body to process in the heat. The Sansho Verde is reminiscent of a cucumber Agua Fresca, with non-alcoholic spirit Seedlip Garden 108 (presenting fresh garden herbs and yuzu on the nose and a lingering, tingly spice on the palate) plus cucumber juice, agave, yuzu juice, and ground sansho peppercorns; and the Oaxacan Punch, a tropical cocktail made with non-alcoholic spirit Seedlip Spice 94, presenting notes of baking spice, plus passionfruit puree, lime juice, cucumber slices, ginger beer, and Lapsang Souchong Tea infused agave syrup, which creates a smokey flavor to mimic the taste of Mezcal.

Sixty Vines
The restaurant known for its revolutionary wine-on-tap program and vineyard-inspired cuisine has a new Frozen Aperol Spritz, and while it may seem a little extra to make a trip just for a cocktail, this is not just any cocktail. Deliciously bubbly and bitter, the Aperol Spritz is already in its own right among the buzziest cocktails right now, and it seems impossible to make it better, but Sixty Vines' Frozen Aperol Spritz takes it to another level. A frozen level. The drink is a blend of Aperol liqueur, Sixty Vines’ carbon neutral Sesenta Cava, orange juice, and a splash of club soda make up this frosty concoction.

cocktails Where to Drink

RIP Al

Beloved Dallas restaurateur Al Biernat dies at 69 after ALS battle

Dallas restaurateur Al Biernat, RIP

Beloved Dallas restaurateur Al Biernat, founder of the acclaimed local steakhouse Al Biernat's, passed away on November 13, following a battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also called ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease; he was 69.

Biernat was one of Dallas' all-time great hospitality figures, dating back to his days at The Palm steakhouse, for whom he worked in Los Angeles, Houston, and Dallas.

Biernat founded his namesake restaurant in 1998 on Oak Lawn Avenue, where his standard of excellence and doting charm made it a destination for special occasions, Park Cities swells, and celebrities in town.

His sense of hospitality had little competition in Dallas. He was a charming and personable host who genuinely liked people, and it didn't matter whether you were Conan O'Brien, David Crosby, or one of the other high-profile diners that visited his restaurants — or else just a regular schlub: He had a knack for making everyone feel special and remembered.

Biernat was born on August 20, 1955 and grew up in Michigan, then lived in Colorado, New York, Los Angeles, and Houston, before moving to Dallas to work at The Palm in the West End, where his dynamic presence gave the restaurant an incomparable vitality; it closed in 2017.

He opened Al Biernat's at 4217 Oak Lawn Ave. in 1998, followed by a second location in North Dallas at 5251 Spring Valley Rd. in 2017.

He began to experience ALS symptoms in May 2023, was diagnosed in December, and revealed his condition in February 2024. The revelation was met with an outpouring of sympathy and well wishes from the hospitality industry — a sign of the high regard in which he was held.

The average life expectancy for people with ALS is two to five years after diagnosis. Symptoms can begin in the muscles that control speech and swallowing, or in the hands, arms, legs, or feet. He began to have difficulty communicating in September, and spent his last days in a hospice.

On September 18, he broached the topic of dying, before ending on a note of gratitude to friends and family.

"Having Bulbar ALS I am realistic about my future," he said. "Friends and family have asked me if I’m afraid of dying, and this is what I say to them. Because of the salvation of Jesus, I will be rejoicing in my spirit to see him in all of his glory. Since we are all flesh, soul, and spirit, only my flesh is being left behind. But don’t get me wrong, I have a blessed life in this world, with a loving wife, and a beautiful family and many wonderful and caring friends. I am grateful!"

Both Al Biernat's locations will continue to remain open under the management of Biernat's nephew Brad Fuller, as they have for nearly the past two years.

Biernat is survived by Fuller, as well as his wife Jeannie and three daughters: Angelica Saylor, Kaitlin Biernat Connell, and Jess Biernat and grandchildren. According to family members, details regarding a celebration of his life will be announced soon.

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