Where to Drink

Where to drink in Dallas: 5 top happy hours and specials for August

Get your Q.B. Cooler at Swizzle tiki bar on Greenville Avenue.

Swizzle

August is here, which means it’s time for another installment of Where to Drink, CultureMap Dallas’ monthly collection of happy hours, cocktails, and specials. This collection includes a reverse happy hour, artist-inspired drinks, and buzzy boba tea.

Here’s where to drink in Dallas this month:

The Alley Music House
Addison restaurant-speakeasy bar with live music offers daily cocktail specials during the unusual and crowd-pleasing hours of 7-8 pm, when select cocktails are $10, including whiskey sour, alley margarita, and Long Island. They also offer a reverse happy hour on weekend nights, practically unheard of, Friday-Saturday 11 pm-1 am, featuring a $6 house selection.

Babou’s
Hôtel Swexan’s hideaway cocktail lounge has a new artsy happy hour inspired by famed surrealist Salvador Dali, with discounted cocktails and bites. Cocktails include the melting clock elixir, named for Dali's famous painting; a bourbon drink Mr. Salvador Dali; surrealist 75, and the dream weaver. Small bites include a lobster roll, chicken salad gougére, and an ice cream sandwich, from $12 to $24. It's Wednesday-Saturday 5-7 pm.

DeLucca Gaucho Pizza
Churrascuria pizza concept has a regular weekday happy hour Monday-Friday from 4:30-6 pm with $8 cocktails and small plate. But they also host two special days with drink specials all day: Meetup Monday, with $8 select wine and cocktails from open to close; and Toast Tuesdays featuring half-price glasses of wine and caipirinhas.

Shot Tea Boba Bar
North Dallas spot does something you don't find everywhere: spiked boba tea. They're featuring a drink of the month for August: spiked peach green tea lemonade, with tequila, peach syrup, jasmine green tea, lemonade, and rainbow & lychee jelly. Prices range from $8-$10. There are also alcohol-free options, milk teas, and slushies for $4-$5. The shop likes to party: They host DJs every Saturday. Hours are Tuesday-Thursday from 3-10 pm and Friday and Saturday from 2-11 pm.

Swizzle
Fun tiki bar on Greenville Avenue is known for its weekday happy hour from 4-6 pm, when you can escape the ordinary and sip tiki cocktails for $7 with crab rangoon bites. But they're also hosting two special all-day happy hours with gotta-have drinks, including "Tiki Tuesday" — when you can get the Swizzle Q.B. Cooler, named by Donn the Beachcomber and rumored to be the cocktail on which the now famous Mai Tai was based; and "Whip It Wednesdays" when they serve $5 frozens such as the Frozen Saturn with Blue Coat gin.

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Opening News

Dallas diner & music venue will open in former Ferris Wheeler space

Courtesy

Pancakes

A new restaurant has been unveiled that will take over the former Ferris Wheeler space near Dallas' Design District at 1950 Market Center Blvd.: Called AM/FM, it'll be an all-day diner and lounge with a big backyard and a stage for live music, and it's from Spune Productions, the music and event production company.

According to a release, it'll open in early January initially with evening hours, cocktails, and a few afternoon soccer matches. Music acts are already booked beginning January 8. More hours will be added down the road.

Ferris Wheelers BBQ, which was also a restaurant with a big backyard and a stage for live music, closed in November after eight years. Spune had already been involved since 2023 to help ramp up the live music side. Now they'll take it over with a fresh new personality and long hours.

They were famous for having a Ferris wheel on-site; an inquiry on its status went unanswered.

The diner will open daily at 7 am, serving "musicians coming off late nights, workers heading into morning shifts, and neighbors who want a place that remembers their name," says the release very poetically.

They've redecorated the interior with a new bar and banquettes that wrap the room. Alongside the renovations inside, the set-up outdoors will evolve over the coming weeks, with extra care given to the concert experience,

Menu
The food at AM/FM will be rooted in elevated Diner classics, with a menu overseen by chef Anastacia Quinones-Pittman (Oh, Hi! Hospitality) that's influenced by Mexican-American kitchens and Nuevo Southern traditions.

Breakfast offerings include huevos rancheros, breakfast tacos, breakfast empanadas, French toast, avocado toast, pork belly toast, and an intriguing twist on pancakes called masa pancakes, made using masa harina AKA corn flour.

Lunch includes a chicken Milanesa Caesar salad, Sonoran hot dog, fried catfish po'boy, kale salad, Cobb salad, and a Mexican twist on chicken noodle soup with fideo noodles.

Entree plates include pot roast, meatloaf, fried chicken, and a weekly pot pie.

The beverage program will aim for accessibility with coffee, cocktails, and craft beer, says Victor Rojas, Quinones-Pittman's partner at Oh, Hi! Hospitality.

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