DALLAS THE DRINKS SCENE As the Cheers Beverage
Conference gears up to make its debut in Dallas Feb. 12-13,
here's a look at the city's vibrant cocktail culture
By Jerry Bokamper
drink with undisguised verve. While Dallas has had a distinguished dining scene since
D
allas is Oz on a black-dirt prairie. Th e city's considerable charms are the accomplishments of human enterprise rather than the gift of natural vistas. People here shop, eat and
Southwestern cuisine blew open in the 1980s, and one that's gotten ever more varied, the city has only recently embraced a drinks culture that's as distinctive. It is closing the gap, though. Purveyors of craft cocktails are introducing Prohibition-era classics to history-challenged twenty-somethings, but also providing sly twists and modern takes on what could be dubbed the liquid arts. "Professional bartenders are capable of delivering a unique,
fl avorful and well-balanced culinary experience in a glass," says Rocco Milano, bar manager at Top Chef competitor Tiff any Derry's Private Social restaurant. Barkeeps are busily innovating from the northern suburb
The Cedars Social's Passionfruit Fizz, made with Siembra Azo, Del Maguey, passionfruit puree, agave nectar and egg white.
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of Plano, at Whiskey Cake and Pepper Smash, to Fort Worth to the west (Whiskey & Rye) to center-city venues such as the People's Last Stand, the Standard Pour and the Chesterfi eld. Keith LaBonte, who developed the initial cocktail list for
Pepper Smash and runs the tiny Four Lounge in Dallas' State- Th omas neighborhood, really takes that culinary experience
www.cheersonline.com
