Race is on to New Year's Eve

Nan Coulter / Special to DMN Sunset will join the New Year's Eve lineup of ultra-lounges this year.

NEW THIS NYE Yet more 'ultra-lounges' • Fuse strikes sparks on Commerce. • Sunset creates a Shirt Guy habitat just east of downtown. • Kinki dolls up a corner of Lower Greenville. Star-struck dining • Nobu, because nothing says great sushi like Robert De Niro, apparently. • Stephan Pyles. The man is the restaurant is the man. Wine rooms They're springing up at a Starbucks clip. Committed grape inhaler Manny Mendoza provides these touts: • The Wine Therapist: "Cozy, informal, wide range of prices and regions." • Chateau Wine Market: "Great date spot with couches and low lighting." • Wine'tastic: Brand-new to Oak Lawn area, "with 50 or so available by the glass." NAME YOUR POISON • Serious red: 2000 Vieux Château Landon Médoc • Fresh sparkles: Chanoine Frères Rosé Brut • The next Grey Goose: Level vodka • Great Scots!: Talisker with a touch of water, no ice • Nightcap: Navan vanilla cognac DON'T GO OUT WITHOUT Good excuse for not having a date. "Caught avian flu" has a fresh, topical ring to it. • Listerine Pocket Mist, the ultimate in breath-freshening technology. Be careful which way you're pointing the little keyhole doohickey. • Full charge on the Razr. Prepare to expend a lot of "we're here, where're you at?" minutes. TRUTH BE TOLD • You won't find a good parking place. • Something will get spilled on. • "Let's do shots!" – don't. • There is something on your lip.

It's eight days till New Year's Eve, and if you haven't figured out what you're doing, you are late. Ready, steady, go.

Dec. 23, 11:55 a.m.

Make dinner reservations. The late seatings will be difficult to come by at many restaurants. Festive consumption followed by the midnight toast, hugs all around, home to bed and the beginning of another year of life on Earth – that's the herd instinct. But an early dinner has advantages. It provides the necessary alcohol sop for the hours ahead and loosens up the rest of the night's schedule for club hopping, dancing or a house party before the magic hour.

Dec. 26, 10:40 a.m.

Rent the tux, if you need one and don't own, which you should, you sorry sap. Yes, this is one of the biggest shopping days of the year, but many tuxedo shops are located in in-and-out strip centers. You won't have to run the gantlet of NorthPark. Stay classic: black, notch or peaked lapel, white shirt, bowtie. Pass on the straight-tie trend. You're not Colin Farrell, and this is not the Oscars.

Dec. 27, 8:04 p.m.

Reconfirm your date, again. By phone, no texting. Compare Christmas hauls, trade tales of horrid relatives. No date yet? Wait'll next year. Plan on baching it.

Dec. 28, 6:35 p.m.

Lay in victuals for before or after at your place. Hit a favorite overpriced prepared-food market for meats, unpronounceable cheeses and blue corn chips baked by indigenous peoples at conscionable pay rates. (Whole Foods or Eatzi's – either way you're paying out the wazoo.)

Dec. 29, 6:15 p.m.

The hooch deserves its own day. Watch for markdowns on respectable sparklers. Get more than you expect to need because it will all get consumed.

Dec. 30, 7 p.m.

Clean house for company and retire early. Staying home and being productive will build credit in heaven against the big night's heathen excesses.

Dec. 31, 1:05 p.m.

Buy something nice as a dawning covenant with '06. Sniff out a new signature fragrance or scour the after-Christmas sales for a pair of ugly expensive shoes that make a statement.

Mr. Dallas chronicles night life for the over-30 set on the Web. He is not a positive role model.

• Plan your New Year's Eve with our event roundup

Published in The Dallas Morning News 12.23.05

The beer run never ends

Nathan Hunsinger / DMN Matt Tobin pours a Stella Artois at Vickery Park

Quibbles and bits So long, summer: At last, a place that owns one of the Seven Deadlies. The brand-new Club Envy is hosting a Labor Day weekend party Sunday night. It's in the former lots-of-things spot at 2826 Elm. ... Early start: Ghostbar is still a ways off, but the W marketing center, at Field and Broom, is playing party palace for Red magazine Wednesday from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Suggested $10 donation goes to the Museum of Nature and Science (Dallas Museum of Natural History). ... Crimson is king: Medici repeated the popular "red party" that helped jump-start the lounge last summer. About 350 people rolled in on Aug. 25 for complimentary Corzo and canned bubbly.

"Stella! .... Stella!"

That's not Stanley Kowalski bawling for his wife. That's everybody calling for the latest beer of the moment, Stella Artois.

There's always a beer sensation and one to follow that. The whys and wherefores of how a particular brand becomes the brew on every lip could fill tomes of marketing research. Short answer: The thirst for novelty and change never slakes.

In Mr. Dallas' tender years, in Arkansas, nothing was more exotic and prized than Coors. Parched teens pooled their dollars and organized weekend sprints to the Oklahoma border. They'd load up the trunk and return triumphant, like conquistadors bearing treasure from the New World.

Then came the preppy '80s and the Heineken wave – green bottle, red star cool. Tecate, can tops dusted with salt and lime, took a brief bow. The '90s glistened with painted labels: Rolling Rock, Corona. In this century, pierced and tattoed collegians hoist Red Stripe whilst sweating globalization.

Stella Artois (debate the "Artois" pronunciation at your leisure) is a Belgian beer that tracks its pedigree back to the late Crusades. Mr. Dallas' vocabulary for beer connoisseurship is limited, but he's throwing out "robust" and "yeasty" as adjectives. In any case, it'll drink.

The occasion for pondering malt beverages was a media meet-and-greet at Vickery Park. Vickery Park is a determinedly relaxed, ramshackle tavern. Outside, a rustic patio braves narrow, noisy Henderson Avenue. Inside, a stained birch, U-shaped bar divides the room, tables on one side, lounge seating on the other. The menu is more ambitious than it has to be, and there's Stella on tap to applaud.

Like the nearby Old Monk, Vickery Park is a homey contrast to the gleaming high concepts of Tristandom (Hibiscus, Sense and the rest) that dominate that stretch of Henderson. Just as well for the media folks, who tended to be homely creatures of expansive girth and self-regard.

It's open weekdays from 4 p.m. and weekends starting at 1 p.m. In the great tradition of friendly taverns, happy hour runs all hours on Mondays.

Vickery Park
2810 N. Henderson Ave.
214-827-1432

In 10 words or less: Postgrads and ragamuffins get rustic.
How happening: Spotty and late-starting.
Who's there: Neighborhood bohemians and spillover from Fireside Pies.
Prime real estate: At the bar, near the door.

Published in The Dallas Morning News 09.02.05

Break up the wolf pack

Darnell Renee / Special to DMN Hayden Bentley (left) and Andrea Saitis turned out in Catwoman costumes for the Ché opening.

The scene: Ché opening Keith Black, the man who brought you Blue downtown, is painting a corner of the Stemmons Crossroads red. Ché, a restaurant-lounge-dance club, opened last week with a series of parties. The first, on July 14, benefited the Autism Treatment Center and celebrated the 44th birthday of scene-maker Count Pogir Cantoni. A sudden downpour doused the late arrivals, which coincidentally also happened at the christening of Blue two years ago. Ché is smaller than Blue but still sprawling at 10,000 square feet. Bathed in reds and reflective surfaces, it's laid out on two levels. Bristles of plasma screen and hanging glass stalactites overlook the central dance floor. Claustrophobic. The double-decker cabana patio is more inviting. The club promises a "culturally revolutionary" music blend leaning to the Latin. Mr. Dallas grumps that Ché himself still gets much better press notices than he deserves. In 10 words or less: Drink and dance under the glare of that beret guy. Who was there: The court of Count Pogir. Prime real estate: On the patio, before the rain. On the seven deadly sins scale: Three of seven (gluttony, pride, lust – promotional beer maids in the house). Missing: wrath, envy, greed, sloth.

Fellows, shed your wingman. Find a wingwoman. That's the message from Shane Forbes, an enterprising young turk who's cashing in on an often-overlooked night-life reality: Men who are hanging out with women are more attractive to other women than men who are hanging out with men.

Wingwomen franchises, in New York, Miami and Houston with plans to expand, provide faux female friends. For $50 an hour (and this is all on the up-and-up, so settle down), the company assigns an attractive young woman to join you at a bar and find you fascinating in a platonic way.

The concept springs from a few telling observations. Men in the company of women are vetted, at least cursorily. These men register as "not obviously psycho": Somebody is talking to them. They appear more confident, less needy – always a good thing.

It also plays to a competitive streak that's been hilariously exposed by Chris Rock. When a guy meets his buddy's new girl, according to Mr. Rock, he thinks, "She's really nice. I should find a girl like that." When a woman meets her friend's new guy, she thinks, "I want him."

Instant ignition

Fuse, open only a month, is going gangbusters on weekends, brightening the lights on Commerce Street the way Obar, Iron Cactus and others have on Main a block over. The labyrinthine industrial-chic design of the place will draw the curious to the renovated Dallas Power & Light Building once, but what will keep them coming back is the huge, rambling patio.

Dallasites adore a patio even in the summer swelter. Fuse combats 90 degrees at 10 p.m. with a forest of misters and very low lighting. On one recent Saturday, 20-somethings picked their way through puddles of standing water among thick shadows. It was a little disconcerting, but everybody seemed to be having a fine time. No apparent lawsuits fell on their keisters.

The gleaming crowd that packed the joint and dribbled down the block to get in bodes well for downtown. Perhaps the smart set (youth division) is shaking free for good from the routine of Lower Greenville and siege state of Deep Ellum.

Published in The Dallas Morning News 07.22.05

Strictly Nobu

Mei-Chun Jau / DMN Actor and co-owner Robert De Niro (right), with chef-owner Nobu Matsuhisa, lent some star power to Nobu's pre-opening party last month.

Quibbles and bits Switched on: The not-so-haughty but potentially cool Fuse, in the renovated Dallas Power & Light Building downtown, threw a party June 9 to show off the DP&L Flats. Models posed around the wading pool on the 10,000-square-foot deck. They weren't the only ones sweating. ... Other arrivals: Puppet Lounge has opened in the former Thin Room space in Deep Ellum, and Windmill Lounge is new to Maple Avenue.

Early adopters (senior division) are exulting in the arrival of Nobu to the Hotel Crescent Court. The debut of the pricey, celebrity-blessed Japanese restaurant is the first splash in what promises to be a series of high-profile openings in Uptown, as the W, Victory and Ritz-Carlton light up and roll out the red carpets in the next couple of years.

More sensitive palates can judge Nobu as a restaurant. Foodies will swoon or snipe, ululate or mutter, according to their gifts. As a nightspot, Nobu is bound for a decent run.

It has the great good fortune of buzz and a ready market of all those foiled diners who can't get a table. (It appears the monthlong waiting list will be rigorously enforced, no matter how many seats go empty.)

One of the advantages of the former Beau Nash, a bar you could circulate around, is lost in the new configuration. The bar area is narrow but exquisitely appointed, female-friendly by most accounts. And as anybody who's experienced the crush at Dragonfly or Hibiscus can tell you, people will tolerate Soylent Green close contact to drink where they think they're supposed to be eating.

Still, it's difficult to imagine Nobu functioning as the hotel's bar the way Beau Nash did, drawing in an ever-shifting parade of expense-account businesspeople, in-town-for-the-game fans, weddinggoers, errant demimonde. Nobu is a destination, not a way station. The imposing door, with its small, black, haughty sign, says so.

Nobu
400 Crescent Court
214-252-7000

In 10 words or less: Upper-crusters sort out the sakes.
How happening: Moving toward mobbed on weekends.
Who's there: The well-heeled and gnarly handed.
Prime real estate: The divan nearest the front door.

Published in The Dallas Morning News 06.24.05

We're not like that

Milton Hinnant / DMN

Stout of heart Trying to keep up with the comings and goings on Lower Greenville can make your hair hurt. But it's worth a peek when storied ground, the former site of Poor David's Pub, takes on a wholly new enterprise. The folkie-bluesy-honky-tonk set will hardly recognize the old sod now that it is Stout, which held a grand opening on April 28. There are doors on the toilets. Stout is spic-and-span and spacious, a spread-out pub with upscale touches (marble and copper bar, leather couches) and a whiff of the pre-fab. About 300 invited guests took a couple of hours to dribble in and fill the place. They ran through a short list of complimentary beverages and a different take on an old appetizer, messy barbecued chicken skewers.

The New York Times can turn a social hiccup into a nationwide trend with more steamrolling certitude than any publication. That's the case with its identification and exploration of the "man date."

This is the presumed quandary that faces straight men who are out enjoying one another's company in a nonbusiness, nonsports situation who don't want to be taken for gay. Jennifer 8. Lee defined the man date in an article last month: Dining across a table without a TV is a man date, eating at a bar is not; attending Friday Night Lights is a man date, going to see the Jets play is not.

There's no equivalent social awkwardness among heterosexual women, who couple up without a care.

In general, straight men in Dallas out themselves quickly and convincingly by manifesting poor fashion sense, inferior grooming, rude language and an abiding beetle-browed aesthetic. So we can all stand easy.

By the way, Ms. Lee added the numeral to her name as a teen to be annoying. And footnote all the above with the Seinfeld absolution: "Not that there's anything wrong with that."

The empire strikes back

Even as the fearful memory of capri pants fades, a fresh specter blights our warm weather months: the return of the empire waist. Patios are already clogged with young women, cinched under the bustline in scarf tops or flitty dresses, who look as if they've stepped out of the upper half of a Merchant-Ivory film. The considerable drawback to the empire waist is that it makes most everyone look meagerly endowed and pregnant, an unflattering twofer. As with capris, a fashion statement that speaks well for only about 5 percent of its wearers, the ones who would look just darling wearing sackcloth and ashes, it is a poor fashion statement.

Candleroom lit

Guests at the D Scene (print division) launch party on May 5 were probably seeing Candleroom when it was light out for the first time – a sobering prospect extinguished by swift application of the latest top-shelf tequila, Corzo. This impressive spirit is packaged in what looks like a 750-milliliter cologne bottle; it was designed by the man who sculpted Calvin Klein's CK One. (This could be a comfort to you some night as you lie splayed on the sidewalk, peering up, unfocused, at all your former friends.) For D Scene the club was packed – not to the rafters, but close – by the fabulous and the not as fabulous as they might hope. Many waists were empired.

Quibbles and bits

Drink up and up: The Fairmont is hawking a new cocktail menu that comes with a companion CD at its Pyramid Bar through June. The hotel's rooftop Terrace opens for after-work drinks Thursdays and Fridays, starting next Thursday. ... Band stand: Sunday night, Hunter Sullivan (swing division) completes a month at Purgatory, of all places. Does this mean he gets into heaven? ... Another magazine, another party: Red, the "Lifestyle Compass," celebrates its May issue with a happy hour at Drama Room on Wednesday.

Published in The Dallas Morning News 05.13.05

April's fools: the night-life follies

Nan Coulter / Special to DMN People go through all kinds of contortions at Dallas clubs.

Quibbles and bits Spin time: Just how late can you show at the Paul Oakenfold show at Lizard Lounge on Saturday night (April 2) and not miss Mr. Oakenfold's set? That's the calculation for those trying to avoid hours of straw-twirling and opening DJs. Best guess: 12:30. ... Jazzed at Jaden's: Diligent crowd-wrangling has put the bar at Jaden's, the big Knox and 75 restaurant, on the Fugacious 500's circuit. ... Forward movement: Dennis Rodman, who needs the work apparently, will be acting up at the Lodge tonight (April 1), starting at 8.

Starchy Mattie Ross, reproving Rooster Cogburn for drunkenness in True Grit, asserts "I would not put a thief in my mouth to steal my brains." Many do, and so we have night life. Strong drink, confined spaces, rowdy hormones – it's April Fool's Day every day.

Published in The Dallas Morning News 04.01.05

Kato Kaelin: life on the light side

John F. Rhodes / DMN Kato Kaelin takes a moment out from his enviable schedule to hold court at Absinthe Lounge.

Quibbles and bits Drag net: The churn on Lower Greenville puts these new players on the scorecard: upscale pub Stout in the former Poor David's spot and upscale lounge Shade in the old Rear Window space. ... Book learnin': Ready to lift something other than a pint? Watch for these reads in 2005: Killer Cocktails, a tribute to the golden age of mixed drinks by David Wondrich, and David D's Little Black Book, a bachelor's guide to Las Vegas by David DeMontmollin of American Casino and Hiram Norman. ... More words: The March GQ gives vermouth its due. ... Instant entourage: Here's an idea that might sail in Dallas, too: PartyBuddys (1-877-293-2839) promises escorts (no, not that kind) and VIP treatment for top New York clubs, with plans to expand to Los Angeles, Miami and Las Vegas this summer. Fees start at $350 per aspiring club-hopper.

Kato Kaelin has the true gift of obviousness. A decade past his instant on the world stage, he's stretching the 15th minute of fame to its elastic limit. His arsenal: energy, ragged surfer guy looks and a Super Soaker of goodwill.

The demi-celebrity has become a semi-resident of Dallas while he's working on Eye for an Eye, a syndicated reality courtroom show that tapes at a Regal Row studio and on location. He's the host for the show that takes small claims disputes far beyond what that frowny Judge Wapner could have imagined. It airs Sunday at 1 a.m. on KDAF (Channel 33).

Mr. Kaelin ended a long day of attention-getting last week with a drink at Absinthe, the new hipster hangout south of downtown. He was accompanied by two comely but brittle handlers, one in an animal print cloth coat. (Animal prints seem to have gone from cool to tacky to tacky-cool when Mr. Dallas wasn't looking.)

The handlers are fantastic. Dallas is great. Absinthe is really cool – Mr. Kaelin wasn't shy around the gush. He made a brief stab at bemoaning his jammed schedule. A working weekend in Cancún, at a bikini competition, was the next encumbrance. It's good to be Kato.

And he's right about Absinthe, which is a real find if you're willing to find it, tucked away on the Bellview side of the South Side on Lamar lofts. Take the few steps down into a 21st-century speakeasy environment: polished concrete floors, dark comfort corners, art-for-sale on the walls.

It's open Tuesdays through Sundays starting at 4 p.m. Something is going on most nights: a DJ or band, comedy, poetry reading, something. On Kato eve, a fetching skin-art enthusiast and her combo channeled Portishead. No cover.

Absinthe Lounge
1409 S. Lamar, Suite 008
214-421-5500

In 10 words or less: It's good to be green.

How happening: Patchy but promising, considering the location.

Who's there: South Siders and downtowners.

Prime real estate: The love seats near the cramped bandstand.

Published in The Dallas Morning News 03.11.05

Your prescription for romance

File 2004 / DMN

Hope springs eternal, and the spring is wound tight on Feb. 14. This and New Year's Eve are the need-a-date nights. Validate your love life or bust.

Perils of middle age, men's division
There's no fool like an old fool. This largish fraternity keeps divorce lawyers swathed in BMWs and self-loathing. The beast and beauty syndrome – he balding and potbellied, striped shirttail out; she radioactively blond and pressing skyward – is a source of amused contempt for observers. But his grin is from another planet, a world in which he is "Bond, James Bond."

Perils of middle age, women's division
The clumsy romantic comedy Something's Gotta Give was inordinately popular because it provided solace to millions from the actuarial charts. The premise was more fantastical than anything in The Lord of the Rings: A woman of years finds herself fought over by a handsome young doctor and an aging lothario who's forsaken young things. Only in Hollywood.

Sweet life
Froufrou drinks are stubbornly lodged in the public appetite. Six years on, the cosmo is still getting ordered. So are the apple martini and the chocolate martini. Turn her head with less humdrum concoctions.

• Stinger: This minty refresher has been preserved in obscurity since speakeasy days. It's brandy and crème de menthe, shaken and strained into a rocks glass.

• Sidecar: One of the salutary byproducts of the First World War consists of Cointreau, brandy and lemon juice and is garnished with orange twists.

• Kir royale: The elegant accompaniment to high-stakes roulette puts sparkling wine, crème de cassis and lemon swirls for garnish in a champagne flute.

(Recipes from Raising the Bar by Nick Mautone.)

What works with whom
If anyone really knew for sure, we'd all be back in Eden. Maybe George on Seinfeld had it right: Do the opposite of whatever you'd do normally. Reverse polarity.

• Accountant: Suggest something suggestive. These people are complete party animals.

• Marketing executive: Say something nice about her shoes.

• Waitress: Value her opinion about anything unrelated to the menu.

• Personal trainer: Try a very specific, nonsexual body compliment. Know the Latin for the muscle groups.

• Dancer: Play on insecurities ("You're going to do something about that hair, aren't you?").

Sip and run
Candy is dandy, but remorseless acquaintances swear by this stratagem, the three-cocktail rule: Take your intended to a bar. Order drinks. Chat. Decide the place is boring. Suggest another. Repeat. Repeat again. The changes of venue create an impression, however hollow, of movement, of action, of you as the take-charge sort. The drinks don't hurt.

Sounds of seduction
Crack open the wine. Dim the lights. Press play.

• Avalon, Roxy Music: All-time great pop album shot through with longing.

• In a Silent Way, Miles Davis: Make-out wallpaper; Miles noodles while you nuzzle.

• Just Kern, Andrea Marcovicci: Tasteful torch songs for the cafe set.

• In the Wee Small Hours, Frank Sinatra: The classic saloon mix. So sorry about Ava.

• A Day in New York, Ryuichi Sakamoto: Fresh takes on Jobim for a tropical idyll.

Public affairs
Early exposure to 9½ Weeks is only one likely cause of exuberant displays of affection. Dark corners and gauzy curtains encourage conduct unbecoming.

• Back booths witness Lakewood's longest-running soap opera at the Balcony Club.

• Draped VIP nooks give Lush a champagne room feel.

• Park Cities people write the book on indiscretion at the Melrose's Library Bar.

• They're all too cool or drunk to care at Lee Harvey's.

• The 3 a.m. of the soul meets actual 3 a.m. in the depths of Seven.

Wine and dine
It's a matter of courses with these can't-miss combinations.

• Bouchard Monthelie and three-cheese plate at Mercy.

• Hartford Pinot Noir and beef satay at Steel.

• Spelletich Keefer Ranch chardonnay and Chilean sea bass at George.

• Warre's Warrior port and crème brûlée at St. Martin's.

Supersize it

Courtney Perry / Special to DMN

Quibbles and bits Heart be still: Ursula 1000 (Alex Gimeno) is slated to spin at Obar on Feb. 3. The show starts at 10:30 p.m.; $10 at the door. Call 214-747-6227. ... School daze: As if Carsons Live in Addison weren't market-segmented enough, now it's got Varsity night on Mondays, with cheap drinks for collegians and service-industry sorts. ... What? next: New to always-roiling Lower Greenville is What? Bar at 2010-A Greenville Ave. The Austin-tinged rock club held its grand opening Wednesday. And Stout lounge is coming soon to the former Poor David's space. ... Suite life: Look forward to seven fabulously excessive new themed suites at Hotel ZaZa, scheduled to debut in February. All the better to stumble upstairs to from Dragonfly. Among them: the Rock Star, the Last cZar, the Leonardo (not DiCaprio, though maybe he'll stay there).

Big is in indeed. So many of us want to party in circumstances of monumentality. Months after the Purgatory mothership landed downtown, Jaden's drops a free-standing palace of food and drink on Knox-Henderson.

The $4 million restaurant-bar, 11,000 square feet of it, held a grand opening last Wednesday that drew about 500 of the folks whose names are on lists.

The complex features a two-story restaurant with main dining area downstairs and with two private rooms and a wine attic upstairs. An interior patio, sporting a fountain and a retractable roof, connects to the separate bar building. There, a long bar looks down on a lounge area that's unremarkably appointed except for the recycled rubber tile flooring.

At first blush, Jaden's seems profoundly generic, which won't prevent it from doing gangbuster business. It's spitting distance from the Park Cities and Uptown and convenient by 75 from the north country. By the weekend, coveys of overaccessorized lovelies had found it. Perhaps it will grow on this jaded night-lifer.

Jaden's is open daily. Happy hour is from 3 to 7 p.m. The bar has a separate menu you can sup from until 1 in the morning. No cover charges.

The scene: Jaden's party Jan. 12
4425 N. Central Expressway (south of Knox)

In 10 words or less: Self-contained fun for Bubble boys and girls.

How happening: A multitude doing the valet backup conga.

Who was there: Park Cities worthies.

Prime real estate: Above the fray in the private dining rooms.