PLANO — Chef Kent Rathbun and company should toast their farsightedness with one of the smooth-sipping cocktails at Hickory, the barbecue and burger joint in the Granite Park development.
Snugly situated among the gargantua present — Dallas North and Sam Rayburn tollways, office towers — and future — Toyota complex, luxury high-rise — Hickory is ready to rake in its slice of all those thousands of office drudges to come. (Plano's most abundant resources are mosquitoes and adequate middle managers.)
California transfers who hear tell of charred meat will mingle easily with Rathbun familiars from Jasper's in the airy, rustic-modern interior. Or they can take the hale-heartiness outside to a newly refurnished, 1,400-square-foot patio with (artificial) lake view.
Manny Casas presides over the comfortable rectangular bar, doles out a short list of specialty cocktails created by Abacus bartender Jordan Gantenbein and barrel ages the Old-Fashioneds himself. That Old-Fashioned is worth a try, as is the Rathbun signature Big Daddy, fragrant and fresh with infused citrus vodka, triple sec, lemon and orange. Both are $9.
For studious drinkers, Hickory offers whiskey flights from a fairly narrow, but Texas-proud, lineup. They range from $12, for three ryes, to $19, for three premium spirits, excepting the Macallan 18 and Yamasaki 12.
Hickory, 8100 Dallas Parkway at Granite Parkway, Plano. 972-712-7077. hickoryplano.com.
