Dallasites are getting set to get wet, and the city's pool clubs will oblige them. Two of the more notable, with saltwater pools and strong DJ programs, are Sísu Uptown Resort and the semi-private Bungalow east of downtown.
Sísu had a dry run, so to speak, last week when it hosted DJ Willie Trimmer's "May the Fourth Be With You" Star Wars party. None of the assembled Leias and Lukes, Vaders or Wookies jumped into the 4½-foot-deep drink, at least not in the early hours of the rather mild Monday-night affair.
True to its name - a Finnish word for perseverance - Sísu has held on since fall 2012 on some choice Maple Avenue real estate in a hotly competitive night-life corridor. No longer sustaining a full-time, full-service restaurant, it has established itself as a weekend party palace, lodged between the legacy dining of Truluck's and the undergrad drinking of the Kennedy Room.
The Bungalow, the successor to Ku De Ta on Ross Avenue, holds its grand opening May 17, with Hook N Sling scheduled to spin at 4 p.m.
Sísu Uptown Resort, 2508 Maple Ave. near Mahon, Dallas. 214-871-2888. sisuuptown.com.
The Bungalow, 3121 Ross Ave. at Pavillion, Dallas. 214-821-3444.
The liquid arts: E.H. Taylor Small Batch
Smooth and sophisticated have become the common descriptives for bourbons geared toward spendy consumers, who are getting used to paying single-malt scotch prices for American whiskeys. But the Sazerac Co.'s Great Bourbons lineup includes at least one truculent outlier, a bourbon with the sweet, hot bite of an earlier generation: E.H. Taylor Small Batch.
That whiskey was the unexpected find at the Accessible Luxury party on May 2 at the Park Place Premier Collection Dealership. Seasoned swells sipped and supped among six-figure show metal to benefit the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children, but for this drinker Small Batch was the attention-grabber.
Bartenders from Midnight Rambler were on hand to deal out cocktails mixed with Sazerac brands - the popular Buffalo Trace getting the call most often. Mr. Dallas enjoyed Small Batch with light ice for the old-timey kick.
The bourbon retails for $40 - alas, not an old-timey price. It just won a silver medal in the 2015 International Whiskey Competition.
