Dallas Wine Crawl

is past Saturday, Sara and I set out on an adventure across Dallas to visit local establishments that we had not yet visited throughout the city.  Basically we ate and drank our way through town from 1pm-9pm.  I was dead asleep by 9:30 on Saturday.  Go team! 

Below is a brief overview of the Dallas Wine Crawl:

This is Dragonfly at Hotel Zaza.  Sara and I sat at the bar and made friends with the bartender... Andrew, Michael, Simon... something like that. 

This is the view from our spot at the bar.  There was a nice little Saturday brunch crowd and we had a view of the pool which was quickly filling up with out-of-towners and local $30k-millionaires. 

Holy vodka!  Our bartender Scott (or Max or Brandon) twisted our arm and asked us to please stay for at least an appetizer.  Forty-five minutes later... here comes out flat bread pizza.  We added some yummy chicken, jalapenos and red onions to our mozzarella and basil pizza.  It was good, a little on the cool side, but definitely a nice starter.  Then we flew out of there, 2 free drinks later, with our friend Lindsay, and continued on our way.

Next stop, Veritas Wine Room on Henderson.  Now, it's only about 2:30pm and I've already cheated.  Yes, I've been here once before, but Sara and Lindsay had not, so we again, sat at the bar, made friends with Fernando and tried some of their local, small-label brands.

Guess who joined another Wine Club.  Her name starts with an 's' and ends with and 'ara.'

Veritas has a 3 page menu of local and imported cheese and meats so you can make your own platter of snacks!  Also, Horne and Decker has just opened next door and they deliver meals to the wine bar.  Fernando told us to return on Wednesday when the 'pizza man' comes and makes homemade pizzas in the parking lot with his mobile coal-fire grill beginning at 6pm.  Wine and pizza?!  I'm there!

On to the next!  This is Times Ten Cellars... again I cheated.  I've been here a few times before.  It's a darling winery and tasting lounge over in Lakewood that serves and bottles wines from California vineyards as well as a few wines from their personal vineyard in Alpine, Texas.  We got a few chocolate truffles to accompany our tastings.  Try the spinach dip too!  Like I said, we ate our way thru town too.

The $8 (steal!) tastings include four samples of wine from their extensive menu.  I asked George (I'm 99.9% sure our wine aficionado was George) to let me try four different light white wines.  Sara did bold reds and Lindsay did lighter reds.  My four were Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Guwertraminer and Muscat.  The chardonnay was surprisingly light with a slight taste of banana and the Muscat has always been a fav.  We kept track of our tastings and what we liked best of our own and each others.

Very technical reviews.  A scratch-out meant we 'no like,' and a check with any kind of plus signs or underlines were favorites.

Dark reds = Kate no like

What's this?  Our local psychic 'Mary' off Greenville?  Mary, your sign made us do a u-turn.  Read my cards!

No Mary.  She must have hear the ruckus we made coming up to our door.  She does have a lovely patio tho.  We spent about 10 minutes sitting on her porch enjoying the breeze.

Back on track.  This is Nobu in the Crescent Hotel.  We got to sit at the sushi bar because the restaurant was booked for the evening.

This is about as close as I get to sushi.  I ordered off the restaurant menu and had 5 courses for $35.  Holla.

This creation may or may not have still been swimming moments before it's assembly.  There was a blue light at the bottom of the bowl and various sea creatures were reaching out from the middle.  I wouldn't touch this with a ten foot stick, but the people next to us sure enjoyed it.

Speaking of the couple next to us.  Please do not adjust your monitors or mobile device.  These are not alive, but I think they may have been roaming the African jungle about a week ago.  This woman's pants nearly matched her boots.  I think I may have heard them let out a growl during dinner.

And so ends our romp around town.  We survived far-left wing bartenders, Texas wines, sea creature appetizers and growling boots.  Until next time!