“Give an Irishman lager for a month and he’s a dead man. An Irishman’s stomach is lined with copper, and the beer corrodes it. But whiskey polishes the copper and is the saving of him.” —
Mark Twain
(HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY!)
Saturday isn’t officially St. Patrick’s Day… but it seems everyone is celebrating like it is! Here are some fun choices where you can find green beer and beads.
Greenville Avenue St. Patrick’s Day Parade | begins at 11 a.m. | parade route | after party at granada theater
Rok Republic | 12 p.m. - 2 a.m. | Uptown | DJs from 4-8 p.m., $3 green drafts, shot specials all day
Idle Rich | 11 a.m. - 2 a.m. | Uptown | TENT PARTY! Concerts at 2 & 9 p.m.
Trinity Hall | 7:30 a.m. - 2 a.m. | Mockingbird Station | Start your day off with a bang(er and mash)
SMU area | Milo’s, Barley House, Ice House, etc. are all having parties - Barley House will be serving breakfast tacos and bloodys starting at 9 a.m. with cover bands playing throughout the day
Urban Taco | all day | Mockingbird Station | free green margarita if you mention this postcard
Quarter Bar | 4 p.m. - 2 a.m. | Uptown | 2 for $10 Irish car bombs, $3 Irish beers and whiskey shots
Shade | Lower Greenville | 12 p.m. - 2 a.m. | DJs all night, $4 Jack, Soco, and Tuaca shots from 4-7 p.m.
If you’re not wanting to party like a lepruchan on Saturday, you can venture over to the Dallas Flea or into PokeyO’s for a $2.99 Leprechaun milkshake!
For the real St. Patty’s Day - Wednesday, March 17th:
Old Monk | 11:30 a.m. - 2 a.m. | Henderson | traditional Irish food and drink served all day with a side of live music (Homespun Remedies and RTB2), traditional Irish dancers, and bagpipers!
Ginger Man | Giving away limited addition Guiness glasses while supplies last, Killian specials, happy hour specials from 4-7 p.m., live music 7 p.m. until- midnight
Idle Rich | 11 a.m. - 2 a.m. | Uptown | Concert by The Killdares at 9 p.m., bagpiper at 7 p.m., traditional Irish food and drink served all day
Let’s just start with this: they have a penguin mascot costume that anyone can wear. Does this bar not already sound like the best place ever?
Hidden a couple doors down from City Tavern and above Dr. Bell’s, all you can see from the street is the door and a sign that reads, “NO COVER, PENGUIN FREE”. Simply navigate the needless ropes that govern the nonexistent line, ascend the stairs, and you’ve arrived. The walls are “industrial chic” and the bar is commandingly large for the space with corrugated steel paneling on the front and nets on the ceiling strewn with bras and starfish. There is just enough patio to sit comfortably with a few friends and watch the madness of downtown below. There is a pool table, plenty of flatscreen TVs, video games (no Big Buck Hunter, though), and a basketball hoop above the bar.
Tim, the “Emperor” as dubbed by his business card, lives up to the name; he’s badass! This guy knows how to make a bar fun and keep it real (yes, cliche, but it fits here) - he even played “one eyed basketball” with us … and provided the eye patch! Just don’t ask him where he got the bar’s name.
Their bar specials are the things fun nights are made of: a shot and a big boy for $10. We had an Irish whiskey that was pretty darn smooth followed up with a Shiner for me and then my usual poison, a vodka water.
Still to come is a full menu of what Tim promises to be great food - I can’t wait to try it! This bar has so much potential and I’m greatly looking forward to spending more time at the penguin.
Drink strength: 4 
Overall: 4.5
O.E. Penguin 1404 1/2 Main St.
(214)744-1393
Specials: Monday-Saturday (until 11 p.m.) & Sunday (all day) | $3 wells, domestic bottles, and select drafts
ALWAYS AVAILABLE: $10 waddles: a tall boy (25 oz. draft beer - all but Blue Moon) and shot (Crown and down) - pictured on right with Cody from Surf’s Up, the bar’s alcoholic of a stuffed animal
This is one place that I would happily drive through a rough neighborhood to get to. Smack dab in the middle of nowhere south of Dallas, Lee Harvey’s is a neighborhood bar that everyone wants to call his own. You can smell the fires blazing from three blocks away - it’s definitely one of my favorite smells so I let the wafting scent beam me in.
Picnic tables are spread all over the front yard of the bar guaranteeing that you will never have to stand around at Lee Harvey’s - and it’s a darn good thing because you can’t eat a burger and drink a beer while standing up! The crowd is SO varied; South Dallas residents, Deep Ellum dwellers, older gentlemen who you can tell have been regulars for years, and the young Dallasites are peppered throughout the bar or outside enjoying the crackling fire and live music.
We were there for birthday drinks on a Tuesday and were delighted to find that there were half price burgers and happy hour drinks all night. The kitchen closed at 10 so we all placed our orders and grabbed a drink to wait in suspense for our viictuals. I almost had a heart attack each time I saw a server walk out with a mitt-full of burgers and fries hoping it was my plate of a medium plus burger with jack cheese and 1/2 and 1/2 fries and onion rings. Long story short: the burger was excellent and the basil aioli was superbly refreshing teamed with my vodka waters. Take your own smore stuff, though - they are trying to charge $15 for a bag of fixins!
The bar itself has some serious character. Old beer backlit ads hang around reminding you of every dive bar you’ve seen in movies. The bartenders are very friendly and eager to serve you or provide you with a suggestion for what to drink. Don’t bet on a seat inside; there aren’t many booths or barstools and the ones that are there are all but duct taped together.
Take a group of friends and spend some time getting to know South Dallas with the locals - you’ll be glad you’ve found a new watering hole despite the long (and somewhat scary) drive there.
Lee Harvey’s
www.leeharveys.com
1807 Gould Street | (214) 428-1555
Specials:
Monday | all day | $1 tacos
Tuesday | all day | happy hour prices and 1/2 off burgers and fries Sunday | all day | happy hour
Monday-Friday | 3-7 p.m. | $2.50 wells and domestic bottles
If you read my review of Vickery Park last week, you undoubtably can tell that customer service is incredibly important to me when reviewing a bar. That being said, I have to give props to the owner of Vickery Park for his stellar follow-up.
He contacted me soon after I posted my review to see what he could do to “make up for” my experience. Not only did he offer to take care of the drinks upon my next visit, but he assured me that he spoke with his staff to make sure they were educated in how to handle the situation more appropriately if it arose again. While I don’t think I’ll collect on the free drink offer on my next visit to his establishment, I greatly appreciate his olive branch!
Nice work, guy! :)
“I never drink water; that is the stuff that rusts pipes.” — WC Fields