Category Archives: Live Music

Chelsea Corner

Chelsea Corner is BACK!

The McKinney Avenue and Monticello corner spot from the 70s is back in it’s old stomping grounds, and it has just the right mix of nostalgia and shiny new offerings. The owners wanted to bring it back to its former glory but also provide customers with food for today.

We were curious what we’d see when Corner Bar shut its doors last year, and they’ve made some really fantastic improvements to the once dingy space. First, everything has been completely overhauled. It’s clean, and aside from the general layout, there’s no sign of the previous dive bar to be found. (Thank goodness.)

The bar has individual rooms to give a “house party” feel with video DJs playing oldies videos on all 17 TV screens around the restaurant and bar. The vibe of the whole place is laid back during the day, but can get wild in the evenings. You’ll see anyone from college students to empty nesters to business men stopping in for a drink (and a quick glance at some PYTs) after work. You might see one guy popping a bottle right next to another guy popping a bottle … of milk for his kid.

Overall, the new Chelsea Corner is a neighborhood bar that’s all about the neighborhood with environments to pay love to the area … with a bit of a naughty side at night.

May 19th marks the opening of their new 3500 square foot dog-friendly patio that seats 90 people with a back entrance off of Monticello. It will be perfect for day drinking with friends and pets.

The menu features classic Chelsea Corner bites such as giant pretzels, pizza, and burgers. A few personal favorites:

  • Big Daddy’s White Pizza – fresh ricotta cheese and oven dried roma tomatoes
  • Twisted Fried Chicken Sandwich – crunchy fried chicken breast, swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato, and house-made honey mustard
  • Best Darn Steak Sandwich – beef tenderloin, chelsea brandy butter, caramelized onion, and manchego or blue cheese (pictured below)

Brunch is served Saturdays and Sundays from 10:30am to 3pm (beignets are a must), and on Tuesdays they have live jazz and 1/2 price bottles of wine and champagne.

Don’t even think about leaving without ordering the warm chocolate chip cookies. You can thank me later …

CHELSEA CORNER
www.chelseacornerdallas.com
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4830 McKinney Avenue (Knox/Henderson)
(469) 726-2211

Mon    4p – 12a
Tue     4p – 2a
Wed   4p – 2a
Thu    4p – 2a
Fri       11a – 2a
Sat      10:30a – 2a
Sun     10:30a – 12a
**brunch sat & sun 10:30a-3p

VINO-Palooza

Vino Palooza is a traveling wine and music festival that recently made a stop in both Fort Worth and Dallas this year. The Dallas event was held at Happiest Hour and featured wines from more than 20 different wineries as well as some beers and ciders.

J-Si Chavez from The Kidd Kraddick Morning Show hosted and several “Top 40” artists performed including Ryan Cabrera, Nash Overstreet of Hot Chelle Rae, and Ryan Key of Yellowcard, all in the name of helping local non-profit organizations. Snacks were provided, but the full Happiest Hour menu was available for those looking for substance.

The day couldn’t have been more pleasant at 75-ish degrees and sunny–everyone clearly enjoyed the wine, the music, and the atmosphere. This event is a must if you can grab a hold of tickets before they sell out!

 

VINO-Palooza
vino-palooza.com
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Take a Tiki Peeky at Pilikia

Guys … I’m so f**king excited for Pilikia, Dallas’s first-in-a-long-time full-time tiki bar, to open this Thursday … and for so many reasons.

First, I’ll clarify the intro.  Pilikia will be the “first in a long time” as we had an awesome tiki bar here in Dallas, Trader Vic’s, in what is now The Highland Hotel, that closed in 2010.  RIP.  Also, it will be a “full-time” tiki bar because our friends at Rapscallion are currently spoiling us every week with their mind-numbing (in a good way) Tiki Tuesday drinks thanks to bar badass Ravinder Singh.

Thanks to the dudes behind The Tipsy Alchemist, brand new ILL Minster Pub, and Deep Ellum club Truth & Alibi and their partner in the deal, Patrick Tetrick (owner of Three Sheets), we’ll be getting another outrageous concept that will have the Uptown crowd flocking.  (Ok … I’m going to be flocking, too, as is my mom, your boss, and just about everyone else in town that remembers Trader Vic’s or gives any sort of a shit about tiki bars.)  The team has created some winning concepts, and we’re hoping this will be another to add to their list of successes.

So what can we expect?  Kitsch, and plenty of it.  (Are you excited yet?)  The team was inspired mostly by the Beardon brothers’ favorite outrageous London tiki spot, Mahiki (which happens to be where I spent my 21st birthday), but are making a space all their own.

They took over the former Three Sheets space that closed to make way for this Polynesian heaven. Some renovations were made including a wall of golden skulls backlit by LED lights that will eerily change progressively, an additional outdoor bar, and a larger fireplace and a small stage for live music on the patio.  The furniture is a mix of loungy bamboo chairs, some really incredible wooden pieces brought over from Bali, and hammock chairs that will rock you to sleep after a sip too many from one of their potent potables.  And don’t worry, they’ll still have plenty of TVs out there.

On that note … let’s talk tiki.  Their not-too-overwhelming menu (which is unique at a joint like this) will offer 6-7 traditional tiki drinks including the Trader Vic’s Mai Tai and some other goodies like Painkillers, Zombies, and the like.  (They have such fun names, no?)  Not to be tired, they’ve also come up with some tiki concoctions of their own and will also be serving LARRRRGE format punches in smoking treasure chests and scorpion bowls with a heft price tag of up to $2,000.  Not.fucking.kidding.

Not into the tiki thing?  They have something for you … a door to walk out of.  Kidding.  Pilikia will have a full bar and bottle service for the less inclined.  And even better, they’ll serve food from a menu that Rodman Shields (Common Table) put together for them.  Having a few bites of chicken skewer means you can drink more … right?

So, some other important details and things to look forward to:

  • The name Pilikia means “trouble” in Hawaiian
  • Their happy hour is coming soon.  When it starts, it’ll be 2-7pm, Tuesday-Friday
  • At some point, they’ll start opening one Sunday a month to host legit luaus complete with a pig roast
  • Once it warms up (good joke) in the spring, they’ll be offering live music to make use of the new stage on the patio

Tiki is “so hot right now”, so it’s fitting that Dallas is jumping on the super kitschy bandwagon, and with a drink in-hand.  Stop in for their soft opening on Thursday, January 26 starting at 8pm to see what all the fuss is about.  Grand opening details are coming soon.

Let’s get into some trouble, shall we?


PILIKIA
PilikiaDallas.com
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3113 Ross Avenue (Downtown/West Dallas)

Open Tuesday – Saturday, 8pm-2am
Closed Sunday and Monday

 

Hilton@Play: Nick Jonas

Hilton has started a new series, Hilton @Play, a partnership with Live Nation, where Hilton HHonors members can experience private events at their properties.  It’s part of an effort to give their hardworking guests the chance to play a little.  (I like it.)  HHonors members have the chance to reserve tickets with their points on the HHonors website.

For their Dallas Hilton @Play event, the brought Nick Jonas to the Hotel Anatole for a private concert.  When you arrived, there was a red carpet experience followed by a VIP-style reception, complete with a live DJ, plenty of food, an open bar, a photo booth, and plenty of people with which to mingle.

The concert itself was so small that everyone got a great place to watch.  Even better, there was a bar inside the venue (sweet) and enough video coverage that you could see every second of the show in full HD glory.

Nick did his thing on stage and, I’m not the crazy Nick Jonas fan like the girls in front, but I really enjoyed the show.  (He is really damn talented, after all.)  The girls went extra wild when he mentioned that Dallas is his hometown — because we do breed talent in the Big D.

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During the concert, they replaced the appetizers and savory food with a smorgasbord of deliciousness for concert-goers to enjoy after the show.  On the way out, we even got goodie bags and the chance to snap a couple pap photos on the red carpet again.

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Frankie J + Dr. Pepper at the House of Blues

Frankie J. performed an intimate concert during the Dr Pepper One Of A Kind Concert Powered by Pandora at the House of Blues on October 22, 2014.

The eventful night was kicked off by DJ Big Syphe, and the fun continued with an open bar and photobooth. Frankie J had the crowd dancing with old favorites along with new songs off his latest album “Faith, Hope y Amor”.

Thanks, Pandora, for the fun evening!

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About Frankie J | Frankie was recently nominated for 2 Premio Lo Nuestro Awards and a Grammy and is currently in the studio working on a follow-up to 2013’’s Faith, Hope y Amor, which is slated to be released later this year via Universal Music. This album also marks the reunion of long time friends and producers Happy Perez (Miguel, Mariah Carey, Mary J Blige) and Play n Skills (Lil Wayne, David Guetta, Pitbull).

Carly LeMay
Written by Carly LeMay