Vet – verb \vet\ the careful and critical examination of quality
Vetted Well, the new bar above the recently-opened Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar, may be one of my new favorite places. Damn good food, a great beer selection (complete with 10 perfectly-paired boilermakers), one of the best rooftop patios in Dallas, themed private karaoke rooms, and a location directly above a quirky movie theater make for a great experience.
While Vetted Well does a lot … well … they have done well in not specializing in anything at the expense of others. Perfect example: they have a damn good (local) beer selection (cans, bottles, and a bunch of drafts), but also have awesome cocktails and a small (but thoughtful) wine list. They have some healthy food, but also some food that makes you want to break your Lenten commitment not to eat fried food (oops …).
My review was actually my second visit … my first visit was with a couple girlfriends after a movie to catch up a bit. We enjoyed a shit ton of popcorn (which, if you order in the bottomless popcorn in the theater, you can continue working on finding the bottom upstairs), a Darker & Stormier (a seriously delicious take on the Dark & Stormy–apply brandy, Black Seal rum, ginger, lime, and crushed ice) and The Traveling Man (Eagle Rare 10 Yr. & Karback Weekend Warrior whiskey). I was so excited to come back, that I nearly died when I saw the email inviting me in for a review.
I was spoiled with a couple boilermakers, a couple cocktails, and alllllllll the food (more on that later because, cocktails). Their Moscow Mule was the traditional recipe (vodka, lime, ginger beer) and was well mixed, but the copper vessel was badass–because I’m kind of over copper mugs. Next out was the Kentucky Buck (bourbon, strawberry, lemon, bitters, ginger beer), which was completely refreshing and I cannot wait to sit on their patio and sip one three of these on a warm, spring afternoon.
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Kentucky Buck
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Moscow Mule
Let’s get back to those boilermakers. Ten options, all decidedly Dallas with names like The Grassy Knoll and The Big Tex, make for a good challenge. I’m four down so far, (… not as accomplished as Kevin, but I’m working on it) and I’m enjoying the progress. Paired thoughtfully, my favorite so far is The Sears & Roebuck (Gran Classico & 512 Pecan Porter), but I look forward to trying the remaining six to see if it stays on top. (There was talk about the technique behind drinking a boilermaker. Do you take the shot of whiskey then sip the beer, sip both at once, or dunk the shot?)
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The Grassy Knoll
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The Sears & Roebuck
Now … the food. Everything they make is as homemade as possible from the mustard to the … other delicious stuff, and they also source from local vendors like Empire Bakery. They’re currently serving lunch from their kitchen with brunch and then dinner to follow, but if you’re up there for dinner now, you can get items from the Alamo Drafthouse kitchen. They bring it up with a dumbwaiter, which they claim can hold 200 pounds … and I’m still upset they wouldn’t let me ride in it. (Read: stay tuned for a staged dumbwaiter incident complete with live Twitter feed.)
We started with the Biscuit Beignets. They hit the table and I knew my Lenten “no fried food” pledge was in trouble. I figured that, as my mom says, Sundays are cheat days … and I’d been to church earlier. So, I dug in. I’m damn glad I did. These fluffy, fried nuggets are perfectly light and come with dippable cinnamon sugar, raspberry syrup, vanilla bean crème, and spiced rum caramel. Hot damn. Next up was more fried goodness (because why just be a little bad?), Croquettes with smoked gouda, potato, bacon, and green onion, and served with a dill-lish dill ranch. (Terrible joke … sorry.) To round out the first “course”, they brought out the Panzanella Salad which, aside from the Brussels sprout I snuck off the plate while taking a picture, was snapped up before I could take a bite.
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Biscuit Beignets
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Croquettes
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Panzanella Salad
The heavy hitters of the meal were still to come–the 24-Hour Brined Pork Chop, Chicken Fried Chicken with Local Honey, Carved Turkey on Hippie Bread, and the Cubano sandwich. All delicious and all recommended. They mix it up by serving the pork chop with a waffle–take that chicken and waffles! I’ll be having this one again thanks to the incredibly flavorful chop. My other favorite was the Cubano (roasted pork, sliced ham, Swiss cheese, house pickles, and beer mustard served with traditional tostones).
I’m actually upset with myself for not requesting the Vetted Well Burger … this thing is a work of art–a burger with pork beans and pork belly? That’s some genius shit right there.
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24-Hour Brined Pok Chop
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Chicken Fried Chicken with Local Honey
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Carved Turkey on Hippie Bread
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Cubano with Tostones
Overall, Vetted Well is quite the delight. The patio is unreal–both the front and back one. The front patio has a great view of Downtown Dallas and the back patio is complete with locally made furniture and a giant outdoor screen where they’ll show classic movies a couple times a week. If that’s not enough entertainment, check out one of their four themed private karaoke rooms for rent by the hour to accommodate 6-20 people. You know I’ll be hitting those rooms hard with some hardcore Hall & Oates. The karaoke rooms will be open to the public starting Thursday.
I can’t wait for the next rainy weekend when I can commit to spending an entire day bouncing between the theater and Vetted Well to get my hands on their burger. Who’s with me?
Overall, I think their name is deserved. I was told that “vetted” is used often in the military as a quality check. While I’m not military, I feel as though I can still give this place my seal of approval–it has been vetted … and it’s gooooood.
VETTED WELL
vettedwell.com
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1005 S Lamar St, Dallas, TX 75215
214-695-7009
SUN-THURS: 11:00am – close
FRI-SAT: 11:00am – 2:00am
I first experimented with just the Balls to get a straight taste and then I went for a vodka soda – just to set a baseline. My vodka palette is by no means refined, but I’m confident enough that I avoided burning my necessary taste buds when I was a teenager that I can make good decisions. I know what I hate and can tell what isn’t quality … and I didn’t hate this. The taste was clean with notes of vanilla that only briefly lingered, and it only took a few sips to realize this was actually pretty damn decent stuff. I was actively looking for reasons to choke* on every sip, but it never happened.
Hardly Workin’
