BLACK SWAN IS THE LATEST OPENING FOR THE MAKE EAST DALLAS COOL AGAIN CLUB

Ross Avenue, what is up? The location of the former Fiction Coffee, which packed up all its locations and left town entirely, will reboot into Black Swan imminently. And that’s great news because Gabe Sanchez’s beloved Deep Ellum bar not making it through COVID was one of Big D’s major bummers for cocktail nerds.

But what has caught our eye are the other partners — obviously, Sanchez’s partner in Saint Valentine, the excellent East Dallas bar they opened at the end of 2023, is involved. But so are Brian Rutt of Alice and Columbian Country Club and Pasha Heidari, who recently reopened Saint Martin’s Wine Bistro in a new location in East Dallas with his brother and also has the top-notch and completely wildly different cocktail bars Bowen House and Mike’s Gemini Twin Lounge as well as Las Palmas Tex-Mex.

Getting a five-way call together first thing in the morning wasn’t happening, so we put the question to Sanchez. “It’s the best of both worlds. It’s close to everything — two golf clubs away from downtown, relatively close to Greenville. You can go to Henderson or Uptown and come here in the same night and it’s not a big deal. There’s cool shit in Oak Cliff and we want to do cool shit here too,” he says, noting that with a lot of people moving to the East side, along with more great restaurants opening up, it feels like there is an opportunity to be had. “If you go from where the freeway breaks out of Downtown to where Ross Avenue is, a lot of cool stuff is happening and we want to be part of it.”

The plan was hatched over the holidays (yes, Saint Valentine did open on Thanksgiving week, and these dudes were already having a conversation about a second bar that quickly) when Rutt asked Sanchez how he felt about reopening Black Swan. It’s nostalgic for both men, and Sanchez notes that Rutt had his first date with his now-wife at the OG Black Swan — and adds that he’s got a high batting average on fixing people up, so for all the folks trolling in the Dallas subreddits hoping to find out where to meet someone in person, go to one of Sanchez’s bars.

Sanchez tells Eater Dallas to expect a dark, small vibe and the return of the Clint Eastwood velvet painting from the original location and some other music-based art he’s borrowing back from friends. “If Saint Valentine is the Black Keys, Black Swan will be more like Freddy King and Albert King. More blues, more dark.” He says to expect a big city bar vibe in a tight space, like those in San Francisco and Chicago, where you’ll be close to the drinker next to you. The footprint will be very similar to the original location as well.

The biggest difference might be that this time around, Black Swan will have a menu. He promises fun cocktails, nerdy but approachable cocktails, infused liquors, a section of rotating classic favorites, and that he and Payne will be behind the bar at least once a week.

The press release did not share an opening date, but Sanchez says they’re “almost there” and “super, super close,” making it sound like it’s mere days and a shipment of black staff t-shirts away.

2024-05-06T19:51:32Z dg43tfdfdgfd