Alternate title: “Tim Makes His Next Encounter With Adam McGill Awkward”
In the June/July issue of Esquire, the men’s magazine tackles “The Best Bars in America.” The two bars listed for Dallas are Bar Belmont and the Balcony Club. The correspondent for Esquire, the man who suggested these two bars as the best our city has to offer? None other than our own Adam McGill. Well, now he’s Perry Street‘s Adam McGill. But the guy spent enough time in these halls that we still own a piece of him, especially where a byline is concerned.
Now, listen. The Bar Belmont has its charms, chief among them its patio. And the Balcony Club ain’t bad. But is the Belmont one of the two best best bars in Dallas? Is the Balcony Club even one of the best bars in East Dallas? The answer to both questions, I believe, is no. The Balcony Club isn’t even the best bar in that building. I’d go downstairs, to the Arcade Bar, before I’d go the Balcony Club.
But that’s just me. I acknowledge this is a very subjective enterprise. Sure, sure. That said, I offer 10 bars, in no particular order, that, no matter your criteria, deserve a higher ranking than the two Esquire gave us for Dallas:
Lee Harvey’s
Windmill Lounge
Bar Celine
Amsterdam Bar
Holy Grail
Old Monk
Renfield’s
Neighborhood Services Tavern
Lakewood Landing (in Adam’s defense, he wrote about this place for Esquire last year)
Al Biernat’s
Jack’s Backyard (a bonus 11th)