4 nightclubs and restaurants that define a new neighborhood in Dallas

After Bottled Blonde nightclub opened in Dallas in 2017, all eyes were on that corner of Deep Ellum, where hundreds of partiers would pack into Dallas’ most popular new venue. But it wasn’t just young bar-goers talking about the rowdy scene at Bottled Blonde. The club also attracted the attention of businesspeople all over Texas, who gawked at its liquor sales.

Bottled Blonde amassed an average of $1.1 million a month in gross liquor sales receipts in 2018, 2019 and 2020. In that same span, Bottled Blonde sold more alcohol than any other freestanding bar in all of Texas. Only sprawling hotel properties like the Hilton Anatole and sports venues like American Airlines Center sold more.

Today, other Dallas nightclub owners want some of the action.

Over the past year or two, a handful of businessowners have signed leases in the northwest elbow of Deep Ellum, aiming to create a new neighborhood of nightclubs — and to lure Dallasites to the new venues.

“Once Bottled Blonde opened, it became very clear for me that the area was absolutely viable,” says Imran Sheikh, a restaurant and nightclub owner who has invested heavily in Deep Ellum, including in a recently opened club next to Bottled Blonde named Citizen.

“All of sudden, you get the sense that this is primed to become the next entertainment district.”

Dallas-based firm Coevál Studio will set the vibe. By coincidence (and referrals), Coevál has been hired to design parts of all of the new venues. The company has had its hand in many Dallas food and beverage concepts including Xaman Cafe in Oak Cliff, Sloane’s Corner in downtown Dallas, Happiest Hour in the Harwood District and The Rustic in Uptown.

Each club in this new neighborhood has its own identity, says John Paul Valverde, co-creative director at Coevál — and some clubs even house restaurants, speakeasies or private clubs inside of the main building. Some are more than 20,000 square feet.

Collectively, however, the clubs could create a buzzing nucleus in a sliver of Dallas that sat mostly vacant a mere five years ago.

“For me, it’s really exciting to visualize how this can be a big economic driver for Dallas,” Valverde says. “A lot of jobs will be created in that neighborhood. And yes, people might not like that they’re nightclubs. But I think Dallas needs that in order to bring more people to it.”

Where is this, again?

So far, none of the invested parties have a name for this district of Dallas, which lies between Old East Dallas, the Dallas Arts District, downtown and Deep Ellum. Downtown Dallas Inc., which often gets involved in promoting and marketing new sectors of downtown, doesn’t have a name for it, either.

The most common moniker so far — a rather boring option, given its rowdy nature — is “North Deep Ellum.” Sure, the clubs are geographically close to Deep Ellum. But the feeling isn’t quite right.

“I’ve never described it as Deep Ellum,” says Rico Taylor, who is opening two venues in the neighborhood and has others in Austin, Chicago, Houston and other parts of Dallas-Fort Worth. “It’s not the Deep Ellum vibe.”

Others have called the neighborhood NoGood, a cheeky truncation of “North Good Latimer,” the road that runs between most of the clubs.

Maybe here’s the best identifier for long-time Dallas folks: It’s close to the old Lizard Lounge, a local institution from 1991 until it closed in 2020. And now the neighborhood centers around Bottled Blonde, the club just a little too far from the center of Deep Ellum that still managed to make a boozy splash.

In designing each club in this burgeoning district, the creative directors at Coevál say they aim to create a variety of vibes. Many of the clubs will hold hundreds of people, partying to a DJ at the same time. So how do you design a room to hold chaos?

“It sounds a little silly discussing it,” Valverde says, but tables and booths are designed “to be almost indestructible.” Banquettes have flat tops so people can stand or sit on them. And they have to be stiletto proof — both for functionality and safety.

“There are reinforcements we put into the vinyl so when girls step on the booth in heels, it doesn’t punch through,” Valverde says.

When you walk into a club, maybe you feel the urge to dance. Or head straight to the bar. Or splurge on a $1,000-plus table for bottle service. None of that is by accident.

“It sounds fun, and it is fun,” Valverde says of the design process. “But it’s all very structured.”

4 new clubs and restaurants opening in this new Dallas neighborhood

Citizen

If Bottled Blonde is the older sister at this party, Citizen is her best friend. Nightclub operator Sheikh (whose company Milkshake Concepts operates Vidorra, Stirr, Serious Pizza, Sky Rocket Burger and the coming soon Harper’s — all in Deep Ellum) relocated Citizen from Uptown Dallas so it could be neighbors with Bottled Blonde. Citizen reopened March 19, 2021.

The original was designed to feel like an old English home, and much of that aesthetic has transitioned over to the new Citizen, which has floral wallpaper and plush banquettes inside the 4,500-square-foot club. It also has a 2,000-square-foot patio.

“My biggest concern when opening was not the area,” Sheikh says. “It was: Will people respond to an existing concept moving to a new location and be able to enjoy what they did at the old one, but in a new setting? The response has far exceeded my expectations.”

Citizen is a club and bar only; no food. It’s meant to feel like you’re partying in someone’s house.

Citizen is at 2511 Swiss Ave., Dallas. It’s open Thursdays through Sundays only, 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.

The Sporting Club (and Blüm)

The Sporting Club’s mantra might as well be “the more the merrier.” It’s a massive place at 21,000 square feet, and hundreds of people can fit inside. It opened April 15, 2021.

It’s part of the So Clutch Group, a Dallas-based hospitality company that operates Concrete Cowboy in four cities and several other bars.

“We were on Cedar Springs [Road] so long, where we had Concrete Cowboy and Clutch,” Taylor says. “There were times when there were 200 or 300 people in line.” They’d rather pack all of those people inside the venue and serve them drinks. That’s one of the reasons this new Deep Ellum neighborhood was attractive to Taylor: There’s plenty of space.

This venue has several areas within the same venue, including a covered patio where customers can watch sports, drink beer and throw beanbags, a lounge with cocktails and vintage video games, and a Vegas-style nightclub named Blüm (pronounced like “bloom”).

Miguel Vicéns, co-creative director and principal at Coevál, says people can stay all day at The Sporting Club and its nightclub Blüm. The kitchen is turning out pizzas, cheeseburgers, and snacks like a French fry flight. Fancier options include filet mignon, Chilean seabass or a double-cut pork chop.

The Sporting Club and Blüm are two concepts in one, at 2516 Florence St., Dallas. It’s open Monday through Friday, 4 p.m. to 2 a.m., and Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 2 a.m.

Green Light Social

Cocktails and dancing are the things to do at Green Light Social. The name refers to “getting the green light” into the hidden bar, which is just one of many rooms within the 13,000-square-foot, two-story space. Owner-operator Ian Fletcher says guests can do “a bar crawl within your own bar”: There’s the downstairs bar with a patio, a dance club with VIP seating on the perimeter, and the Ruby Room.

The Ruby Room is that hidden spot, open to the public on Wednesdays and Thursdays and by reservation or membership on Fridays and Saturdays. It’s named after Jack Ruby, the nightclub operator who shot and killed Lee Harvey Oswald in 1963.

The building has some built-in character, as it was the former Czech Center of Dallas, home to bingo nights, picnics and polkas. Fletcher says the building was “dilapidated” by the time he took it over, so it’s been gutted. Some of the vibe of the place will come from the original Green Light Social in Austin, where guests sip Capri Suns spiked with vodka. The Dallas offshoot is nearly four times bigger.

Green Light Social will be at 2625 Floyd St., Dallas. It opens Dec. 31, 2021.

Vice Park

Vice Park is supposed to look like a Miami mansion, says Taylor, and its name evokes feelings of excess: “where all your vices can happen,” as Valverde explains. It’s the second bar, in the span of a few blocks, from the So Clutch Group.

The 22,000-square-foot palace will have a glass staircase leading up to a rooftop bar. In the middle of the building, the team at Coevál will install two palm tree sculptures, one 50 feet tall and another 30 feet tall.

“Nowadays, it’s all about those Instagram moments. ... And creating different moments in the same space,” says Vicéns. It’ll have Miami Vice vibes, sure, and pink neon lighting.

Taylor plans for the menu to be South American inspired, with items like empanadas, chorizo queso fundido, and a Cubano sandwich on the menu. It’ll mostly be a dinner-and-later crowd, with the exception of Saturday and Sunday brunch, he says.

Vice Park will be at 2601 Gaston Ave., Dallas. Opening is TBA.

Story originally written June 3, 2021 and updated Dec. 20, 2021, after Green Light Social announced its opening date on Dec. 31, 2021.

For more bar news, follow Sarah Blaskovich on Twitter at @sblaskovich.