The funky, textured wallpaper, the dim, sexy lighting, the cozy booths where you should spill a few secrets: Dallas’ newest neighborhood lounge Clifton Club looks and feels like the bar you wish you had in your own home.
It opened in May 5, 2022 on Fitzhugh Avenue.
Owner Greg Katz, who operates the popular Beverley’s next door, designed Clifton Club to feel like a hotel lobby bar. But it’s got more personality than most hotel bars do. Maybe it’s the essence of the gay club Zippers that used to be here before Katz redid it. Or Maybe it’s Katz himself, who has put tremendous thought into creating a bar that feels effortless.
“This is a place where you can come and be who you are,” he says.
Maybe people walking on the nearby Katy Trail will stop in for a drink. And probably, Park Cities and Uptown neighbors will visit, looking for a regular place for a nightcap. Most certainly, customers waiting for a table at Bev’s, or just finishing dinner there, will walk over without having to move their cars.
Notably, the new Clifton Club has a bank of rounded windows above the main room’s banquettes, which let in some light and give it some glammy style. (Read: Construction crews had to knock big holes in the wall, as the bar before it did not seem to want anyone seeing in.) The geometric cinder block walls at the entrance and on the patio, painted orange, offer a pop of color.
We called it one of the most exciting new bars to open in Dallas-Fort Worth in 2022, and after seeing inside, it’s worth a visit.
VIP seats
For anyone who loves sitting at the bar, Clifton Club offers 14 great seats, bellied up to the bartenders.
Beyond those, the best seats in the house are to the side of the bar, in an unnamed, crescent-shaped room that’ll fit eight to 10 people. For now, it’ll be open seating — first come, first served.
But we can imagine that within a few weeks, Dallasites celebrating a business deal or couples stealing a night away from their kids will be asking whether their group can sit there, sequestered from the main dining area but still within eyeshot of the fun.
What should we call it?
Clifton Club is named for the town Katz grew up in near Cape Town, South Africa. This little room is on the edge of the action, kind of like those good seats at the opera, over on the side, where you can sit on your perch and take it all in. Call this little room The Cliff, maybe.
Nibbles and snacks
There’s a trio of olives, nuts and pickled veggies sitting next to a swirl of whipped ricotta topped with pistachio dukka.
Katz’s aim was to serve food that is salty, crunchy and spicy. “What we thought most about was: What do you want to eat when you’re having a cocktail?” he says.
In that way, Clifton Club is a bar first, restaurant second. Those who come hungry can certainly eat an entire dinner. But it’s shareable snacks all the way — sassed up from what you serve in your own bar. Among the dozen-or-more snacks are steak tartare toast, crudite with garlicky yogurt dip, mini smashburgers, and crispy potatoes with smoked trout roe.
But first, cocktails
Katz was the managing partner and general manager at Victor Tangos, one of Dallas’ best cocktail bars. Clifton Club isn’t a Victor Tangos replacement, but it’s a cocktail-forward bar with serious food, so it’s easy to see a resemblance.
“Victor grew up,” Katz says, thinking back to the bar’s 10-year run from 2008 to the end of 2017. Maybe an older, wiser Victor would want to drink a Oaxacan Affair — tequila, mezcal, watermelon, agave and lime, with black lava salt — and munch on chicken liver and foie gras pâté.
Cocktails at Clif Club are both modern and classic. There are riffs on an aperol spritz and a gin fizz. There’s also a classic cosmopolitan. Perhaps it’s for grown folks who recently watched the Sex and the City reboot and are looking to drink down some memories.
Next door, at Bev’s, there’s an off-the-menu shot called a Zapper, which is basically a tiny swig of an espresso martini. At Clifton Club, there’ll be the Zipper, a drink that will feel right at home in the old Zippers.
You don’t need to know what’s in it. Just get one.
Clifton Club is at 3333 N. Fitzhugh Ave., Dallas. It opened May 5, 2022.
