A Breakdown Of How Much Money Was Spent On Booze At The Top Bars, Clubs, Restaurants, Venues And Hotels Within Dallas Proper In March, April & May 2019.

Welcome to Bar Raised, our recurring column that proves that Texans like to spend copious amounts of their income participating in the Great American Pastime. We know this because, as Reddit user BadLemur once pointed out, the Texas Comptroller keeps tabs on that sort of thing and makes all that info public record. Any establishment in the state that holds a Mixed Beverage license must report all sales revenue generated from the sale of liquor, beer and wine at their establishments on a monthly basis. The comptroller, in turn, puts all that info into a conveniently navigable database. And then we break down Dallas’ numbers for you here.

The Dallas drinking scene has seen all sorts of developments over the last few months.

A Family Guy-themed pop-up came and went, as did a Game of Thrones-themed one. Beauty Bar closed down its Henderson Avenue location in favor of a new Deep Ellum home. Barcadia got new owners. Lower Greenville added The Alamo Club and the Wah Wah Room to its boozy portfolio. And Deep Ellum added Punch Bowl Social, a massive bar space that seems destined to compete with the nearby Bottle Blonde/The Backyard sister establishments for neighborhood dominance for the years to come.

On the other hand, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

While it’s been more than three months since we last checked in with the monthly drinking habits of Dallasites via this column’s recurring look at which places in town report to the TABC the highest booze sales on a monthly basis, we didn’t really miss too much. Throughout March, April and May, the establishments around Dallas with the highest bar sales were again the usual suspects — Bottled Blonde/The Backyard, the American Airlines Center, the Omni Hotel, the Hilton Anatole, Happiest Hour, Katy Trail Ice House, The Statler, The Ritz-Carlton, the House of Blues, Gilley’s, Nick & Sam’s and Moxie’s Grill & Bar — with but one exception.

After opening in February and getting its sea legs in March, massive new Uptown neighborhood restaurant concept The Henry seemed to settled nicely into its new role as the rare exciting, new Dallas boozy destination outside of Deep Ellum by netting $734,174 in alcohol sales in April and another $621,136 in May. The newcomer boasted the seventh-highest alcohol sales total in Dallas during that stretch.

In the time since we last checked in on these figures, Dallas has averaged $81,201,945 spent on booze in bars, clubs, restaurants, venues and hotels each month. The spring figures appear to be a bit of a change from the Dallas’ standard drinking habits, which tend to peak in early summer and late fall.

Here’s a breakdown of Dallas’ year-to-date monthly liquor sales totals:

Later this month, once they’re all reported, we’ll check in with the June figures.

Below, since we’re playing a bit of catch-up to get back in the habit of doing this monthly, let’s take a quick look at the top 10 earners each month (as opposed to the usual lists of 20 top earners).

March 2019: $85,143,280

BOTTLED BLONDE- THE BACK YARD: $1,394,853
LEVY RESTAURANTS (American Airlines Center): $1,325,219
OMNI DALLAS CONVENTION CENTER: $1,313,346
SALC, INC. (Hilton Anatole): $1,017,525
HAPPIEST HOUR, LLC: $881,529
DFB CAPITAL LLC (Katy Trail Ice House): $779,544
EPIC ABS LLC (The Statler): $676,932
HOSPITALITY INTERNATIONAL INC (The Ritz-Carlton): $635,871
HOUSE OF BLUES DALLAS RESTAURANT CORP: $607,436
NICK & SAM’S STEAK & FISH HOUSE: $548,317

April 2019: $77,756,797

LEVY RESTAURANTS (American Airlines Center): $1,575,047
OMNI DALLAS CONVENTION CENTER: $1,315,365
SALC, INC. (Hilton Anatole): $1,213,936
BOTTLED BLONDE- THE BACK YARD: $1,015,163
HAPPIEST HOUR, LLC: $865,204
DFB CAPITAL LLC (Katy Trail Ice House): $761,354
THE HENRY: $734,174
HOSPITALITY INTERNATIONAL INC (The Ritz-Carlton): $659,507
EPIC ABS LLC (The Statler): $613,788
GILLEY’S DALLAS: $(578,363)

May 2019: $80,705,759

SALC, INC. (Hilton Anatole): $1,658,852
BOTTLED BLONDE- THE BACK YARD: $1,208,612
OMNI DALLAS CONVENTION CENTER: $1,053,530
DFB CAPITAL LLC (Katy Trail Ice House): $799,868
HAPPIEST HOUR, LLC: $736,433
EPIC ABS LLC (The Statler): $631,225
THE HENRY: $621,136
NICK & SAM’S STEAK & FISH HOUSE: $565,558
HOSPITALITY INTERNATIONAL INC (The Ritz-Carlton): $559,488
MOXIE’S GRILL & BAR: $511,045

Cover photo by Karlo X. Ramos.

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