This past October, the NBC hit reality music competition featured Dentonite and University of North Texas graduate Katrina Cain. A few days after walking down the aisle, the lead singer for electronic band TOMKAT decided to take a detour from her honeymoon, veil practically flying off, and take a stab at auditioning. Cain's impossibly high notes in her rendition of Fleetwood Mac's "Rhiannon" earned her the chair-spinning approbation of judges Jennifer Hudson and Blake Shelton, although Kelly Clarkson and Adam Levine said it would've been a "four-chair turn" had the latter pair not used up their open spots. Cain ultimately chose team Blake, moved to Los Angeles and was eliminated a few rounds later, but her pitch-perfect cover has received millions of views and remains one of the show's best auditions.

Trinity Hall is perfect. Plenty of seating, the best Guinness drafts in town and pub food that's better than any chain. It caters to soccer, rugby and Gaelic football fans, but it happily accommodates fans of more traditionally American sports, too. It never overwhelms — thanks to its TVs only being on when there's a game — and never disappoints. Trinity Hall is a great place to spend a Sunday morning, Saturday night or anything in between.

For four days every September, Grapevine shuts down its historic Main Street to car traffic and throws what it bills as the largest wine festival in the Southwest. Admission gets you a wine glass and access to the wine tasting area, where more than 100 Texas wines are on offer. For a full glass and a shaded place to sit, head to the champagne terrace or the wine and brew pavilions. Food vendors offer pizza, kettle corn and other treats from booths along Main Street, and local artists are on hand to show off their work. Other highlights include a grape stomp, a Champagne cork-shooting contest and a tennis tournament.

It'll Do dominates this category by consistently providing a well-curated and world-class dance club experience. No bottle service, no VIP and no pretension — just a big dance floor and top-notch sound servicing a calendar of touring acts you would typically have to fly halfway across the country (or overseas) to see. The atmosphere has the old-school warehouse party vibe of the '90s minus the dusty floors. They lean heavy toward house music, but in the past year, they've hosted a diverse array of talent such as Danny Tenaglia, Dubfire, Nightmares on Wax, Dusky, Lee Foss, Leon Vynehall, Ben UFO, DJ Boring, Derrick Carter and even hometown superstar DJ Maceo Plex. On the off nights when there are no touring acts, resident DJ Red Eye keeps the dance floor moving with his Occupant night — which often rivals the high bar set by their touring acts.

If we're all being honest, we can agree that there are only about 15 days out of the year in Dallas when it's not too hot, wet, icy or tornado-y to sit on a bar patio with a drink. So when one of those 15 days comes around, it's important to make good use of it. Happiest Hour has enough space to allow you to do just that. With a ground-floor beer garden and a rooftop terrace, there's plenty of space to breathe without worrying about putting your elbow into someone else's IPA. And it's just a few blocks from the American Airlines Center, making it a great place to stop for a beer or a cocktail before a Mavericks game.

Founded in Bryan in 1977, Messina Hof added a tasting room in a historic hotel building on Grapevine's Main Street in 2014. There, visitors can sample reds, whites, rosés and ports the winery makes from grapes grown across the state, including in the Brazos River Valley and the Hill Country. Some favorites are the Estate Sagrantino, a ruby-colored red made from grapes grown at the winery's Bryan vineyard, as well as a Riesling from the winery's High Plains Vineyard. The winery also offers a full selection of ports and dessert wines. If they're pouring the tawny port during your visit, make sure you have a glass.

Gatsby-era decadence meets a modern industrial aesthetic at The Henry. New to the Dallas dining scene, the restaurant boasts great design, Southern-inspired comfort food, and the real highlight, a sprawling rooftop bar and lounge. Open until midnight on weeknights and 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, the rooftop bar is prime real estate for happy hour or dinner al fresco. Libations include a variety of Champagne, wines and beers, and interesting cocktails, such as the Drunken Panda, which blends cucumber sake with dragon fruit tea, calamansi and Chinese lager.

Musician Teddy Waggy is best known for fronting the theatrically inclined rock band Midnight Opera and has been stepping into her own spotlight with frequent collaborator Sudie. But Waggy, a noted guitarist and songwriter, has taken a turn into fashion design, with food-printed designs she calls "meatsuits" and handmade, impeccably tailored garments with original forms and vivid prints befitting her iconoclastic, cool buyers. Waggy's clientele is made up almost exclusively of artists and musicians, making her Dallas' version of Vivienne Westwood.

Nate Girard and Kendra Blank must have someone in Dallas who's doing their laundry. That's the only sensible explanation for why the Chicago-based crunch rock duo known as North by North stops by so frequently. They play Dallas venues more often than many genuinely local bands — and we're not complaining. Guitarist Girard and drummer Blank have an electric presence that makes stages large and small feel gigantic. And it looks like we're destined to continue hearing from them for a long time. Even after playing more than 650 shows, North by North are sticking by the ethos emblazoned on their home page: "Tour until we die."

There are many reasons to love the Oak Cliff hangout: its views, pool parties, outdoor concerts and art moderne architecture. When the hotel changed hands a few years back, its new investors' dream was simple: to build not simply a business, but a myth. And while a lot of this vision has yet to materialize — into something between the Beverly Hills Hotel's boutique legend, the Chateau Marmont's decadence and Hotel Chelsey's massive counter-cultural significance — the inspiration holds up. And so far, it remains the ultimate spot in Dallas to attract the artsy elite: Alejandro Escovedo (a Chelsey figure) even took up residency there. But on any night, you'll find photographers shooting partygoers dancing with regulars Leon Bridges, Jonathan Tyler and Sarah Jaffe.