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Best Place to Eat, Drink and Play Mini Golf

PopStroke

Courtesy of Popstroke

PopStroke is a Tiger Woods-partnered luxury mini-golf affair with two state-of-the-art 18-hole courses, a full-service restaurant with dishes made from scratch, an ice cream parlor, a playground and a lively sports bar that serves craft beers, premium spirits and meticulously crafted cocktails. Need a margarita to get your head right as you come down the back nine? No problem, just order from the PopStroke app and they'll bring it to you as you play. As for food, it skews toward high-end here, as you'll find seared ahi tuna, tuna tartare, hummus platters and citrus-marinated chimichurri steaks. We've come a long way since the Putt-Putt days (sorry, Putt-Putt).

Lauren Drewes Daniels
a superior bar stool

Bar stools can be butt-hurting situations. Metal wobbly numbers with shaky legs from one too many benders. Vice-like armrests trap you at the bar and make climbing down awkward as you try to squeeze around them. But not at Ginger's. Here are the La-Z-Boys of bar stools. A large extra-cush leather seat for your tush is super comfortable, with half arms and a padded back for a bit of reclining. Oh! And the footstool at the bottom to rest your tired dogs, instead of dangling awkwardly. It might be dangerous to be this comfortable at a bar.

Aaren Prody

Bar Colette starts creating your cocktail days before you even make yourself comfortable on one of its pink velvet couches. This European-inspired cocktail lounge was an exciting addition to West Village late last year, and Ruben Rolon's (Colette's Michelin-recognized bar director) artistic mixology is on full display here. His most impressive creations involve a clarified milk punch that gives many of his cocktails a simple appearance but are packed with a full sweep of flavors from the first sip to finishing notes. His menu rotates seasonally, so there's always a reason to stop in to try a new favorite or get your hands on a second round before some drinks go archival.

Courtesy Christies

Christies has been an essential sports bar in Dallas since 1991. There are more TVs than we can count, and on big game days (no matter the sport), the energy is palpable. The food is much better than expected: house-made-tortilla chips are kind of good. When the weather is nice, head up to the rooftop. No matter how busy it gets, the staff is attentive, and food and drinks arrive quickly. Each seat in the house offers a view to multiple TVs, meaning you can watch all the sports at once. A dream, really.

Lauren Drewes Daniels

The espresso martini has had quite the run the past couple of years, and it's pretty ubiquitous at this point, but some bars put their hip into it. Case in point: Cosmo's, which starts with house-made Vietnamese coffee, a substantially richer elixir that packs a buzzy punch. The Vietnamese coffee is mixed with Van Gogh Espresso Vodka and Kahlua then tossed in a tumbler and shaken into a creamy smooth bliss. They only make a certain amount each day; when it's gone, it's gone, so go early.

JP Hunter

It's difficult to imagine a more fun setting for a cocktail than 4 Kahunas Tiki Lounge. The moment you step inside, you're transported to a Polynesian island haven. Thankfully, the drinks might even surpass the fantastical decor. The fact of the tropical matter is the look of a proper tiki cocktail has to be every bit as on-point as the taste does. The aesthetic, theme and booze all collide in a perfectly fun way when it comes to any of the powerful, fruity 4 Kahunas cocktails served in their shark mugs. We love sipping right out of the shark's mouth, but the little drizzle of red syrup trailing from the open mouth is the drama we desire.

Courtesy of Lakewood Brewing

While so much of the Dallas beer scene revels in variants of IPAs, it's a different local beer on the opposite end of the spectrum that we most love to see in various forms and flavors. The Temptress, Lakewood Brewing's beloved imperial milk stout, has been offered in mint, peanut butter, Oreo, raspberry and gingerbread forms, just to name a few. And they're all spectacular. Of course, the original base version is always enough to satiate us on its own. One of the most storied beers from one of the best breweries around will always be at the top of our list.

Kelly Dearmore

When the local craft brewery boom started over a decade ago, Lone Star Beverages in Carrollton was already slinging the best beers from not only local breweries but from the best craft breweries in Colorado, Oregon and elsewhere, including many few around here knew about. As the craft beer scene and tastes have evolved, so, too, has this shop. If there's a little-known IPA from Maine, a sour ale from Florida, a hard tea from New England or a slushy beer from Austin that you want but no one seems to have, you haven't checked Lone Star Beverages out yet.

Best Cocktail in a Real Glass in a Historic Movie Theater

Baby Fay at the Texas Theatre

Kelly Dearmore

Taking in a flick, no, a film, at the Texas Theatre in Oak Cliff feels like a refreshingly analog experience when compared with the soulless modernity of your local theater. That hand-crafted experience can be upgraded a great deal by stopping by the classy bar before you find your seat. The refreshing Baby Fay is also a rather stout drink, consisting of tequila, ginger beer, hibiscus and lemon. It beats an Icee at Cinemark any day of the week.

Lauren Drewes Daniels
Cosmic brownie cookies

The husband-and-wife team of Jeff and Marissa Allen opened their first location of Cookie Society in 2018 with the goal of producing the ultimate cookie. In the beginning, there were just two varieties, chocolate chip and banana pudding. The latter has become their signature flavor, but over the intervening years, they've expanded to scores of varieties. They're baked fresh daily, so naturally they don't have all 70 varieties every day, but part of the fun is walking in and seeing what they have. There is also a cookie(s) of the month, a rotating stable of new and interesting flavor combinations such as French toast or peaches and cream. Whatever the flavor, you can expect large and perfectly cooked cookies with chewy centers and slightly crispy edges. And, there's a rewards program.

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