OK, so it’s not a restaurant, it’s a soda-pop shop and art gallery. But the Soda Gallery is a nice alternative to bars.

My grandma owned a country store in the backwoods of Missouri, and when we were (spoiled) kids, we could go into the store adjacent to her house and get sodas. We’d open the top of the big musty cooler she had in the store, and get a grape or orange Crush in the tall glass bottles (or maybe a Pepsi and a bag of peanuts to pour in) and pop them open on the attached bottle opener.

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Buying a grape Crush at the Soda Gallery isn’t exactly the same experience. The coolers don’t smell musty, the floorboards don’t creak, there’s no screen door, and my grandma’s been dead since 1987. Also, the bottles aren’t the same. But they do have grape Crush in glass bottles, and they do have the old-school bottle opener, so that’s enough for me to say “Cheers, grandma.”

The Soda Gallery has dozens of varieties of soda from all over the world, plus comic books, toys and games. Plus, East Dallas artist Joey Seeman has an exhibit there now.