Neighborhood business buzz

The lowdown on what’s up with neighborhood businesses

Bishop Arts Winery to open soon
The Bishop Arts Winery is expected to start serving wine and food around the middle of January. Owner Elias Rodriguez has been open, serving coffee and bagels for several months while he waits for approval so sell and manufacture wine. The shop, in a former art gallery at Davis and Tyler, will specialize in Texas wines. Rodriguez plans to make wine at the shop as well. His vision is similar to Times Ten Cellars. Chef Ericka Vazquez is planning a menu that includes cheese boards, soups, salads and desserts.

OC Smokehouse gone in the night
OC Smokehouse on Davis at Clinton has been locked and boarded up. The barbecue restaurant opened in a converted gas station as Luckie’s Smokehouse in February 2011, the same month Lockhart Smokehouse opened a few blocks away. The owners of Luckie’s sued each other this summer, and the restaurant closed for awhile, but owner Naht Ngo reopened as OC Smokehouse soon after, with basically the same menu.

Wine shop, ‘culinary incubator’ coming to Sylvan | Thirty
Matador Meat & Wine is the second business announced for the Sylvan | Thirty development. Plano-based Matador butchers to order and offers pork, sausage and chicken, as well as free-range beef raised without artificial hormones or antibiotics. The shop offers more than 75 wine labels and home delivery. Matador will occupy a 3,000-square-foot space connected to anchor tenant Cox Farms Market. Chef Sharon Hage, formerly of York Street, will helm a “culinary incubator” at Sylvan | Thirty. Culinary upstarts can pay a fee in exchange for access to a shared commercial kitchen and retail space, “giving them the opportunity to craft and sell their food products without the initial expense of building out and equipping their own space,” according to a media release.

Lockhart Smokehouse hosts Smoke Camp
The pit masters of Lockhart Smokehouse are sharing their tricks of the trade at “Smoke Camp,” Jan. 17 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. For $75 Lockhart experts will teach eager, meat-loving students how to choose the right meat, dry rub vs. wet rub practices, smoking techniques, proper trimming and carving, plus the “art” of burnt ends. Class includes dinner, beer and a T-shirt.

1. Dan Beer and Wine is now open on West Davis at Polk. Another store, North Oak Cliff Beer and Wine, is coming soon to the space on West Davis at Clinton, adjacent to Urban Acres.