Photo by Lauren Allen
It may feel like Bishop Arts is experiencing a booze boom.
At the end of 2023, a wine tasting room out of Fredericksburg opened in the space formerly inhabited by Âme. Then earlier this year, the microbrewery Jaquval opened around the corner. And a gin distillery between the two was expected to open any day now, at the time of publishing.
But Jim Lake, the real estate mogul whose company owns the strip of buildings that Barons Creek Vineyard, Jaquval and Lucky Gin opened in, says viewing these openings as a neighborhood “booze boom” may be some people’s perception, but isn’t quite reality.
Jim’s thumbprint is stamped across the 300 and 400 blocks of Bishop Avenue. As a young man in the late ’80s, he took over the buildings that had been purchased by his father, Jim Lake Sr.
The historic red brick buildings with wood-framed windows are classic Lake. He shaped the district in the late ’80s, oversaw the 2008 zoning case that made it what it is today and was involved in the recent initiative to widen sidewalks and install historic lighting throughout.
“Once people started to come (to Bishop Arts), we saw that it was important to have a mix (of businesses),” Jim says. “We didn’t always get it right the first time, but we had the space to let the creative people and the entrepreneurs do what they did best. And it took a generation to be able to create that and recognize that.”
Each new bar that has opened in the last six months caters to a different crowd, Jim says.
Barons Creek Vineyard solved a “longtime” demand for a wine-centric option in North Oak Cliff. The store is the winery’s fifth tasting room in Texas and the first in Dallas. A five-wine tasting experience costs $21 a person; pizzas, hummus, charcuterie and chocolate chip cookies make up the food menu.
Jim Lake with wife and business partner Amanda Moreno-Lake in front of Lake properties creating a boom in Bishop Arts bar scene. Photo by Kathy Tran.
“When that spot opened up, (Barons Creek) was a perfect match,” Jim says. “That space has a significant kitchen area that had to be activated, so that was part of our agreement. That it wasn’t just going to be a wine tasting room, they had to have a pretty strong food component.”
It’s a requirement of each Lake property, says Jim’s wife and business partner Amanda Moreno-Lake.
The district currently holds seven bars within two blocks. But Atlas is no Bottled Blonde. Reveler’s Hall is no Happiest Hour. And Barons Creek Vineyards is no Standard Pour.
The area has an elevated identity compared to Dallas’ party centers, and focusing on a robust food menu, in addition to each bar’s alcohol offerings, helps maintain that, Amanda says.
“We’ve never torn anything down. We like old buildings, and we bring them back to life,” Amanda says.
It was part of what inspired Madison Patrylick to seek out Jim Lake Companies, in hopes of opening a bar, gin distillery and distilling classroom.
Patrylick lives in Fort Worth and learned to distill gin in Ireland. When she started Ləkē Gin (Lucky spelled phonetically), she realized she wanted to open her own all-gin-focused bar to feature it.
Ləkē Gin has a build-your-own gin and tonic option and $125 per person classes which include a take-home bottle of gin, a charcuterie board and drinks.
“I love this area, because it’s got the old vintage ceilings, and I didn’t really have to do a whole lot to accommodate that feeling,” Patrylick says. “There’s not a lot of places in Dallas that have front facades with old windows like this type of setup.”
While Jim says he is happy to work with store owners on designing each facade to match their interior aesthetic (Lucky Gin’s window frames went from black to a bright, smurf-like blue) some historic features are not to be messed with.
“Do not touch my tin ceilings,” he says with all seriousness.
In many instances, historic buildings can lead to headaches when it comes time to renovate.
Jaquval may have just opened this winter, but it has been in the works for years, says co-owner Jason Roberts. He and his business partner Amy Wallace Cowan run Oddfellows and Reveler’s Hall in buildings leased from the Lakes.
One thing missing from Bishop Arts was a brewery. So when Roberts approached Jim about opening a beer house and the attached deli, Trades, it was a definite yes.
But they had to completely redo the plumbing throughout the building, install three-phase power and get a specialized water filtration system.
“Our water is highly filtered for the beer and for the bagels, so we can dial in the pH of New York for our bagels and dial the pH of Germany for the beers,” he says.
Roberts was inspired by the ruin bars of Budapest when outfitting Jaquval. After the collapse of the Berlin Wall and communism, the youth of Budapest turned “derelict” buildings into bars full of art to create spaces to “hang out.” He wanted to channel a similar low-pretense, high-comfort space where locals can stumble in.
Plus, he says there was no nearby place to find fish and chips. Jaquval’s menu fixed that.
Seven distinct bars in two blocks. Whether there is a bar cluster or a booze boom, Patrylick is not worried about competing for business. In her eyes, each business is “extremely different.”
Not only in spirits but also in vibes.
