Ladylove: Where curated beats, craft cocktails and community collide

When you walk into Ladylove Lounge & Sound, you might be greeted with a, “Hello, happy you’re here.” The bartenders will crack jokes with each other as curated music is spun from the DJ booth.

Kate Siamro. David Grover. Jimmy Contreras. This trio is the mastermind behind Ladylove, which offers cocktails and bites served in a laid-back record lounge featuring live music and DJs.

Siamro and Grover own Spinster Records, a vinyl store in Bishop Arts. While the pair wanted to expand Spinster, they didn’t want to do another record shop.

“We both love to drink, and we love going to bars and being DJs,” Siamro says. “We were like, man, there’s so many things we would do different when it comes to an experience of music in this way.”

They wanted to focus to be on quality food, drinks and a warm atmosphere with high quality audio. The idea was there, and when a space went on the market, Ladylove was born.

“I just asked Kate for a gut check, I go, ‘Do you think we could work here?’” Grover says. “And she says yes, so that’s how we make most decisions.”

Ladylove quickly became the spot to listen to quality music — “non-Spotify”music, as Grover says.

“That’s what Kate crushes here,” Grover says. “We have these dope curated nights every night, and it’s always gonna be interesting, always be something different, and nothing’s ever gonna be generic, and that’s what I think is part of the magic here.”

Each night features a different DJ and specialty selected tunes. But there’s one rule — no requests.

“I think the main thing for David and I being DJs, we don’t like requests,” Siamro says. “Sometimes when you have an idea of what you want to make your night, and then someone out of nowhere is like, play Journey. And you’re like, I’m not playing anything like Journey right now. We want to make sure when we book the DJ, they feel very comfortable with what they’re doing. We want them to really thrive in that booth.”

The booth itself is just for the DJ, no groupies, and the space is specially designed to make sure they have what they need to create their own vibe.

“You go into restaurants and bars and they have like, this cubby hole with a table where the DJ can bring their equipment,” Contreras says. “No. David thought that out and thought out that DJ booth, and put effort into every single speaker here so that there’s nothing contrived about any of this. Everything is very intentional. Everything is very thoughtful.”

While Siamro and Grover thought of themselves as music connoisseurs as the owners of Spinster, they find themselves learning more and more about music throughout their time at Ladylove.

“Since we have a DJ every night and the genre is always changing, I really didn’t know how many genres there were,” Siamro says. “There are so many sub genres. There’s so many subcultures of genres too. You can book a hip-hop night or house night, but a house night could be 20 different things. So it’s very interesting. I kind of love it, because it doesn’t put people in boxes with what they do.”

Siamro says one of the biggest nights they’ve had is a disco night.

“I think given the disco balls and the ambiance, when people come in for that, they’re getting dressed for it,” Siamro says. “We’ve had parties of people show up, and they’re all done up in the ’70s, and it just feels themed in a fun way.”

Contreras, owner of Taco y Vino and who Siamro calls the “Mayor of Oak Cliff,” runs the kitchen.

“We’ve gone back to kind of a traditional dive bar menu, but definitely elevated,” Contreras says. “Instead of having french fries, you can get fried green beans. We’re serving fresh fruit with some of our sandwiches, we’re doing a bulgogi steak sandwich, a couple burgers, and a great ahi tuna burger.”

The drink menu is a collaboration between the entire staff, and everyone has a hand in creating the specialty cocktails.

“What’s cool about the menu for me is everyone has a drink on there,” Siamro says “You’ll go to a lot of bars where it’s one person who’s curating the entire menu. This has become like a commune of decision making with everyone who’s behind the bar.”

Heaven’s Highball, Big Tease, Hollaback Girl and Bee’s Knees highlight the cocktail options.

“We try to have fun with the menu. We don’t give them too serious of names,” Siamro says. “We had a drink called The Leather Daddy, which was hilarious. It sold a lot on goth night.”

For those who don’t drink, Ladylove offers an “elixir” menu — drinks that are nonalcoholic and good for you.

“They’re called elixirs because, one drink has liquid collagen in it, good for your skin, another drink has liquid chlorophyll, which is really good to fight off bacteria disease. It makes more sense to buy a drink that’s going to do something for me, versus just a sugary concoction,” Siamro says. “I never want a group to not show up here because one person doesn’t drink and they don’t feel like they can have something in their hand while they’re here.”

Photography by Austin Marc Graf

For Ladylove, inclusivity is a main priority.

“That was really important to us, to make a place where everyone did feel safe,” Contreras says. “We say like, ‘Hey, we’re actually glad you’re here.’ That’s a big part of our thing.”

This includes the staff. When they first opened, Siamro says she was told that 80% of staff leave within the first six months. A year and half later, she says the majority of the staff they opened with are still there.

“There’s a sense of heart, I think, when you own your own business, and you love it, and you know your staff, and you care about them,” Siamro says. “We’re really good friends, and I think that energy in the space reflects to the customer, and they can feel that even if you don’t tell them.”

While they’ve had DJs from around the country, local acts tend to get a lot of love at Ladylove.

“I want us to be a pin on the map nationally, where someone in New York is like, ‘Oh, you’re going to Dallas, you should go check out the spot in Dallas,’” Siamro says. “We do book some good acts that come in, but really, what does the best here is local acts. So what’s really interesting about Dallas is our local DJs who we’ve adopted are our best nights.”

Ladylove could also be the place to find your next boo, just in time for Valentine’s Day.

“We’re the anti-Tinder,” Siamro says. “I have friends who’ve met their boyfriend here, or their girlfriend. I have friends who’ve come out here, got rid of their dating apps because they just want to meet someone here and have it be really natural. Bishop Arts is a very Christmassy area with Tipsy Elf. But I want us to be the Valentine’s bar.”