If the walls at new Dallas cocktail bar 1519 Main could tell stories, we’d listen. In more than a century, this address in Dallas’ Central Business District has been a cafeteria, a confectionary, a shoe store, a jewelry shop, a showroom for pricey electronics and a bank. Which was robbed at least once.
Today, it’s a classic cocktail bar meant to pay homage to celebrated cocktail rooms of a bygone era, like Milk and Honey in New York City and London and Violet Hour in Chicago. Consulting bartender Brian Van Flandern, who helped open Thomas Keller’s Manhattan restaurant Per Se in 2004, created the drinks at Dallas’ 1519 Main.
The room has a Prohibition Era feel, with its exposed brick bar, antique marble floors, warm lighting and leather barstools. A cocktail called Bathtub Gin preys upon the theme. History buffs might enjoy drinks like the Bill McCoy, named after the famous Prohibition rum runner.
The drinks need to be “picture perfect,” Van Flandern said: “If we’ve done our job right, the guest will feel compelled to take a picture.”
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But, he said, 1519 Main is also serious. Van Flandern spent two weeks training bartenders in the art and science of making cocktails. No guessing; bartenders are required to measure every drink.
In a world where bars and restaurants spread themselves thin, owner Kevin Lillis has a fresh approach. “We’re doing one thing,” Lillis said: “Cocktails.”
There won’t be food at 1519 Main, unless a group books a private event. (In which case, catering is available.) Events are intended to be a significant part of the business model here, as 1519 Main is neighbors with the historic Adolphus hotel, the Joule, the convention center and more.
The downtown Dallas address 1519 Main St. has been home to more than a dozen businesses since it appeared in the Dallas City Directory in the early 1900s.
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Customers can expect a little bit of showmanship with their cocktails, Van Flandern said. When making a martini, for instance, he repeats the words he was taught years ago from a mixologist friend:
“Shake it, don’t fake it.”
He paused. “And smile.”
1519 Main is at 1519 Main St., Dallas. Open evenings only. Closed Sundays and Mondays. Available for private events.