Uchi Dallas

Uchi Dallas is the Uptown outpost of the contemporary Japanese restaurant group founded by James Beard Award-winning chef Tyson Cole, which opened at 2817 Maple Avenue on 1 June 2015 as the third Uchi location. The kitchen runs hot and cold tastings, sashimi and seasonal omakase, with the group's izakaya-style sister bar Uchiba upstairs, and the room offers valet during dinner service. Service runs Sunday to Thursday 4pm to 10pm and Friday and Saturday until 11pm, with happy hour every day from 4pm to 6pm.

What sets Uchi apart for non-drinkers is that the zero-proof programme is built to the same specification as the rest of the bar rather than tacked on. The menu carries a standalone "Zero Proof Cocktails" section of six named drinks, each constructed on a real non-alcoholic base. Zero Crush ($13) uses Crodino with yuzu, Oddbird zero-proof sparkling wine and soda. Mitsu Mitsu ($12) is Ritual zero-proof gin with rosemary and yuzu honey. Akabanaa ($12) pairs Ritual zero-proof agave with a hibiscus-lime agave. Jonetsu ($14) is the boldest, combining Ghia with passion fruit and habanero. Shokuzen ($12) layers Giffard aperitif with Oddbird zero-proof red wine and a citrus oleo, and Carajillo Cero ($14) builds espresso, golden syrup and vanilla over Ritual zero-proof agave and Oddbird red. The support around those drinks is equally serious: zero-proof beer runs Athletic Brewing Free Wave and Best Day non-alcoholic Kölsch at $8 with Sapporo Premium at $7, and Oddbird non-alcoholic wines — a blanc de blancs, a white blend and a Grenache-Syrah-Mourvèdre — are poured at $14 a glass or $55 a bottle. Most notably, the zero-proof drinks are included in happy hour rather than excluded from it, with the Sapporo at $3 and the Mitsu Mitsu at $6 between 4pm and 6pm daily. Restaurants that discount their alcoholic drinks and leave the non-alcoholic ones at full price are common; this is the opposite, and it is the clearest signal of how the programme is regarded in-house.