Uchibā Dallas

Uchibā sits on the second floor above Uchi on Maple Avenue, and where the restaurant below is a sushi destination, Uchibā is a cocktail bar with a kitchen. It also happens to run the most complete non-alcoholic programme this directory found anywhere in Dallas — not one section but four, printed as n/a cocktails, n/a beer, n/a wines and n/a beverages. That structure is the whole story: four headings means the bar has accepted that a non-drinker's choices should be as wide as anyone else's, rather than picking one drink to be the answer.

The cocktails are the reason to make the trip. Mitsu Mitsu builds Ritual Zero Proof gin against yuzu, honey and rosemary; the Nattsu Sour uses Lyre's Amaretti with lemon and cherry, giving the nutty, sour profile that non-alcoholic lists almost never attempt; and the hibiscus margarita runs Ritual's tequila alternative into hibiscus agave and lime. Little Bird, built on sanbitter with pineapple and lime, covers the bitter end. They are priced identically to the alcoholic cocktails, which is a fair signal of how the bar regards them — and a rarer signal than it should be, since pricing is where most venues quietly rank the categories.

Beyond the cocktails the depth is unusual. The beer list carries Athletic Brewing's Run Wild IPA, Best Day Brewing's Kölsch and Sapporo's non-alcoholic lager; the wine list offers dealcoholised Oddbird by the glass or bottle, including a blanc de blancs and a GSM, which means a table sharing bottles does not have to leave a non-drinker out. Service runs 5pm to 11pm every day, so it works as a late drink after dinner elsewhere as readily as a destination in itself. For anyone who wants a genuine cocktail-bar evening in Dallas without alcohol, this is the strongest single answer in the city.