In Dallas, four things remain supreme. A strong cocktail (a cold beer will suffice), good, hearty food, a passion for sports, and parking. The Loon Bar and Grill in Dallas has a rare combination of all four.
Remember, Dallas is a city with valet parking at shopping malls, hospitals, sporting venues, and airports. Does one really have to valet at North Park Mall – with its 3,000 parking spaces – to get a smoothie at the food court?
Despite now stiff competition, The Loon is a survivor. Located in a non-descript shopping mall that is older than 90% of the area residents, The Loon has been on the corner of Lemmon and McKinney before uptown became “Uptown”. And on most occasions, one can park for free and avoid the $5 valet many bars attach when you are stopping in for a $4 beer.
Proprietor Cliff Gonzalez has long believed in the area way before it became a destination, let alone fashionable. McKinney Avenue, despite its proximity to downtown, was a dustbowl. He was involved in the late Montezuma’s and the once venerable Primo’s (before an ownership change stripped it of its pizzazz). The area was growing up around him, with a plethora of high rise living spaces, self contain mini-towns (see West Village), and a revolving door of concept restaurants.
Gonzalez opened The Loon in the space once occupied by Joe Miller’s, a hangout for the newspaper crowd back when the Dallas Morning News and the Dallas Times Herald battled it out for supremacy in the print medium. Joe died, leaving the bar to the family uninterested in running it. The Loon emerged, and is twice the bar Joe Miller’s was, literally.
After a successful decade, the Loon doubled in size when acquiring the property next door. A large, rectangular bar is now the prominent feature, where back in the old days the fireplace took precedence.
The Loon could loosely be classified as a sports bar, with numerous TV’s and some sports memorabilia on the walls. But the greatest honor The Loon received in local sports lore occurred on June 13, 2011 when the first place in Dallas the world champion Dallas Mavericks and owner Mark Cuban took the Larry O’Brien trophy was The Loon. My guess is the tab was not as large as the $110,000 tab ($90K plus a $20K tip) Cuban picked up at the victory party in Miami the night before.
Open at 11:00, the bar is full of regulars. Cliff holds court at a table near the one pool table, while the other daily visitors sit at the bar as if it were assigned seating. The bar inventory blocks the sightlines from one side to the other, and that’s the way the patrons like it. And you can always identify the people who have never been to The Loon before when they ask for a draft beer. Beer is available in bottles and cans only.
At night, the bar becomes decidedly younger and more crowded. Food is available from open to close. The menu has traditional burgers and sandwiches, pastas, and pizzas, although the pork sandwich was the item that got the Loon noticed years ago. Today, in addition to the menu, a chalkboard features an ever-changing four items that can include roasted chicken, scallops, tilapia, cioppino, pork chops, and osso bucco. They never disappoint. Most dishes are served with a side or in the case of the cioppino, garlic bread.
The Loon also possesses a fifth quality rarely found in Dallas: loyalty. As places come and go, changing names and concepts and moving the valet parking stands, The Loon has sat as a tried and true watering hole with consistently good food while it customers – old and new – remain loyal. –D.M.