Category: Wine Bar Reviews

Times Ten Cellars

How do I love Times Ten Cellars?  Let me count the ways…let’s go with ten!

  1. The overall laid-back vibe of the tasting room, lounge and outdoor patio is perfect no matter what season.
  2. Every server is knowledgeable and extremely friendly. They treat you like you are part of their family.
  3. The servers are great at making recommendations and don’t hesitate to steer you away from a wine they don’t think you will be happy with. For example, we loved their 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon.  But when they sold out of it and the 2012 was offered, they let us know we needed to give it a little more time to age in the bottle.
  4. They actually make their own wines! Some of the grapes they use, according to their website, are grown at their Cathedral Mountain Vineyard located south of Alpine, Texas.  They also use grapes grown at various California vineyards.
  5. They offer a small selection of other wines.
  6. You can buy a flight, a glass or a bottle. And you can purchase bottles to take home.
  7. There is often great people-watching from your comfortable seat in the lounge area. On weekend nights there is usually a party or reception in the tank room and you can usually catch a glimpse of the bride or guest of honor and hear live music.
  8. They have a great array of appetizers and a few salads you can order.
  9. You can order pizza from several nearby restaurants and they will deliver it right to your table!
  10. Drum roll please…my very favorite thing at Times Ten is their Artichoke Spinach dip. We have tried many dips at other tasting rooms and restaurants and NOTHING compares to this dip.

We visit Times Ten Cellars about every three weeks.  It is wise to call ahead just to make sure they are not closed for a private event.  Often if they are, they will serve you at their additional building next door.  One of our favorite things to do on a Saturday night is to start out the evening at Times Ten with a glass of Petite Syrah accompanied of course by the Artichoke Spinach Dip while sitting either in their lounge or on their patio.  Then we buy a bottle to take with us to a favorite Italian restaurant that is BYOB.

Times Ten Cellars is located in the Lakewood neighborhood of Dallas.

6324 Prospect Avenue                  timestencellars.com

214-824-9463

Bodega Wine Bar review

Bodega Wine Bar
6434 East Mockingbird Lane
(Southeast corner of Abrams and Mockingbird)
Dallas, Texas
About 5 years ago on a cold winter evening, my husband and I happened to find this wonderful, cozy, romantic wine bar tucked away in Travis Walk.  They had a great selection of wines by the glass as well as flights and bottles.  We equally enjoyed it as a cool reprieve on summer evenings.  Then several months after our last visit we showed up on a Saturday evening to find Bodega gone…with no forwarding address.
Fast forward to another chilly evening a few months ago (we really need to move to a tropical island).  I was searching online for a new Dallas area wine bar to try and lo and behold Bodega resurfaced!  We were so happy to check out this old friend in a new location.  And we were surprised to find it had been there for almost a year. While the new site is in a strip center compared with the chic locale of its former days, the inside was very similar: dark, romantic, comfortable furniture and an added benefit, two faux fire places.  Still owned by Amier Taherzadeh, he and his wife were the servers and the menu offered a broad variety of wines by the glass, flight or bottle.  The ad says you can bring your own bottle for a $10 corkage which is a nice benefit if you are having a small party, but we prefer trying new wines and learning about them from Amier.
They do offer meat and cheese trays and they don’t mind if you bring in food from the neighboring taco joint or Italian restaurant which is what we may try the next time.
Bodega will definitely remain on our wine bar “circuit”.  Welcome back!
Bodegabardallas.com
(214) 704 4538