{"id":219772,"date":"2026-03-25T13:40:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T13:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/219772\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T13:40:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T13:40:12","slug":"inside-kilmacs-one-of-dallas-most-anticipated-new-bars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/219772\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside Kilmac\u2019s, one of Dallas\u2019 most anticipated new bars"},"content":{"rendered":"

You know the saying: One Dallas guy\u2019s man cave is another\u2019s … cocktail den, pizza shop and backyard bar called Kilmac\u2019s<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Maybe that\u2019s not the saying. <\/p>\n

But it could be: As the story goes, Oak Cliff resident Ron Patterson lived near West Davis Street. He bought a former mechanic\u2019s garage, and on pleasant days, he\u2019d throw open the doors to reveal the lounge he\u2019d built for himself with TVs, ping-pong and pool tables. Patterson died in 2021, and Dallas bar owner Feargal McKinney \u2014 whom Dallasites know as founder of Irish pub The Old Monk \u2014 bought Patterson\u2019s home and man cave. <\/p>\n

After more than a year of construction and permitting<\/a>, Patterson\u2019s former hangout is now Kilmac\u2019s. It opens March 25, 2026, yet already has a story to tell. <\/p>\n

Restaurant News<\/p>\n

Get the scoop on the latest openings, closings, and where and what to eat and drink.<\/p>\n

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\"Inside<\/p>\n

Inside the front door at Kilmac’s is a dark room with a big bar.<\/p>\n

El\u00edas Valverde II \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

The interior is dark, and the Santa Muerte mezcal drink garnished with a jalape\u00f1o feels just right under a low-lit candelabra. But out in the garden, it\u2019s like a sunny seat in the Hill Country where a bartender might toss a High Noon out of the 1966 refurbished Airstream trailer parked in the corner. <\/p>\n

The vibe here \u2014 young, but open to all \u2014 feels like an Oak Cliff drinking spot Patterson might have liked, the owners said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019d pick a favorite stool and never get off it,\u201d McKinney said.<\/p>\n

\"Outside<\/p>\n

Outside of Kilmac’s is a sunny garden with an Airstream bar.<\/p>\n

El\u00edas Valverde II \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

Investing in Oak Cliff<\/p>\n

One of the first things to know about Kilmac\u2019s is it\u2019s next door to Dallas\u2019 second Old Monk<\/a>. Some 26 years after the original Old Monk opened on Henderson Avenue in East Dallas, McKinney and his team opened one on West Davis Street in Oak Cliff, hoping to reach a new audience of Dallas pubgoers without watering down the original.<\/p>\n

That they opened a second bar next door shouldn\u2019t be a surprise: This team picks a block and sticks to it. On Henderson Avenue, for instance, McKinney opened The Old Monk, then The Skellig<\/a>, then Spider Murphy\u2019s.<\/p>\n

McKinney said his two newest bars in Oak Cliff are \u201cdeliberately not competing. They\u2019re complementing. <\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe it gives people a reason to drive down and try two places.\u201d<\/p>\n

What to eat and drink<\/p>\n

The cocktail list is 70% classics, said operating partner Charles Reis, a visionary behind Kilmac\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\"Co-owner<\/p>\n

Co-owner Charles Reis (left) and general manager Cameron Westmoreland are two of several who created Kilmac’s in Oak Cliff.<\/p>\n

El\u00edas Valverde II \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

Options include a daiquiri with toasted coconut rum that tastes like summer ($16); and an old-fashioned with a Guinness beer reduction ($17), a nod to the Irish pub next door. <\/p>\n

Martinis continue to be popular, Reis said, and Kilmac\u2019s version is an ice-cold mix of gin with hints of saffron, plus vermouth and a touch of sweetness from Cocchi Americano. The $17 cocktail is the result of dozens of iterations to find the best martini recipe to suit Kilmac\u2019s, Reis said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a million different ways to make a martini. We made so many.” (Vodka drinkers, Kilmac\u2019s will make a martini for you, too, though the gin martini will be the bar\u2019s signature.)<\/p>\n

At happy hour from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, cocktails cost $9.<\/p>\n

For food, Kilmac\u2019s offers about a dozen pizzas, from straight-ahead pepperoni to drunken pepperoni with vodka sauce and jalape\u00f1o, each $19. Reis expects bargoers to order a 12-inch pie and share it. The crust is thick enough to hold a slice in one hand \u2014 important, when there might be a drink in the other.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Piccante pizza at Kilmac’s is topped with soppressata (Italian pork salami), Calabrian chiles, tomato sauce, mozzarella, whipped ricotta, Mike’s Hot Honey and basil, $19.<\/p>\n

El\u00edas Valverde II \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

Dallas pizza consultant Lee Hunzinger is behind the New York-inspired pizzas. Customers can also order Hunzinger\u2019s garlic knots served with warm marinara ($12) as a snack.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A small neon sign outside of Kilmac’s welcomes customers to the bar. The longtime building on West Davis Street in Oak Cliff was once a mechanic’s garage, then a man cave.<\/p>\n

El\u00edas Valverde II \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

To make this bar come to life, in-house creative Anne Combs traveled to the Hill Country and to New Mexico. The room also has hints of Ireland, where McKinney was born and where his team has traveled for R & D. <\/p>\n

Kilmac\u2019s has some similarities to The Skellig on Henderson Avenue, but it was created specifically for this Oak Cliff neighborhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all feel really confident about what it is,\u201d Reis said.<\/p>\n

Kilmac\u2019s is at 814 W. Davis St., Dallas. Open Wednesdays through Sundays. Evenings only, for now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You know the saying: One Dallas guy\u2019s man cave is another\u2019s … cocktail den, pizza shop and backyard…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":219773,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[5461,102,104,103,5468,4896,1623,1622,354],"class_list":["post-219772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-bars-and-cocktails","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-italian-food","tag-oak-cliff","tag-restaurant-news","tag-restaurant-openings","tag-restaurants"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}