Lowest Greenville Is the Place to Be in Dallas

By Stirling Kelso, Travel+Leisure

A decade ago, Lower Greenville in northeast Dallas was dominated by seedy bars and late-night clubs—a strange fit for a neighborhood filled with charming residential streets lined with craftsman-style houses. But in the past few years, groups of the city’s creative class have spotted potential behind the grit, and it’s now the city’s top stop for inventive, one-of-a-kind restaurants, cocktail bars and a growing retail scene that eschews the big chains. Despite the gentrification, Lower Greenville has maintained its casual, rough-around-the-edges vibe. And nowhere is this more apparent than at the neighborhood’s southern base, which has become a de facto HQ for Dallas’ young, up-and-coming chefs (along with a high concentration of yogis and artists). Here, our favorite finds on the pedestrian-friendly streets of this swath of Lower Greenville—the blocks of which have been dubbed Lowest Greenville by its tight-knit residents.

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Touring Dallas' Lowest Greenville Neighborhood

The Blind Butcher

This meat-focused restaurant is best known for its charcuterie and hand-cranked sausages, almost all of it made in-house by executive chef Oliver Sitrin (who also ferments vegetables for pickles and makes the restaurant’s own mustard and potato chips). The Blind Butcher celebrates lesser-known proteins such as spider steaks (a cut of beef that sits on the hip) and fried pig ears, served with orange fennel aioli (best eaten with one of the many craft brews on tap). You can balance out the beef and pork with a watermelon or butter leaf salad, but it’s hard to get away from meat here, even with dessert: the restaurant’s signature chocolate cake is cooked with marrow (for extra richness) and served in a hollowed out bone. Any doubts about the weirdness of the dish fade away after the first decadent bite.
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Dude, Sweet Chocolate

“I’m known for adding things like curry, vinegar, and Romano cheese for savory elements that balance out the sweetness,” says Texas-born pastry chef Katherine Clapner, who has worked around the world (including in London’s Savoy hotel and in Venice’s Hotel Cipriani) and credits her unusual ingredients—chickpeas for crunch, tobacco for heat, porcini mushrooms for earthiness—for the popularity behind her dark chocolate creations. Her minimalist store, where bars and boozy syrup bottles are displayed like pieces of art, is also a welcome departure from the flowery and feminine décor that usually defines candy shops. And what does Clapner love about this little slice of Dallas? “The neighborhood is very pedestrian friendly and social, so people are constantly popping in to buy gifts or sample new creations.”

Truck Yard

Picnic tables and retro lawn chairs dot the shaded patio at this beer garden, which opened in a former auto parts shop three years ago. It’s since become the heart and soul of Greenville for its regulars, embodying the neighborhood’s laid-back vibe, largely thanks to the setting. “We built it in a salvage yard, so it’s no surprise that we wanted it to be relaxed—a place you can be comfortable in flip-flops,” says owner Jason Boso. Friendly bartenders pull about a dozen brews on tap, including local suds by Texas Ale Project, Deep Ellum Brewery, and the Bishop Cider Company, and after snagging a pint, patrons head to one of the on-site food trucks for a bite from Little Greek (for chicken pitas) or Not Just Q, (for brisket sandwiches). There’s also live music on weekends. “Lowest Greenville feels like a tiny town in the big city, with historic buildings and beautiful residential streets,” says Boso. “We’ve quickly learned that even Dallas’ high income, well-to-do neighbors want to drink beer out of a can and put their feet up on an old tire sometimes.”
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Bullzerk 

“Regulars pop in with t-shirt ideas and feedback, while newcomers want to see what we’re making on our back-of-the-house screen printer,” says owner Dan Bradley, a former graphic designer who opened his t-shirt and print shop in 2015. “We run our screen printer nearly everyday, so you can literally buy a shirt hot off the press.” It’s not just t-shirts, though—you can find everything from framed posters to baby onesies here, and Bradley sites his Lowest Greenville neighborhood as a source of comfort for a first-time business owner. “The residents here believe in supporting small businesses, and I love seeing my neighbors out walking their dogs, hitting the gym, or grabbing a coffee or beer.”

Good Records

Owner Chris Penn was always obsessed with music, spending much of his San Antonio youth in record stores hoping to score some gems. So it was a dream come true when Penn (who has lived in Lower Greenville for almost a decade) opened Good Records 16 years ago, which not only sells a vast selection of LPs and CDs, but also serves as a neighborhood hangout of sorts, hosting several in-store concerts, DJ sets and parties throughout the year. The store carries a wide range of artists that are organized alphabetically, and if you spend enough time browsing through the stacks, you might strike vinyl gold (they’ve sold the Beatles Butcher Cover—a rare edition of their 1966 album, “Yesterday and Today”—a handful of times). Buyers need to move fast, though: Penn prices his merchandise to move, and sometimes his records are snatched up within a day of being displayed.

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