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Rex Banner would have had his hands full at Bolsa last night, as they celebrated the repeal of dryness with a Prohibition Era-themed party.

Bartenders Eddie "Lucky" Campbell and Jason Cosmas, formerly of Neighborhood Services, whipped up cocktails like the "Manhattan Club" (rye, bitters, Orange Curacao and sweet vermouth) and the "Last Ward" (gin, Maraschino, lime and green chartreuse).

Our photographer Kevin Todora brought his picture-taking-device, of course, and was able to grab shots of the signature cocktails of the night. Make the jump and check it out--unless you have to catch a talkie.

Check out more in Kevin Todora's slideshow.

Find this article at: http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/cityofate/2010/12/oh_my_a_picture_show_prohibiti.php

Its haute cuisine and hip vibe have pulled off the nearly impossible: people from Plano are now venturing to Oak Cliff.

Oak Cliff's Bolsa was not the first restaurant in Dallas to hit the locavore highway, but it is the finest example of the new spirit of dining here. In place of pretension, Bolsa offers honesty. The notion of using local ingredients isn't a gimmick here; it's a matter of practicality. The kitchen doesn't have a freezer. Chef Graham Dodds is devoted to finding naturally raised organic ingredients from regional growers, ranchers, and fishermen. In his spare time, he makes honey from the beehives in his backyard.

The menu, which changes frequently, is short and sublime. There are noshes such as cheese, flatbreads, salads, and a small stable of market specials priced from $12 to $25. It's a great place to pop in for a quick drink on your way home from work or a reason to drive all the way across town to enjoy a delicious, thoughtfully prepared meal in a laid-back but bustling dining room.

It's easy to stay on a budget at Bolsa. You can split a unique $25 bottle of wine and a $12 bruschetta sampler and feel like you've savored fine dining. The platter contains three combinations that rotate seasonally, including: prosciutto and medjool dates; smoked salmon, crème fraîche, and capers; and Fuji apple, toasted pine nuts, and P'tit Basque, a wonderfully earthy French sheep's milk cheese.

The restaurant is always crowded with an eclectic mix of diners. At the bar, medical workers in Converse sneakers sit next to Parkies in Jimmy Choos. An old hippie couple in matching Birkenstocks sips Lone Star on tap and splits a Twig and Branch flatbread with bitter wild arugula tossed with goat cheese and oven-roasted red grapes. Gays, straights, parents, teachers, young, and old all melt into one peace-love-and-Woodstock vibe.

Who would have ever guessed that a rundown auto garage on Davis Street in North Oak Cliff would morph into a mecca for all of Dallas? Hurry up and don't mind the wait. Bolsa doesn't take reservations. —Nancy Nichols

Find this article at: http://www.dmagazine.com/Home/D_Magazine/2009/December/Best_New_Restaurants_in_Dallas_2009.aspx

For the finest patio in Dallas, look no further than Bolsa. Located near the Bishop Art's Center in Oak Cliff, Bolsa nails down the perfect approach to dining. It's hip but not pretentious, elegant but not stuffy. Bolsa takes itself seriously, but still manages to be a heck of a lot of fun. Now, two years after opening, Bolsa still manages to zip and crackle with energy, and it's peerless patio is one of the reasons why.

For starters, the patio has a rustic, desert feel, but in an urban setting. “Austin cool”, I am told. The choice of colors--warm browns, oranges, and creams--soothe the mind into a state of tranquility. Cacti are everywhere, in the small garden in front of the restaurant, in small tin pots at each table, and in planters made from old lawnmower tires. Specially designed tables with soft padded benches are comfortable to sit on. The mosaic concrete floor is recycled; it once covered the inside floor back when the building was used as a garage. Full-length mosquito netting hangs from ceiling to floor, keeping out unwanted stinging guests during the hot months.

However, the showcase of the patio is the bar that opens into the restaurant. When the weather is right, a retractable overhead door opens up letting outside air in, making Bolsa feel unlike any other restaurant in Dallas. When Bolsa says they're big on “fresh”, by golly, they mean it. Sitting at the outside bar is, in my opinion, the best seat in the house. You get the best of both worlds since the bar, located smack dab in the middle of the place, always bustles with action. Why wait in lines at the theater when there's a movie going on right in front of you? The restaurant on the other side is a good source of entertainment as well, offering much in way of people watching and affording a great view of Bolsa's exposed, busy kitchen.

But one of the main reasons to visit Bolsa is to sample its ever-changing list of seasonal cocktails, and sipping on one of these elixirs while relaxing on the patio is the next best thing to heaven. Like the kitchen, Bolsa offers a fresh-forward approach to its bar menu, fully taking advantage of the season's best choices of fruits and vegetables. You're likely to see drinks overflowing with juicy piles of watermelon, peaches, and Bing cherries. And the drink selections are extraordinary. Most of the cocktails, like the Kama Sutra and the Pumpkin Spice Old Fashioned, are the creations of lead bartender Eddie “Lucky” Campbell. Possibly the best bartender I've ever laid eyes on, Campbell takes great pains to ensure that each season's selections pair with the savory delicacies coming out of the kitchen. Campbell mixes each cocktail with love, and he's quite the showman; it's not uncommon for him to narrate the history and legends behind your favorite cocktails as he dazzles you with his impressive creative skills. Seriously folks, this guy is talented. He even spray paints on top of one of his cocktails.

Bolsa's bar also offers stuff you're not going to find anywhere else in Dallas. Cocktail snobs will swoon when they discover hard to find spirits like St. George Absinthe and Punt e Mes behind the bar. The selection of draught beer is decent, with several rotating taps and Lone Star available at all times. For wines, Bolsa's list is impressive, and Tuesday night is half-priced bottle night. Yes, I said half-priced. Be sure to put that on your social calendar.

Bolsa's unique approach to casual dining works on so many different levels, it's easy to see why the restaurant is so beloved by Dallas diners. Be forewarned, if you're hitting the place up during peak hours, you might have to wait for a bit, even for a seat on the patio. Don't despair; you can use the time to sample some of Bolsa's delicious cocktails. Waiting for a table never tasted so good.

Find this article at: http://www.examiner.com/bartender-in-dallas/dallas-best-patio-bars-1-bolsa

By Dave Faries

Years ago, in response to a seeming onslaught of prepackaged goods and quick-service chain restaurants, a few activist gourmands began spouting the moral superiority of "slow foods." Not just organic or free-range, mind you, but also locally grown and "sustainable."

Forgetting that in the days when people ate natural foods by necessity—say, the glorious 1600s—life was pretty much nasty, brutish and short, some of the more demanding of this group moved beyond personal smugness. For example, a certain famous California chef—let's call her "Alice"—once complained in an interview about low produce costs and the year-round availability of vegetables. 'Twould be better, apparently, for those pesky lower-middle-class peasants to suffer scurvy all winter.

Or just drop dead completely.

Now, there are a couple of ways to take advantage of a following. One is, of course, adopting an air of self-righteousness. Then there's the tried-and-tested Jimmy Swaggart method—preach family values while privately partying it up and wail "I have sinned" to adoring audiences when caught—that still pays dividends in red states. But the folks behind Bolsa chose to ignore both. Instead, the little Oak Cliff restaurant appeals to trendy sensitivities without turning its back on the common, everyday and affordable.

For example, while they purchase as much as possible from nearby farms or fishing boats plying Texas waters, the owners also interpret "local" to mean Lone Star Beer, on tap. The "Fall Classic" salad from their lunch menu includes apples, fennel, greens and golden raisins, atop which sit several strips of pork, pounded wafer-thin, rolled in meal and pan-fried—a schnitzel for the health-conscious, but at the same time something worthy of the season.

Hog-killing time came to the old South once temperatures dropped low enough to ward off insects. This was also the last of the apple harvest and the days when dried fruits first appeared. Perhaps that's why the combination feels so natural: crunchy pork schnitzel, tasting of nuts and butter with a gentle meatiness in the background; crisp fall fruit; raisins as dense as port wine; the unique sugary-salty-sour rush of apple-maple vinaigrette. If there's a weak spot in this otherwise well-considered salad, it's the rather timid mound of greens which, though colorful, contribute little more than filler.

But few dishes better illustrate Bolsa's sophisticated yet simple, trendy but comfortable, kitschy-without-losing-touch-with-the-neighborhood vibe. The owners—a quartet of former bar grunts—fashioned a look that speaks of "wise use," reinventing an old auto repair shop into a cool and airy dining space while keeping the original structure intact. Chef Graham Dodds relies in large part on seasonal ingredients, carted in daily—the restaurant has no walk-in freezer, and storage space is at a minimum. Thus butternut squash recently replaced tomato on one of their bruschetta offerings, lending a softer tone to the underlying basil and goat cheese. Caprese disappeared in favor of something called "Bolsa Bibb," a toss with watermelon radish in yogurt dill. And, of course, December is not generally kind to leafy green vegetables.

A few weak spots pop up on Dodds' ever-changing menu, however. His Carolina-style pulled pork sandwich lacks the sharp, vinegar counterpoint one expects in that particular style of barbecue. Beef stew spiked with Lone Star beer took on a strangely vigorous sweet and tangy character, as if the kitchen resorted to molasses in order to thicken the broth—not necessarily a bad thing, although the reeking sugar eventually wore on my palate until it refused to accept other flavors (such as beef, sliced carrots and potatoes). Bruschetta topped with smoked salmon, pickled onions and bright crème fraîche stood out on one visit, thanks to the fish's acrid baritone. On another occasion an over-eager dollop of very good honey washed every nuance away.

For the most part, Bolsa beats other establishments in its price range. Seared scallops present the brisk taste of shellfish under a rakish veneer smacking of burnished pepper, charred meat residue and anything else that falls under the "caramelized" heading. Balance this against late fall's side of citrus-infused quinoa and the soothing earthiness of chestnuts and you get hurdy-gurdy flavors, flying upward and down, constantly cackling and buzzing, yet always under control. Earlier in the season, those same beautiful scallops found more rustic kinship in a hash of potatoes and bacon. Mussels now steeped in red sauce were previously presented in a Texas version of a la marinière, substituting Lone Star and ginger for the usual white wine-shallot combination, and to good effect. Flatbread with Jimmy's sausage plays up the meat's savory side with a spread of herbal tomato paste, redolent of oregano but also slyly sweet. Splotches of porcelain-white mozzarella and surprisingly potent banana peppers help turn this cracker-thin "pizza" into something memorable. Bisque of butternut squash is so intense it risks redundancy as you slurp through spoonful after spoonful. But they offset the buttery earth tone with an undercurrent of pepper, a cool balsamic drizzle and the eclectic patter of herbs.

No wonder wait times of up to an hour for tables are common some nights—and that people are very keen on preserving the restaurant's reputation.

Find this article at: http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-12-18/dining/bolsa-delicious-slow-food-without-the-smug/