Neighborhood bars usually take years, if not many years, to totally set up their character. Jive Turkey, a brand new Downtown dive situated throughout from Huntridge Middle on Maryland and Charleston, looks like an exception to that rule.
Housed within the former house of the historic Mahoney’s Drum Store and based by bar business veterans Sam Pulliam and Adam O’Donnell, Jive Turkey is each bit as funky as its identify suggests. The 4,300-square-foot bar, which options an outside courtyard and an adjoining constructing with seating and a stage for stay music, nails numerous retro motifs, from kitschy wallpaper within the restrooms to a classic mural of bursting stripes behind the bar. There’s even pure gentle inside—what an idea!
A time capsule involves thoughts when Pulliam thinks of the house, however he’s fast so as to add that Jive Turkey isn’t a ’70s-themed bar, “however a bar that would have existed within the ’70s.”
“Downtown spoke to us as a result of it’s truly received some fashion and historical past. Vegas is thought for knocking issues down and constructing anew,” says Pulliam. “We seemed on the Arts District, however then this space simply felt like the suitable timing and alternative to get into. …This constructing was inbuilt 1963, so making an attempt to shoehorn a bar into a novel house was thrilling.”
Jive Turkey highlights native historical past and pays respect in a number of methods. Its Bonneville cocktail ideas its hat to the Downtown road, but in addition delivers a banging recipe. There’s additionally a piece of the menu for Different Folks’s Property, which options cocktail staples just like the Cable Automobile and Infante from family names like Tony Abou-Ganim and Giuseppe González, respectively.
The remainder of the menu is exceptionally playful, with cocktails like Birds Aren’t Actual ($14) tapping into our interior conspiracy theorist, and Take It Within the Can ($14) unlocking a brand new appreciation for trip drinks with a chunk. In distinction, the Over 21 ($14), a concoction of cinnamon amaretto, rye whiskey and—look ahead to it—Yoo-hoo chocolate drink, sings again to our childhood in a approach no different cocktail can.
On prime of these choices, you can too select … mayhem. Jive Turkey’s menu presents an inventory of foolish actions. You possibly can pay to “ice” somebody with a bottle of Smirnoff. You possibly can pay to have your Polaroid taken and pinned to the wall. You possibly can even pay to have a very good cry within the bar’s walk-in, although hugs may include an additional charge.
It’s completely unserious, and Pulliam is aware of it. But it surely’s additionally what makes a memorable evening. That’s why there’s additionally a “household meal.”
“In eating places, you may have a household meal earlier than your shift,” Pulliam explains. “Should you stick with us till shut, most nights, we’re going to supply some form of enjoyable meals merchandise for these individuals who make it to the tip of the evening.”
Pulliam doesn’t establish Jive Turkey as a gastropub however sees its meals menu as “our greatest doable model of basic bar meals.” Being from Chicago, he needed to have a Chicago canine ($9) on the menu—the person’s received a tattoo of 1 on his forearm, for crying out loud. Pulliam says they cube all the standard toppings of the recent canine right into a relish, guaranteeing texture and consistency in each chunk. The Oklahoma-style onion smashburger ($9) additionally knocks it out of the park with a chuck, quick rib and brisket beef mix, thinly sliced onion, house-made burger sauce and pickles wedged right into a potato bun.
Acknowledging these tasty bites, the Quick Rib Sando ($16) is the standout.
“Our chef, Bruce Flowers, is braising quick ribs for 3 to 4 hours within the again with tons of greens and aromatics, and it turns into tremendous tender. Then he makes a gravy out of that, the renderings from all of the quick rib,” Pulliam says. “It goes on a sandwich with arugula, dijonnaise, caramelized onions and native sourdough from a bakery by my home, the Every day Bread.”
Should you’ve saved some room, you can too order Mother’s Dessert of the Week ($7) from Jive Turkey’s “different” chef.
“Adam’s mother actually volunteered herself as tribute to make us desserts,” Pulliam says. “The primary week she introduced in Texas sheet cake, a chocolate cake that she made. We had an apple rhubarb pie and a blueberry pie. She’s busy!”
You possibly can’t ask for extra character than that.
JIVE TURKEYÂ 608 S. Maryland Parkway #160, 702-202-0023. Every day, 3 p.m.-3 a.m.
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