New Spanish Bar Brings Authentic Flair to Bishop Arts’ Red Hot Nightlife Scene

We thought Deep Ellum was the new Uptown for nightlife. But now it seems that Bishop Arts is all of a sudden taking over for cuisine and late night drinks and bites. The Exirr Hospitality courtyard with four brand new concepts — Paradiso, Botanist, Tejas and Good Companions — is now completely open.

And coming this November, a Spanish pincho bar will be opening in the neighborhood.

Sketches of Spain will serve Spanish-style tapas on sticks at 321 N. Zang Boulevard. The new Dallas bar comes from the team behind The Wild Detectives bookstore, including Javier Garcia del Moral and Paco Vique. They’ll also be adding Iñaki Betrán (Arzak) as chef and managing director.

“We’re all from Spain,” del Moral tells PaperCity. “And we wanted a different concept [than Wild Detectives] with the same idea of having people talking and spending time together around food and drinks.”

Only about a block over from The Wild Detectives bookstore and cafe, Sketches will serve pinchos by having customers point and choose what they want. Pinchos are different than tapas in that they are not shareable, but individual bites, often on toothpicks.

“It’s flexible,” del Moral says. “You order as you go.” At Sketches, there’s going to be a lot to choose from.

So far on the menu, there are Patatas bravas (baby potatoes with aioli and spicy sauce), Gazpacho/salmorejo (a cold tomato soup with vegetables), Champiñones jerez/ajillo (mushrooms sautéed with garlic and dry chili/sherry sauce), Escalivada (roasted veggie salad), Gambas ajillo (prawns in a mild garlic, chili and olive oil), Pulpo a feira (octopus), Calamar frito/tinta (fried squid or squid in ink), Piquillo relleno de bacalao (cod stuffed with red pepper), Croquestas pollo/jamon (chicken and Ham croquettes), Flamenquines (battered ham and cheese stuffed pork steak), Rabo de toro (oxtail stew), and Callos con garbanzos (tripe, chorizo and chickpeas pot).

Del Moral and his team chose the name for Sketches of Spain not only for their love of the 1960 Miles Davis album of the same name, but because of what the words mean. First off, all the guys are from Spain and second, del Moral says that pinchos are like small sketches of a plate.

“It’ll be a space where you can stay for hours,” he says. “Friends can either drink, have a bite, or eat a full dinner.”

As for the design and vibe, del Moral says that the spot is not a Spanish restaurant, but a bar that you can find in Spain, or even Mexico. He notes that Sketches will have a strong cocktail bar and will be open for lunch and dinner.

“The main thing is the experience and being a place to just hang out,” del Moral says.