Saint Valentine, a neighborhood bar, will soon serve boilermakers and bar bites from a delicious corner of Old East Dallas.
Saint Valentine is catty-corner from Jimmy’s Food Store, the 57-year-old Italian grocer that serves some of the best sandwiches in town. The bar will be across the street from Urbano Cafe and near the 50-year-old Dallasite dive bar. (Dallasites in the area are still mourning the loss of Khao Noodle Shop and Mai’s Restaurant, the neighboring Lao and Vietnamese restaurants that each closed last year.)
Saint Valentine will move into the former Top Round, a roast beef shop. We’d been wondering what the construction was all about.
The bar is a collaboration between two restaurateurs who have run some of Dallas’ best cocktail spots: Gabe Sanchez, who created the Black Swan Saloon that closed in Deep Ellum in 2020, and he later worked at Midnight Rambler in downtown Dallas; and Ryan Payne, who opened Tiny Victories in Oak Cliff and has also worked at Midnight Rambler.
The feel at Saint Valentine is a “home away from home,” as Sanchez puts it.
Saint Valentine is designed to be a comfortable, stay-awhile bar inspired by the 130-person town of Valentine in West Texas. There are two bits of symbolism with the name: First, they loved the lore of the tiny Texas town, which is said to have been settled on Valentine’s Day by a railroad crew. And second, they like the story of the Roman priest Valentine, who was beheaded for continuing to perform marriages after an emperor banned them.
“I thought, well, that’s kinda rock ‘n roll,” Sanchez says.
He and Payne have been thinking about opening a bar together for years. Plans for the Old East Dallas spot have been in motion since mid-2022.
They’re still hard at work on the cocktail menu. They’re planning on serving a tropical rum drink with pineapple skins called Big Booty Trudi. And they’re excited for an “umami freezer martini” made with goose-fat-washed gin.
“In theory, it should be the coolest — a little bit funky — martini you’ve had,” Sanchez says.
Saint Valentine will have food from chef Jordan Edwards. The menu will be thoughtful but not fussy, the two owners say. In addition to a burger, Edwards plans to make tinned fish boards. Maybe some noodles.
“It’ll be an eclectic take on what we think is good food,” Sanchez says. Food to drink with, you could say.
Saint Valentine will be at 4800 Bryan St., Dallas. It’s expected to open in November 2023.
