Brandon Y.
Yelp
From the creators of nearby subterranean Here Nor There, In Plain Sight is a tiny, trendy street-level cocktail bar with a more casual and laidback feel and a focus on highball cocktails.
I've walked by this spot many times before its opening thinking it would become a lounge for a WeWork or something. When I received an email out of the blue from HNT mentioning that In Plain Sight, a cool cocktail bar staffed with the same mixologists as HNT, was opening in the spot, I grew quite excited. Adding to the excitement, I also saw that this new bar would not be taking reservations, which in my book is a huge plus.
When you first enter this space, you immediately notice several things. First, the whole bar is illuminated in a soft red-orange color. Second, the space is tiny. On the other side of the city, there is the notable "Tiniest Bar in Texas," which I think may be dethroned by this spot. Third, as opposed to HNT where you are shepherded along by several servers before you reach your seat, in IPS, you are there with the bartender and a single waitstaff--which I think is a nice cozy vibe. Fourth, while HNT tends to play old school hip hop, IPS played many classics from the mid-20th century--again a nice vibe.
The mixologist here was a great guide when it came to the menu and he made a point to highlight that the menu focuses on the highball style. The highball style is based around a spirit or aromatized wine, some sort of seltzer or bubbly ingredient, and often times other accompaniments to add flavor or texture. It's generally a simple style, but this bar really shows how far you can push this often overlooked style.
The following are all the drinks we had the chance to try. Open Sesame is a good bet for those wanting to capture the essence of more of a classic style whiskey highball: refreshing, quenching, mildly sweet with a nice sesame finish. Caribbean Dream was a slightly more spirit forward drink that was sort of like a modern tropical martini. Southern Pearl had a very nice presentation: a large clear ice cube with a translucent egg white-infused libation poured atop. It was smooth, had some subtle botanical notes from the gin, along with some tannic and herbal qualities from a tea blend. In Plain Cider was refreshing and tasted as its name would suggest; it was the sweetest thing that we tried this night. Dublin Drop was a tasty, smokey sparkling drink with a fair amount of sweetness added to balance things out. Finally, Sante will be fairly recognizable to many who've been to HNT: it's essentially a derivative of HNT's Slainte, a decadent warm coffee drink, only this version has a delicious kick of almondy amaretto goodness.
Altogether, I'm a big fan of this new place and will be coming back again pretty soon if I can find a spot to squeeze into at the bar. I really like the fact that this place is more laidback, allowing one to chat with the barstaff and other patrons.