Gabe Sanchez saved up for years to open the Black Swan Saloon. When he finally did, in 2010, he put it in Deep Ellum on West Elm Street and built it around a simple idea: artisan cocktails at working-man prices, served by someone who actually knew what he was doing. There was no menu. There was a velvet painting of Clint Eastwood behind the bar. The shelves were lined with house-infused liquors Gabe made himself — cold-brewed with farmers market fruit, nuts, coffee, whatever was right that week. You told him your spirit and your mood and he made something. People drove across town for it. Then they drove across town again.
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