Dichotomy opened on Monday of last week making coffee, cocktails and creating a conversation.
I was, I suppose intentionally, late to the party announcing this development here on the One More Bite blog. For one thing, I had too much on my plate Thanksgiving week. For another, waiting a week allowed me to soak up lots of opinion about Dichotomy.
Interesting that a place called Dichotomy could create such a split opinion.
On one side, there's the contingency who's excited to see something swanky arrive downtown. The decor by itself sets Dichotomy apart from many of its downtown neighbors. Owner Brett Jameson has been meticulous and demanding in creating a space the way he envisaged. He bucked advice of builders and decorators and his insistence resulted in a place with the consistent feel of cool and modern and classic. And, oh by the way, the coffee is outstanding. The cocktails are probably good too. I'm a straight whiskey drinker, so that's difficult to mess up. They carry one of my favorites, The Balvenie, so I'm happy.
On the other side of the aisle are folks I've heard jokingly balk at the prices, particularly of the cocktails. True the average price of a drink on the cocktail menu is north of $11. Take out the ultra-indulgent Balcones Flight at $14 and the average price is still $10.50. "I ordered a cocktail, but the paperwork on my loan is still being processed," said the guy looking for yucks.
"We know we're not going to get people who prefer to drink in other places," Jameson said. "What we want is to be something for people who don't' have anywhere else in town like this."
So far it's working. Reports have been that Dichotomy has been active most evenings and perhaps even packed. They're open until midnight on weekdays and until 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.
One more bite: Sergio's had its farmers market truck parked in front of Dichotomy over the weekend and Jameson said the plan is for that to be a regular installment. If that happens, that's a double dose of downtown game changing.
