Puff on This

6 top cigar bars around Dallas-Fort Worth for a smoke and a sip

Find the right whiskey to go with your cigar at Silver Leaf.

Cigars may be an acquired taste, but those who love them also love a place to enjoy them. Although cigarettes (and sometimes e-cigs) are banned within bars and restaurants, there are a few spots around Dallas-Fort Worth where you can peruse the humidor, select a cigar, and light it up.

If you want to add a glass of whiskey or wine to that ritual, you can certainly do that at one of these top six, presented in alphabetical order:

Addison Cigar & Tobacco Club
This cigar shop sits right on the edge of Addison Airport, overlooking the runway. If that doesn't sound at all like a place you want to hang out, consider this: It has a large humidor and plush chairs, and if you're a member, you get to spend time in the bigger, more opulent members' lounge.

Cigar Art
Found in the pedestrian-friendly Bishop Arts District in Dallas, this BYOB cigar bar is just made for relaxing. Grab a growler of cider — Bishop Cider Company is conveniently located across the street — and sit back and relax in the manly, yet not unwelcoming, small bar.

Cigar Lounge at Chamberlain’s
Chamberlain's in Addison is known mainly as a high-end steak and seafood restaurant, but its cigar lounge is a destination unto itself, with a sophisticated yet relaxed vibe. Reservations are recommended for this location, but the live music and customized service make it well worth it.

Dallas Cigars
Relaxed, friendly staff is exactly what you find at this cigar shop on Greenville Avenue in Dallas. This BYOB joint carries a large selection of cigars, pipes, tobacco, humidors, and all the help you need to get going to enjoy a relaxing time with friends.

Silver Leaf Cigar Lounge
A destination within Fort Worth's Sundance Square, Silver Leaf features a sleek bar with an extensive list of whiskey to go along with your cigar, which you can select in the large, walk-in humidor.

Taboo Cigar Bar & Lounge
Two lounges — one public, one private — are what make this cigar bar in North Richland Hills worth a stop. The yearly membership to the VIP lounge nets you some pretty sweet discounts, but even if you opt to just swing by the public area, you won't be disappointed by the cocktails or the humidor.

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Chef News

Fort Worth's Will Rogers Memorial Center welcomes bright new chef

FortWorthtx.gov

Will Rogers Memorial Center

There's a new chef in town: Waylon Cornelius, named executive chef of catering and concessions for Craft Culinary Concepts, the food and beverage provider at Will Rogers Memorial Center.

Will Rogers Memorial Center is the 120-acre entertainment complex anchoring Fort Worth’s Cultural District, owned and operated by the City of Fort Worth. Cornelius will oversee menus for trade shows and other events at the center which bring in more than 2 million visitors a year.

Craft Culinary Concepts is headquartered in Glendale, Arizona, and manages food and beverage programs for entertainment, sports and cultural facilities.

Chef Waylon Corneliusfortworthtx.gov

According to a release, Cornelius joined the team this summer and is already shifting the expectations of guests from a typical “BBQ and beans” menu to a bill of fare satisfying every kind of palate.

“We always have fajitas ready to go, but we also make a beautiful Beef Wellington or baked salmon with a pink salt crust,” Cornelius says in a statement.

For consumer trade shows, Craft and its partners Caribou and Taco Heads offer more choices for the thousands of guests who attend events at WRMC annually.

“Some of our equestrian guests are away from home and here for several days, and they need more than popcorn and hot dogs,” Cornelius says. “Our concessions offer biscuits and gravy, burritos made in-house, strawberry salad, fruit and yogurt cups.”

A native of Mansfield, Cornelius grew up helping in a farm-to-table kitchen. He was raised on a farm with his mother, grandmother, and grandfather -- a Vietnam veteran who enjoyed vegetable gardens and raising hogs and chickens. He studied computer science after high school and holds an associate's degree in Cultural Resource Management and Policy Analysis from Tarrant County College.

He's a 2003 graduate of AIMS Academy of Culinary Arts in Dallas where he was mentored by a number of great chefs. While training as assistant executive sous chef at the AAA four-diamond Grand Hyatt DFW, he worked with Executive Chef Sutti Sripolpa, chef Eric Dreyer (who went on to be Oprah Winfrey’s personal chef), and Chef Jean-Claude Plihon, under whom he honed his French cooking skills.

As executive sous chef at the opening of Perry’s Steakhouse and Grille in Southlake, Cornelius gained expertise with volume. While at HG Sply Co., he learned about gluten-free items and other food allergies.

HG Sply is also where he crossed paths with Chef James R. Schell III, Craft’s general manager at WRMC, who recruited Cornelius to the complex.

"James said he needed someone who can hit moving targets, push the culinary team to be more avant-garde and use locally sourced, seasonal ingredients, so here I am," Cornelius says. "Culinary is a small world."

“I want people to say, ‘When we were in Fort Worth, you won’t believe what we got at Will Rogers!’” Schell says. “Even the celebrities who perform [in the auditorium] are surprised. When Chicago played here recently and we served dinner backstage, they said they felt treated like the Rolling Stones.”

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