It’s not every day you find a restaurant that offers everything from movie theater popcorn to buffalo cauliflower.
At Vetted Well in Lake Highlands you are able to enjoy all of your go-to cinema snacks and favorite drinks inside Alamo Drafthouse.
“Everything in our well has been vetted,” Jordan Michael, president of Alamo Drafthouse North Texas says. “Any drinks that we’re mixing or food we’re cooking has been vetted well, and they’re gonna taste just great.”
Since Vetted Well restaurants are attached to Alamo Drafthouse theaters, the restaurant operators see a reason to be more creative with menu items and have a wider selection.
“Who’s coming in that restaurant depends on the movie,” Michael says. “We get such diverse crowds of people, and depending on the title of the film, you need to offer some real diversity in the menu.”
Vetted Well makes special menu items themed for the films. For the recent movie Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Vetted Well introduced a bar game based on the special 20-sided dice used in Dungeons & Dragons games. Customers would roll die that decided the price they would pay for the drink and what drink they would receive. The drinks that one could get from the die ranged from a shot of Fireball to Fernet-Branca to a signature cocktail made just for the movie.
With the movies in mind, Vetted Well created elevated versions of movie theater concession favorites called “Snacks.” That includes bottomless popcorn made with clarified butter, baked pretzels with honey mustard, and hatch green chile queso, fried dill pickles, wings, and loaded fries.
One Snack that is not a traditional movie concession item is the buffalo cauliflower. The cauliflower is served with vegan ranch dressing and celery.
When the pandemic hit and movie theaters had to close, Alamo moviegoers wanted to know what would happen to the popcorn and the buffalo cauliflower. So much so the Alamo Drafthouse posted the recipe for its fried cauliflower online for people to enjoy during the lockdown.
“People wanted their fried buffalo cauliflower. So we said ‘Here’s a make-it-at-home version of our buffalo cauliflower,’” Michael says. “Because it’s so good. It’s healthy junk food.”
Vetted Wells also offers select candies and other favorites like Angus beef hot dogs, fresh baked cookies, pizza and a variety of sandwiches and shakes. The pizza dough is made from scratch daily using a large Hobart mixer.
“Again, it’s that whole idea of being vetted well,” Michael says. “We’ve gone through so many dough recipes to get it just right. If we have bad dough, it gets tossed.”
The staff is already anticipating the coming months and all of the season’s new movie releases, and they’re finding ways to accommodate fans of family films.
“It’s gonna be a crazy summer,” Michael says. “We are going to really utilize this bar space to have some good family parties and some activations of that nature in this bar space, and big things are happening with our menus in the next few months. There is a big focus on creativity and summer fun.”
Vetted Well – Lake Highlands, 6770 Abrams Road, 214.453.6301
