How often is it these days that we can enjoy dinner at a fine dinning restaurant, followed by a fine cigar with an after dinner drink at the bar, all indoors, in a beautiful setting and still welcomed as a part of the whole fine dining experience?
Places still exist, fortunately, but the number is quite small making these gems a very special luxury. Laws are different from city to city and depending where you live, it makes for quite an issue of where to smoke. I have the fortune of having great cigar shops with welcoming lounges nearby when I wish to enjoy a cigar inside and in great company. But for those moments I want to have a drink or feel like a part of the fine dining experience, options are very limited.
The photo above is a view of the dining room from the bar at Perry’s Steakhouse in Champions, TX. This particular location welcomes cigar smokers in their bar very proudly. And this is a bar that is not tucked away off to the side and hidden from eyes, but placed where you still feel included in the whole experience. During my last visit the dinning room had a nice crowd present, the bar was comfortably packed with patrons enjoying a cigar and drink, and the room was filled with the sounds of the piano being played from the dining room.
It is a rare treat, and a bit of a drive for me. But experiences like this are worth it.
And so I ask you, do you have locations that offer the fine dinning and cigar experience? A place to go for a special occasion or celebration, a place that isn’t your home but a part of the community?
Cigar bars are fantastic when permitted by the city, but the whole dinning and cigar experience is an even rarer gem. Let me make a distinction when I speak of bars. There are “bars” and then there are cigar bars. When you are surrounded by cigarettes, the enjoyment of a cigar is not ideal. Cigars are a tradition and ritual to be respected, not lost amongst the smoke, but savored. This is what separates the cigar bars from the other bars. And even those are few in number.
Please share places you know that still welcome smoking where laws allow them. The art of smoking a cigar being welcomed as a part of the dining ritual is such a rare treat now. A place that welcomes and respects cigars just as they do their wines and libations is fantastic and must be enjoyed.
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Hmmm, I have never been to this place. It looks like a great place to have a dinner and a drink afterwards, with a great cigar. It is very hard to find such places.
Great article! Last time I was in Perrys Sugar Land I smelled cigar smoke, and I thought I saw cigar lockers if I’m not mistaken. But I forgot all about that. Also C&H on the SW Freeway (a Papas steakhouse) once put on their sign to try their cigar lounge. I’ve been wanting to check it out and see if you can eat and smoke.
I haven’t been there in forever, the C&H/Pappas on Beltway and 59. Last I recall you could smoke cigars in their bar which was located off to the side and away from the dinning room. I don’t know if they serve food in their bar? It has been sometime and I have been meaning to give them a visit.
Does the Perry’s in Sugar Land allow cigars, too? That would be fabulous. When I was at the Champion’s location the bartender said quite proudly that they were the only Perry’s to welcome it. I don’t know though- will have to find out!
This is an interesting subject. That place looks absolutely gorgeous and doesn’t seem like it welcomes my kind
Unfortunately for me, there are not many places in which I can eat, drink and have a cigar, let alone a place with fine dining. That’ll definitely be on my to-do list if I go to NYC, I know they have quite a few cigar bars/lounges in Manhattan.
I don’t have much choice. It’s either a cigar shop or a lower scale bar. But I’m not complaining at all, because that’s the environment I am used to. The only problem with this is dealing with cigarette smoke. At this point, so long as I’m allowed to light up a cigar I am content.