Conscious, but Dreaming

New Orleans is home to more bars and lounges than one can feasibly count, and yet only one that doesn’t serve alcohol. But Dream House Lounge in the Central Business District is so much more than just a “sober bar”. The lush, contemporary space offers “conscious cocktails” (more on those shortly), non-alcoholic wines and beers, adaptogen-based drinks, an oxygen bar, coffee, small bites, mental health and wellness-focused gatherings, other curated social events, and a respite from the frequently booze-infused city beyond. If the idea sounds out-of-this-world, that’s because it is: the vision and concept for Dream House Lounge came to founder and owner David Wallace in a dream.

Wallace grew up in Belle Glade, a rural South Florida town that, in his words, “is known for two things: sugarcane and football”. He played in elementary and middle school, defensive end and occasionally offensive tackle, he told me, chuckling, as he sat beside me in one of Dream House Lounge’s pewter velvet chairs. In his immaculate peach Adidas sweatsuit, accessorized with tasteful gold jewelry and a paisley cap, his football days seemed far away—though he speaks on them with fondness and gratitude. By high school, he was more interested in the creative outlet marching band provided, playing drums and trumpet.

After graduating from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Wallace embarked on a decade-long career in education, taking on various leadership roles, in New York and Miami. Three years ago he transitioned to New Orleans to take on the role as Dean of the Relay Graduate School of Education, which involved managing teacher training and development across New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Around the same time, he also launched the company Awakening Minds Consulting, specializing in talent development, teacher training, and strategizing for small businesses and other entities; all with social justice and inclusion in mind.

Maintaining a full-time leadership position while simultaneously managing his consulting firm took its toll, Wallace shared. The workload, compounded by the isolation and loneliness that accompanied being the only Black male dean at the national institution he worked for, as well as the universal stress brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, Wallace began to experience mental health challenges. As someone who identifies as a “deeply spiritual person” Wallace began to pray to God and to his ancestors for a breakthrough.

“And then I had a dream about creating this space,” he said, gesturing around at the stunning lounge he has actualized—based from the template his subconscious delivered as he slept. When he awoke, the concept for Dream House wasn’t yet fully-formed, but a few aspects from his dream emerged with crystal clarity: “I got really, really excited about it, and was like, ‘I’m going to call it Dream House Lounge. And it’s going to be this place where people can dream, and be playful, and people can manifest their dreams.”

A few months later, in November of 2021, Wallace had another dream that solidified the vision. “I continued to meditate, I continued to pray … I had another dream about this space, and I could not recognize any of the bottles in the dream,” he explained. “And so, I literally woke up at like three in the morning, and I was like ‘Oh, it’s going to be a non-alcoholic place.’”

Wallace had heard “rumblings” of the modern non-alcoholic movement, and himself approaches alcohol from a “sober-conscious” position, meaning that he only drinks alcohol once or twice a month, at most. But he wanted his space to be more than a refuge for those seeking socialization without intoxication. Much of his work in education had been focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion in classrooms—now he wondered, “What would it mean for me to focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion in social spaces?”

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He began doing research, including visiting bars throughout New Orleans and looking at their menus, quickly discovering how limited options were for individuals who wanted to avoid alcohol. Sure, guests could order something off-menu like a ginger ale or a Shirley Temple, but Wallace wondered, “What does it mean to actually have it printed on a menu? That says that you’re really thinking about equity, you’re really thinking about creating an inclusive environment.”

At that point Wallace’s dream and his analysis merged, and he began to transition the imagined Dream House Lounge Oxygen Bar and Wellness Lounge into the material world. Though he was technically opening a non-alcoholic bar, he wasn’t a fan of the word “mocktail”—“It sounds like you’re making a mockery of something,” Wallace explained. Instead, he calls the drinks served at Dream House “conscious cocktails”. “It’s the idea that you’re more conscious about what you’re putting in your body.”

Gesturing back to a wall of shelves stacked neatly with colorful, unfamiliar bottles and cans, Wallace said that in the beginning, “I started ordering literally all of those drinks over there to my personal home, and I started playing around with drink menus, making drinks. I had friends over, and I would make them like a margarita and say like, ‘Taste this. Can you tell the difference?’ And they’re like ‘No, I cannot. This is so good.’” The alternative tequilas, whiskeys, and other liquors he experimented with—especially when mixed with high quality ingredients—were indistinguishable, taste-wise, from the “real thing”.

“Like there’s people that walk into this space, whether they’re sober, sober-curious, or sober-conscious, and they come in with their stories, and they always say like, ‘The energy in here feels different,’ ‘I feel safe,’ ‘I feel at home,’ or ‘I feel peace,’ or ‘Thank you for creating this space.'" —David Wallace

Among the friends who helped him perfect his conscious menu was New Orleans mixologist Jessica Robertson of JusTini Cocktails. “We would throw some things together and have like samples and taste it,” Wallace said, noting that at the time of our interview in early December, he and his team were celebrating just over a year of leasing Dream House Lounge’s downtown space. “This idea of creating a social space that is dedicated for people to focus on their mental health and wellness, sans alcohol, was the beginning of this journey.”

After leasing the space, it took around six months to gut and renovate the former coffee shop on Baronne Street into Wallace’s vision—with Rolling Stones-approved black-painted walls; modern velvet furnishings in shades like emerald, gold, pewter, and violet; sleek-yet-playful light fixtures; and a variety of lush textures provided by accents like feather-adorned contemporary art pieces. Once Wallace’s dream space, at once strikingly hip and deeply comfortable, was complete, Dream House Lounge opened to the public on July 3, 2022.

Since the summer, Dream House Lounge—the only social setting of its kind in the Crescent City—has amassed a fervent group of regulars, and a few thousand Instagram followers, too.

Continuing to prioritize inclusion, Wallace aims to provide an oasis for everyone, from the strictly sober to folks simply looking for alternative social gathering places. If a customer tells the staff that they’re “friends with Ben,” the code indicates that they have been through an alcoholics anonymous program, and the staff member knows to steer them away from drinks meant to replicate the taste of alcohol that may be triggering. One regular visits each week for a glass of Katy Perry’s zero-proof sparkling aperitif De Soi; sober mom groups congregate to sip de-alcoholized wines and conscious cocktails; those seeking first date and birthday party venues without the pressure of acquiring a buzz flock to Dream House.

“What I hope people take from this place is that not only is there an alternative that you can participate in, but also that reflection [and] introspection are critical for growth,” Wallace said, noting that someone finding themselves indulging in alcohol several times a week (as he once did) may want to invite friends to Dream House instead of their regular bar; to experience that an alternative to social drinking in fact exists. “And so, as we think about mental health, part of having a healthy mind is awareness. Part of thinking about awareness is reflecting and holding up the mirror.”

And the offerings at Dream House Lounge extend far beyond basic alternatives to your favorite cocktails—though drinks like the Dream 75, and “conscious” iterations of other classics like margaritas and old fashioneds tend to be most popular. The menu also includes several concoctions that offer actual health benefits. “Our drinks taste good, and our drinks are good for your body,” Wallace said. “Whether it’s like micro doses of mushrooms like reishi or whether it’s kava, like these are things that are actually good for your body and help you out with de-stressing, help you out with focusing. So, you’re still gonna get a little buzz, if you have something with a little kava in it, or mushrooms.” Wallace described the sensation created by adaptogens as a “float” rather than a drunkenness. There is also the oxygen bar, which allows guests to inhale a high concentration of oxygen in a variety of pleasant scents, providing an invigorating boost in alertness and energy.

After we talked, Wallace made me a conscious cocktail called Lavender Dreams, made with their partner spirit company Cut Above’s mezcal alternative, Brooklyn Brewed Sorrel (an aged hibiscus drink popular in the Caribbean), and lavender syrup, garnished with a dried blood orange slice dipped in white chocolate. The well-balanced floral, tart, smokey drink lacked none of the bite or depth (or even fun, tasty garnish) of a traditional cocktail, and I had no hesitation driving home after imbibing. Admittedly I’m not sure if it was the ingredients or my excitement, but it also seemed to provide an added boost of energy as I continued my workday. For other remote workers wanting to elevate their afternoon coffee to something sparklier, Wallace recently extended the lounge’s hours to 8 am through 7 pm.

[Find Wallace's recipe for Dream House Lounge's Lavender Dreams "conscious cocktail" here.]

Embracing the historic role of New Orleans bars and lounges as community gathering places and cultural hubs, Wallace has also welcomed the opportunity to transform the space into a venue for events ranging from author talks and game nights to yoga classes and meditation sessions. He’s recently formed the Dream House Burlesque Club with Audacious NOLA, which performs regularly on select Sunday nights. On “Wellness Wednesdays,” Wallace partners with organizations like the Brightside Therapy Collective and NOLA Black Mental Health Matters to host mental health professionals along with community leaders and members for facilitated dialogues around various mental health challenges. “It has been a beautiful experience,” said Wallace, “to see people say, like, ‘I don’t know that I’m yet ready for therapy. But I can start here, and I can engage, I can find a sense of community in this space, I can be vulnerable and talk about some of the challenges that I’ve had.’ It’s special.”

It’s been a dream come true, creating and stewarding such a unique and positive social space for the community, said Wallace.

“Like there’s people that walk into this space, whether they’re sober, sober-curious, or sober-conscious, and they come in with their stories, and they always say like, ‘The energy in here feels different,’ ‘I feel safe,’ ‘I feel at home,’ or ‘I feel peace,’ or ‘Thank you for creating this space,’” Wallace said, wonder in his voice. “If I don’t make another dollar, having had that experience over the past five months has been one that I will cherish for the rest of my life.” 

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Find Wallace's recipe for Dream House Lounge's Lavender Dreams "conscious cocktail" here.