An ambitious bar and restaurant are opening side-by-side in a vintage downtown Dallas storefront: The bar, called Skyline Lounge, comes first and will open at 2012 Commerce St. in mid-summer. A sibling restaurant called Sip’Stroke Lounge, so named because it will have golf simulators, will open next door in early fall.
The concepts are from Kushal Raj Bastakoti, a cityscapes artist and interior designer from Nepal who moved to Dallas in 2013 to pursue a college degree at University of North Texas. He's also a franchisee for Feng Cha Café, the Asian beverage and dessert chain.
He describes Skyline Lounge — named after his love of skylines — as “a membership lounge without a fee, where people can host their business meetings or after-office drinks."
The drink menu is still being finalized, but the cocktails will be a mix of American, Mediterranean, and Nepalese flavors and fruity notes, with a few imported ingredients for authenticity, including vodka from Nepal.
Kushal designed Skyline Lounge to be a classy bar, with an original 100-year-old brick wall behind a long marble bar serving coffee and cocktails all day and featuring a cigar bar. The space is also meeting-friendly, with nooks, outlets, and projectors for screening.
There will be no food at Skyline Lounge but customers will be able to order food from Sip’Stroke Lounge next door. The menu will be eclectic: masala grilled lamb chops, burrata, chicken wings, spinach dip, and Danish tartlet — a traditional item in Denmark that's like a tiny pot pie, with chicken and asparagus in cream sauce. The restaurant will also offer a full bar.
Vintage building at 2012 Commerce St.Loopnet
Sip’Stroke Lounge will be a two-story space, with a café and restaurant upstairs and a bar downstairs which will feature the golf simulators and a shared patio with Skylounge, plus screens for live games.
The plan is for both places to be open from 12 pm-midnight every day.
Built in 1925, the building was listed with Historical Society of Dallas in 2005 following restoration efforts by then-owner Steve Coyte. The storefront next door was home to the famous Doug's Gym, which closed in 2018 after more than 50 years; there was also a 7-Eleven that closed in 2023. At one point back in the day, the structure was home to a car dealership and a fabric store.
The current owners are renovating the second-floor spaces into apartments, which will likely bring additional traffic. There are other retail spaces under renovation on that same block.
Kushal says that downtown was always a desired location.
“Everybody that lives in the DFW area wants to come downtown. Every painting I make of cities have millions of dreams. People travel to cities and carry their dreams," he says.
A variety of dishes at Luna Roja.Photo courtesy of Luna Roja
The bar area, which looks out to the patio.Photo courtesy of Luna Roja