Club News

Restaurant-bar siblings to open in century-old downtown Dallas building

Skyline Lounge

Courtesy rendering

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.

downtown openings

Food and Drink News

Artsy eatery Allegory Kitchen makes for a night out in Grand Prairie

Allegory Kitchen

Shrimp at Allegory Kitchen

An artsy restaurant and bar has debuted in Grand Prairie: Called Allegory Kitchen and Bar, it’s in a former event venue space at 2601 W. Jefferson St., where it opened in February.

Founders Ronnie Harris and Anthony Griffin have pooled their extensive hospitality experience on this new venture. Harris spent the past 30 years in airport concessions at airports such as DFW Airport, while Griffin comes from hospitality in Alabama.

"We kind of stumbled on doing the restaurant by default because we wanted to open a hookah lounge and serve liquor," Harris says. "We couldn't serve liquor and no food, so it transitioned to us becoming a restaurant."

To that end, they retained Atlanta-based chef and restaurateur Carlos Brown who helped create the menu. Harris and Griffin are now leading the concept which continues to evolve.

It started as a fine dining concept with brunch, but they’re adding more casual Southern and comfort food dishes. Menu items include Southern fried catfish, a half-pound burger, grilled pork chop, and roasted half chicken. There are also vegan options such as roasted butternut squash tabouli with caramelized onion vinaigrette, chili flakes, mint leaves, almonds, and arugula, served with wild mushrooms and herb quinoa.

Small plates include three cheese lobster mac & cheese, Carolina pan-seared crab cakes, and collard green spring rolls filled with collard greens, onions and peppers, then deep-fried.

Sides are on upscale: pork belly Brussels sprouts, garlic parmesan truffle fries, sauteed haricot vert (French green beans), and sweet potato apple hash.

They have a full bar with domestic and imported beer, wine, and signature cocktails.

“My number one specialty is the Sexy Allegory — it has a cognac base and mix of blueberries and blackberries,” Harris says. “We can satisfy any palate with our beers, and we have a wine wall with the best of the best, such as pinot grigio and cabernet."

The atmosphere is lively and colorful with plush seating and floral wall murals. There’s booth and table seating with white marble tables and jewel-toned chairs and booths. The chandeliers over the bar are a visual treat, have white feathers arranged like a blooming flower.

As if food and drink are not enough, they offer more reasons for a night out with events almost nightly, including poetry night, live jazz from a saxophonist, and more.

wine cocktails openings