The Commissary

 Cyberspace: www.thecommissarydallas.com

Where to Find It: 1722 Routh Street Suite 102, Dallas, TX 75201

Food Group: Burgers

How Much to Fork Over: $$

The Grade: B-

Faves: Sangria, Outdoor Seating and View

Peeves: Buns, Pricey for Burgers!!

The Jibba Jab:

Expensive rent and burgers and booze to pay for it.  There is no arguing that The Commissary has a great view of downtown, but do the burgers live up to it?  Not quite, according to my perspective.  Yes, the Grass fed all natural beef with no hormones or steroids is appealing and sounds great, but I wasn’t really impressed with neither the outcome nor the buns that they came on.  Yes, I probably need to make another visit, but with their prices I really don’t want to spend another $8 (plus $2 for the spicer greens instead of fries) for one 6oz Dallas burger, which is about the size of one of those plastic ramekins that serve salsa at a Mexican restaurant, or pay $10 for the 8oz, but our other selection, the Tandoori burger was $13 (one size fits all), which was served on pita bread…..What??  This is a burger, not a flipping healthy sandwich, and to top it off The Dallas sesame seed bun was stale!  Come on.  Really?  That’s the easiest part!  As for the meat in the middle, well it was good.  Not worth the price though. 

On the other hand, we ordered the Summer Sangria, which was exceptionally refreshing in the 90+ degree weather at 9pm we were experiencing, but once again the price tag was astounding….a whopping $40 for a pitcher.  (By the way, Café Izmir on Greenville has $25 pitcher and $15 on Wednesdays!)  We also opted for the $6 Avocado Fries because our bartender at Five Sixty said they were amazing….not so much, and I am an avocado fanatic.  I don’t know if it was a bad batch of oil, but the frying took away the lush creamy texture and buttery flavor of an avocado.  It absolutely ruined it.  I couldn’t finish even one. 

I really wanted this place to be great, but it just didn’t stand up to the One Arts Plaza standards and the exceptional view that encompasses it.  I do hope that they change for the good.

The Dallas Burger
Can you tell how small it is?

Tanoori Burger
On pita bread???

Avocado Fries

$40 Pitcher of Sangria

Malai Thai Vietnamese Kitchen

Cyberspace: www.malaikitchen.com

Where to Find It: 3699 McKinney Avenue, Dallas, TX 75204

Food Group: Thai/Vietnamese

How Much to Fork Over: $$$

The Grade: B

Faves: Malai Spring Rolls, Drunken Noodle, Outdoor Seating, Service

Peeves: Prawns weren’t very fresh

The Jibba Jab:

Uptown’s Hot Spot.  The pun is intended, specifically for Malai Kitchen’s ability to put up a good amount of spiciness for my Fire Mouth. First, I was impressed with their service before I even stepped foot in the door because of my incessant calling to either change the amount of people in our party or the time of our reservation.  They were very accommodating and polite from beginning to end.  The outdoor area is wonderful for large parties, such as ours, with the capability to flag down your patrons while they are walking up to the entrance and it also gives you plenty of room to move about while sharing plates.

As for the food, we started our table off with Chicken and Beef Satay, of course, and the Malai Spring Rolls, which were so incredibly fresh, crisp and delicious.  The flavors melded impeccably.  Next, we all tried a bit of everyone’s entrees, which consisted of the Drunken Noodle, Iron Pot Chicken Curry, Pad Thai, Grilled Tiger Prawns and the Panang Curry Duck.  Out of all of them, the Drunken Noodle and the Green Papaya Salad were by far the best and I think everyone else had the same consensus and they were both definitely the spiciest dishes of the bunch as well, which will, as usual, get the one up on my list.  Malai Kitchen is an obvious repeater, but I wouldn’t call it the greatest Thai in Dallas.

Drunken Noodle

Grilled Tiger Prawns

Green Papaya Salad

Iron Pot Chicken Curry

Panang Curry Duck