Down, Town

Downtown Dallas, ugh.

Since I first visited my family here in 1972, I have been hearing about the great downtown Dallas revival. 34 years later I am still hearing about it. Don't get me wrong, there's alot of thrash going on; American Airlines Center, Victory, new Opera House and more new 5-star hotels with crowning million dollar condos than you can possibly imagine.

But, live there, why? There are two good restaurants (Dakota and Fuse) that aren't $100 person, no interesting night clubs, the roads are constantly under repair, no parking, no services open past an 8-year old's bedtime, it's real estate values are some of the most unstable in the area. And, to be quite honest, I really don't like being hit up for money on every corner by some crackhead who smells like stale cheese and Thunderbird.

I have one lone friend living in downtown. I tried to talk him out of buying the loft, the $400K loft. Bad idea - lofts don't work in Texas, air conditioning 16 foot ceilings is crazy, particularly now that Texas Utilities has doubled our rates. Living dowtown means you will drive to Oak Lawn or Uptown everytime you need something, want to do something interesting or see someone, because noone is coming to see you.

My friend still pushes downtown as the next big thing. This past round of propoganda slathering he held up this place and the seed of all change.

Jim, downtown has a grocery store now and its even got a first rate cafe attached to it! I never need to leave the area now!

Naturally I investigated.



Urban Market
1500 Jackson St (near Ervay)
Dallas, TX 75201

Urban Market is half grocery, half cafe.

The grocery half is small but it has most food items. The disappointing but expected part is that the variety and quantities are limited. If you're a vegetarian, don't bother, their produce was mediocre and seafood selections were minimal. They do great party food and, to my raging delight, their wine selection kicks ass; solid wineries and competitively priced. I will drive downtown to this place to wine buy in the future.

The cafe half is casual counter service; sandwiches, soups and salads. Whoa, get back, the cafe is great! I tried, in a cheating vegetarian mood, Spicy Chicken Sandwich; fluffy egg bun with sesame seeds, toasted, lime-marinated grilled chicken breasts sliced unbelievably thin, tomato, lettuce and just a wisp of jalapeño mayo. Yum! The twice-fried, batter-dipped spicy fries had permission to clog up my arteries, completely! $6 of great lunch-time pigging.



Although I liked Urban as a cafe, if I lived downtown I would still exit it to go to Central Market and Krogers to do my weekly shopping, they just don't have enough variety and they carry no non-grocery supplies.

The real irony here is that my friend continues to advertise downtown yet he has his loft on the market. Its been on the market for 8 months, asking price lower than what he paid.

Revival, indeed.

Urban Market
Dallas