Restaurant Review: Jack’s Backyard

by The Law Reviewers of The Law Reviewers

DALLAS — Ah, springtime! The sun is out, the sky is clear, and lawyers switch to Seersucker suits to see if the ol' "I’m just a plain old country lawyer" gimmick still works. Also, by reading this review, you expressly consent to going out to lunch wherever we tell you to go. Luckily, you can exercise your newfound right to do what we say at Jack's Backyard.

The Jack in Jack’s Backyard is Katie Jack, a former bar manager who recently opened the place with her partner, caterer Susie Buck, who is responsible for the food, and it’s as much a bar/music venue by night as it is a restaurant by day.

The backyard is one of the hardest to find restaurants in Dallas. It is just off Commerce Street/Fort Worth Avenue after you’ve crossed the Trinity heading from downtown. You are guaranteed to miss the turn off onto Pittman Street because it’s a tiny side street that is next to Joy and the Crab Man’s trailer park. The easiest way to find the left turn onto Pittman is to look for Pittman Street on the right as you make your way down Ft. Worth Avenue. The left turn for Pittman is about 50 more feet down the road. You’ll know you’re there when you find the gravel entryway next to the rusted iron sign reading “Jack’s” on the chain link fence. Lost yet? Good, so were we!

The place is actually a compound with a large outdoor area, a hollowed out shipping container and two industrial-style buildings that collectively look like the “B” lot from an A-Team episode. We kept expecting a jimmy-rigged tank to burst through one of the walls shooting 2x4’s at an army of bad guys, but, as usual, we were sadly disappointed that our favorite childhood t.v. shows failed to come to life (on the plus side, college was nothing like Saved by the Bell: The College Years).

The atmosphere is definitely rougher than, say, the Zodiac Room and, as we tentatively trekked into the open air bar-area building on the left on our first visit, we were acutely aware that we were sporting the only suits and ties in the place. The laid-back servers just told us to take a seat wherever we wanted inside or out on the lawn area with bemused expressions on their faces. We relaxed into a sunny table outside on the lawn, and eventually the lunch crowd filled out with plenty of suits and people of all other stripes (even the owner’s dog showed up). On a sunny Spring day, it’s tempting to just take in the rays and not even head back to the office (except, oh yeah, that work thing).

The service definitely continued to be laid back, and we had to correct our server a couple times on our order and remind her to bring us the rest of our food when we needed to head back.

We weren’t disappointed by the food, however, which was, for the most part, well prepared and a cut above typical bar food. For starters, we tried the Jack’s Bites ($7.75) which consisted of 8 pieces of chicken, water chestnut and jalapeno wrapped in bacon. It was pricey at almost a buck a bite, but the water chestnut added a nice crunchy texture and, anyway, everyone knows the unspoken 11th food commandment that everything wrapped in bacon is good (it comes right after “Thou shalt never eat spinach with a stranger”).

The grilled bratwurst sandwich ($7.00) was served on a large, toasted hoagie roll with lots of grilled onions and spicy brown mustard. That flavor combo pretty much can’t miss and it worked great here, plus the sandwich came with plenty of outstandingly crunchy potato wedge fries as well.

The mix-and-match sliders make a great entrée or appetizer ($7.75). Six sliders come in a combination of your choosing of burgers or brisket. The sun is setting on the slider craze of 2005-2009 (Once Burger King offers them, the shark has pretty much been jumped… over. We’d like to apologize to our legal writing professors for that one – the passive tense has been used inappropriately), and the brisket sliders were a little on the dry side (see below re: BBQ), but the burgers, a little on the large side for slider-dom, were more than adequate, with a pickle and some BBQ sauce. We were content, if not a little impressed.

One dish that didn’t measure up was the Pretty Darn Good BBQ ($12.00) which unfortunately didn’t live up to either its name or its price. The dry rub was completely bland and the meat was really mushy. At least the ranch style beans and cole slaw on the side were tasty and appeared to be homemade. Also, the BBQ came with a choice of soup or salad, and the tortilla soup we received was absolutely chock full of cheese, avocado and tortilla strips. It was a zesty and delicious start for the meal.

We like Jack’s for the atmosphere as much as the food, and for the 5% chance that “Mad Dog” Murdock could suddenly appear on top of the hollowed-out shipping container hurling grenades (that miraculously don’t hit near anyone) at any moment. On our A-Team weapons five-gavel scale, where five gavels is the silver-plated AK-47’s that shoot endless rounds without having to reload, and one gavel is the Team’s van with some plywood and old tires fastened onto the sides, we give Jack’s Backyard three and a quarter gavels, or B.A. Baracus’ fist. We ain’t getting’ on no plane, Hannibal!