Reagle Beagle Tells You To Get Stuft

by Steven Doyle

I remember the Regal Beagle when it was a fictitious Santa Monica pub on the horrific television series Three’s Company. Perky Chrissie played by Suzanne Somers pretended to sip beer while her roommates romped around a pool table. Alas, Dallas has its own version of the pub on Greenville Avenue just a bit right of Lovers Lane. Here you will find a typical dive bar with low lights, a handful of televisions and a serviceable day crowd of mixed ages that seem to all know each other and most likely gather often to celebrate the day. And no Chrissie.

Fairly recently Nick Vakidis and Ben Johnson took charge of the restaurant operations inside the Regal Beagle offering spicy wings, house-made jalapeno poppers and a pretty damned good burger they call Stuft.

As the name would imply, these burgers are large, in charge and stuffed with flavorful ingredients such as chili, goat cheese or lovingly made bacon jam. I ran into Vakidis while he was picking up some buns at a local bakery. Stuft uses Village Baking Company’s burger buns that are tall and soft with a slightly crisped outer shell. This bun is a perfect resolve for extraneous juices that would otherwise trickle down your arm or off the plate. The bun also holds up to the last bite of juicy beef, a difficult task considering there is so much going on under the bread.

The burger I sampled was the Cowboy and it was “stuft” with bacon jam, goat cheese, grilled jalapenos and topped with grilled jalapenos, baby spinach and a house-made mayo. The burger is served with a side of fresh cut fries that are made to order. You will notice that most of the offerings are made fresh by the cooks.

These disks of beef are stuffed ever so perfectly and given a precise grilling on a la plancha without spilling the inner workings of the patty, a feat I commend them for.

Vakidis has big hopes of eventually opening a seperate location for Stuft, but for now he serves up these delicious burgers to the hungry and devoted following he has gathered at the Regal Beagle.