As a recent transplant here's my advice for what we did when we visited.
Dealey Plaza Dallas Cowboy's stadium (if you like football stuff it's pretty cool) There's lots of art museums and stuff Texas Roadhouse more steakhouses. American Airlines center (when we first visited the Mavericks were playing and we got suuuuuper cheap tickets on stubhub) Perot Museum
Definitely the Perot Museum! Love that place. There's the Dallas World Aquarium, Medieval Times, and a TON of tasty restaurants. Depends on where you're coming from or what you like for restaurants though. Ketchup bar has great burgers, Cosmic Cafe for vegan/vegetarian, Pyramid restaurant and bar or Reunion Tower for fine FINE dining. I could also point you in the way of every Fry's store in North Texas.
If you're looking to go out for drinks the Lower Greenville neighborhood is packed with great bars of every kind and much less pretentious than Uptown.
Truck Yard would be perfect on a cooler day since it's almost entirely outdoors. They have 3 food trucks serving all day, live music on weekends, and they make their own Philly cheesesteaks and ice cream sandwiches MADE WITH COOKIE CRISP OR RICE KRISPIES. There's also an adults only tree house that serves specialty bottled cocktails.
If you want the best pizza in Dallas go to Cane Rosso in Deep Ellum and get the Honey Bastard - or see if they're still doing any Pecan Lodge (which is great BBQ) pizzas.
I would add The Grape (new american, kinda fancy), Boulevardier (french, in the Bishop Arts District - lots of things to see and do), Maple & Motor (burgers), Babe's (friend chicken), Goodfriend (excellent bar food favorites), Mot Hai Ba (amazing Vietnamese), and finally Good 2 Go Taco (super creative, delicious, and huge tacos).
Luck at Trinity Groves is a pretty awesome beer restaurant too and it's in a cool part of town. They have a grilled salad. GRILLED, I say. They're wings are a-meh-zing too.
When people say "Hey, we're coming to Dallas, what should we do," I always include Dealey Plaza. It still feels weird every time. "Coming to Dallas? Why not head to the shit of an American tragedy?" Anyone else get that feeling?
@hollboll Sadly, not even close. "Holocaust Tour to Poland: In this, an eight-day tour to Poland, we visit the sites of the former ghettos in Warsaw, Lublin and Krakow alongside three of the concentration and death camps – Treblinka, Majdanek and Auschwitz-Birkenau - that played such a significant role in this genocide." http://tinyurl.com/qfbslh4
Next time I'm in Dallas, I have vowed to visit the Billy Bass Adoption Center at Flying Fish (I don't know why, but it's a vow, so I have to): http://www.flyingfishinthe.net/Addison.php
I agree with @JonT, love the Truck Yard! Just be aware that they close at midnight(ish?) since they're considered to be in a residential neighborhood. I didn't know there was a Single Wide, but Double Wide used to be pretty cool. Lee Harvey's (to follow up the trip to the Book Depository?) is a nice little hole in the wall place too, but also mostly outdoors.
As far as entertainment, you can visit the GeO-Deck at Reunion Tower without eating in the restaurant and post the terrible green screen photos here later. There's also the Pocket Sandwich Theatre where you can throw popcorn at actors while watching a cheesy melodrama or check out their late-night comedy.
Community Beer, that @phatmass mentioned, does a lot of giving back to the, well, community, and did a fundraiser once for the nonprofit I used to work for. Lakewood Brewing is another good one that I haven't seen mentioned yet.
If youre hitting North Dallas, I'd be glad to take you to lunch too. There's a great small seafood place in Irving, Fish City Grill, with Lakewood temptress, community witbier and other great local crafts. Farther north there's the ever classy Jasper's at legacy park. Just let me know :)
For craft beer go to Craft and Growler, no food just beer (I think you can buy pretzels for a quarter). It's a filling station and the selection is amazing. And seriously, per my reply above, if you like finding mistakes and inaccuracies at science museums The Perot is sure to tantalize your inner Sheldon Cooper.
What I usually say there is to do in Dallas: Eat (drink), shop and see a sporting event. Plenty of options for all of them. Check out dallasobserver.com for weekly events.
Definitely hit a BBQ joint. I know we are known for steakhouses, but I prefer more of the low key (but just as pricy) aspect to some brisket.
Shopping - well - plenty of malls everywhere to get out of the heat. We also have more movie theaters than anywhere else in the world.
And if you are not into sports - our museums are top notch - something for everyone now - don't miss the ones over in FT Worth (or the zoo over there)
I went to Dallas a couple years ago and, being from the East Coast, was elated to find an In-N-Out burger there. Was worth finding. Unless you live near one, then you already understand the greatness.
I am going to Dallas for the first time this coming Friday. I am going to try and hit Ft. Worth and Austin as well. I will report back any fun places I get to.
@conandlibrarian You are in luck - The State Fair of Texas starts this Friday! You can partake of the Deep Fried Breakfast for Dinner and wash it down with a Funnel Cake Ale.
@marklog It opens at 10 am Friday. Stop by and get a funnel cake beer and deep fried breakfast before your flight. Mm mm good. (As long as the flight is turbulence free.) There's also fried sriracha balls, if weird shit like breakfast isn't your thing.
@Jont@chadp@snapster@hollboll and others, thanks for the recommendations. Yesterday I took none of your advice and ended up at the flying saucer out of convenience. Today, due to proximity chose Whiskey Cake. I threw it into waze and headed in that direction, however at the first red light I pulled off into Addison Point smokey sports dive bar. Got some decent wings. Tomorrow is Rangers A's. 7th row behind home plate. Look for the blonde used-to-be-fat-but-not-quite-skinny guy in the meh shirt.
OK y'all (ya like that?), I'm back in town and need a midrange place in Addison/Carrollton. Preferably not a chain, with a decent happy hour? I'm taking an employee out for dinner. Foodies, unite!
@chr There used to be one by my university. It had some hard-to-find selections, but I felt like a bowl was close to the cost of a box. It didn't last very long.
@Kleineleh I saw that, too. It came on right before 60 Minutes, who just happened to be doing a story about the hospital and the nurses. That's some hardcore please-don't-run-us-out-of-business campaigning going on.
As a recent transplant here's my advice for what we did when we visited.
Dealey Plaza
Dallas Cowboy's stadium (if you like football stuff it's pretty cool)
There's lots of art museums and stuff
Texas Roadhouse
more steakhouses.
American Airlines center (when we first visited the Mavericks were playing and we got suuuuuper cheap tickets on stubhub)
Perot Museum
I've been to the spaceship on my last trip a few years ago. I watched the Lions come back from three touchdowns to smoke the 'boys.
is there anything special about Texas Roadhouse in Texas? Aren't all Texas Roadhouses the same.
@nodnetni Yes, they are all pretty terrible. Avoid Texas Roadhouse, it doesn't represent. Tons of better restraunts, Addison has 158 of them...http://www.addisontexas.net/where_to_eat/restaurants/
There are some great restaurants. I highly recommend Smoke, Common Table, Meddlesome Moth, and (if you have expensive taste) Fearing's.
Fun-wise, I have no suggestions. Just avoid the sun at all costs. Side note: "Negative, I am a meat popsicle."
Love that movie
@hart Multipass
Twisted Root Burger Co.
Definitely the Perot Museum! Love that place. There's the Dallas World Aquarium, Medieval Times, and a TON of tasty restaurants. Depends on where you're coming from or what you like for restaurants though. Ketchup bar has great burgers, Cosmic Cafe for vegan/vegetarian, Pyramid restaurant and bar or Reunion Tower for fine FINE dining. I could also point you in the way of every Fry's store in North Texas.
Dallas World Aquarium = amazing, check website for feeding times. The Perot Museum is great if you like finding mistakes at science museums!
@janetv Does Ketchup Bar have an excellent selection of ketchups?
@jqubed no, you need to come to the Heinz History Center here in Pittsburgh for that!
@kadagan So it's like World of Coke but for ketchup?
@jqubed Actually it's just a museum that's funded by the Heinz family.. haha.. but it sounded good, didn't it?
@kadagan @jqubed remember when Heinz put out weird colored ketchups?
@JonT It's wonderful what Science can do.
@kadagan Sounded plausible, anyway.
@jqubed unfortunately it doesn't make food look all that appetizing:
@JonT Looks like @Barney threw up on it.
@JonT Ugh, that looks disgusting.
@JonT Mmm, lead paint
@bluedyn I love purple.
Are you going for the Red Bull Air Races? I got tickets and can't wait.
If you're looking to go out for drinks the Lower Greenville neighborhood is packed with great bars of every kind and much less pretentious than Uptown.
Truck Yard would be perfect on a cooler day since it's almost entirely outdoors. They have 3 food trucks serving all day, live music on weekends, and they make their own Philly cheesesteaks and ice cream sandwiches MADE WITH COOKIE CRISP OR RICE KRISPIES. There's also an adults only tree house that serves specialty bottled cocktails.
I'm also a big fan of Single Wide, Libertine, Strangeways, and The Old Crow.
There are a ton of great restaurants here.
If you want the best pizza in Dallas go to Cane Rosso in Deep Ellum and get the Honey Bastard - or see if they're still doing any Pecan Lodge (which is great BBQ) pizzas.
I also second @harts recs of Smoke, Common Table, and Meddlesome Moth.
I would add The Grape (new american, kinda fancy), Boulevardier (french, in the Bishop Arts District - lots of things to see and do), Maple & Motor (burgers), Babe's (friend chicken), Goodfriend (excellent bar food favorites), Mot Hai Ba (amazing Vietnamese), and finally Good 2 Go Taco (super creative, delicious, and huge tacos).
I love food.
FT33 still holding it's own if you're into pricey new american dining. Whiskey Cake for the cheaper up-north suburb version.
Cool thanks! Also should've added, I'm a foodie, craft beer snob and home brewer. These will do nicely, unless there's a brewery...
@snapster I would like to apologize for the hours of ways time @jont spent linking the entire post. He promises to stay late.
@marklog, Deep Ellum Brewing Company is a great brewery and the Rahr Brewery in Fort Worth does some interesting events (with good beer).
And I'll back up @JonT on all of his recommendations. They're all amazing. The burger at The Grape (which isn't on the menu) is the best.
@marklog you think I ever get to leave this place? I just took a nap and now it's dark and I'm confused and scared. And hungry.
@JonT quiet you. Back to work.
And your destinations for craft beer should be Common Table, Meddlesome Moth, and Strangeways. They're beer bars and have everything good.
I Second @snapster on whiskey cake. Mash'd is pretty good too.
Luck at Trinity Groves is a pretty awesome beer restaurant too and it's in a cool part of town. They have a grilled salad. GRILLED, I say. They're wings are a-meh-zing too.
When people say "Hey, we're coming to Dallas, what should we do," I always include Dealey Plaza. It still feels weird every time. "Coming to Dallas? Why not head to the shit of an American tragedy?" Anyone else get that feeling?
Is it weird that I actually got semi excited to finally see the place with my own eyes after seeing it on tv like 300 bagillion times?
The weirdness for me was people taking pictures standing on the X where he was shot. It felt disrespectful and strange.
I did take some pictures of other parts though, it's an amazing place and you can feel the history there.
Most morbid tourist attraction ever.
I have lived here my whole life and never went until I was on a tour that stopped in Ft. Worth. The out-of-state crew just HAD to go see it
After that, it was really weird to drive over the Xs
@JonT What's worse is that it's a blind corner. I'm surprised others besides Jack haven't been killed there.
@hollboll Sadly, not even close. "Holocaust Tour to Poland: In this, an eight-day tour to Poland, we visit the sites of the former ghettos in Warsaw, Lublin and Krakow alongside three of the concentration and death camps – Treblinka, Majdanek and Auschwitz-Birkenau - that played such a significant role in this genocide." http://tinyurl.com/qfbslh4
Next time I'm in Dallas, I have vowed to visit the Billy Bass Adoption Center at Flying Fish (I don't know why, but it's a vow, so I have to): http://www.flyingfishinthe.net/Addison.php
I work down the block from Flying Fish...worth seeing once at least, and the food is fair
Chicken Scratch and The Foundry for good food and craft beer: http://cs-tf.com/
If you are here on a Saturday, tour these breweries: http://www.communitybeer.com/ and http://www.deepellumbrewing.com/
Best tacos when bars are closing: http://www.velvettaco.com/
And don't leave Dallas without experiencing Fuel City tacos: http://www.fuelcitywash.com/tacos.html
You read my bleeping mind!
Noticed no comments about the passive aggressive tour request... It's ok, I wouldn't want me creeping around there either :)
Back when Meh was something else they entertained tour requests. I brought people twice to tour and gave ADQ hell. Just show up!
I agree with @JonT, love the Truck Yard! Just be aware that they close at midnight(ish?) since they're considered to be in a residential neighborhood. I didn't know there was a Single Wide, but Double Wide used to be pretty cool. Lee Harvey's (to follow up the trip to the Book Depository?) is a nice little hole in the wall place too, but also mostly outdoors.
As far as entertainment, you can visit the GeO-Deck at Reunion Tower without eating in the restaurant and post the terrible green screen photos here later. There's also the Pocket Sandwich Theatre where you can throw popcorn at actors while watching a cheesy melodrama or check out their late-night comedy.
Community Beer, that @phatmass mentioned, does a lot of giving back to the, well, community, and did a fundraiser once for the nonprofit I used to work for. Lakewood Brewing is another good one that I haven't seen mentioned yet.
Speaking of Lakewood, if you're a fan of stouts you MUST HAVE a Lakewood Temptress. My favorite TX craft beer so far.
I support both Community and Lakewood several times a week.
@JonT had this beer last night at the saucer. very good- best stout they had. I also had 512 DIPA and Velvet Hammer and... a few others.
Mike Anderson BBQ was my favorite
Ignore all this other crap and let me take you to lunch. We can drink lots of beer and talk about business opportunities in the Republic of Texas.
Lots of beer?? Let me know if you need help!
If youre hitting North Dallas, I'd be glad to take you to lunch too. There's a great small seafood place in Irving, Fish City Grill, with Lakewood temptress, community witbier and other great local crafts. Farther north there's the ever classy Jasper's at legacy park. Just let me know :)
For craft beer go to Craft and Growler, no food just beer (I think you can buy pretzels for a quarter). It's a filling station and the selection is amazing. And seriously, per my reply above, if you like finding mistakes and inaccuracies at science museums The Perot is sure to tantalize your inner Sheldon Cooper.
What I usually say there is to do in Dallas: Eat (drink), shop and see a sporting event. Plenty of options for all of them. Check out dallasobserver.com for weekly events.
Definitely hit a BBQ joint. I know we are known for steakhouses, but I prefer more of the low key (but just as pricy) aspect to some brisket.
Shopping - well - plenty of malls everywhere to get out of the heat. We also have more movie theaters than anywhere else in the world.
And if you are not into sports - our museums are top notch - something for everyone now - don't miss the ones over in FT Worth (or the zoo over there)
I went to Dallas a couple years ago and, being from the East Coast, was elated to find an In-N-Out burger there. Was worth finding. Unless you live near one, then you already understand the greatness.
Having just moved here from Southern California I was very very happy to be able to experience that little piece of my old home.
In-and-out refers to the digestive experience, yes?
what-a-burger is where it's at
whataburger don't need no stinkin' hyphens! and yes, that is a tasty burger
I've learned around here it's pronounced "waterburger" which makes NO SENSE. It's WHAT A BURGER! Like wow, what a burger!
And there is room for both. The honey BBQ chicken strip sandwich is amazing.
@JonT, as a kid, I was really perplexed by why it was called a "waterburger." I figured there must be some parallel between it and the melon
My mom had to show me the spelling and explain the finer points of a Texas drawl
no it's wattaburger, you just misheard.
@katylava it's definitely pronounced WATERburger, especially by those with a stronger drawl. But seriously even people with no accent say it
Go to East Texas and find someone with a good accent, they somehow manage to fit yet another 'R' in and it becomes "warterburger"
@Kleineleh that's even more accurate.
We really like our vowels down here, try to draw them out as long as possible
First stop, Flying Saucer. Holy Taps!
@marklog I'm jealous. Sounds like fun. I love drinking on the company's dime when I travel.
I am going to Dallas for the first time this coming Friday. I am going to try and hit Ft. Worth and Austin as well. I will report back any fun places I get to.
@conandlibrarian You are in luck - The State Fair of Texas starts this Friday! You can partake of the Deep Fried Breakfast for Dinner and wash it down with a Funnel Cake Ale.
@Trillian one of our sales folks just told me about this. sadly i'm going home friday night but it sounds like fun. especially funnel cake ale
@marklog It opens at 10 am Friday. Stop by and get a funnel cake beer and deep fried breakfast before your flight. Mm mm good. (As long as the flight is turbulence free.) There's also fried sriracha balls, if weird shit like breakfast isn't your thing.
@Jont @chadp @snapster @hollboll and others, thanks for the recommendations. Yesterday I took none of your advice and ended up at the flying saucer out of convenience. Today, due to proximity chose Whiskey Cake. I threw it into waze and headed in that direction, however at the first red light I pulled off into Addison Point smokey sports dive bar. Got some decent wings. Tomorrow is Rangers A's. 7th row behind home plate. Look for the blonde used-to-be-fat-but-not-quite-skinny guy in the meh shirt.
OK y'all (ya like that?), I'm back in town and need a midrange place in Addison/Carrollton. Preferably not a chain, with a decent happy hour? I'm taking an employee out for dinner. Foodies, unite!
@marklog I do like that you put the apostrophe in the right place.
@marklog Twisted Root Burger Co., Flying Saucer, Addison Ice House. All of these trend more towards bar/pub than restaurant and they're not very fancy, but I think you'd like them.
@marklog What @jont said.
@JonT Thanks. Have you heard of this Sam and Nick's? Someone in the office just recommended it. I love the flying saucer. so. many. beers.
@marklog Yea Nick and Sams is pretty good eatin but its down in Dallas, not sure if you're wanting to leave the area.
There's a cereal restaurant at the airport. Yes, a cereal restaurant.
@chr There used to be one by my university. It had some hard-to-find selections, but I felt like a bowl was close to the cost of a box. It didn't last very long.
what, no tours of texas health presbyterian hospital? EBOLAEBOLAEBOLA
@no1 they are saving that for Halloween.
@no1 I saw a commercial of theirs yesterday where they are just thanking everyone for trusting them. It was awkward.
@Kleineleh I saw that, too. It came on right before 60 Minutes, who just happened to be doing a story about the hospital and the nurses. That's some hardcore please-don't-run-us-out-of-business campaigning going on.
@no1 @Kleineleh @bluedyn More people in the US have been married to Kim Kardashian than have died from Ebola.
@JonT and the jury is still out over which is more miserable.
@JonT The fame lasts longer with Ebola...and more people watch it too!