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Eat
Cuisine
Dallas is renowned for barbecue, authentic Mexican cuisine|Mexican, and Tex-Mex cuisine. Famous products of the Dallas culinary scene include the margarita|frozen margarita and the restaurants La Calle Doce, Sonny Bryan's Smokehouse, Enchilada's, Mi Cocina, and The Mansion on Turtle Creek.
The French Room at the Hotel Adolphus in downtown Dallas was named the best hotel restaurant in the US by Zagat. Several nationally ranked steak and chop houses can be found in the Dallas area including Bob's Steak & Chop House which is currently ranked #3 according to the USDA Prime Steakhouses chart, behind Ruth's Chris Times Square and Bones Atlanta.USDA top 10 Steak Houses in America
Areas with high concentrations of restaurants include the following:
- Beltline Road through Addison and Dallas/North Dallas|North Dallas, just north of I-635, has perhaps the most restaurants per-capita in the U.S. If there is a type of food you like then you can probably find it there.
- Greenville Avenue running north to south in Dallas/East Dallas|East Dallas, has many restaurants along its length, particularly in Dallas/Lower Greenville|Lower Greenville.
- Knox and Henderson streets, off I-75 Dallas/Uptown|Uptown have many laid-back, stylish restaurants.
- McKinney Street, south of Dallas/Uptown|Uptown, a wide variety of quality establishments.
- The West End in the northwest part of Dallas/Downtown|Downtown has a good mix of original local restaurants and successful chain establishments.
Dallas has a good number of its own chain restaurants which have become quite successful in the area, offering unique local flavors.
- Spring Creek Barbeque, [1]. Spring Creek Barbeque has 15 Texas style restaurants across the North Texas area. The menu is very simple. Beef, ham sausage, turkey, chicken, and ribs are available for entrees (you can have combinations also). Side items available are corn, beans, potato salad, cole slaw, and baked potatoes. In addition, fresh homemade bread rolls are served with each dish and more are delivered to your table during each meal. Even with large servings, the most expensive menu is only about $10 so all of the dishes are available at a reasonable price.
- Cristina's, several DFW locations, [2]. Lunch specials are very reasonably priced. Service across all of the family owned and operated locations is blindingly fast no matter the location. The chips and salsa are arguably some of the freshest and best in the Metroplex. A unique signature menu item is the "Queso Flameado" where the server melts cheese by fire tableside and then wraps the gooey cheesey goodness in several freshly made tortillas.
Main Street in Downtown has seen major improvements over the last few months, with plenty of places to eat and to play. Highly Recommended. Don't forget to stop by the City Tavern for a longneck or two.
Drink
- Urban Oasis at Hotel ZaZa, 2332 Leonard Street, 214-550-9500. [3] Located in Uptown Dallas, Urban Oasis is a trendy bar and lounge that attracts an eclectic mix of Hollywood celebrities and world travelers. Open year round, the lounge offers a chic, poolside retreat.
The Dallas Observer [4] is the local alternative weekly. You can pick up a free copy at many places around town. It is full of useful information on Dallas nightlife and its music-scene offerings.
- Dallas/Downtown|West End - This is an attractive enough historic neighborhood with buildings in a turn-of-the-century redbrick vernacular -- the notorious Book Depository is one of them -- in the northwest quadrant of downtown. The area is mostly popular with suburbanites and tourists out for dinner and a quick stroll around the neighborhood but has a number of bars as well.
- Dallas/Deep Ellum|Deep Ellum is a district of bars, dance clubs, music venues and tattoo shops. located just east of downtown on Main, Elm and Commerce streets. It is a hipster haven for young people and a weekend destination for music lovers of all ages. Lately, it has been stigmatized by a purported "crime wave," be sure to go in groups if you go on a weeknight.
- Dallas/Uptown|Uptown and McKinney Ave - This is where Dallas' beautiful people go to see and be seen. Trendy to the nth degree, this neighborhood contains very upscale fashionable clubs.
- Dallas/Lower Greenville|Lower Greenville has many older drinking establishments.
- Addison has some famous drinking spots tucked in amongst its many restaurants, notably The Flying Saucer.
Note: The existence of several "dry" towns within the Dallas area put a severe damper on its nightlife scene, particularly in communities like Richardson, to the north, which is as fun and lively as a graveyard during a funeral service.
Gentlemen's Clubs
If you are so inclined, Dallas has an overabundance of "Gentlemen's Clubs." Most of these places are nice and safe, and usually located off the Highway 35 and Northwest Highway area. Bring cash along or go to an ATM beforehand-- if using a credit card, you have to sign the tabs in triplicate with a photocopy of your ID. One can have a good time for $100-$200 at all the clubs, but if you want to spend more, the ladies will certainly help you do so. Here is a list of some of the clubs starting with the nicest ones.
- The Lodge - Has a safari motif inside and actually has good food too.
- The Men's Club - A nice club with pretty girls. The best night is Thursday.
- Silver City - Good club.
- Baby Doll's - An enormous club that sells more alcohol than any other bar in Texas. Has pretty decent priced drinks for a gentlemen's club.
- Million Dollar Saloon - A lot of history behind this place. Really the first of its kind in Dallas or all of Texas.
- The Clubhouse - Owned and operated by surviving members of Pantera; Frequented by all walks of life in Dallas; BYOB; Full frontal
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