Urbanite visiting Dallas (Fort Worth, McKinney, Greenville: 2013, neighborhoods, construction)

[Peter1948]

Friends,

I have not been in Dallas for years. Please list the top 5 best, walkable, urban neighborhoods and their "main drag street names" as far as commerce. Please give me a few restaurants and bars that would be good on weekdays. I will be there November 10th-15th for work.

Please include Fort Worth or any suburb that has nice urban, walkable areas.

[TrueDat]

1) Uptown Dallas: McKinney Avenue is the main stretch. Take the free trolley from West Village shopping area on the north end to the Arts District and Klyde Warren Park at the southern end. (The trolley is out of service right now because of construction, not sure if it will be back in service by November) Uptown Dallas - Home

2) Bishop Arts District in Oak Cliff: Ground zero for foodies in Dallas these days. Check out restaurants like Lucia for expensive Italian, Eno's for thin-crust pizza, Hattie's for upscale Southern, Zen Sushi for Japanese, Oddfellows for American. The Bishop Arts District - Home

3) Henderson Avenue: Though not a continuous stretch, there are bars and restaurants all along from Henderson from Central Expressway to Ross Avenue. These include Sissy's, J. Black's, Velvet Taco Lounge, Barcadia, Beauty Bar, and lots more.

4) Highland Park Village: Along with NorthPark, this is still the nexus for high-end shopping in Dallas.

5) Deep Ellum: After years of going downhill, it's on the upswing again, this time more with restaurants, bars and eateries than music venues. Lots of new ones people are talking about include Tanoshii Ramen, Twilite Lounge, Glazed Donut Works, Cane Rosso, Serious Pizza, and Lemongrass.

6) Magnolia Avenue: Over in Fort Worth, this area south of downtown has become a bar and restaurant area. Try Ellerbe Fine Foods. Ellerbe Fine Foods

[TurtleCreek80]

The search function is your friend- try searching this forum for "Walkable" and you'll get lots of hits!!

In general, Uptown Dallas and its surrounding neighborhoods (Knox-Henderson, Downtown / Arts District, and Deep Ellum/ Exposition) are the most vibrant urban Walkable neighborhoods in Dallas.

[Peter1948]

Originally Posted by TrueDat

1) Uptown Dallas: McKinney Avenue is the main stretch. Take the free trolley from West Village shopping area on the north end to the Arts District and Klyde Warren Park at the southern end. (The trolley is out of service right now because of construction, not sure if it will be back in service by November) Uptown Dallas - Home

2) Bishop Arts District in Oak Cliff: Ground zero for foodies in Dallas these days. Check out restaurants like Lucia for expensive Italian, Eno's for thin-crust pizza, Hattie's for upscale Southern, Zen Sushi for Japanese, Oddfellows for American. The Bishop Arts District - Home

3) Henderson Avenue: Though not a continuous stretch, there are bars and restaurants all along from Henderson from Central Expressway to Ross Avenue. These include Sissy's, J. Black's, Velvet Taco Lounge, Barcadia, Beauty Bar, and lots more.

4) Highland Park Village: Along with NorthPark, this is still the nexus for high-end shopping in Dallas.

5) Deep Ellum: After years of going downhill, it's on the upswing again, this time more with restaurants, bars and eateries than music venues. Lots of new ones people are talking about include Tanoshii Ramen, Twilite Lounge, Glazed Donut Works, Cane Rosso, Serious Pizza, and Lemongrass.

6) Magnolia Avenue: Over in Fort Worth, this area south of downtown has become a bar and restaurant area. Try Ellerbe Fine Foods. Ellerbe Fine Foods

Great list. It is funny how cities develop. To be honest, those strips are not too much larger than what you would find in the midsized cities of the south with good food, ie Louisville and New Orleans. However, it will be interesting to see how that scene has developed alongside what I call the "mega" corporate Dallas. Even so, you have provided some great names of restaurants/bars, which I think is the best way to experience a city.

Any other input is greatly appreciated. I seem to remember Mckinney Ave as always being busy, but I do not recall the Oak Cliff or Deep Ellum areas having as much "indie" activity a decade ago.

[rantanamo]

I would add Lower Greenville to that list as well. It has really come back in a much more mature form. And I like the small neighborhood type areas like those listed. Very pleasant and gives the best of both worlds.

[Lakewooder]

Henderson nearly merges into Lower Greenville near Ross. Lower Greenville is indeed back. New Trader Joe's and The Truck Yard http://www.dallasnews.com/entertainm...eer-garden.ece are runaway successes and driving all sorts of action.

Deep Ellum has made a huge comeback with food and restaurants. The majority of the recent Dallas Observer "Best of" awards went to establishments there. The Alligator Cafe recently opened another location on Elm.