Seeking "happening" area near nightlife (restaurant, reviews)

[tyanger]

Originally Posted by Lakewooder

Chuy's started out in Dallas in the West End. Was kind of a novelty there...of course, I prefer the original in Austin. Of course you could say our Matt's is an offshoot of the Austin original, too - but that's a bit different.

When the GW Bush daughter got in trouble at Chuy's in Austin I said, well you really can't blame her, who could resist a margarita there?

It's been nearly a couple of decades since I last had one, but I remember liking the margaritas at Baby Acapulco better - they used to only serve you like 2 unless you knew the staff. Wish they had one in Dallas.

[Ambassador]

I love how much some people love to name drop restaurants and streets around Dallas..... reminds me of those wannabees who move to L.A. and start naming off all the celebreties they have bumped elbows with.

I think I will join in on this name dropping game:

Taco Diner West Village on McKinney ave has some of the tastiest fajitas in town. Then you can walk .2 miles south, south west to the Loon on Lemmon Ave for the STRONGEST drinks in town.

Of course, Manny's uptown Tex Mex is a meare .9 miles south, south east of the loon, just cross McKinney ave and the Albertsons parking lot. Lets not forget Primo's on McKinney and Hall st which has great margaritas and a happening night life.... 2 or so miles south of Primo's is the Gingerman on Boll st which gets crowded on the weekends. Right behind them is LA gourmet pizza which serves up some might fine pies...


Whew. Name dropping is exausting! How do some of you guys do it for, on average, 30 posts a day?

[WillysB]

Does Mama know Manny's working UpTown?

[theloneranger]

Originally Posted by Lakewooder

Chuy's started out in Dallas in the West End. Was kind of a novelty there...of course, I prefer the original in Austin. Of course you could say our Matt's is an offshoot of the Austin original, too - but that's a bit different.

When the GW Bush daughter got in trouble at Chuy's in Austin I said, well you really can't blame her, who could resist a margarita there?

The menus at the two Matt's are different--in particular, Matt's El Rancho doesn't have chicken fried steak, though they do have the Bob queso that comes on the Bob style chicken fried steak. Just one of many reasons that Dallas is indeed better than Austin.

There are, of course, better places to get margaritas than Chuy's in Austin. I do like the Knox-Henderson Chuy's, as it's pretty similar to the Barton Springs Chuy's in Austin, but the suburban locations are just kitschy knockoffs with bad Tex-Mex. There are better places in Dallas, as well, like Blue Goose, for starters.

The Javier's suggestion above was good, but Javier's is substantially more expensive than Chuy's! It's really a different sort of dinner decision.

[theloneranger]

Originally Posted by Ambassador

I love how much some people love to name drop restaurants and streets around Dallas..... reminds me of those wannabees who move to L.A. and start naming off all the celebreties they have bumped elbows with.

I think I will join in on this name dropping game:

Taco Diner West Village on McKinney ave has some of the tastiest fajitas in town. Then you can walk .2 miles south, south west to the Loon on Lemmon Ave for the STRONGEST drinks in town.

Of course, Manny's uptown Tex Mex is a meare .9 miles south, south east of the loon, just cross McKinney ave and the Albertsons parking lot. Lets not forget Primo's on McKinney and Hall st which has great margaritas and a happening night life.... 2 or so miles south of Primo's is the Gingerman on Boll st which gets crowded on the weekends. Right behind them is LA gourmet pizza which serves up some might fine pies...


Whew. Name dropping is exausting! How do some of you guys do it for, on average, 30 posts a day?

Most of us on here are from Dallas and have lived here most of, if not all of, our lives. Dallas has more restaurants per capita than any city on earth, many of them are quite good, and they are places that newcomers to Dallas might well want to try.

I don't see that as name dropping, I see that as being helpful and celebrating the fact that Dallas, unlike many other places, has a never-ending supply of restaurants to "name drop" to people.

As for your name drops, however, Manny's is awful. I've been to the Uptown one and the Addison one, and while the Addison one is worse, there are probably a hundred better Tex-mex places in Dallas.

Taco Diner is also not anything special. It's Mi Cocina, which in my quite learned opinion is the scourge of Dallas Tex-mex, wrapped in a Chipotle wrapper, at Mi Cocina prices. The fast service is all it has going for it.

I've not been to Primos or heard much about it so I won't comment either way on that one.

The Loon, however, is an excellent suggestion, so I applaud you for knowing at least one "celebrity" that you can name drop.

[theloneranger]

Originally Posted by Lakewooder

unexpected I didn't pick it, I was born here and I do belong to the secret society of The Shrine of East Dallas at 100 S. Glasgow.

The North Dallas fraternity that is 12345 Inwood is WAAAY better.

[artsyguy]

Beltline road in Addison is filled with restaurants and pubs. I've heard of the comedy improv and the piano bar that is there too.

Originally Posted by WillysB

Yeah, Addison is gonna be a long walk to the night life

Uptown

[theloneranger]

Originally Posted by artsyguy

Beltline road in Addison is filled with restaurants and pubs. I've heard of the comedy improv and the piano bar that is there too.

Belt Line's cool if you're hungry or 40...other than that it's nothing special.

Pete's is a cool piano bar but they have them all over the place, including in that town you love so much.

Ditto with the Improv.

[Ambassador]

Originally Posted by theloneranger

Most of us on here are from Dallas and have lived here most of, if not all of, our lives. Dallas has more restaurants per capita than any city on earth, many of them are quite good, and they are places that newcomers to Dallas might well want to try.

I don't see that as name dropping, I see that as being helpful and celebrating the fact that Dallas, unlike many other places, has a never-ending supply of restaurants to "name drop" to people.

As for your name drops, however, Manny's is awful. I've been to the Uptown one and the Addison one, and while the Addison one is worse, there are probably a hundred better Tex-mex places in Dallas.

Taco Diner is also not anything special. It's Mi Cocina, which in my quite learned opinion is the scourge of Dallas Tex-mex, wrapped in a Chipotle wrapper, at Mi Cocina prices. The fast service is all it has going for it.

I've not been to Primos or heard much about it so I won't comment either way on that one.

The Loon, however, is an excellent suggestion, so I applaud you for knowing at least one "celebrity" that you can name drop.

I have been in Dallas my whole life as well, and in the context of helping somebody I will point them in the right direction and even give my personal feelings on a place. What I don't find nescessary is to play the "how many restaurant names and their distances from eachother can I name off" game with fellow residents. To each their own...

On the issue of restaurants per capita; If by "on earth" you mean the Southwest region then you are correct...Dallas takes top spot. However Dallas doesn't even rank among the top American cities in restaurants per capita let alone in the world. Here is a ranking by state in which Texas is ranked as #30:

Resturants (per capita) statistics - states compared - StateMaster


When looking at per capita numbers in relation to a metro area then Dallas ranks very low. However, if taking strickly city limits into account then yes, Dallas does take the top spot IN THE UNITED STATES, but not the world.

The problem is that no ranking chooses to look only at a city as the determining factor but the entire MSA. In fact, right here on these forums people protest up and down that "Dallas" has a population of nearly 6 million because they want to inlcude anybody that lives within a 120 mile radius of DFW airport. Closer to the truth, most statistics would use the counties of Dallas, Tarrant, Denton, and Collin to classify Dallas metro area numbers, in which case Dallas sinks to the bottom in the restaurants per capita ranking.

Just a note: these restaurants per capita studies inlcude not only good restaurants but also nationwide chain restaurants and fast food joints in their number. As we all know Dallas and the surrounding metro area is very rich in chain restaurants and fast food places ( there is prety much a jack in the box, McDonalds, Whataburger, and Taco Bell on every corner) The area of Dallas from Uptown down thorugh downtown does, on the other hand contain a very high density of good, non-chain, non-fast food restaurants

[Cowboys fan in Houston]

Originally Posted by Ambassador

The problem is that no ranking chooses to look only at a city as the determining factor but the entire MSA. In fact, right here on these forums people protest up and down that "Dallas" has a population of nearly 6 million because they want to inlcude anybody that lives within a 120 mile radius of DFW airport. Closer to the truth, most statistics would use the counties of Dallas, Tarrant, Denton, and Collin to classify Dallas metro area numbers, in which case Dallas sinks to the bottom in the restaurants per capita ranking.

Just a note: these restaurants per capita studies inlcude not only good restaurants but also nationwide chain restaurants and fast food joints in their number. As we all know Dallas and the surrounding metro area is very rich in chain restaurants and fast food places ( there is prety much a jack in the box, McDonalds, Whataburger, and Taco Bell on every corner) The area of Dallas from Uptown down thorugh downtown does, on the other hand contain a very high density of good, non-chain, non-fast food restaurants

I think thats a little unfair. DFW is no different from any other Sunbelt metro area. Metro Houston, Atlanta, Phoenix, Los Angeles, etc. All of the above have between 8,000 and 10,000 square miles of land. Comparing Dallas and Fort Worth is like LA and Orange County, or Houston and Gavleston, or Miami and Fort Lauderdale, etc.

Not to mention that there are actually some very, very good resturants outside Dallas proper. Take a look at Plano. There are lots of mom and pop Indian, Chinese, and Korean resturant. There is also an excellent Austrian resturant in downtown Plano. Try courthouse square in Denton or McKinney too. Excellent non-chain resturants.

Dallas and DFW are alot more than chains. Moving from LA, I have no complaints about the food here. Its great!