Foodie area to stay in Dallas?

[smkit]

I will be coming to Dallas for some medical treatment and will need to stay for 2 weeks. Does anyone have advice on where good foodie areas of town are?

I figure if I am going to be just hanging out, it would be nice to find a place that has good restaurants and grocery stores nearby.

Thanks.

k.

[amokscience]

For cheap, tasty, ethnic food there's Richardson/Garland or Carrollton. I'd suggest making friends with either the Plano or Lover's Lane Central Market locations. Cheaper than Whole Foods and usually better imo. The best overall Asian (Korean) grocery is Super H Mart in Carollton but there are some nice ones in Garland as well.

If pricey, trendy stuff is what you like then uptown (just north of downtown Dallas) has the largest concentration of spots. Not really my thing.

Dallas isn't too walking friendly so you'll probably end up driving a lot regardless of location. Let us know if you have some more specifics in mind.

[smkit]

I have been to Central Markets before in Houston, and I like them a lot. I definitely wouldn't mind being around one of those.

I was also browsing the google map and it seemed as if there was a fair concentration of restaurants in the area where Henderson/Knox crosses McKinney. Is that a good area?

[amokscience]

Yeah, that's pretty upscale and a walkable area (there's a trail that goes north south that's popular). If you cross 75 to the east the road (Henderson) down to Greenville is littered with 'nice' restaurants and bars. The neighborhoods are an odd mix with some lower income areas butting right up next to mansions. The area in general is on an upward development swing (and has been for several years).

[smkit]

I was getting that idea. I just dug out an old Saveur article and two of the restaurants in the area (Abacus and Fearing's) are noted as expensive.

Thanks for the feedback.

[Dallas Alice]

I vote for the Knox-Henderson area. Henderson now has a great variety of restaurants, from great bar food (Old Monk, Capitol Pub), to Sushi (Sushi Axiom), to Mexican (Cafe San Miguel, the drive-through taco place), to pizza (Louie's or Fireside, take your pick), to more high-end places (Tei Tei, Hibiscus, Hector's). And that's not counting The Porch, Hacienda, Blue Collar, Victor Tangos . . . am I missing any? Then, just a few blocks east is lower Greenville, with The Grape, Blue Goose, Cafe Brazil, The Libertine, World Piece, Cafe Izmir, Sevan's, Aw Shucks, and numerous bars. Then just across Central is La Duni, Ziziki's, Trece, Chuy's, Adelmo's, Javier's and on and on. Plus, K/H is close to the Lover's Central Market and Mockingbird Station, and is not very far from Uptown -- or Jimmy's and Cafe Urbano, for that matter. Yes, Abacus is expensive (Fearing's is not in the neighborhood, but certainly is pricey), but there are plenty of affordable restaurants in the area. You do have to schlep a ways to get good Asian food (other than sushi), but otherwise, I think K/H is Ground Zero for Big Eaters.

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Trece
4513 Travis St., Dallas, TX 75205

Cafe Izmir
3707 Greenville Ave, Dallas, TX 75206

Aw Shucks
3601 Greenville Ave, Dallas, TX 75206

La Duni Cafe
4620 McKinney Ave, Dallas, TX 75205

Ziziki's
11661 Preston Rd Ste 309, Dallas, TX 75230

Chuy's
3408 N Central Expy, Plano, TX 75074

[pgwiz1]

I live in the Knox-Henderson area, and would say stay around here! Great restaurants and yes, many walkable ones. We walk to all the restaurants. The Lover's Lane Central market is a short drive away. Jimmy's Italian store on Fitzhugh and Bryan is a short drive away as well.

[DallasDude]

+1 on Knox / Henderson area. Although there are amazing pockets of incredible food finds across the city (certainly Richardson comes to mind) I find myself galavanting across Henderson weekly..

[sike101]

Just to put another option out there. You could stay at the Belmont in Oak Cliff (very reasonable rates and very friendly). You'd be very close to a budding food scene, have a pretty good restaurant and bar right at your hotel and all the mexican food you could eat nearby.

Its about a mile or so from downtown (great views of the city to boot) and the all the food it has to offer, including the farmer's market. Not much further to uptown.

It's not a terribly walkable part of town, but has good transit coverage. The nearest good grocery store is Whole Food which is about 4 miles or so. Just a thought.

[foiegras]

Not sure exactly how you plan to use the grocery store, but thought I'd mention, I prefer Whole Foods' prepared foods to Central Market's chef's case. CM's cheese dept is better ... and the bakery (from a bread standpoint). IMO CM's sweet stuff is a bit weak overall ...

[CocoaNut]

What part of the metro area will you be receiving your medical treatments and will your lodging be nearby. If not, where in Dallas will that be? I understand you're wanting to know the "hot spots", but we'd also like to provide some insite close to your "home base".

[smkit]

First of all, thanks to everyone for the advice. I have been hard at work searching for places to stay in the areas mentioned, but frankly it has been a bit difficult finding a reasonably priced place. So it goes I guess...

FYI - the treatment will take place around Medical City Dallas Hospital (75/Forest Lane), but we will only need to be there for an hour or so a day, and this is why I would rather have a good area in which to spend the rest of the day.

Right now I am looking at staying either downtown at some corporate housing or around the Galleria (unless Craigslist comes through).

The Belmont looks nice, but the basic rooms are pretty small for a couple weeks.

With that said, I have also been looking through the forum posts for Dallas and found some nice inexpensive, hole-in-the-wall places to eat (Vietnamese, Thai, Mexican) that I am looking forward to visiting.

Anyhow, the search goes on...

[amokscience]

Keep in mind that the toll roads here are Dallas North Tollway (duh), the George Bush Turnpike, and 121. The DNT still takes coins (or tags) but the rest go on tags and cameras (ZipCash). You can get from Plano to downtown in about 25-30 minutes depending on road conditions.

Galleria is near Addison which has a ton of restaurants (tends toward corporate places). Going east on Beltline through Addison and you'll find another ethnic concentration (Mex/Asian) in Carrollton although I'm not personally very familiar with that area.

[CocoaNut]

Just a tiny correction. From the Galleria, going *west* on Belt Line will land you in Carrollton.

[amokscience]

Err, right, or is that left? Thanks

[CocoaNut]

:)

[CocoaNut]

If your treatments are in the morning, you may enjoy Cindi's NY Deli for breakfast (served all day).... It's just south of Medical City on the service road of SB 75 between N. Haven and Royal.

http://www.cindisnydeli.com/index.shtml

[strong95]

In the lobby of building A of Medical City, there is now a branch of Society Bakery -- awesome cupcakes, petit fours, birthday cakes, and good bakery treats. This is one of the better bakeries in town, way better than what you would ever expect to find in a hospital lobby!

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Society Bakery
3426 Greenville Ave, Dallas, TX

[smkit]

Thanks for the breakfast and bakery recs.

It looks as if we will be driving to the areas as it has been difficult to find places in the Knox-Henderson area that are reasonably priced for a couple-week stay. I may do a last hail-mary post on Craigslist to see if anything comes up last minute.

All in all, I am excited to try some of the restaurants I have scrounged up on the Chow boards visit some of the areas people have recommended.

Thanks everyone.

k.