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> I would never recommend visiting Dallas, it's a dull city Oh, sure Dallas, doesn't have the usual tourist attractions, but I bet that if someone came to Dall

> I would never recommend visiting Dallas, it's a dull city Oh, sure Dallas, doesn't have the usual tourist attractions, but I bet that if someone came to Dallas for a week I could put a huge smile on their face by taking them to as many different ethnic restaurants as I can fit into a week. Just thinking of all the food options we have here makes me drool. And the best part is that all of these wonderful places are out in the suburbs, not in the city core (in fact, 95% of what I've seen in the city core is pretty solidly made for white yuppies).

bin_bash 4y ago
Suggestions please! I've found the food especially in Dallas proper (but not downtown) to be surprisingly good but always looking for more. Also the art museums are a lot better than I expected. We went to Vrindivan last weekend and it was easily the best Indian food I've ever had outside of India.
- amyjess 4y ago
  Well, this is gonna be a doozy... this might be multiple posts, and I'm rate-limited, so we'll see... Let's start with Chinese food... There are multiple places here that can easily be called Chinatowns, the bigger ones being the one in Richardson on Greenville between Arapaho and Belt Line/Main and the one in Plano at Park & Coit. Lots and lots of good restaurants in both places, and the one at Park & Coit has a lot of non-Chinese Asian places too (like a fantastic Korean fried chicken place called BBQ Chicken). Any place with "Sichuan" in the name is going to be a banger; Sichuan King (now merged with Royal Sichuan, and I think the restaurant carries both names) is one of my favorite places to order ma po tofu. One of the more famous places in Richardson Chinatown is called Jeng Chi, they were one of the restaurants that introduced xiaolongbao (soup dumplings) to Dallas though they've kinda let their fame go to their head lately (they're kinda expensive now, and other places are better) though they're still pretty good. Canton's another decent place, some of the best chow fun and Hong Kong-style wonton soup in Dallas. One of the few Hunan restaurants in Dallas, Hunan Bistro, is at the Plano Chinatown, right next door to another Sichuan place. Plano Chinatown also has a decent hot pot place, called Chubby Cattle. Of course, there are lots of Chinese restaurants that aren't in the Chinatowns. First Chinese BBQ is a local chain with locations all over town... they used to be cash-only but i understand they started taking card very recently. Fat Ni at Spring Creek & 75 in Plano serves Chinese street food, mostly on skewers—I recommend their vegetarian stuff, such as their fried gluten and tofu (yes, fried gluten on a stick, it's good). Sichuan Folk at Spring Creek & K in Plano is another fantastic Sichuan place (there are a ton of other great Sichuan places all over Dallas too). Wu Wei Din at 15th and Independence in Plano specializes in Taiwanese food. I'm fond of Tian Tian at Preston & Frankford in Far North Dallas, which has a huge menu including Peking Duck and gold and silver buns. We also have some wonderful hot pot places, Happy Lamb at Legacy & 75 in Plano being one of my favorites. My current favorite place to order from is Long Time Ago at Coit & Belt Line in Richardson, they have a huge and diverse menu with a huge selection of Sichuan dishes and Cantonese food like BBQ pork fried rice. Next, on to Japanese food. We have an actual sushi buffet here, Osaka on Belt Line & Midway in Addison (we used to have more, but this is the only one left). We have lots and lots of ramen joints that also serve other things including some great takoyaki and curry rice: Ramen Hakata at Belt Line & Marsh in Addison, Higuma Ramen & Izakaya at Belt Line and Midway again (different corner from Osaka though), Monta Ramen at Coit & Arapaho in Richardson, and several Yama Izakaya & Sushi locations all over town. We have an actual Japanese supermarket, Mitsuwa Marketplace, at Legacy & 75 in Plano, which has a food court inside full of great places. Gyu-Kaku is a chain of yakiniku restaurants (with an all-you-can-eat option) and locations in both Addison (Belt Line & Montfort) and Plano (Preston & Headquarters). Korean food... our main Koreatowns are at Old Denton Road & Trinity Mills in Carrollton and Royal Lane & I-35E in Northwest Dallas. I've only been to the one in Carrollton, but it's amazing. Korean barbecue (some of which are all you can eat!), Korean fried chicken, Korean bakeries, Korean shaved ice places for dessert... the centerpiece of it all is H-Mart, a giant Korean supermarket with a wonderful food court inside. Everything in that food court is fantastic, and they serve food from several other Asian countries too, including my favorite place for xiaolongbao in Dallas. But their actual Korean food in the food court is fantastic too, there's one place that seves bulgogi in stone bowls and amazing sundubu (tofu soup). There are also a number of Korean fried chicken places outside the Koreatowns, including a number of BBQ Chicken franches all over and Bonchon Chicken at Belt Line and Quorum in Addison. Thai food... we have Thai restaurants all over. Admittedly, I'm not familiar with the breadth of them because I've usually stuck to my favorites because they're so good. Banana Leaf at Preston & Campbell and Thai Spice at Frankford & the Tollway, both in Far North Dallas, are fantastic and I always find myself going to one of those two when I want Thai food (keep in mind: Thai Spice lives up to its name... I can handle spicy food really damn well normally, but I got a 4 on their menu once and it was too much for me, I've been told by friends that their food is usually one or two levels spicier than other restaurants at the same number). Plenty of other good places, I'm just a bit set in my ways here. Vietnamese food... oh we have a ton of them. Lots and lots of pho places, just search Google Maps for any restaurant with "Pho" in its name and you'll find something fantastic. The best places are the holes-in-the-wall with no decor. My go-tos are Pho Pasteur II at Belt Line & Josey in Carrollton and Pho Truong at Arapaho & Custer in Richardson. I have to admit I haven't gone for pho much lately... thanks to the pandemic I've mostly just been ordering delivery with a few exceptions, and pho doesn't deliver well. But it's still good, and I'm starting to go out to eat again so hopefully I should be eating more pho. ...and I think I'm going to take a break before typing out any more. I'm sure I'm rubbing up against a character limit anyway, and I want to get this submitted now in case my machine eats this post. I'll write up some stuff about food from India, Nepal, West and East Africa, various parts of Latin America, other regional American cuisines, etc. later.
  - amyjess 4y ago
    Part 2, a bit late... Indian food... good Indian food is all over Dallas. Probably my favorite is Sigree, at Belt Line & Midway in Addison. They have a huge menu with lots of choices including a sizable amount of Indo-Chinese food. Other good places include Mumbai Grill at Preston & McCallum in Far North Dallas, India Chaat Cafe at Preston & Frankford in Far North Dallas, Mughlai Fine Indian Cuisine at Alpha & Noel Road in Far North Dallas, Curry Bliss at Coit & Belt Line in Richardson (this one is entirely vegetarian, and absolutely fantastic... their paneer is to die for), Maharaja Indian Restaurant at Coit & Spring Creek in Plano, and several others. If you want a buffet, I recommend Vindu at Frankford & the Tollway in Far North Dallas or Chennai Cafe at Preston & Gaylord in Frisco. There's a huge Indian community in Irving with lots of restaurants, but I can't give any specific recommendations because Irving is pretty far from where I live and I don't really go to that part of town. Nepalese food... yes, we have Nepalese food! If you're not familiar with it, their specialty is a kind of dumpling called momos, and they also have a number of curries similar to Indian food. Most of the Nepali restaurants here are in Irving, which again I don't really go to, but there are a couple in my neck of the woods. Everest at McDermott & Custer in Plano is amazing, and I'm also fond of Momo Magic and More at Coit & Plano Pkwy, also in Plano. Ethiopian food... most of it is clustered in the Lake Highlands area around Forest & Greenville or in eastern Richardson around Buckingham & Jupiter. Unfortunately, it's been a few years and I haven't dragged myself out that far east in ages so I don't remember the names of any specific restaurants, but you should be happy with anything there. If you're not willing to go that far, there's Queen of Sheba on Inwood Road in Addison just south of Belt Line and Shebelle at Preston & Campbell in Far North Dallas. West African food... I'm not too familiar with it, but there are a couple of places: Afrika Fusion at the Tollway & Haverwood and Aso Rock Market at Frankford & Midway, both in Far North Dallas. Mexican food... Dallas is full of great Mexican and Tex-Mex, unfortunately the best of it is all south of I-30, which is waaaaaaaaay far from where I live (I have been told to specifically look for places on Jefferson Blvd), so I don't get to go there often. My favorite place near me is Don Pepe's Rancho, which just moved into a new location at Arapaho & Hillcrest in Far North Dallas. Another excellent place is Gio's Taqueria at Trinity Mills & Marsh in Carrollton. It also feels weird recommending a chain, but you have to try the queso at Torchy's. It's not an authentic place, it's a chain from Austin, and their tacos are overrated (not bad, just overrated), but the queso is to die for. Other Latin American food... for Peruvian food, I'd recommed Tineo Peruvian Cafe at Arapaho & Custer in Richardson. For Colombian, I'd recommend Casa Vieja at Belt Line & Josey. There are a number of Salvadorian restaurants that serve pupusas, and I remember ordering from one once and loving it but can't remember what it's called for the life of me (I tried searching Uber Eats, but it turned up more places than I was expecting). There are a couple of good Cuban places at Josey & Trinity Mills in Carrollton, including Cuba Bella Cafe and Cuban Dulceria International Bakery. I've heard good things about a couple of Venezuelan restaurants but haven't gotten to try them yet: El Arepazo Vzla at Midway & Trinity Mills in Carrollton and Big Yummy at Midway & Keller Springs in Addison. Good Latam fusion places I'd recommend are E.B. Latin Bistro at Park & Midway in Plano and Latin Deli. Latin Deli is a local chain with a number of locations around town... I always ordered from the one in Addison Circle but Google says it's closed now, though Uber Eats says it's still open. The one at 15th & Custer in Plano should still be open though, and they have fantastic sandwiches from all over Latin America including Puerto Rican-style tripleta, Peruvian-style butifarra and lomo saltado sandwiches, Mexican tortas, and more. And I might as well mention it here even though it's not strictly Latin, though it's from the part of the world right next door: we have an excellent Jamaican restaurant in the Island Spot at Midway & Trinity Mills in Carrollton (if I knew more Jamaican places, this probably would be its own paragraph). Mediterranean food... we've got a lot of it here. There's a _huge_ cluster of Middle Eastern places in Downtown Richardson on Greenville. If you want a buffet, I'd recommend Afrah at Greenville & Belt Line or Ali Baba at 75 & Campbell. Our most authentic Greek restaurant is Zorba's, at Preston & Plano Pkwy in Plano. It blew my mind when I went there. And even though it's a chain, we have a number of Little Greek locations that have really tasty gyros and falafel. German food... it's Texas, we have Germans here. The king of German places in Dallas is Bavarian Grill on Premier just north of 75 & Parker in Plano (that whole area is a nightmare to navigate). It's expensive but well worth the money. For someplace cheaper but with a less impressive (but still tasty) menu, there's Henk's near Northwest Hwy & Greenville in Dallas. The best thing about Henk's isn't the food menu but the attached German and Dutch food mart, where you can buy a lot of nifty goodies. Yes, German and Dutch, they have both... including a whole rack of Dutch licorice which had me feeling like a kid in a candy store (yes, I love salty licorice, it's an acquired taste but oh so good once you acquire it). And though it's not strictly German, we have an Austrian restaurant too, Jörg's Cafe Vienna at 15th & K in Downtown Plano (keep in mind that it's run like an actual European restaurant, which means their hours are really really wonky, make sure to look them up if you go there). And of course, if you're comfortable with crowds, don't forget to go to our Oktoberfest celebration at Addison Circle in September, supposedly it's one of the biggest ones outside of Germany. Other regional American foods... our single best New York-style deli is Deli News at Preston & Campbell. There's also a local chain called Cindi's, with several locations all over, that's not bad, but Deli News is way better... except for the matzo ball soup, Cindi's is unbeatable at that one. We have a number of decent Philly cheesesteak places too, with two local chains that are really damn good: Texadelphia and Fred's Downtown Philly. They've got a handful of locations. For southern soul food, I'd recommend Trucker's Cafe at Arapaho & Custer in Richardson. ...and I'm sure I'm missing _something_ but I'm gonna wrap this one up now. Maybe I'll have a third post with stuff that's fallen through the cracks, maybe not.
doktorhladnjak 4y ago
> And the best part is that all of these wonderful places are out in the suburbs Why's that the best part?

bin_bash 4y ago

Suggestions please! I've found the food especially in Dallas proper (but not downtown) to be surprisingly good but always looking for more. Also the art museums are a lot better than I expected. We went to Vrindivan last weekend and it was easily the best Indian food I've ever had outside of India.

amyjess 4y ago
Well, this is gonna be a doozy... this might be multiple posts, and I'm rate-limited, so we'll see... Let's start with Chinese food... There are multiple places here that can easily be called Chinatowns, the bigger ones being the one in Richardson on Greenville between Arapaho and Belt Line/Main and the one in Plano at Park & Coit. Lots and lots of good restaurants in both places, and the one at Park & Coit has a lot of non-Chinese Asian places too (like a fantastic Korean fried chicken place called BBQ Chicken). Any place with "Sichuan" in the name is going to be a banger; Sichuan King (now merged with Royal Sichuan, and I think the restaurant carries both names) is one of my favorite places to order ma po tofu. One of the more famous places in Richardson Chinatown is called Jeng Chi, they were one of the restaurants that introduced xiaolongbao (soup dumplings) to Dallas though they've kinda let their fame go to their head lately (they're kinda expensive now, and other places are better) though they're still pretty good. Canton's another decent place, some of the best chow fun and Hong Kong-style wonton soup in Dallas. One of the few Hunan restaurants in Dallas, Hunan Bistro, is at the Plano Chinatown, right next door to another Sichuan place. Plano Chinatown also has a decent hot pot place, called Chubby Cattle. Of course, there are lots of Chinese restaurants that aren't in the Chinatowns. First Chinese BBQ is a local chain with locations all over town... they used to be cash-only but i understand they started taking card very recently. Fat Ni at Spring Creek & 75 in Plano serves Chinese street food, mostly on skewers—I recommend their vegetarian stuff, such as their fried gluten and tofu (yes, fried gluten on a stick, it's good). Sichuan Folk at Spring Creek & K in Plano is another fantastic Sichuan place (there are a ton of other great Sichuan places all over Dallas too). Wu Wei Din at 15th and Independence in Plano specializes in Taiwanese food. I'm fond of Tian Tian at Preston & Frankford in Far North Dallas, which has a huge menu including Peking Duck and gold and silver buns. We also have some wonderful hot pot places, Happy Lamb at Legacy & 75 in Plano being one of my favorites. My current favorite place to order from is Long Time Ago at Coit & Belt Line in Richardson, they have a huge and diverse menu with a huge selection of Sichuan dishes and Cantonese food like BBQ pork fried rice. Next, on to Japanese food. We have an actual sushi buffet here, Osaka on Belt Line & Midway in Addison (we used to have more, but this is the only one left). We have lots and lots of ramen joints that also serve other things including some great takoyaki and curry rice: Ramen Hakata at Belt Line & Marsh in Addison, Higuma Ramen & Izakaya at Belt Line and Midway again (different corner from Osaka though), Monta Ramen at Coit & Arapaho in Richardson, and several Yama Izakaya & Sushi locations all over town. We have an actual Japanese supermarket, Mitsuwa Marketplace, at Legacy & 75 in Plano, which has a food court inside full of great places. Gyu-Kaku is a chain of yakiniku restaurants (with an all-you-can-eat option) and locations in both Addison (Belt Line & Montfort) and Plano (Preston & Headquarters). Korean food... our main Koreatowns are at Old Denton Road & Trinity Mills in Carrollton and Royal Lane & I-35E in Northwest Dallas. I've only been to the one in Carrollton, but it's amazing. Korean barbecue (some of which are all you can eat!), Korean fried chicken, Korean bakeries, Korean shaved ice places for dessert... the centerpiece of it all is H-Mart, a giant Korean supermarket with a wonderful food court inside. Everything in that food court is fantastic, and they serve food from several other Asian countries too, including my favorite place for xiaolongbao in Dallas. But their actual Korean food in the food court is fantastic too, there's one place that seves bulgogi in stone bowls and amazing sundubu (tofu soup). There are also a number of Korean fried chicken places outside the Koreatowns, including a number of BBQ Chicken franches all over and Bonchon Chicken at Belt Line and Quorum in Addison. Thai food... we have Thai restaurants all over. Admittedly, I'm not familiar with the breadth of them because I've usually stuck to my favorites because they're so good. Banana Leaf at Preston & Campbell and Thai Spice at Frankford & the Tollway, both in Far North Dallas, are fantastic and I always find myself going to one of those two when I want Thai food (keep in mind: Thai Spice lives up to its name... I can handle spicy food really damn well normally, but I got a 4 on their menu once and it was too much for me, I've been told by friends that their food is usually one or two levels spicier than other restaurants at the same number). Plenty of other good places, I'm just a bit set in my ways here. Vietnamese food... oh we have a ton of them. Lots and lots of pho places, just search Google Maps for any restaurant with "Pho" in its name and you'll find something fantastic. The best places are the holes-in-the-wall with no decor. My go-tos are Pho Pasteur II at Belt Line & Josey in Carrollton and Pho Truong at Arapaho & Custer in Richardson. I have to admit I haven't gone for pho much lately... thanks to the pandemic I've mostly just been ordering delivery with a few exceptions, and pho doesn't deliver well. But it's still good, and I'm starting to go out to eat again so hopefully I should be eating more pho. ...and I think I'm going to take a break before typing out any more. I'm sure I'm rubbing up against a character limit anyway, and I want to get this submitted now in case my machine eats this post. I'll write up some stuff about food from India, Nepal, West and East Africa, various parts of Latin America, other regional American cuisines, etc. later.
- amyjess 4y ago
  Part 2, a bit late... Indian food... good Indian food is all over Dallas. Probably my favorite is Sigree, at Belt Line & Midway in Addison. They have a huge menu with lots of choices including a sizable amount of Indo-Chinese food. Other good places include Mumbai Grill at Preston & McCallum in Far North Dallas, India Chaat Cafe at Preston & Frankford in Far North Dallas, Mughlai Fine Indian Cuisine at Alpha & Noel Road in Far North Dallas, Curry Bliss at Coit & Belt Line in Richardson (this one is entirely vegetarian, and absolutely fantastic... their paneer is to die for), Maharaja Indian Restaurant at Coit & Spring Creek in Plano, and several others. If you want a buffet, I recommend Vindu at Frankford & the Tollway in Far North Dallas or Chennai Cafe at Preston & Gaylord in Frisco. There's a huge Indian community in Irving with lots of restaurants, but I can't give any specific recommendations because Irving is pretty far from where I live and I don't really go to that part of town. Nepalese food... yes, we have Nepalese food! If you're not familiar with it, their specialty is a kind of dumpling called momos, and they also have a number of curries similar to Indian food. Most of the Nepali restaurants here are in Irving, which again I don't really go to, but there are a couple in my neck of the woods. Everest at McDermott & Custer in Plano is amazing, and I'm also fond of Momo Magic and More at Coit & Plano Pkwy, also in Plano. Ethiopian food... most of it is clustered in the Lake Highlands area around Forest & Greenville or in eastern Richardson around Buckingham & Jupiter. Unfortunately, it's been a few years and I haven't dragged myself out that far east in ages so I don't remember the names of any specific restaurants, but you should be happy with anything there. If you're not willing to go that far, there's Queen of Sheba on Inwood Road in Addison just south of Belt Line and Shebelle at Preston & Campbell in Far North Dallas. West African food... I'm not too familiar with it, but there are a couple of places: Afrika Fusion at the Tollway & Haverwood and Aso Rock Market at Frankford & Midway, both in Far North Dallas. Mexican food... Dallas is full of great Mexican and Tex-Mex, unfortunately the best of it is all south of I-30, which is waaaaaaaaay far from where I live (I have been told to specifically look for places on Jefferson Blvd), so I don't get to go there often. My favorite place near me is Don Pepe's Rancho, which just moved into a new location at Arapaho & Hillcrest in Far North Dallas. Another excellent place is Gio's Taqueria at Trinity Mills & Marsh in Carrollton. It also feels weird recommending a chain, but you have to try the queso at Torchy's. It's not an authentic place, it's a chain from Austin, and their tacos are overrated (not bad, just overrated), but the queso is to die for. Other Latin American food... for Peruvian food, I'd recommed Tineo Peruvian Cafe at Arapaho & Custer in Richardson. For Colombian, I'd recommend Casa Vieja at Belt Line & Josey. There are a number of Salvadorian restaurants that serve pupusas, and I remember ordering from one once and loving it but can't remember what it's called for the life of me (I tried searching Uber Eats, but it turned up more places than I was expecting). There are a couple of good Cuban places at Josey & Trinity Mills in Carrollton, including Cuba Bella Cafe and Cuban Dulceria International Bakery. I've heard good things about a couple of Venezuelan restaurants but haven't gotten to try them yet: El Arepazo Vzla at Midway & Trinity Mills in Carrollton and Big Yummy at Midway & Keller Springs in Addison. Good Latam fusion places I'd recommend are E.B. Latin Bistro at Park & Midway in Plano and Latin Deli. Latin Deli is a local chain with a number of locations around town... I always ordered from the one in Addison Circle but Google says it's closed now, though Uber Eats says it's still open. The one at 15th & Custer in Plano should still be open though, and they have fantastic sandwiches from all over Latin America including Puerto Rican-style tripleta, Peruvian-style butifarra and lomo saltado sandwiches, Mexican tortas, and more. And I might as well mention it here even though it's not strictly Latin, though it's from the part of the world right next door: we have an excellent Jamaican restaurant in the Island Spot at Midway & Trinity Mills in Carrollton (if I knew more Jamaican places, this probably would be its own paragraph). Mediterranean food... we've got a lot of it here. There's a _huge_ cluster of Middle Eastern places in Downtown Richardson on Greenville. If you want a buffet, I'd recommend Afrah at Greenville & Belt Line or Ali Baba at 75 & Campbell. Our most authentic Greek restaurant is Zorba's, at Preston & Plano Pkwy in Plano. It blew my mind when I went there. And even though it's a chain, we have a number of Little Greek locations that have really tasty gyros and falafel. German food... it's Texas, we have Germans here. The king of German places in Dallas is Bavarian Grill on Premier just north of 75 & Parker in Plano (that whole area is a nightmare to navigate). It's expensive but well worth the money. For someplace cheaper but with a less impressive (but still tasty) menu, there's Henk's near Northwest Hwy & Greenville in Dallas. The best thing about Henk's isn't the food menu but the attached German and Dutch food mart, where you can buy a lot of nifty goodies. Yes, German and Dutch, they have both... including a whole rack of Dutch licorice which had me feeling like a kid in a candy store (yes, I love salty licorice, it's an acquired taste but oh so good once you acquire it). And though it's not strictly German, we have an Austrian restaurant too, Jörg's Cafe Vienna at 15th & K in Downtown Plano (keep in mind that it's run like an actual European restaurant, which means their hours are really really wonky, make sure to look them up if you go there). And of course, if you're comfortable with crowds, don't forget to go to our Oktoberfest celebration at Addison Circle in September, supposedly it's one of the biggest ones outside of Germany. Other regional American foods... our single best New York-style deli is Deli News at Preston & Campbell. There's also a local chain called Cindi's, with several locations all over, that's not bad, but Deli News is way better... except for the matzo ball soup, Cindi's is unbeatable at that one. We have a number of decent Philly cheesesteak places too, with two local chains that are really damn good: Texadelphia and Fred's Downtown Philly. They've got a handful of locations. For southern soul food, I'd recommend Trucker's Cafe at Arapaho & Custer in Richardson. ...and I'm sure I'm missing _something_ but I'm gonna wrap this one up now. Maybe I'll have a third post with stuff that's fallen through the cracks, maybe not.

doktorhladnjak 4y ago

> And the best part is that all of these wonderful places are out in the suburbs Why's that the best part?