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Locals Guide to Visiting DFW

+10 HS
flying-banana's picture
September 10, 2018 at 1:03pm
36 Comments

Hello everyone,

I've seen a few posts throughout the week regarding advice on visiting Dallas, there have been a few recommendations here and there but haven't seen many posts from people in Dallas so I thought I'd give it a try. In short, I've lived in Dallas ever since I graduated from OSU way back when and am happy to help any questions y'all have regarding the area. I'll put in the caveat that I am much more familiar with Dallas proper than Fort Worth, but luckily my co-worker sitting right next to me is a TCU alumnus from Fort Worth and I can certainly ask for advice to that side of town.

First things first, as many have mentioned, everything in DFW is spread out. Fort Worth is about ~30 minutes from Dallas and Arlington is roughly in the middle of the two cities; both cities are also very different from each other in terms of culture and atmosphere. To put it simply, Dallas is more metropolitan and Fort Worth is more "Texas". Over the past few years there has been a major effort from DFW to become more local, and as such there has been an explosion of very good, very local, food/beer/entertainment ad in general, Dallas breaks down into a few key districts: Lower Greenville, Uptown, Deep Ellum, and Bishop Arts.

Lower Greenville: This used to be the more dive-bar area of Dallas, and you can still find some holdouts that hold to that. Libertine is a good bar for beer and bar food, Singlewide is fantastic very-divery that is always crowded (try a yahoo-yeehaw), Truckyard is a very Texas-style open air bar with good drinks and food trucks. Greenville has been trending in a more upscale direction, however, and some of the newer places reflect that: Village baking co (under a sign that reads Boulangerie) is a great french bakery for a light breakfast, H&G Supply co is an extremely popular paleo-themed restaurant, Rapscallion does great Nashville style hot-fried chicken, Wabi House does westernized Ramen that is some of the best I've had anywhere in the country, and there is also a Gellato place that is fantastic. Take an uber/lyft here as parking is scarce.

Uptown: This is the "hipper" area of Dallas and you'll find the young beautiful crowd in this area. The Rustic is a fancier version of Truckyard and usually as live music, Public House has good food and drinks, Tacos & Tequila serves tacos... and tequila, Malai kitchen has Vietnamese food that is pretty good, and there are many more than I've listed here. If you're feeling classy, Uchi is one of the best rtestaurants I've ever been to anywhere - do the "omakase" (trust the chef) and be prepared to spend a pretty penny.

Deep Ellum: This was, for a long time, the hipster district of dallas; more recently it is trending in the uptown-chic direction. Still, there are some amazing finds in this area to dive into: Pecan lodge is the standard-bearer for Dallas BBQ, Armoury DE is a fantastic craft cocktail bar, Double-wide is a bigger version of single-wide in greenville, Brick and bones is good chicken, Deep Ellum brewing company is one of the many local brews you can find, Anvil pub does ridiculous food and bloody mary cocktails if you need to nurse a hangover. There is a ton of local bands performing all over in Deep Ellum and almost every bar has live music at some point. Dot's hop house is a great place for it's extensive draft menu (~100 if I remember correctly).

Bishop Arts: This is where the hipsters went when they left Deep Ellum. It's a bit further outside the city than the other three districts and the area around Bishop Arts isn't super great (but it's getting better). Lots of good food and drinks in this area, but more than anything it's a great place to explore with lots of small art galleries, craft stores, and more. Bolsa is a farm to table restaurant that is top notch, Dallas Grilled Cheese company will make you happy and ready for a nap, Hatties is a classy southern cooking joint, Lucia is some of the best Italian food you can get in Dallas, and lockhart smokehouse is some solid BBQ if you're in the mood.

Again, this is Dallas-centric, if more people are staying in fort worth than Dallas let me know and I'll do the Fort Worth version with my teammate from TCU. Gun to my head, if I had to recommend one place in a bunch of categories here's what I'd say (some are not listed above as they're not in a specific district):

Food: Blatt Beer and Table or Wabi House

BBQ: Slow Bone BBQ

Local Beer: Revolver Brewing Corp Blood and Honey

Texas Bar: Truck Yard

Fancy Restaurant: Uchi

Fancy Drinks: Armourey DE

Hope this helps, and let me know if anyone has any other questions about visiting the area.

Ohh - Arlington, the area around the stadium, is mostly chains and other bad things. Go there for the game, but go to Fort Worth or Dallas to enjoy the visit.

 

 

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