Fellow EastCoaster visiting Dallas

     I had a friend visiting from DC this weekend and gave him a taste of what Dallas has to offer.  His First day here, we went to Kuby's (www.kubys.com) , which was especially fitting considering my friend's mom is German.  I had the Rueben, which I had eaten before.   It was glorious, consisting of  thinly sliced corned beef, sauerkraut, and Swiss on rye.  I got the potato salad on the side, and we spilt the sausage sampler.  He got a sausage plate. After a great meal, we checked out the market which is attached.  Along with a huge selection of meats, they also have many European foods to choose from.  My friend also gave it the German stamp of approval!  

Rueben from Kuby's

       On Saturday I gave him a tour of downtown which included stopping by Daley Plaza and Pioneer Plaza.   We ended up at the Dallas Farmers Market.  There were not nearly as many vendors as the last time I went.  The one new addition since my last visit was the Pecan Lounge (www.pecanlodge.com).  It was voted best BBQ in Dallas in D Magazine and the Dallas Observer for the past two years.  Clearly plenty of other thought highly of it was well, considering the line.  After about a 20 minute wait, we finally got experience it; and it certainly did not disappoint.  I got the pork ribs with the mac and cheese.  The ribs cooked great; wonderfully charred on the outside, and still very tender on the inside.  The mac & cheese was dense without being too heavy, and tasted great.  After a much needed nap, we headed out to the Mason Bar in uptown (www.themasonbar.com).  It was a great place, and the bartenders were all on point.  Even though the bar was pretty packed, there wasn't much of a wait (or the need to waive money in the air) to get a drink.  The crowd was a good mix, and not pretentious as I've been led to believe uptown can be.

Pork Ribs and Mac & Cheese from Pecan Loun

        The following day consisted of a tour to Central Market to admire the $179/lb Prosciutto and organic Kale.  We opted to a bag of Utz Crab Chips and grass-fed ground beef.  We grilled some burgers with the ground beef along with some sausages from Kuby's and laid back to enjoy the Ravens thump the Patriots to earn a trip to the Super Bowl.  Definitely a good Eastcoaster weekend in Dallas!

How 'bout them Ravens!

Sausage Platter from Kuby's

Chihuly at the Dallas Arboretum

Back on my feet...literally after tearing my achilles tendon.

I decided to do some rehab by walking around the Dallas Arboretum (http://www.dallasarboretum.org) for the first and seeing the Chihuly exhibit.  It was a great way to spend an afternoon.  The pieces are spread throughout the Arboretum in various settings.  Rather than taking away from the pieces added to it.  With White Rock lake in the background, the Arboretum offers a great break from the concrete, highways, and chain restaurants which seem all too often in Dallas.

The Return of Dallas

I happened to watch the series premiere of the reboot of Dallas last night (Call it Market research).  Within the first few minutes I saw two of three things I noticed the first time I came here driving out of the airport: an oil rig and cows (the other being a mega church). 

Here are a few things I learned about Dallas by watching Dallas:

-Forget the vegetable garden in backyerd, I should drill for oil!!

-When you catch someone breaking into your house, shoot first ask questions later (even if it may be your husband’s nephew).

-There is something to be said about doing business in person with a handshake (make sure you know where those emails are actually from the person who sent them).

-Everyone is a schemer!

One Thing They Definitely don't have in Dallas

Went home to visit last weekend and make it out to the shore, definitely enjoyed the view

Republican or Conservative Republican

Pretty much those seem to be the choices here.




Full disclosure: I did see one sign for a democrat at a polling station and one sign for a democrat in Bishop Arts

A Taste of two Cities

I spent last weekend at two events, Main Street Days in Grapevine and Taste Addison in Addison.  They were pretty similar events, both consisting of various food and beverage options, carnivals rides, vendors and live music.  But each also had their own distinct flavors...literally and figuratively.  Friday evening I went to Grapevine for Main Street Days.  Grapevine is located around 20 miles outside of downtown Dallas.  This was the 28th year for the Festival, which consisted of closing several blocks of Main street in Grapevine, and filling it with food, vendors, games, and carnival rides.  The theme was  "A Pizza Experience", although they had many food options other than just pizza.  Walking around, I got the sense that the Grapevine has kept much of the character of the small town, complete with a theatre that was showing Goldfinger, a boot shop, and a few places which seemed to me to be basically general stores.  But, in contrast there were also a few seemingly high-end restaurants, cigars shops, wine shops (there are several wineries in Grapevine), and even a bakeshop that was featured on TLC.  I got a few beers and tried about three different pizza places; the most memorable was Farina's  (http://farinaswinery.homestead.com), whose restaurant is located on Main Street.  I'm looking forward to a visit there.  Most of the places serving pizza seemed to be small local, places.  There were also a few big chains (why someone would get chain pizza from a pizza experience themed festival is beyond me).  They had all the carnival rides and games one would expect at a local fair. They had a few different stages with different kinds of music varying from blues to country.  The vendors ranged from artwork to wine stoppers with designs from various teams (of course I got one from my beloved Maryland Terrapins).  Overall, Main Street Days offering a nice taste of what Grapevine had to offer (literally and figuratively).   I'd like to visit Grapevine again for a full taste of what it has to offer.

So take Main Street Days, put it in an urban setting,and you've pretty much got Taste Addison.  Instead of a small town, the festival was held in the shadow of office buildings and condos. The setting was a large park around Addison Circle, and the food was from restaurants in Addison, offering a sampling of their menus at cheaper price.  Like Grapevine, it certainly had a family friendly atmosphere (although I got there late afternoon, so I can't say what it was like at night), there were plenty of kids splashing around the foundation.  After walking in and getting a sense of the festival, I got some sangria and a small order of ceviche from Taco Diner (http://www.mcrowd.com/tacodiner.shtm),it definitely hit the spot on a hot afternoon.  They had a great variety of food, everything from crawfish to sushi.  I started out with a few sliders from JC's Burger House (http://www.jcsburgerhouse.com);taste wise there were very good, I definitely want to see how it compares to the food at the restaurant.  I also had a slice from Pastazio's (http://www.pastazios.com/index.htm) and Pizza by Marco, (http://www.pizzabymarco.com/)both were quite good....for Texas Pizza.  I got an order of Pad Thai from Star Thai (www.thaistaraddison.com).  I have eaten there, and it was awesome.  Having had the real thing, the Pad Thai had at Taste Addison was a bit disappointing, but shouldn't have been surprising given the setting.  I topped my gluttonous visit to Taste Addison with cookies from Tiff's Treats (http://www.cookiedelivery.com) .  The chocolate chip cookies were warm chewy, and very tasty.  There were two stages, one of which was rather large.  They had bigger names than in Grapevine (Rhett Miller and Mat Kearny), and that was probably part of the draw.  The vendors seems a bit more eclectic here, they included a vendor selling items from India. I gained about four pounds over the weekend, but it was worth every calorie!

   

Dallas Farmers Market

I took my first trip to the Dallas Farmers Market (http://www.dallasfarmersmarket.org) on Saturday.

The Market consists of four large “sheds,” one of which is enclosed, along with an adjoining floral area. At the open sheds, farmers and produce vendors sell everything from fruits and vegetables to eggs and meat.  At first, it reminded me of a place Anthony Bourdain might go to in a developing country on “No Reservations.” There was a crowd, cars attempting to maneuver through, and one vendor barking about out how he had the sweetest strawberries while a competitor offered a taste of her tomatoes.  

It was quite different than a suburban farmers market you might find in the middle of a planned development with balloon animals and face painting. After thinking about it, It only made sense that a city surrounded by agriculture would have real farmers trying to make a living rather than just growing plants to be green or cool.   

After taking in the physical structures and the lay of the land, what really struck me were the colors. From the bright reds of the strawberries and tomatoes to the deep greens of the cucumbers and zucchinis, the colors almost made me want to be a vegetarian (until, of course, I talked to the cattle rancher selling his grass-fed beef and I made it inside to the Old World Sausage Company, but I’ll get to those later).  

It was nice being able to talk to the actual people who grow the food I’m about to buy and know where my food is coming from. One shed is full of produce vendors who get their food from wherever and I had little interest in spending much time there. If I were going to buy pre-packaged produce from California, I’d go to Tom Thumb and get a rotisserie and two-for-one toilet paper to go along with it.  

After walking some more, I decided on some great tomatoes and peaches from “Betty’s Tomatoes” and some tart, green plums.  I also decided on a steak from Northstar Ranch (http://www.northstarranch.net/3246.html). They raise strictly grass-fed beef with no hormones or antibiotics. Along with the farmer’s market, Northstar Ranch also sells its meat at a supermarket in Denton.  I really enjoyed talking to the ranch’s owner; he even gave me some tips on grilling the steak: add a little bit of lemon pepper and garlic and only add salt after the meat is cooked since it pulls moisture. The steak certainly did not disappoint the next day! It was very tender, and because the meat itself had a lot of flavor, a little bit of seasoning was more than enough. (This beats anything at Tom Thumb!). 

After exploring the outdoor sheds, I made my way inside.  There were a few vendors selling crafts in addition to different kinds of food, including craft cheese, honey, and meat. There were also a few places to eat. 

I got lunch from Old World Sausage (http://www.oldworldsausagecompany.com), a Chicago-style deli. Along with sausages you can eat there or take home, Old World Sausage has a bunch of great-looking sandwiches, including corned beef, pastrami, and Ruebens. I ordered the roast beef sandwich … and it was a whole lot of roast beef.  It was made thinly sliced to order and served with a choice of sides. I chose the coleslaw and pasta salad.  The sandwich was so thick I couldn’t fit the whole thing in my mouth.  I was pretty much full by the time I finished half of it; I felt like Adam Richman from “Man v. Food” when I started the other half (food won).  The sandwich only consisted of roast beef, provolone, lettuce and tomatoes, but each bite tasted amazing.  

Not that I had room for it, but I also got a piece of cheesecake.  The cheesecake was very creamy and rich without being heavy.  
Here's an interview with the owner Al Cappua

I was a bit disappointed by the options inside; half of the space was empty.  I feel like there is a whole lot of potential with that space. Apparently, the Dallas Farmers Market has been struggling financially and the city has been considering different options with what to do with it.  I have also been to the Deep Ellum Market and the Urban Bazaar in the Bishop Arts District, and while both had a better variety of vendors, neither could compare with the Dallas Farmer’s Market’s produce. So I hope the Market can continue to grow because, although I enjoy pre-packaged salami and cheese Danishes filled with who knows what as much as the next guy, I also really like being able to buy food straight from those who actually grow it.