Everybody who knows me understands I could really care less about food. I'm a refuel and move on kinda guy. Maybe it was growing up in the cultureless suburbs or just not wanting to sit still long enough to appreciate the cuisine. Or maybe I have broken taste buds. I don't know. Anyway, I usually opt for atmosphere over ingredients. Here are a few in Dallas that have a lot of both .
The Mecca
Restaurant - 10422 Harry Hines Blvd. Talk about culture. If you've been to Dallas and haven't been to the Mecca, well, you never really visited. The place is authentically Texan. The people treat you as if they've known you all their lives. The food is 100% made from scratch. Go for breakfast and order chicken fried steak and eggs. If you can't manage it on your diet, try the pancakes. They are a little on the big side. The place isn't sexy and neither are the patrons, but you can't help but love it. Every last white gravy soaked drop.Campisi's Egyptian Restaurant - 5610 E Mockingbird Ln. This place is "old school" in every sense of the phrase. This is one of the few remaining speakeasy/hangouts from the 40's. Many organized crime bosses including Jack Ruby hung out here and some still do alongside former Dallas C
owboys. The restaurant introduced pizza to Dallas and was my first "non-Chef Boyardee" Italian food. The place ebbs atmosphere. What about the "Egyptian" in the name you ask? Well, as the story goes, when Campisi opened the restaurant he couldn't afford to take down the neon sign of the previous tenant, The Egyptian Lounge, so he incorporated the "Egyptian" into the restaurant name. You gotta like that. Make sure you eat in the original locale at the bar or in the Egyptian Lounge .
- Highla
nd Park Pharmacy - 3229 Knox St. If you can't love this, you're dead. Give me a break! This is an original soda fountain in a pharmacy in downtown Dallas. This drugstore lunch counter is a landmark in a city of glass high-rises and vanishing borders. Try the chicken salad before you hit the soda fountain. Bring the kids, they won't get it.- Hernan
dez Finer Foods - 2120 Alamo St. Back in 1918, Juan Hernandez, an immigrant from Guanajuato, Mexico, started selling tamales from a horse drawn cart. He eventually opened this little slice of heaven next door to the original El Fenix. El Fenix is the original Dallas Tex-Mex restaurant. Juan began selling his tamales next door to the El Fenix and taking some there business, starting a taco war. My kinda war. Make sure you try the barabacoa tacos.Son
ny Bryan's Smokehouse - 2202 Inwood Rd. Holy smoked meats, Batman. This place is ridiculous good. I normally refuse to offer advice on Tex-Mex and BBQ restaurants because someone is gonna bark a better joint. Regardless, you are not going to find a better atmosphere to eat insanely good Texas smoked meats than at this location. You'll see why when you get there and have to sit in an old time elementary school desk to chow. Awesome.
Al, the Travel Valet
thetravelvalet@gmail.com
Pick of the Day( 49-11-1)...Marlins
No comments:
Post a Comment