But if one actually GOES to Chicago and visits, say, the Art Institute, one would know that there is NO comparable museum in Dallas. The Art Institute is vast, historic and world-renowned, with the best collection of Impressionist artworks outside of France. Chicago's come a very long way from the "Hog Butchers to the World" days, believe me.

And actually there are some great Mexican restaurants in Chicago, including Topolobampo/Frontera Grill, Rick Bayless' stellar North Side duo.

On the other "unique" Dallas things, wouldn't a spin to the JFK Library be a more worthwhile destination for info on JFK (and it's located in Boston-- another stellar city)? And c'mon now-- other than the over-the-top catalog offerings, what really makes Neiman Marcus any different from any other upmarket department store? Seattle's Nordstrom has a similarly high level of service in its stores throughout North America, and I find them much more pleasant. I was quite underwhelmed at the Dallas NM store, honestly (and get the same feeling at their Newport Beach outpost).

LDLee,

Glad to hear you'd prefer to live in Dallas over Chicago... we need good statisticians...

Of course I disagree with some of your evaluations.

Wrigley Field may be historic, but Ameriquest Field (Baseball) is newer, has oontemporary features, looks like a more comfortable facility. I like it.

For basketball and hockey (hopefully next year), the AA Center is currently the most expensive and lavish stadium in America. It is stunning.

For architecture, Dallas has some good houses by O'Neill Ford and even a Frank Lloyd Wright house, but it has contemporary architectural masterpieces by IM Pei, Phillip Johnson, the Rem Koolhaas building is on the horizon, as are the Caltrava bridges... I like Ricardo Legoretta's Solano complex, and his work on the Dallas Latino Cultural Center.

Food... the Mobil Travel Guide lists 187 Dallas restaurants that they awarded one star... Chicago is better at around 220... but Dallas and Chicago are in the top 5. And as you said, Dallas has regional specialties that are compelling.

Music... the Dallas Symphony is one of the top orchestras in America, although the Chi Phil has a slightly better reputation. The DSO records, it tours in Europe, including a couple of appearances at the Proms in London, and it plays in the Meyerson center, one of the world's acoustically perfect and splendid concert halls. The Fort Worth Symphony is not comparable, but is a good class B orchestra.

For jazz, the UNT lab bands are the best in America, and have recorded numerous times... their concerts are a must-see or hear.

History of music? Dallas' Deep Ellum was one of the homes of the Blues, and Leadbelly, T-Bone Walker and Blind Lemon Jefferson walked those streets. The first piece of music with the word "Blues" in the title was called "The Dallas Blues".

Water based activities... Dallas is surrounded by a dozen or so large lakes, with every conceivable kind of water sport. The surfing is as good as it is in Chicago (namely, nonexistent) and many of the lakes have a rugged natural beauty more reminiscent of the Pacific Coast, Texoma for example).

Weather... Today, January 14, I am walking outside in a short-sleeved cotton t-shirt, at my campsite on Lake Joe Pool. What's Chicago weather like today?

rjw_lgb_ca,

I'll probably agree with you about the Chicago Art Institute, as a apecific destination, however Chicago may have nothing as good as the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas. The NY Times called it "the best private collection of sculpture in the world".

Sure, each city has things that are unique and worthy of interest. We could play tit-for-tat endlessly, but the truth is that Dallas and Chicago are both interesting and preeminent American cities, with much to offer a visitor.

Yeah, I like that large lake, Lake Lewisville, you have--most dangerous body of water in Texas, I believe!Or at least I have been told by many many of my Dallas acquaintances and associates.

BeachBoi,

No, not like Lewisville... it is full of sport cruisers tied together with parties going from boat to boat, and all having a jolly fun time...

More like White Rock Lake, or Lake Worth, or Lake Arlington, or Lake Grapevine, or Lake Joe Pool, or Lake Ray Hubbard, or Lake Lavon, or Lake Ray Roberts, or Lake Tawakoni, or Lake Texoma, or Sulphur Springs Lake, or Eagle Creek Lake, or Lake Whitney, or....

Personally I liked Coos Bay, Oregon better than Dallas, not to mention Winnemucca, Nevada, Duluth, Minnesota,
Minot, North Dakota, Key West, Florida, Kokomo, Indiana, etc.

ok xbt. time to take your pill and go to bed now.

hehe..xbt you can't compare Chicago from the lake to Dallas from White rock lake.

I mean I love WR and run there every weekend but its not like you can take a cruise thru' WR lake :)

The key phrase is COMPARABLE attractions. Reread the descriptions of the aquariums in Chicago and Dallas and tell me that they sound about equal. Comparable doesn't mean just the same type of attraction, but that they are substantially equal. The same holds true for the Art Institute and most other Chicago sites.

And I'm stunned that you would compare any lake in Texas to Lake Michigan or the Great Lakes in general. If you can see one end of the lake from the other, it isn't even close.

Oooo. Good taste Shea.

Kokomo, Indiana happens to have the only killer Art Deco county courthouse in the state. :-)

As for the weather, yes it is sub-zero in Chicago at the moment. However, I just got home from the opera (btw, the Lyric is superior to the Dallas Opera) and it really isn't that bad walking through downtown when it's 10 below.

I, too, in the past, have been lured in by xbt's egregious claims that Dallas is a top-notch tourist destination. We don't know much about xbt, other than he/she is persistent and will counter nearly any argument with some off-the-wall, irrelevant fact about the DFW metroplex.

We also know that the entire premise behind xbt's comparison of cities is that the larger the population, the better a tourist destination it will be. The same goes for the correlation between population and how desirable a place it is to live in.

Using that logic, we should enjoy a visit to Baghdad more than a visit to Washington, DC. Also, we should find that Tehren is a better place to live than San Francisco.

Rather than let his/her bunk get to you, just base your opinions on experiences. Using that as a guide, Dallas is not even in the same league as a big-time city like Chicago. Enjoy!

Flanmingomonkey, how do you know that the Lyric Opera is better than the Dallas Opera? You go to the Lyric Opera in Chicago, obviously, but I'd guess you are not an expert on the Dallas Opera.

BTW, the air temps in your city make it sound like hell on earth.

Hazelmn, it sounds like this XBT, whoever he is, really twisted your tail in some previous thread.

From the posts that have gone across this thread, from XBT's point-by-point comparison of Chicago vs Dallas attractions, I get the impression that Dallas is a pretty good town. If it's 75% of Chicago, it's a pretty good town.

I think some of you have a problem with Texas that has nothing to do with merit. Maybe politics? In which case, I'm not interested in your opinions.

Wow...talk about a thread going off and taking on a whole other life beyond the original post. I wonder if the guy from London is even reading any of this. He must think us Americans are nutty. LOL :)

TravelDiva, I think he asked for a point-by-point comparison of Chicago vs Dallas. He certainly got it.

BTW, xbt2316, you mentioned something called the "Frontiers of Flight" museum in Dallas. I'm interested in aviation. Can you tell me about it?

Yeah, and then some.

Has anyone noticed that Chicagoans and Texans are unusually proud of where they live. I agree this has turned into a school yard contest of my city can beat up your city.

I don't think anyone here is suggesting that Dallas is a poor place to visit. I've spent much time there, and I love the great Tex-Mex and Bar-B-Q (Sammy's is my favorite), the springtiem bloom with all of the BlueBells, and I agree that the American Airlines center is a top-notch sporting venue.

But the question was to compare Chicago and Dallas, and there really is no comparison.

Flamingomonkey,

A spitting contest is precisely what I want to avoid.

It is a foregone conclusion that Chicago is larger than Dallas, and its greater population provides it with stronger amenities for a visitor. That is pretty much the general opinion in this thread.

My interest is in showing that Chicago and Dallas belong to the same CLASS of cities... they are both centrally-located regional capitals, lots of things to do, see and eat and drink in either one, with much influence on the United States as a whole... but neither Chicago nor Dallas are in the same class as a New York, Los Angeles or Washington DC.

As a corrolary to my point, both cities are of a size as to present a stunning urban experience to a visitor. If Dallas has 10,000 restaurants, and Chicago has 12,000 restaurants, a 3 day visit to either city would just scratch the surface. For museums... Chicago also appears to be stronger, but similarly, a few days would not be enough to see the fine museums and exhibitions in either city.

The areas in which Dallas has an advantage are in the realm of weather, price and newness. Its sports facilities are newer, and more state-of-the-art, as are its theatres and exhibition spaces. Costs in Dallas are lower, less inflated than Chicago... the same things are cheaper. And weather is also favorable to Dallas. Also, people in Dallas have a higher disposable income due to the low cost of living, eat out more often, have more shopping square footage per capita... all the things that would benefit a casual visitor as well as a resident.

Saracen, the "Frontiers of Flight" museum in Dallas is an aviation museum. It is a huge building, with exhibits about local and national aviation history, many aircraft suspended from the ceiling, historical exhibits, aircraft mockups and cutaways, interactive exhibits, etc. It is nowhere as large as the Smithsonian Air and Space museum in DC, but it's still a pretty interesting couple of hours.

One thing I enjoyed was the Hindenburg exhibit... info about the airship, its demise, even artifacts recoveres from the wreckage.

It has a section on the Alexanter Calder decoration of Braniff Airlines in the 1960's, where abstract art meets painted airplanes...I liked the cutaway section of the cockpit of a 737... something like what I saw in the Deutsches museum in Munich. Perhaps the Science and Industry museum in Chicago has something like that?