Dallas for the weekend...restaurants, shopping
 

We will be driving to Dallas for the weekend. We will be staying in the Dallas Market Center Area and would love some information concerning restaurants in the area. My friend is building a house and so we are in a new house shopping mode. Would love to find architectural salvage type stores or fun anitque shops. We will only be in town Fri night thru Sunday afternoon. Any ideas? Thank you, jjw

to the top -- we too are planning a trip to Dallas later this month. I would like some restaurant ideas.

Where are you coming from? If you are coming from the east you should try to stop through the little town of Forney, about 30 minutes east of Dallas; there are dozens of antique stores there, ranging from junky to really high end. <BR> <BR>Restaurants, well, let's see. A couple of my favorites now are Abacus (asian fusion) and Steel (the same but more classic dishes, from sushi to Korean to vietnamese hotpots) Both have great food, cool decor, are pretty expensive, lots of buzz right now. What type of place are you looking for, foodwise and expense-wise?

Texasgirl, thanks for the input. We will be coming from the north - hwy 75 I believe. I will be entertaining a client for dinner so I want something nice. I like your ideas. Are these restaurants close to the market center? Last time I was in Dallas we ate at Star Canyon and enjoyed it - the men of the party raved about the bone in steak. thanks jjw

Jean: Steel is in the Centrum, (oak lawn area) and Abacus is in Knox-Henderson area. Both would be pretty close to market center. If you are entertaining clients both of these restaurants can get a little loud, esp. Abacus. They attract maybe a little younger crowd than Star Canyon. Couple others you might consider: La Duni is supposed to be a hot new spot, I have not been but friends have raved. Or Voltaire, which is up the tollway a bit but a very pretty restaurant; the food was excellent when I went a year ago but I've not been back as it was quite expensive. (glass of house red was $10) <BR>Have a great trip.

Despite the name, ther ereally is not much retail shopping in the market center area. It is named that because it is near the Apparel Mart, World Trade Center, and Market Hall (which hosts guns hows, Boatr Show, etc.). The closest shopping will be North Park Mall at 75 and NW Hwy, or Grapevine Mills at 114 and 121 near DFW. You will be near the Design District, which is off Inwood to the west of I-35. There are lots of great places to buy rugs, draperies and furniture. Another good area to shop for these things is in North Dallas: just west of the Tollway, east of Midway, and north of 635. <BR> <BR>Since you are coming down 75, I highly recommend a stop in McKinney. the downtown area is full of cute antique and craft shops, plus some nice tea room restaurants. You might check their Chamber of Commerce website to see if there is any sort of street festival going on this weekend. <BR> <BR>Look at the Dallas Morning News Guide website for some restaurant recommendations: www.guidelive.com <BR>Anything in the downtown or uptown areas will be close to you.

Try looking at www.guidelive.com. It is associated with the Dallas Morning News and gives reveiws of most restaurants in Dallas. There is a link in the restaurants section for the "100 best" in Dallas. You can't go wrong with any of those. <BR> <BR>Also you might try a search here. This topic has come up a few times in the past couple of months. <BR> <BR>My favorites: Mansion on Turtle Creek, Sambuca, Green Room, Bob's Chophouse, Cafe Pacific, Salve. All are relatively close(~15 min drive) to where you will be. <BR> <BR>Also, if you find a place you like call early for reservations to make sure you can get in at the time you want. But there are so many good restaurants here you should be able to find something that has an opening for when you want to eat. <BR> <BR>Have a great trip!

You can go to the Market Center and do some shopping, even without a seller certificate, but not every place. There is a design district right behind that area and some nice stores with items. The guidelive.com suggestion was a good one for both restaurants and shopping. All of the restaurants mentioned are nice and I would add Macaroni Grill and Lombardi's (both are very good Italian but very reasonable prices).

My favorite "fun" antique store, and one we return to each time we are in town, is Uncommon Market at 2701 Fairmount. They do have a few architectural type antiques, fireplace surrounds, mantles, some moldings, but it is jam packed with everything under the sun from nautical antiques..oars, lanterns, even some old sculs, to English furniture...and everything inbetween. They used to have a phenomenal collection of ornate glass door knobs, but there weren't many of those last time we were in. If you go, there are two buildings and a 3rd that you can sometimes get into...all others are reached from the rear of the first building. <BR> <BR>You will find quite a few places around the Routh St/Fairmount/McKinney area where Uncommon Market is, of Knox/Henderson further out. Fun browsing if nothing more, but we normally end up lugging some oddity home with us. <BR> <BR>The PERFECT place for your needs is now gone: the Wrecking Ball (Bar?) on McKinney, now the home of Hard Rock Cafe, unfortunately. There's another by the same name in Atlanta, and I've wondered if they have just moved up there as they have all the same sorts of things. Agree too that Forney has plenty, but it's a heck of a trip out there if you are just in town for the weekend. <BR> <BR>

Will you happen to be here for First Monday weekend at Canton? That is DEFINITELY worth a trip! Canton is about an hour east of Dallas on I-20, and it is the largest flea market in Texas. <BR> <BR>If not, then I'd head to Forney. It's only about 30 minutes from Dallas. Take I-30 east, and take highway 80 at the split.

I grew up in Dallas, and Canton is the best sort of antique market, flea market around that area. Or any shops on the Quadrangle or on Fairmont for antiques. My favorite restaurants are the Mansion on Turtle Creek, Sonny Bryants for BBQ, Mia Cusito for Tex Mex Food, Bob's Chop House on Lemmon Ave