21 replies to this topic

[Lauren]

I will be attending a conference in the Dallas area next month at the Renaissance hotel in Richardson. I have one night on my own, is there any place decent within a cab ride of the hotel? I already have to waste two dinners at the conference. I'd love to have good food for one of the nights!

[foodie52]

Richardson looks like a foodie wasteland to me.

In Dallas, there's Stephen Pyles. Also Mansion on Turtle Creek, of course. NYT

[prasantrin]

I was browsing through the blog of the guy doing the current foodblog on eG (he's from Dallas), and his blog has a few places in Richardson, but they're all casual places. Del's Charcoal Burgers, Taqueria El Fuego, and Zorba's Greek Cafe (actually in Plano, but still only 12 minutes away from the hotel) should all be 8-12 minutes from your hotel by cab. (I checked google maps)

The burgers look really good.

caveat--I rarely take cabs, so I don't know what constitutes a decent cab ride. 5 minutes? 10 minutes? I was thinking anything less than 15 would be ok. . .

[Nathan]

Yeah, Richardson looks pretty bad...and you're 25 miles from downtown...not really cab distance...it'd be cheaper to rent a car. If you did somehow make your way downtown I'd suggest Tei An along with Pyles or the Mansion. I wasn't a huge fan of Fearing's but others like it quite a bit. There's a Nobu and a Craft along with a whole slew of New American mid-market type places....

If you made your way further north to Plano (might be cab distance) there's a Chuy's...casual Tex-Mex chain...but light years better than Tex-Mex anywhere else....it's also much better than the ubiqituous Dallas Tex-Mex chain El Fenix (there's probably one in Richardson but El Fenix is awful awful awful...and the fact that there's like 25 of them in the Dallas area tells you that you can't necessarily rely on the locals to know good tex-mex)

[Lauren]

Yeah, I figured that there wouldn't be much in Richardson for me.

Pre - you're right, a 15 minute or less cab ride is fine with me. I figured Dallas was going to be too far. I'd rent a car but I like to have a cocktail and/or wine with dinner and I wouldn't want to drive in an unfamiliar place after having drinks.

Thanks for telling me about the eG food blog. That was the only thing I really liked on eG and I forgot they had started it up again. I'll read though it.

I'm fine with casual food. I doubt I'd cab to Plano to go to Chuy's since there seems to be decent casual places in Richardson. Is there anything else in Plano I should check out?

[foodie52]

You're kidding, right? Plano?

How bout this? Plano attraction

[Wilfrid]

The Mansion has held up without Dean Fearing? Interesting.

[Nathan]

The Mansion has held up without Dean Fearing? Interesting.

good question...I don't know.

Tei An is easily the best restaurant I've been to in Dallas...but if one were to want something more Texan than Fearing's in the Ritz would make sense (even though I wasn't enamoured).
http://www.tei-an.com/

http://www.dallasnew...an-5-stars-.ece

[joiei]

from looking at the DART (Dallas Rapid Transit) map page, you will have a stop directly at your hotel. One suggestion is to take the dart train to downtown and have dinner at one of Stephen Pyles restaurants or Tei An(one of my favorite places to eat in the DFW). Talk with the concierge about that possibility. Richardson is full of small hole in the wall Vietnamese and Indian restaurants. And there are some interesting international markets in both Richardson and Plano. I don't know if there is a dart stop at the Central Market on Lover's Lane but for those of us who don't have one, CM is a tourist destination. I know there is a station adjacent to Mockingbird Station.

[Steven Dilley]

The Mansion has held up without Dean Fearing? Interesting.

I mean, it's the same as always, so I guess you could say that. Fearing's is at least a bit more fun, even if the plates look dated, the food is too sweet, and each dish contains twice as many components as necessary. (I'd go here over Dallas Craft.)

Tei An is pretty good, though I wasn't a fan of the service on my one visit.

Apparently some decent to good Chinese / Korean restaurants in Richardson, though I don't have any specifics, unfortunately.

Cane Rosso is good for pizza.

[prasantrin]

If you mosey over to read the foodblog, the link to Rico's personal blog is in his sig. That's where I got all the restaurant recommendations.

And about the foodblogs--Hassouni's has been one of my favourites so far. Lebanon is one of the places I most want to visit. And Prawncrackers and percyn had excellent ones, as well!

[Lauren]

from looking at the DART (Dallas Rapid Transit) map page, you will have a stop directly at your hotel. One suggestion is to take the dart train to downtown and have dinner at one of Stephen Pyles restaurants or Tei An(one of my favorite places to eat in the DFW). Talk with the concierge about that possibility. Richardson is full of small hole in the wall Vietnamese and Indian restaurants. And there are some interesting international markets in both Richardson and Plano. I don't know if there is a dart stop at the Central Market on Lover's Lane but for those of us who don't have one, CM is a tourist destination. I know there is a station adjacent to Mockingbird Station.

I didn't even think to check out transit - this is great! It really opens up my options. We've got plenty of good Vietnamese restaurants in Seattle, we don't fare as well with Indian restaurants so I'll definitely look into that. I checked out CM when we were in Austin (the time I met you at foodie 52's) so I don't have to make a special trip there this time.

[Lauren]

The Mansion has held up without Dean Fearing? Interesting.

I mean, it's the same as always, so I guess you could say that. Fearing's is at least a bit more fun, even if the plates look dated, the food is too sweet, and each dish contains twice as many components as necessary. (I'd go here over Dallas Craft.)

Tei An is pretty good, though I wasn't a fan of the service on my one visit.

Apparently some decent to good Chinese / Korean restaurants in Richardson, though I don't have any specifics, unfortunately.

Cane Rosso is good for pizza.

I've been reading about some of the Chinese restaurants. That's a good option too.

[Lauren]

If you mosey over to read the foodblog, the link to Rico's personal blog is in his sig. That's where I got all the restaurant recommendations.

And about the foodblogs--Hassouni's has been one of my favourites so far. Lebanon is one of the places I most want to visit. And Prawncrackers and percyn had excellent ones, as well!

I totally missed that link to Rico's blog. Thanks! I'm poking around there now.

[Lauren]

One more question. Which do you think is better for a solo diner, Stephen Pyles or Tei An?