Our love affair with local food

Did you knowwwww (according to this one random study) Dallas diners rank number one in the country for most residents that go out to eat?
Plano ranks number three!
. . . with NYC sandwiched in between at a measly number two.
Pshhhh.

When Josh & I aren't busy making another attempt at a semi-healthy lifestyle, we are huge fans of not cooking dinner.

Let's be honest, not doing dishes is the greatest.

We. Love. Food.

I've compiled a list (with entirely too many #foodgrams) of some of our favorite eateries around Plano and Dallas.

Fireside Pies

We cannot get enough of this pizza.

Although it doesn't compare to the magical, greasy Johnny's pizza from back home, this is probably our all time favorite "fancy" pizza.

Their drinks are top notch as well.

My favorite pizza: 

balsamic roasted chicken

Favorite drinks:
Moscow mule and blood orange margarita

I think that the fact it is walking distance from our apartment is a key factor in our Fireside love affair. 

Also, Fireside just celebrated their 10th birthday with $10 pizzas and $1.10 sangrias.

For realz.

The Truck Yard

An awesome, shady gathering place in Dallas on Lower Greenville brought to you by the creator of Twisted Root.

The yard has a steady rotation of food trucks each week, but it is also home to a pretty sweet tree house bar, airstream bar, and indoor bar.

The tables and chairs are an eclectic mix of truck beds and lawn chairs.

Oh, and they have pretty sweet brown bag insulated koozies. 

Taverna Rossa

This Plano pizzeria has been slowly creeping up on Fireside to take the place as our favorite pizza joint.

Having Peticolas beer on draft is always a plus in our book.

Oh and their cast iron skillet chocolate chip cookie? Dessert-gasm

Our fav pizza:
The Smokey Pie 

{Sweet tx bbq sauce, local smoked brisket, local bacon, white onion, house-blended mozzarella, cheddar + texas goat cheese}
Oh, and the brisket lasagna is pretty darn good too.

Mexican Sugar

Velvet Taco & Whiskey Cake's newer, fancier, hispanic-er sister (also conveniently located walking distance from our apartment).

The food is great, but can we just talk about the drinks?

Cocktails on draft.

Let me re-phrase that.

Incredible, fresh cocktails on draft.

My personal favorite:

The Grapefruit Paloma

{Milagro Blanco Tequila, grapefruit juice, lime juice, agave, Mexican Squirt}

The tortilla soup ranks second place to my previously mentioned  grapefruit lover.

East Hampton Sandwich Company

Wanna splurge? Try the Lobster Roll. Well worth the money.

Yet another restaurant walking distance from our apartment (with Peticolas beer on draft).

We've got an addiction and it's called East Hampton's sandwiches. 

This was particularly the go-to restaurant during our three "ice storms" this past winter.

Favorite sandwich: The Balsamic Tenderloin 

{Sliced beef tenderloin + crispy onion strings + bleu cheese + balsamic glaze + rosemary au jus}

Fun fact: This was originally a seasonal winter sandwich but was so overwhelming popular they added it to the full menu)

Eatzi's

Initially a popular Dallas market and bakery (that recently expanded to Plano, thank goodness) that carries everything fresh and fantastic that you could ever imagine.

Basically you walk in the door, make a lap, and become overwhelmed by a mega anxiety attack because everything looks too darn good.

The cheese. The bread. The meat.

. . . unless it's a Friday night and you smell the delicious aromas of $10 pizza night.

Oh, and we couldn't forget every taco place ever.

Velvet Taco, Rusty Taco, Fuzzy Taco, Torchy Taco, and Good2Go Taco.

We have yet to have a terrible Taco in Texas.

Just sayin.

Pictured below: Torchy Taco's chicken and waffle taco with syrup and bacon and eggs and magic.

Our favorite food truck:
Easy Slider

Their Sweet and LowDown slider can't be beat.

A slider topped with goat cheese bacon and strawberry jam?

With Zapps on the side?

Yep.

Make it happen, ASAP.

As for our favorite BBQ:
In Plano we recommend 3 Stacks but in Dallas we recommend Pecan Lodge (remember that one time?)

We know you can't forget about Tex-Mex when you are in the area so our recommendation for the best "authentic" Tex-Mex is Mi Cocina. If you are looking for a cheaper, but still really really really good Tex-Mex meal try Chuy's.

. . . but let's be honest here, we all know brunch is probably the most important meal of the day.

Whiskey Cake

By a landslide, this is our top brunch spot in Plano.

We tried so hard to hit it and quit it, but we couldn't.

We fell in love with this place (and their bacon laced chicken and waffles) two years ago when Josh lived right down the road.

Although the chicken and waffles aren't pictured, this banana and peanut butter french toast kinda rocked my world that one time (and then it disappeared from the menu forever).

Since then we have frequented Whiskey Cake almost weekly because the ever-changing menu keeps up coming back for more.
Although we almost quit coming back for more after the great DogfishHead 120 minute IPA incident of 2013.
Most of their menu items are sourced locally or grown in their garden out back.
Even though we think their weekend brunch is better than Chick-fil-a on a Sunday, you won't be let down by their lunch and dinner menu.
My personal favorite sandwich is the quinoa/mushroom/edamame veggie burger and Josh loves their always changing assortment of deviled eggs. 

. . . oh and the bloody mary bar.

Did I mention the bloody mary bar?

If you are sick of hearing me talk about Whiskey Cake, and you need a backup breakfast spot, then there's always Hypnotic Donuts in Dallas.
Not only do they have phenomenal (and creative, Voodoo Donut-esque) donuts but they also have pretty darn good (and humongous) chicken biscuits.

Maui Waui: coconut cream filling with vanilla bean icing and toasted coconut

. . . but you must make quick stop at White Rock coffee for an Adam Bomb blended coffee on the way.

The Adam Bomb is a magical frozen blended combo of espresso, vanilla, and cinnamon.

Of course, you can't forget dessert . . . 

Our favorite local dessert is a two way tie.

Whiskey Cake's Whiskey Cake and Taverna Rossa's cast iron skillet chocolate chip cookie

Emporium Pies is another one of our favorite staple dessert shops.

I don't think dessert gets cuter than a dessert shop (located in an old house) that serves only pies.

Thankfully, they just opened a second location in Mckinney.

I have yet to try a piece of pie that I hated, so get your butt in there and grab a slice (or two).

Doctor's Physician Assistant's orders.

. . . then there's always Sprinkles Ice Cream which is in a league of it's own

Not only do they sell ice cream, but they also have cookies, brownies, and cupcake tops (which you can use to sandwich on either side of a scoop of ice cream!)

I'm fairly certain I mastered the perfect cupcake/ice cream combo:

salted caramel ice cream topped with a s'mores cupcake

Runner up: salted caramel ice cream sandwiched between a banana cupcake

Also, they now offer mini sundaes! 

You can get a baby scoop of ice cream between mini cupcakes! 

If you get the late night munchies, don't forget about the Sprinkles Cupcake ATM, located next to the store, open 24-7!

Our list of places to-eat in Dallas is growing every day.

Let me know if you have any recommendations I may have left unlisted or e-mail me if you are coming to Dallas or the 'burbs and need direction! 

A rather enlightening weekend

This weekend I learned a lot.

I got educated in the worlds of donuts and soccer.

Oh donuts? Yea we cheated on our 30 day challenge, more on that later

I witnessed my first soccer game ever.

What? Am I even American?

Well if I wasn't american then I would call it futbol, so yes I'm an American who doesn't know crap about soccer. 

I'm ok with that.

It was awesome.

I paid $7 to go see a professional soccer game 

That $7 included tickets to the game and a round trip shuttle ride from a bar at our apartment complex.

. . . plus some $4 beers 

Yes, $4 beers a professional sporting event.

That was real life.

Suck it, Rangers two million dollar beers.

The next morning I found this on my phone.

Still not sure why it happened, or what the circumstance, but I feel like that is probably due to that mighty tall stack of empty cups.

The game ended in a tie.

Which led to another educating moment of the weekend.

I had no idea soccer games could end in a tie.

Please judge me.

. . . on to the more important topic at hand.

The donuts.

We went back to Dallas's Hypnotic Donuts this weekend.

They are pretty well known for their chicken biscuits, and their chicken biscuit of the month was quite the cat's pajamas, bees knees, tits.

Josh bet me I wouldn't say that.

Anyways, it was dang good.

Their instagram and description of the donut is way better than anything I could provide:

P.S. Follow Hypnotic Donuts on Instagram @KingDonut for some major donut porn. 

Our taste buds, and minds, and stomachs were all blown.

. . . then I followed it up with coconut cream filled donut with vanilla bean icing (breakfast dessert, duh) and then an Adam Bomb from White Rock Coffee

These three things right here and hands down the best three things in Dallas.

. . . other than the Whiskey Cake at Whiskey Cake (but that's in Plano, and some people get rather hot and bothered when you consider the burbs as Dallas)

Add all of the above to your Dallas to-do list immediately, or I will feel like I have served a major injustice.

Checking some things off our Dallas bucket list

Last weekend, my friend Mary Catherine and I decided to knock some things off our Dallas to-do lists.

It was opening weekend for the new Dallas food truck park, so we planned to start the day off with that for lunch.

. . . until we drove around the hood for 20 minutes unable to find it.

After a quick google, we came to the realization that the food trucks didn't arrive until 5.

Side note: After the fact, I checked their twitter and found out they were also serving free beer in honor of opening day.

Bummer.

I checked my ever-growing list of places to eat in Dallas, and we figured since we were already on Maple Street we should check out Maple and Motor.

Best decision ever.

Even though the place was small, the wait wasn't too long at all.
Apparently it's the place to go for a real life old-fashioned, greasy, juicy cheeseburger.

. . . and some incredible homemade onion rings.

Next up: The Crate & Barrel outlet.

Yes, that exists.

Honestly, I had high hopes, and I ended up only leaving with a $3 dishtowel.

Next up:

Bishop Arts District

Only the cutest part of Dallas.

Ever.

Home to Emporium Pies and Oddfellows.

We walked the precious tree-lined streets, checking out nearly every shop, and wanting to check out every restaurant.

Unfortunately since we had already eaten, we didn't get to have a sit down meal anywhere.
. . . but we had to stop at Emporium Pies for a midday snack.

Duh.

Can't go wrong with the snowball pie (coconut custard and homemade whipped cream with toasted coconut) 

Mary got the Mellow Yellow (lemon chiffon with gingersnap crust)

. . . both were equally magical.

How freakin cute was this?

. . . other sights from around the Bishop Arts District:

Sunday Josh and I were planning on grabbing HopDoddy for lunch, but after seeing the line wrapped all the way around the block, we headed to Velvet Taco.
Thank goodness.
I can't get enough of it.
Any restaurant related to Whiskey Cake gets an A+ in our book.

. . . and then there was this

Sweet potato tots topped with with goat cheese andddddd a fried egg.

They also offer a full chicken (and some other goodies) if you sneak up to their backdoor with a $20 in hand.
This is happening soon, for sure.

We still have plenty of other things we want to check out in this fantastic city of ours so follow me on Instagram @em_kerrigan to keep up with our local adventures!