I always have the best day when we are able to go into the Downtown Dallas area to explore! We occasionally will have visitors from out of town, and always try to take them to our favorite places in Dallas. We are about 45 minutes away depending on traffic – so we usually spend most of our day out that way! We normally get downtown around 10 am ish, if we are not planning on going to the zoo.
Our usual first stop is the Dallas Farmers Market. The Market is open from 10am-7pm daily, and consists of shops, four restaurants, and artisan food vendors. I would grab my coffee from the Palmieri Café and walk around the shops then The Shed. The Farmers Market @ The Shed is an open pavilion outside where you can shop locally grown fruits and veggies, along with meat and other goodies. We always purchase the best Jam from here! The Shed is unfortunately only open weekends. Saturday from 9am-5pm and Sunday 10am-5pm. If you are planning on making your way to the Dallas Farmers Market I would highly suggest getting the full experience and go on the weekend. The Farmers Market @ The Shed also has the cutest pumpkin area during the fall to pick out pumpkins!
The Dallas Farmers Market is also located Downtown Dallas so you can get stunning views of the city.
Next I would head to Son of a Butcher (Dallas – Lower Greenville) for delicious sliders and buffalo blue fries! YUM. This sort of back tracks because the next stop is to eat those sliders at Klyde Warren Park, but they are all decently close in proximity. The best part about the sliders is that you can mix and match! I am someone that enjoys ordering different appetizers and sharing them to try a little bit of everything, so this works out perfectly for me! SOB also partners with local suppliers in Texas, using high quality naturally fed beef. There’s a slight deal on 3 sliders for $11.25 – normally $3.95 a piece.
Menu:
CKN Fried CKN : Chicken fried chicken, bacon, roasted jalapeno, cream gravy
Nashville Hot Friend Chicken: Chicken fried chicken, Nashville hot sauce, house pickle, pimento cheese
Sticky Chicken: Friend chicken, sticky thai sauce, green onion, peanut, lettuce, japanese mayo, thai basil, fresno chili, sesame seed
Buffalo Friend Chicken: Chicken fried chicken, buffalo sauce, bleu cheese crumbles, carrot curls, micro-celery, ranch dressing
Classic Wagyu Slider: Wagyu Beef, American cheese, pickle, SOB sauce
Wagyu Burnt Ends: Wagyu beef, gouda cheese, brisket burnt ends, chili mayo, BBQ sauce, caramelized onions
Wagyu TX Philly: Wagyu beef, Chili Mayo, pickled fresnos, roasted poblano, caramelized onions, queso, cilantro
Wagyu PB+J: Wagyu beef, American cheese, Peanut butter, bacon, blackberry jam, caramelized onions
The Popper (my favorite): Fried Jalapeno & cream cheese, pepper jam, bacon, chipotle mayo
Veggie Old School: House made black bean patty, American cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickle, red onion, ketchup and mayonnaise.
They also have: Spicy cheese curds, Naked cheese curds, Waffle fries, Cheese fries, Nacho fries, and Buffalo Blue fries (what we ordered)
I’ve also been told they are known for their shakes – but I have not tried them yet! I will update once I do.
The best part – you can order online and pick up via drive thru so its fast and easy!
I really enjoy Klyde Warren Park because it is in the middle of the city, and a perfect place to get together with friends. There is a playground for kids, and a fountain splash pad. There are also lots of grass areas to enjoy if you want to bring a picnic blanket instead of sitting at the tables and chairs scattered around.
The other really nice thing about Klyde Warren Park is there are food trucks incase you decide to skip SOB or want to get some ice cream! Another perk is across the street (where we normally park) is a free Art Museum! The only thing you pay for is parking. We tend to walk in and glance at a few things if we have time before we leave.
Since we just had food, we like to explore a bit in the area or let Calihan run around. We spend a few hours here and then around dinner time we make our way to Trinity Groves to get a different view of the city!
Trinity Groves is a unique variety of shops and restaurants in one destination! Since we are normally not incredibly hungry just yet, we normally park in between Trinity Groves and a walking bridge that leads into the city. We take a walk to get beautiful views of the city (in extreme heat this is done pretty quickly) and then make our way back to grab dinner.
My favorite spot to eat at Trinity Groves is AvoEatery, but my husband is not a fan of avocados so he just puts up with eating there knowing it’s my favorite (he is the best). The restaurant is based around Avocados from Mexico and they are only closed on Mondays. I normally have the fried chicken tacos, but last time I had the Hot Chicken Sandwich. While this was delicious, I recommend the fried chicken tacos. Calihan loves avocado so he usually eats the Avocado toast and then shares fries with me. It’s all about balance.
The drinks are just as fun with avocado in mostly all of them. If you are like my husband and not a fan of avocado, there’s plenty of normal drinks you can order as well even if they are not on the menu. I will add that there are many food items on the menu that you can take the avocado off.
My go-to is the Avo-Rita or the Avo – Colada. There’s also a regular margarita on the “hold-the-avocado” section.
There is also a new section in Trinity Groves called the ArtPark at Trinity Groves. This recently just opened and is a beer garden! We were able to take a quick look, but they were still building finishing touches when we went. The ArtPark looks so fun, with bright colors and graffiti art décor made by local Dallas artists. The vibe is very unique and would be so fun to watch a later sporting event on the 30-outdoor TVs! There are also frozen drinks served in an upcycled shipping container, which is pretty neat. Monday-Friday they do not open until 4pm, but Saturday and Sunday they are open at 11am!
Once you’re done grabbing dinner and drinks (alcoholic or non-alcoholic of course) the best way to end the night is to go back on the bridge before heading to your car, and taking a look at the city lights at night. The city does a great job at keeping it colorful and photos do not do the view justice. Sometimes, there is music and dancing on the bridge as well.
Dallas has a unique vibe that is shown throughout the restaurants and parks around the city. I enjoy being close enough to have day adventures touring downtown and tasting delicious food.
What places do you love exploring when in Dallas?
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