Coming Home From Vacation: Where is The First Place You Eat in Dallas

Posted on March 13th, 2012 10:59am by Nancy Nichols
Filed under Bring it!, Burgers, Cult Cuisine, Delusional behavior, Diets are stupid, make mine a double, Making Up Is Hard To Do, Mistakes I made, Nostalgia, Overprivileged chimps

How many times have you returned from a vacation and rushed to your favorite restaurant for a fix of your favorite food? For almost 20 years, I drove from the airport to Mi Cocina in Preston Royal and went face down in a plate of nachos. Then came In-N-Out. Okay, so Andrew doesn’t love it. He’s British. He ingests cans of Spotted Dick Sponge Pudding and Vegemite, a nasty paste I use as a bug killer.

I lived in California for 11 years so perhaps I am experiencing the reverse-home-town-food-nostalgia syndrome that affects older people because when I returned from vacation last week, I drove straight to In-N-Out and devoured a DDAS (double-double animal style) like a rabid coyote. EVERYBODY knows you order the fries crispy at INO. Everybody but Andrew.

Anywhoo, where do you go when you re-enter your life in Dallas?

29 comments

  1. This shows exactly why In-N-Out will make it here. Texas has a bunch of transplanted left coasters. Andrew represents the impartial group who does not care about our “roots” We care about the best burger.

    So does INO beat whataburger well maybe. Does INO beat Maple and Motor, Grape, Twisted Root, Kennys, Dels… not so much.

    @ 11:23 am on March 13, 2012

  2. I just don’t get the fries there. Are they made of sawdust or what ???

    @ 12:04 pm on March 13, 2012

  3. Love Field – Rafa’s or Mico HPV. DFW – Taco Diner Irving or Mercado Juarez. Seeing a trend here…

    @ 12:04 pm on March 13, 2012

  4. Almost always Mi Cocina w/ an occasional visit to Mia’s.

    @ 12:16 pm on March 13, 2012

  5. I went to the In-N-Out at Coit and LBJ at 2:30 on a Tuesday and there were 12 cars in the drive thru. The potatoes are cut in the store and fried…you must ask for them crisp. Perhaps you aren’t accustomed to how bland potatoes are without a gallon of salt on them.

    @ 12:18 pm on March 13, 2012

  6. The hubs and I always seem to end up at Chuy’s as soon as we get home.

    @ 12:27 pm on March 13, 2012

  7. I’d like to say something fancy or trendy, but honestly, …El Fenix.

    @ 12:50 pm on March 13, 2012

  8. I have no words to both subjects:

    - Spotted Dick
    - DDAS

    [incredulous look on my face]

    @ 1:10 pm on March 13, 2012

  9. I would have to say real tex-mex when I get back to Dallas. Just like when I fly home to the north-east I make sure to eat great red-sauce mob-style italian. And I am not joking. There are no great hole-in-the-wall italian places here in Dallas.

    As for INO. Its a chain with zero ties to the Dallas community. There are plenty of local spots to get a good burger – take Off Site Kitchen, Maple and Motor, or another other place. Support locally owned businesses. My 2 cents on that. But different strokes for different folks I guess.

    @ 1:18 pm on March 13, 2012

  10. Don’t hate, but we always go to Saltgrass the night we return. We do a lot of driving vacations and so we’re mostly stuck with fast food or gas station fare, especially on the trip home when you just want to get it over with. The need for a steak, fresh salad and vegetables and a baked potato is overwhelming.

    @ 1:53 pm on March 13, 2012

  11. Lake Highlands Mi Cocina or Mia’s … always, without fail

    @ 2:11 pm on March 13, 2012

  12. I always hit Campisi’s for a salami and black olive pie, washed down with a St. Pauli girl or two…

    @ 3:32 pm on March 13, 2012

  13. Pizza By Marco, Torchy’s, Taco Diner.

    @ 3:45 pm on March 13, 2012

  14. Mi Cocina Preston Forest — always in the bar (kid free area)

    @ 4:02 pm on March 13, 2012

  15. Used to be takeout at Al’s Pizzeria. Now it’s a vacant lot. So sad.

    @ 4:05 pm on March 13, 2012

  16. Mi Cocina is a place for white people who are scared of most of the city.

    @ 4:08 pm on March 13, 2012

  17. Got to be Luckys for a Reuben or Chicken fried Chicken…

    @ 4:17 pm on March 13, 2012

  18. Either to the doctor’s — to get treated for my spotted dick. Or round to Nancy’s, for Animal Style.

    Or both, the latter first of course.

    @ 4:21 pm on March 13, 2012

  19. El Fenix! Even as a college student studying overseas, el Fenix was the first place

    @ 4:24 pm on March 13, 2012

  20. Agreed that INO fries taste like sawdust and I have tried them crispy. Five guys fries are exponentially better. They aren’t natives but neither is INO for that matter. As for local eats-love me some cheese fries from Snuffers but not after every vacation. Not good for the heart!

    @ 4:35 pm on March 13, 2012

  21. FIRESIDE PIES or MAI’S

    @ 4:47 pm on March 13, 2012

  22. Mia’s, Manny’s or Campisi’s.

    @ 5:10 pm on March 13, 2012

  23. [...] Coming Home From Vacation: Where is The First Place You Eat in Dallas [...]

    @ 6:13 pm on March 13, 2012

  24. Marianos – the only, I mean ONLY, place where it is acceptable to get a margarita frozen.

    @ 6:16 pm on March 13, 2012

  25. Andrew, don’t forget the packet of Cock Soup I bought you once.

    @ 6:23 pm on March 13, 2012

  26. Ha! They inserted **** for (C-O-C-K) soup!

    @ 6:25 pm on March 13, 2012

  27. http://bonanzleimages.s3.amazonaws.com/afu/images/0878/4350/__kgrhqeokkee5u_gqso6bozby_nisg__60_58.jpg

    @ 6:31 pm on March 13, 2012

  28. I recently moved to another state and miss Dallas so much!
    A day of amazing food for me:
    Breakfast on the rooftop of Breadwinners in Uptown
    Lunch at Chuys
    Dinner at Ocean Prime or Nick & Sams

    @ 6:39 pm on March 13, 2012

  29. When I get back, I want a margarita and some Mexican food. These days I’d go to Mr. Mesero or Mesa.

    @ 10:53 pm on March 13, 2012