This past weekend I went to Dallas to spend some time with two of my best friends in the world. We met our first week of college, lived together for a few years, and have faithfully kept in touch ever since.
Dallas is an interesting place. It’s a conglomeration of insanely wealthy 1%-ers and somewhat normal people. Lots of designer labels shoved in your face, lots of women wearing some shade of tan, and lots of Tory Burch. My girlfriend lives in the Highland Park area where all the mansions are. She found an adorable little apartment just down the road from Highland Park Village and we had great fun driving around the neighborhoods and freaking outover the size of the homes. The word “mansion” is defined by Highland Park. I grew up on the opposite side of the bay from the Hamptons, and let me tell you, the Hamptons are small beans compared to the oil money being flaunted in Dallas.
We ate at some incredible places. Anyone who knows me, knows I have a slight addiction to tea. I’m picky about my tea, but I really love it. The girls and I went to afternoon tea at the Adolphus Hotel, and it was such a lovely experience.
We lounged on velvet couches and fancy chairs, admiring the flowers, tapestries, and woodwork in the
room while talking about our dashed dreams of marrying billionaires. There were little tea sandwiches, scones, and desserts that were quite good, and we really OD’d on the tea…like, were kind of sick when we
left. But a good round of shoe shopping soon took care of that and then we were thinking about dinner.
Which leads us to the Meddlesome Moth. I want to start by saying that the food was divine. I had roast
chicken on a bed of creamed cauliflower and asparagus that really blew me away. The service, on the other hand, left a little to be desired and the microbrews we tried were sub par. Our server really didn’t know
much about beer because he brought me a porter that tasted like a merlot, and my friend tried his recommendation only to receive a tepid excuse for a hefeweizen. I would totally eat there again, but order
wine instead, and perhaps communicate a bit more with the server. The vibe is really cool with stained glass windows of Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis. I’m quite jealous we don’t have more places like that in
Nashville.
On Saturday we went to a lunch place called Bolsa which was ridiculously delicious. The special was braised chicken risotto with Greek cheese and roasted grapes. We asked the server how big the portion was, and all we can assume is that we must have looked un-hungry because I can safely say we could have downed about two more bowls of the stuff. It was drool-worthy spectacular risotto. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
Then we headed to the Dallas World Aquarium where our ears were assaulted by screaming children and monkeys. This place was pretty cool. I still say that my hands-down favorite aquarium is the Tennessee Aquarium. I have rarely seen one with a better or more dynamic setup. If you ever visit anywhere near Chattanooga, make sure you go there or you are missing out on an awesome experience. The cool thing about the one in Dallas though is that it’s very open and is way more than just an aquarium. As soon as you walk in there are exotic birds flying overhead and monkeys are hanging out in the trees next to the walking path.
There’s a sloth hanging in a tree snacking on something gross and you can just walk up to the guy, take some pictures, and admire how chill he is in spite of all the crazy “spring break” children going nuts. He was so darn cute I could hardly stand it.
The aquarium part of the place was simply beautiful with tanks housing sea life from different parts of the world. I think this place is definitely worth the trip, but try to hit it on a less crowded day.
And lastly, I will mention this incredible little French place we went to, Toulouse Cafe’. The people-watching here is off the charts. If you eat here and don’t get the beignets, we can’t be friends. They are these orgasmic little fried doughnuts sprinkled with powdered sugar, accompanied by some kind of cappuccino sauce with hints of orange. They’re insane. The eggs Benedict are also to die for. Everything here is good.
The best thing about the whole weekend was seeing my friends, the ones who know me best, who I can simply be myself around and feel at home with. It’s always so sad to leave, but I’m reminded of how
incredibly blessed I am when I spend time with my girls. I plan to eat nothing but vegetables for the next week because I swear I gained 5 pounds from all the awesome food we ate. Viva Dallas!