Delirious in Dallas

Whew! Today we did Dallas and it was exhausting. And confusing. I did not love downtown Dallas. I will say that right off the bat. (Clay from Hot Springs... if you are reading this... I DID NOT LOVE DOWNTOWN DALLAS!!! I hope this makes you feel a bit better!) Maybe we were doin' it all wrong but man... we wandered around for hours on foot all over downtown and while I was "wowed" by the skyscrapers to some extent and there was some neat sculpture around... the city was kinda bland. I was ready for something akin to Chicago only more Texas-y. I thought maybe there would be dudes in western style suits wearin' ten gallon hats on their way to important international trade meetings or to cheat on their wives with big haired Texan women in Hyatt Regency hotel rooms or something. TOP THAT for makin' up some stuff about what might be in downtown Dallas. All this imagery could be coming out of the fact that I may have been scarred for life by 1980's night time soap operas. We will have to allow for that. Anyway... here are my two best pics from my time wandering the streets downtown...






So... Billy went to the art museum while I walked around with Rudy lookin' for trouble. We found none. When Billy emerged from the museum we trekked like Sherpas up and down city blocks looking for something to eat and we were blind hungry. We finally settled on a falafel joint right down near Neiman Marcus. I went in and ordered two falafel sandwiches to go. This ordering of sandwiches caused the man behind the counter to fall to the floor in a pool of his own blood and tears. Not really... but he did suffer great problems in ringing up my order. First he tried to charge me around $40 for the order... then $79, and then $39, then he finally landed on $12.96 which he promptly rang through on the credit card machine as $12.97. Not $12.96...but $12.97. He threw a confused extra penny in there for good measure. All the while he was trying to get the total right he kept on repeating "Someone has been here touching this machine!" And then... "Ahhhh! I see what the problem is now!" And then he would ring up yet another wrong total. As it was around 2:30 in the afternoon I was pretty much the only person in the place ordering food. My concern grew in leaps and bounds as the to go order was put together. I spied a plate of old falafel balls sitting on the counter to the side of the cash register area. Moments after my order was sent back to the kitchen a shifty eyed cook emerged and stealthily took said plate of old falafel balls back in to the kitchen. Hmmmmm. Not a good sign. Mr. Cash Register continued to run around putting weird random stuff into a bag for me. Things like old bread from a kind of creepy looking basket (again by the cash register) some smashy looking green olives, etc. I finally got my order and left with the thought in my mind that this was probably not going to be edible stuff. And I was right. It was almost comical how bad it was. The sandwiches consisted of thin pita halves with three soggy room temp falafels, a white-ish looking piece of tomato and a few limp strands of lettuce. Billy was brave (or stupid) enough to actually take one bite. The look on his face instantly said it all. We had a quick discussion on the possibility of me taking the stuff back in there and asking for a refund. But I don't think I have to go in to too much detail on why we ditched that idea. Mr. Cash Register would not have been able to complete that transaction. I am sure of it.

We made our way back to the truck and decided to drive to another part of town in search of food. I had seen a place online when I googled vegetarian restaurants in Dallas that I wanted to check out but OF COURSE I had not written it down and could not remember the name of the place. These are the moments in my life when I call my Mother. She is ready, willing and able to get on the google and figure some shit out. After a few minutes of teetering around on different websites we realized that The Cosmic Cafe was the place. Lo and behold... we happened to be like two blocks from the restaurant. Fate. At this point my eyes were rolling back in their sockets and I was gnawing on my boot heel because I was so freakin' hungry. So it is a darned good thing the place was right around the corner.

We squeezed Big Alberta into their teeny parking lot and grabbed a table and ordered. Two plates of Buddha's Delight, please.




People... I can now say that some of the best Indian food I have ever had in my life was in Dallas, Texas. And I really don't think it was because I was hungry enough to eat Buddha himself if they were servin' him up on a platter. It was simple fare, dahl soup, samosas (to DIE for) and curried spinach with garbanzo beans. Everything was fresh tasting and perfectly seasoned. The crust on the samosa was seriously stupid good. It was even served up on a palm leaf. Good eats.

I think that will be it for Dallas for us. I just don't have the energy to head back in there this weekend. We may go in to Fort Worth again because it is easier to do. If anyone reading this has any area suggestions on things not to be missed please do tell!