Kurt & Nina Come to Dallas

Guess who came to town a couple weeks ago? Kurt and Nina! After a fun visit to hang out with them in Tucson a few months ago, they decided to make the trek to Dallas. We had a great time catching up and showing them around town. Here are the highlights from the weekend (I doubt you'll be surprised to discover that most of them involve food)!

First up was one of our favorite downtown McKinney combos: Pie Night! To start things off, you get yourself a couple pizza pies at Cadillac Pizza. Then you follow that up with heavenly dessert pie at Emporium Pies (favorites this time around were the Cherry Bomb cherry pie and the Mellow Yellow lemon chiffon pie). And that's it, simple as that!

We spent a little time enjoying the warm summer air out on the back porch (and I finally got to light the mason jar lanterns that we made)!

There was TexMex to be eaten and margaritas to be sipped at La Hacienda Ranch in Frisco. Because you can't visit Texas without indulging in a little TexMex!

We made the trek into Dallas so we could poke around the Bishop Arts District. It's such a fun neighborhood, and we discover something new each time we visit. This time, we meandered around the neighborhood, sampled delicious (and sometimes delightfully weird) homemade chocolates and toffees at Dude Sweet Chocolate, cooled off with icy cold Topo Chico at The Wild Detectives (a cute coffee shop with a quirky book selection), sipped glasses of locally made cider at Bishop Cider, and we cozied up to a table at the wonderfully divey Ten Bells Tavern for local craft brews and bar snacks.

 Here we are out and about in Bishop Arts!

Finally after a long, arduous afternoon of food and drink....it was time for dinner at Stock and Barrel! Gosh I love this place. Favorite dishes of the evening were the avocado toast topped with chorizo (I don't care how trendy it is -- it's delicious), the goat cheese dumplings, the duck confit, and the ribeye.

One morning, we had a laid back breakfast around the kitchen table thanks to Rudy's and their brisket breakfast tacos (talk about killing two birds with one stone for out-of-state guests -- BBQ and breakfast tacos)! Another morning, we drove across town for breakfast at the oldest restaurant in McKinney: Bill Smith's Cafe! While it's hard to go wrong with anything on their menu, I love to get the chicken fried steak and eggs or the taco omelette. Or you can go my husband's route and get pancakes, eggs, and bacon...with a side of biscuits and gravy! So much food!

Kurt and Nina were also nice enough to go with us to the Local Yocal to participate in their Steak Class! A cattle rancher husband and wife team who believe in high quality meats that are raised properly (you know, eating grass and stuff like that without exposed to hormones or antibiotics) started their own meat market to butcher and sell locally raised meats along with some other locally made products.  The class involves a "lecture" from the owner himself about the meat industry, a tour of the butcher shop, a tutorial on all of the different cuts of steak along with where they come from on the cow, and finally (they save the best for last) they grill 17 (seventeen!) different cuts of steak for you to sample! I don't think I've ever had so much steak in my life. It was so fun to compare the different cuts, and they were all the best bites of steak I think I've ever had. It was a really fantastic experience. It was educational, fun, and delicious (also note that the class is BYOB, so feel free to bring your favorite beer or wine along)!

 That's a big side of beef (and I don't mean Kurt)!

After all of the steak was gone and the class drew to a close, we piled into the car and drove 45 minutes north to Sherman to hang out at 903 Brewers for their 2nd Anniversary Party! So far, they're our favorite brewery in the area, so it was fun to introduce them to Kurt and Nina, fellow craft brew enthusiasts. Throughout the party they were constantly tapping new beers brewed solely for the anniversary party. Some were amazing, some fell a little shy of expectations, but they were all fun to try!

 Hanging out at by the taps (these three are beer festival pros)!

For their last day in town, we went to Snug for their breakfast sandwiches. Snug is just the coziest, cutest little local coffee shop on the square in McKinney, and we always try to take guests there if we can!

Finally, we played a little golf at Top Golf (I came in last, as usual, but it's still surprisingly fun) followed by lunch at Freebirds before we had to make the trek back to the airport.

Such a fun weekend with sweet friends! Who wants to come visit us next??