Weekend in Dallas

On our way to eat at Nora

I spent this past weekend in Dallas with my boyfriend Atticus and was extremely surprised and impressed by the vegan food options we found! We found several awesome restaurants that were either exclusively veg or had awesome veg options. I never expected to find such a great veg scene in Texas, but I was pleasantly surprised by all that we found! Let me apologize ahead of time for the pictures of half eaten food - I kept forgetting to whip out my camera until after we had already started to eat! Whoops :)

Tofu scramble sandwich

Our first morning in Dallas we ventured over to a diner I had found online prior to going to Dallas. As someone with very specific dietary needs, I often try to have a game plan ahead of time of restaurants that have good veg options - otherwise I end up eating lots of pasta and salad. Spiral Diner is an entirely vegan diner in the Oak Cliff neighborhood. We went for brunch and were very impressed by our choices. I ordered a tofu scramble sandwich and hash browns, while Atticus had the tofu scramble with soy sausage and hash browns. It was the vegan version of typical diner food - exactly what we were looking for!

Tofu scramble with soy sausage and hash browns 

After breakfast we ventured out into Dallas to explore the West End. It ended up being a rainy afternoon so we decided to grab a late lunch at a pub I had read about before heading to a movie. Anvil Pub ended up being an awesome find. They had a great selection of draft beers and an awesome vegan pub menu. While it isn't a vegan pub, they did have extensive vegan options. We ordered a couple of beers and vegan nachos which were amazing! We had a great bartender - very personable. When he found out it was Atticus' birthday he bought him a shot of Jameson and let me take his lighter so we could light a birthday candle later at our hotel!

(What's left of) vegan nachos

For dinner that night I had made reservations at a restaurant called Nora's Restaurant and Bar. I wanted to take Atticus somewhere with a "date night" atmosphere to (belatedly) celebrate his birthday. Nora's ended up being the perfect experience. Great food - middle eastern cuisine with several veg options, great service - friendly staff, great atmosphere - very much the "date night" atmosphere I had envisioned and reasonably priced. Unfortunately we were so caught up in the night that we didn't take any food pictures however I did snap a shot of the restaurant on the way out!

When we got home from dinner we used the lighter that our bartender at Anvil so graciously provided us with and had birthday fudge! I used Chef Chloe's recipe from Chloe's Kitchen for the fudge.

Sunday we went for breakfast at a local coffee shop my boyfriend found on Yelp. Ascension turned out to be a great find! The coffee was amazing and the breakfast was just as good. They have definitely perfected steamed milk art! We both ordered the avocado toast and my god it was incredible. Such a simple dish but such a fresh and yummy start to the day!

Soy latte

Avocado toast (I got mine without the poached egg)

After breakfast we headed downtown to go to the Sixth Floor Museum - a museum that educates on the life of JFK and the tragic shooting that took his life in Dallas. No pictures were allowed, but I highly recommend checking it out - it was very interesting and informative. It's quite sobering to stand in the building from which a US president was killed.

For lunch we decided to go to Whole Food's and make ourselves a picnic. We spent the afternoon at a park next to White Rock Lake. It was an extremely relaxing afternoon and it was nice just to spend some time together.

White Rock Lake park

After such a relaxing afternoon we decided take out was in order for dinner and decided we couldn't leave Dallas without having some Mexican so we ordered some food from Soleo Mexican Kitchen. And if it wasn't some of the best Mexican I've ever had! I ordered fajitas while Atticus had enchiladas. We spent the evening in bed eating our Mexican and watching movies.

           Our hotel, the Renaissance 

Monday was our last day in Dallas. We had gotten muffins and scones from Whole Food's for breakfast and decided that for lunch we would try a vegan Pho place called D'Vegan. We again decided on take out and took our Pho to Bachman Lake Park over by the Love Field airport. We ate on the grass and watched the planes land. It was a beautiful day and the food was excellent! I ordered a traditional Pho and my boyfriend decided on the spicy version. Both were awesome.

Overall I was so happy with all of our finds in Dallas. I would go back to any and all of the restaurants we tried over the course of the weekend! It was a perfect weekend :)