Hack Your City went to Dallas and Fort Worth this week, plus the whole area around and in between. As reader Kristina Rowe pointed out, the DFW Metroplex is physically bigger than Connecticut and Rhode Island combined, and more populous than most U.S. states. And here we ate it in one bite. Go check out all the great comments under the staff tab, or read a sampling of tips below.
See and do
“Take the kids to Cidercade in the Design District to play old school arcade games. $10.”—Hoops
“FOR GEEKS: QuakeCon is held in DFW. ID Software offices are in DFW. MicroCenter is better than Fry’s.”—cmdshift3
“If you have kids, they’ll probably enjoy the free Dallas Museum of Art, Klyde Warren Park, and Perot Museum (check for reciprocity with your local museum memberships). The Nasher Sculpture Museum is pretty nice as well. All of these things are within 2 blocks of each other.”—AMReynolds
“The Dallas Museum of Art has over 20,000 works in its free permanent collection. I’d head straight for the 4th floor where they’ve recreated a wealthy couple’s 1950s home in Paris.”—Kristina Rowe
“Glen Rose, which is 55 miles southwest of Fort Worth, offers Fossil Rim Wildlife Center, Dinosaur Valley State Park, Creation Evidence Museum, Dinosaur World, Squaw Valley Golf Club and more.”—Mr. Bongo
“In Fort Worth check out the Botanical Garden, the Fort Worth Zoo, or any of the sweet museums they have hidden away over in Funkytown.”—BMICK
“Fort Worth is a country land in a city. Visit Billy Bob’s Bar in Stockyards: country music concerts, bull riding in a bar. Bass Performance Hall hosts the world’s best international piano competition every year. Don’t forget to take kids for ‘the herd,’ where cowboys herd live cattle through the streets twice daily.”—nr1215
“The Perot Museum of Natural Science is great. It’s relatively new so all the exhibits make use of relatively modern technology. Underrated: the Ft. Worth Water Garden. It’s basically a collection of water fountains but they are all fairly elaborate and the main one is just a really interesting and scenic space.”—stickto
“Dallas has one of my favorite museums: the Nasher Sculpture Center. It’s right in downtown Dallas and has an amazing walled sculpture garden with absolutely perfect landscape design. The indoor displays are also quite lovely but I could spend hours in that garden. I’ve actually been hoping to get there for the once a month that they’re open in the evening and the strung lights are turned on.”—banana
“Anything ‘Texas’ themed, you should flat-out avoid. Dallas is NOT a country and western city with cowboys and spurs. These types of places are going to be way overpriced.”—The Knitigator
Eat and drink
“Dallas has some of my favorite food. Maple and Motor has the best burger I have found. For BBQ, Pecan Lodge is the typical suggestion but Slow Bone has the best ribs I have ever had.”—Moose Knuckle
“Pecan Lodge has better meat; Lockhart has better sides.”—TexpatNY
“Velvet Taco: Its good to try the chicken tikka taco one time.”—kindrudekid
“Saravana Bhavan, Indian vegan.”—Sincole
“Go to Wabi House for ramen. Forget the BS about ramen in Austin or other places. GO TO WABI HOUSE!”—PaulCypert
“Riscky’s Steakhouse in the Stockyards for lunch is the best/cheapest steak meal you can get anywhere.”—Ryan Rife
“In Park Cities near SMU is Snider Plaza, which I’m partial to - mainly because of Kuby’s, which has such good smoked pork chops that I can’t ever stop thinking about them. Owned by generational German family, one of them who comes around to kids and gives them little packs of Haribo gold bears when you eat there.”—AMReynolds
“If you go to the Deep Ellum/Downtown area get lunch at the Monkey King. It’s magical noodles and will change your life.”—FreeCharlie
“Drop whatever you’re doing and go to Uchi. It’s like the best sushi bar you’ve ever been to, but also so much more than that. And they’ve got all kinds of fun sakes you can’t find anywhere else.”—rockympls
“Join the Facebook group Metroplex Foodies created by Jennifer Hurley. This way you’ll have a ton of food recommendations by the locals.”—Blind Willy
Get around
“Dallas is a city for locals more than for tourists. For living there, it has every convenience; every type of restaurant, every bar, every store, every mall, every concert or event. One of the best ways to visit Dallas is around some sort of event, then squeeze in a sampling of these services. Just be prepared to drive.”—Regex
“If you are staying in Dallas proper, fly in on Southwest into DAL (Love Field) instead of DFW. It’s a much nicer, smaller and easier to navigate airport.”—Miss Scarlett
“NEVER EVER visit during the peak of summer. Unless you’re from the South. You northern folk coming to Texas in the peak of summer will probably collapse from heat stroke. The summers down here are not a joke, 100+ during the day with %80+ humidity.”—liffie420
“Rent a bike (Dallas Bike Works is good) and ride around all the ‘districts’ via the trail system (Santa Fe, Trinity, Katy, White Rock). You’ll go through Lakewood, Deep Ellum, Downtown, Trinity Groves, Uptown and SMU. Get a lock so you can stop along the way and grab food.”—Syrup Badger
“If you’re in Uptown or Downtown, take the McKinney Ave trolley between the two! It’s free, comes about every 15 minutes and is very underutilized. The scooters, however, should be ridden at your own risk.”—TexpatNY
“It all may look close on the map, but it’s better to think of the DFW area as two separate cities to visit that just happen to be near by. (Three cities if you include Arlington in between with all that it has to offer).”—TGAPGeorge
For many more tips, go read the original comment thread. Leave your own DFW tips and hacks below, and come back in a couple of weeks when we’re off to China.