Asking for advice about living in Dallas, TX

Hi all.

As I know there are tons of savvy DUers out there who've been around, I was wondering if I could get some advice about life in Texas, particularly Dallas. A friend of mine who's never lived abroad before (she's Japanese) is moving there in a few weeks for a year or so on business and I was hoping to learn something about the ins and outs (I was born and raised in New England, spent some time in Florida and Cali, but my experience with Texas amounts to a mere 3 days on a road trip so I know next to nothing!).

She wants to enjoy local culture (she's excited about bar-b-que cuisine and great steak places, as well as Country Music which she says she's never heard before but only read about lol), she's concerned about public transportation options (will have a license and car but prefers not to drive much), likes to travel and would like to see more of Texas and surrounding areas (without having to drive, if possible), is an avid golfer, and is also interested in knowing where to find good "home cooking" (in this case, Japanese or other asian foods) in restaurants and/or Asian/Japanese markets as well.

Any advice from those familiar with Dallas specifically and Texas more generally?

Thanks in advance! :)

there is still lots of diversity. texans are friendly though. they will welcome her and show her around.

it appears to me to be mass freeways and spread out. good luck in not having a vehicle. i have never not had a car, but seems typical western city where a car is really needed. and again, the west, so lots of places to visit but always a drive. nothing is close like the east. our close is a four hour drive or more.

if she is here just a year or so, she will have fun. not too long where you have had ENOUGH of conservative, but can appreciate the individualism texans are.

the surrounding areas vote more red...although becoming more pink.

People are nice either way.

area of texas i live.

I live in Plano, north of Dallas--far enough north that we rarely go into "the city". There are lots of Asian markets in Plano and Richardson, but I don't think there is much of a Japanese population here. I base that on 5 years of working with an ESL program. We had a lot of Chinese, Indian and Korean students, but only a handful of Japanese students in the entire time I was with the program.

My best suggestion for you is to also post this question in the Texas forum. There are quite a few Dallas residents who are active in that forum and I'll bet they can give you a lot of good tips.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=180

Dallas is a fun town. I have friends there so I find myself there more than a couple of times a year. It has public transportation (http://www.dart.org/), but I've not really seen it in action outside of downtown (plus I wasn't paying much attention to buses). Texas is really a drive-your-car kind of place.

If you want to get good recommendations from locals use a site like www.yelp.com . It has lots of categories that locals provide input into.

it's not all cowboy boots and hats.

It DOES have that, but if she expects everyone to be walking around that way, it won't happen.
However, if she want's to go to the rodeo, I suggest the Mesquite Rodeo. and I'm sure there are others.
There is no shortage of Country Bars.
Dallas has a world class major symphony orchestra, museums, etc...
Fort Worth's orchestra is just as good, museums system in Fort Worth has millions more of endowment.

Dallas/Fort Worth has some great ethnic foods of all types. I'm not much into japanese food, but I'm sure she can find it if she asks around.
I would suggest she contact some kind of local asian or Japanese group. There are Japanese here, because I know some.
http://jasdfw.org/default.html I just found this. I don't know anything about the group though.

There's plenty of good shopping. She'll find it, believe me.

If she's going to live on the rail line, it might be viable for public trans. However. I have have lived here all my life. It's not terribly convenient unless you HAVE to use it.
It's really designed for the commuter (depending where you live) and the tourist. If you just absolutely have to use it for your mode of transportation it is possible, yet very very very very inconvenient.
I had to do that at one point in my life and it was almost imposible.

If she doesn't want to drive much, frankly, she's SOL. You can't live in the DFW are and not drive. Won't happen. Sorry.

I've lived with some Japanese when I was in college and kept in touch....I kinda know how they think a little bit. Her idea of what will be fun in Dallas is probably not the same as mine. An american might appreciate some of the out of the way places, but I know the Japanese love what's in style and trendy.
There's plenty of trend and style here.

I lived in East Dallas, near Fair Park (which is an art deco national treasure), downtown/ in the Lakwood/Lower Greenville/Peak/Swiss Historic districts. There's plenty of corporate things in this area, but there are more mom and pops than in the rest of the area. There are both down home mom/pops and trendy mom/pops.
That would appeal to me. But there's plenty of upscale/lowbrow corporate store/restaurant she could ever want. Also, she will do better to understand that mexican food or tex-mex is NOT ethnic food to Dallas. It's everywhere. And it's yummy.
I'll have a taco stand taco any day over a corporate hamburger.

I know many people come to dallas thinking they can just get on the DART rail and go where ever they want. Not really true. I tell people to get a cab from the airport (unless they have a ride)

that's just off the top of my head.

edit: I don't golf, but there's a million places for golfers around here. all she has to do is ask around and it won't take her long to find a golfer.

When I lived there (many years ago), all the public transportation was buses on routes radially from downtown

There is a (limited) commuter rail line, now, finally: I've never ridden it -- the Dallasites were still fighting the idea when I lived there

Dallasites in my day hated pedestrians: it was a big joke to gun your engine and drive quickly past a pedestrian in a crosswalk -- maybe it's better now

I've only visited the so-called "Big D" a few times. The A/C is nice when sitting in stopped traffic.

Traffic is noticeably heavier than in another "Big D" (Detroit). It's a price of progress, when growth outstrips the infrastructure. Not entirely a bad thing, just sometimes annoying.

:hi:

I kinda figured that (about needing to drive), and I've since been told by just about everyone she'll need to get used to it. :p

So I'll let her know that.

And Tanyev, thanks for the good idea, I'd forgotten all about the state forums! Reposted pretty much the same thing over there. Thank you.

I kinda figured that (about needing to drive), and I've since been told by just about everyone she'll need to get used to it. :p

So I'll let her know that.

And Tanyev, thanks for the good idea, I'd forgotten all about the state forums! Reposted pretty much the same thing over there. Thank you.

Met a guy from Europe many years ago who visited friends in the suburbs N of Dallas (Richardson, I think). Guy was used to walking a lot back home. Got up one AM and saw downtown Dallas in the distance. Thought he'd take a little day hike to downtown. Probably thought it was 5 miles away. Lot further than he expected: he probably had a thirty mile hoof down and back, instead of the 10 -12 mi roundtrip he expected

People will see you want to change lanes and they will cut you off for spite. Not kidding.

And just for the record I have never been to the Cabaret Royale.

I visited there recently - cool town, great museums, nice bars, and a lot of local ambience. I totally enjoyed it.

Of course, it's been almost 25 years since I lived in Dallas. Just the same, when I wasn't able to get where I needed to go by bus, I took taxis. I lived/worked in Oak Cliff, Oak Lawn, Lower Greenville Ave, McKinney Ave and Deep Ellum. :)