A pair of oak-lined streets,the Bishop neighbourhood is home to 60 or so boutiques,bars and restaurants occupying 1920s warehouses. I begin in Dude,Sweet Chocolate - I challenge you to walk away from the crispy bacon strips covered in artisan dark chocolate or blocks flavoured with Stingray spiced rum,molasses and pecan fudge - before moving on to the Artisan's Collective,with works from 150 Dallas-area creative types,and finally the light-filled dining room at Bolsa,located in an historic cinder-block building. The area owes much of its regeneration to gay entrepreneurs;Dallas has the country's sixth-largest population of same-sex couples.
On the same side of the Trinity River,in the shadow of the stunning cable-stayed Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge - a year-old,$93 million addition to the city - sits Trinity Groves,a new incubator project conceptualised to nurture emerging restaurants,shops and bars in pop-up spaces.
There are dozens of development projects like this under way across the city - some $14 billion worth,in fact. Much of that money is poured in to the upgrade and expansion of the Dallas Arts District,the largest continuous arts zone in the US. Marquee designers and Pritzker Prize-winning architects are reimagining this downtown neighbourhood,covering 19 city blocks,and which is home to galleries,museums and concert halls. The Dallas Arts District Friends lead a free one-hour tour around the area,taking you past the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Centre,an I.M. Pei design housing the 4535-pipe Herman W. Lay and Amelia H. Lay Family Organ,a $1.36 million instrument,the lozenge-shaped,Foster + Partners-designed AT&T Performing Arts Centre and Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House;and the Nasher Sculpture Centre,a private collection of 20th century sculptures set in a Renzo Piano building and across green gardens.
It seems design is built into Dallas's DNA and it's once again making news. The Perot Museum of Nature and Science is the latest addition to the city's arts scene,the dramatic Thom Mayne-created building a frenzy of forms in Victory Park.
Victory,like the gallery,is the brainchild of Ross Perot,Jr,son of billionaire tycoon Ross Perot,part owner of the Dallas Mavericks. Unsurprisingly,no expense was spared here. The Museum of Nature and Science features a 16.5-metre,continuous-flow escalator contained in a glass-enclosed,tube-like structure that dramatically extends outside the building,all wrapped in puckered and striated precast concrete panels.
The surrounding gardens are an abstract cross-section of Texas,from an eastern Texas forest of large native canopy trees to the plains of the Texas Panhandle. Inside,interactive exhibits,state-of-the-art video and 3D computer animations entertain children and adults alike.
I'm more interested in the entertainment offerings at Deep Ellum,an industrial neighbourhood turned artsy hub where jazz and blues clubs occupy one-time warehouses and factories and graffiti artists create colourful,oversized street advertisements for local businesses. Life in Deep Ellum was launched here some five years ago,showcasing street art at the Mokah gallery and surprisingly good coffee at a bar by the same name. The Deep Ellum Brewing Company is a more recent addition,opening its doors in 2011 and becoming the first true microbrewery in Dallas. I visit on a Thursday evening and once again find myself surrounded by gregarious locals offering tourist tips and dinner dates.
But I have a booking at FT33,the Dallas bastion of creative cookery. One of the first restaurants in the Design District - an up-and-coming neighbourhood where homewares,antiques and furniture stores abound - FT33 sees 32-year-old chef Matt McCallister curate regularly changing menus that might feature velvety uni pancakes,a"salad"of heirloom tomatoes with blueberries,olives and curry pudding,or bacon and chicken sweetbread sausage.
It is the kind of modernist fare that you would expect to see in Scandinavia.
McCallister's refined plates are a world away from the mod-Texan fare at celebrity chef Stephen Pyle's second Dallas restaurant,Stampede 66,where bullhorns are transformed into artful chandeliers and wire horse sculptures dance on the walls.
It's here I meet Cindy and am convinced to order a dish of pickled eggs with devilled bocadito - it's a stellar recommendation,served with candied bacon and jalapeno pop rocks. Later,there are smoked chicken dumplings crowned with perfect spheres of herbed caviar plus a deconstructed lemon tart,presented in a fermenting jar with cactus-pear meringue.
And then,of course,there's that cocktail,which leaves me clinging to Cindy's arm for balance. It's big on flavour and personality,and yet has subtle notes of genius.
In many ways,it's Dallas like in a glass.
The writer was a guest of the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau.
AUSTRALIANS IN DALLAS
It may be the longest direct 747 flight in the world - 13,800 kilometres and some 15 hours - but the Qantas Sydney-Dallas/Fort Worth route is one that thousands of Australians are braving. The first non-stop flight from Australia to the USA that doesn't land on the west coast has increased visitor numbers to the city exponentially:between 2008 and 2012,the number of Aussie travellers to Dallas increased by 170 per cent from 18,531 to 49,964,with a significant jump in May 2011 when the airline began the route. And tourism officials expect this figure to double in coming years. Dallas/Fort Worth is also a key hub for American Airlines,Qantas's codeshare partner,which means travellers have onward access to more than 180 destinations.
TRIP NOTES
GETTING THERE
Qantas flies daily from Sydney to Dallas/Fort Worth with return flights stopping in Brisbane. Phone 131 313,seeqantas.com.
STAYING THERE
The Joule is one of the city's newest,and hippest,hangouts,with a stellar swimming pool and Charlie Palmer restaurant off the lobby. Rooms from $US279 ($308). Rooms at The Belmont offer some of the best views in town and come with vintage flair and flatscreen TVs and free Wi-Fi. Seebelmontdallas.com. Rooms from $US115.
MORE INFORMATION
visitdallas.com.