EEEEEATS DIARY Tegan and Sara Do Dallas 

I was flattered when the Infatuation crew complimented me on the progress I’ve been making with my food photography skills during our first three food blogs for The Infatuation. I have a competitive streak that allows me to take something I am average at and quickly elevate it to a peak level, within the realistic curve of my own personal abilities. Unfortunately I also have the tendency to lose focus, quickly leaving my best results and efforts behind me. This is how I now feel about the photographs I took of the remarkable Chinese food at Monkey King Noodle Company on a rooftop in Dallas, during our latest stop on the Katy Perry tour.

In my defense, not only did the blazing hot sun render me blind and unable to read the light meter on my camera, but the selections we made from the menu happened to include mostly white and beige food (dumplings!). A challenge to photograph for even the most dedicated of food bloggers! But we still had a blast – here is what we ate!

As I approached our first food location, Jasper sent me a photograph of the crazy long line up at the Monkey King Noodle Company with the note, “I think its open.” It was “hopping” as the kids say. We went for dumplings and noodles, while avoiding the soups because of the heat (how not used to hot weather am I? I’ve already mentioned the sun four times in this blog).

The edamame and tofu dumplings felt so fresh and healthy, and if I hadn’t been afraid of sun stroke I might have battled the line again to retrieve another order. I don’t know if my overuse of hot sauce renders my tastebuds or opinions less valuable, but it’s true that I loved these strange (steamed!) dumplings, both with and without the good stuff lathered on top.

The pork dumplings were terrific as well. I generally order the deep fried over the steamed, but that might have more to do with hygiene concerns at the joints I generally hang out at. Deep Fried = no germ left alive! It was obvious this place takes its cleanliness seriously and I didn’t hesitate to love the steamed ones at all. The lack of stomach ache and scorching grease made me think I’ve been doing it wrong all this time.

Being that “noodle” is in the name of the restaurant, we ordered the Dandan Noodles. Scallions, pork, ginger, garlic… I’m currently “juicing” and I feel like weeping while writing out the ingredients. There was a chicken broth that made it soup-ish without all the necessary slurping and spooning. Delicious!

As it was the first meal of the day, we only watched with envy as the patrons next to us indulged in a bottle of red wine and a platter of delicious wantons, their ties loosened while sweat glistened on their happy faces. Great spot.

We wandered past a handful of interesting restaurants that all seemed terrific, but we were on the hunt for BBQ! Pecan Lodge had an authentic feel and certainly smelled incredible. We waited for quite a long time in line, taking in the raucous environment (loud music, loud kids, loud man calling out orders over the PA system).

Once you’ve eaten something (starch) for 34 years, you become finely trained in recognizing a good bad-for-you food with one simple bite. This mac and cheese was what my mac and cheese dreams are made of. Smokey, gooey, salty…crumbled meat just casually adorning the steaming pile. If I hadn’t just eaten dumplings and noodles 30 minutes prior, I would have stabbed anyone attempting to try it – with my plastic fork.

We ordered the brisket, which we all decided was hands down the best we had ever had. There was a pile of pickles and onions on the platter and the combination of the tender, melting meat and cold crisp pickles was heavenly. Plopped right on top was a juicy Jalapeño Cheddar Sausage. Growing up, a fancy “smokie” on the BBQ was a treat for special occasions. Pecan Lodge blew me away and the memory of those sad sausages from my childhood have been usurped.

The ribs were also fantastic (my ribs photo wasn’t good enough to make the cut here, that’s from Pecan’s Facebook page), but I felt too tired to tackle the bone. So, the review should really be based on those beer-ad smiles of mine and Jasper’s in the photo accompanying this review. We were pigs in sh%t.

The church of mission burritos and excellent nachos. Let us pray.

A great example of our favorite type of restaurant: excellent food and easy to get in to.