Our spacious King Ultra Savvy Suite featured high ceilings and large windows -- letting in lots of amazing 3daytime light. Our suite also featured a comfy King bed, a spacious living room area that opens to the bedroom, and a spacious bathroom. The hotel features Re:fuel by aloft. This convenient spot lets aloft guests get their foodie fix 24/7 with grab & go light meals, snacks, and drinks to store in their in-room fridge. Best of all, aloft Dallas Downtown was no more than a 15-minute drive from any of the attractions and restaurants that are featured in this article. Talk about convenient! After dropping our bags with the friendly front desk employee when we arrived on Friday night, we headed around the corner for a taste of New Orleans at Nola Brasserie, which features Cajun and Creole seafood.
We enjoyed a wide range of fabulous Louisiana dishes at NOLA Brasserie...starting with a quartet of cocktails and a trio of delicious appetizers. Our cocktails included the NOLA Rum Punch, Blackberry Mojito, Cucumber Cosmo, and a Sazerac. My four-person team happily sipped our cocktails while we sampled hushpuppy-like Crawfish Fritters, Fried Green Tomatoes, and delicious Chicken and Andouille Sausage Gumbo! All were expertly prepared and full of the big flavors we love.
Next from the kitchen was a huge Fried Seafood Platter with hand-breaded shrimp and catfish, slaw, and fries. This amazing Texas-sized platter was plenty for the four of us to share. The seafood was perfectly fried -- not the least bit greasy!



Our next stop was the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, located near Downtown. This modern museum opened in 2012 and features plenty of paid parking across the street. It was very convenient to park and make our way over to the Perot. From there, we spent the afternoon exploring all of the amazing exhibits at the museum -- it's perfect for kids of all ages...even grown-up kids! The exhibit halls feature life science, natural science, space...and more. We all found exhibits that captured our attention.
In the Being Human Hall, I discovered a technology that help medical personnel easily locate veins -- which reduces the need for multiple needle sticks. We also saw dinosaur skeletons in the T. Boone Pickens Life Then and Now Hall. We also spent a good bit of time in the colorful Gems and Minerals Hall. The Perot was a great way to spend an afternoon -- having fun and learning...and working up an appetite!
Lucky for us, legendary Dallas Tex-Mex restaurant El Fenix shares a parking lot with the Perot -- making it super easy to enjoy a delicious meal or afternoon pick-me-up before or after a visit to the museum. El Fenix margaritas have been named Best in Dallas many times, so we decided to give the original and strawberry versions a try. They definitely deserve their accolades -- they're lightly sweet and just potent enough to be fun without giving you a headache!
Be sure to partner your margaritas with El Fenix's Appetizer Combo, which features a generous helping of their creamy homemade guacamole and their lightly spicy fire-roasted queso. It's the perfect accompaniment to your margaritas. After our afternoon snack, we had just enough time to make the last admission at The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealy Plaza.



We don't typically love sushi, but the two rolls the manager personally selected for us to try were AMAZING!! They were paired with a perfectly prepared crab cake and fried calamari with a sweetly spicy glaze.
The Jumbo Lump Crab Cake featured huge lumps of sweet crab and was paired with a creamy corn mix. I adore crab cakes...and these were superb! The Lobster Roll featured poached chilled lobster tail, kiwi, pickled serrano pepper, and a spicy mango purée. Our other sushi selection was Dynamite Shrimp Roll, which was a California Roll topped with tempura shrimp, spicy mayo, and sesame seeds. Because these two rolls don't contain raw seafood, even non-sushi lovers will go crazy for them! Our final appetizer was flash-fried Point Judith Calamari with a Sweet Chile Sauce. It was downright addictive. Our meal could've ended here and we would've left Ocean Prime happy...but we still had entrees and desserts left to try!
We sample two seafood entrees and one beef entree to ensure we tried items from all over the varied menu. The two standout menu items were the Sea Scallops with Parmesan Risotto & Asparagus and the broiled rime ribeye grilled topped with Bearnaise sauce and lump crab. Both dishes were amazing! The scallops were perfectly seared -- caramelized exterior and a sweet, moist interior. These entrees were paired with two decadent side dishes: Lobster Mashed Potatoes and Truffle Mac and Cheese. Both were rich and bold flavored...the perfect accompaniment to our entrees.
To round out our amazing dinner at Ocean Prime, we shared two desserts: a dense chocolate cake and their signature Ten Layer Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing and a Pineapple Sauce. If you love carrot cake, THIS is the one you have to try! Thin layers of moist carrot cake form a torte that's topped with tangy-sweet cream cheese icing and a sweetly sour pineapple sauce. It was the perfect ending to a truly special meal. We made our way back to our suites at the aloft and fell into our comfy Kings bed full and happy!
Be sure to come back Tuesday for Part II of our Dallas adventure...featuring brunch at St. Ann, a visit to Hypnotic Donuts, an afternoon visit to the Reunion Tower Observation Deck for 360-degree views of Dallas, and dinner at Del Frisco's Grille before we headed back to San Antonio. You wont' want to miss it!
Disclosure: aloft Dallas Downtown provided two evenings of hosted accommodations to facilitate inclusion in this article. The attractions featured provided complimentary admission, and the restaurants featured hosted our meals. All opinions expressed are solely my own.
No comments:
Post a Comment
I love hearing your feedback!!!