Dallas, TX: Creamistry Ice Cream

Creamistry makes your ice cream on the spot using liquid nitrogen.

You might say this is a gimmick, but the ice cream is so creamy and smooth, and their flavors are amazing.

It was so good that we returned a few more times to try out different flavors.

We tried: Quantum Coffee and Mangonada (both shown below),  Party Animal, Sea Salt Caramel Crunch, and Speculoos Overload.

All the flavors were amazing! You could not go wrong.

Dallas, TX: Wabi House (Ramen)

Wabi House was pretty crowded and the wait was quite long, but the food was worth the wait.

Spicy Miso was spicy just right and super tasty.

 Tsukemen is dry ramen noodles with a side of dipping broth.

Both were delicious.

Richmond, VA: ZZQ

ZZQ was written up highly in Texas Monthly, and it is only a two-hour drive from the DC area, so if you can't make it to Texas, this is definitely a nice day trip for excellent Texas BBQ!
Go on Saturday for their beef ribs!

They open at 11am on Saturday, and when we arrive at 10:30am, we were the first in line.

We ordered the beef ribs, moist brisket, and jalapeno sausage.

They were all excellent choices.

Final assessment: ZZQ, being within driving distance and no line, is an excellent substitute for Franklin.

Austin, TX: Franklin BBQ

Franklin BBQ was recently rated #1 BBQ in the nation by Texas Monthly.
If you are in Austin, you should definitely plan to wait in line for their beef ribs, served only on Saturdays.

Plan to arrive early to wait in line, as they will run out of meat early.
We are in line at 9am for 11am opening time, and there were about 100 people in front of us.

Lucky for us, by the time we arrive to the front of the line around 1pm, there were still a few beef ribs left.
We bought beef ribs, brisket, pork ribs and one sausage link.

It was a lot of food for two people, but after waiting in line for 4 hours, we wanted to make sure we could try all the meat we wanted to try.
No worries, the next day's leftovers were still really good.

Final assessment: best BBQ we have ever had!