If you know the area, help draw up a list of nearby restaurants. Here's a start:

Sometimes you want a restaurant for slow dining and conversation and other times you want something quick and perhaps take-out, so you can get back to the conference. This year. because we're planning more evening activities, we're putting an informal gap in the early evening schedule for people to pop out, eat and get back for more fun. To keep from cutting into those activities the dinner break is just 60-minutes, so takeout food is the most practical.

• A link to the GMaps page for the conference center, to serve as a convenient starting point for GMaps directions to places below.
• A quick query of restaurants nearby, for the truly lazy

Addison boasts more restaurants per capita than any other city west of the Mississippi River. Addison offers a great variety of outstanding restaurants, with more than 170 to choose from in 4.3 square miles.

The town maintains an online selection guide here.

The Addison hotel is in the center of an entertainment district. On the corner of the hotel is a comedy club and at least four nice sports bars, for discussing Python over a beer. ;-)

The main avenue along there is covered in restaurants:

• Landry's seafood
• Clay Pit indian
• Chili's
• Snuffer's burgers, etc.

For super late night there is:

• Vernon's, my favorite bar/grill that serves food until 2am 7-days a week, and
• a 24-hour Denny's
• The restaurant at the hotel closes at 10pm.

For close-in sightseeing, there is small airport within half a mile of the hotel, with Cavanaugh's aerial museum. Lunching at several small places around the airport, with the planes coming toward you and taking off just over the restaurant is neat too. One BBQ place had a control-tower radio playing over the speakers in their dining area.

• The town of Addison maintains a list of local restaurants.

I've heard that Belt Line in Addison between 35 and the Tollway has the highest concentration of restaurants in the USA. Shouldn't be a problem.

KevinHorn? (a dallas native) sez:

I don't know about the concentration of restaurants on Belt Line being the highest in the nation, but I DO know that Addison has more restaurants per capita than any other city in the US...and a LOT of them are on the Belt Line strip.

Here are a few of my favorites:

• Freebirds World Burrito has FANTASTIC burritos! A great place for lunch. Think kinda like Subway, but with burritos instead of sandwiches.
• Nate's Seafood is world reknowned...Pope John Paul II ate there once!
• The Londoner is a great British-style pub. Lots of good beers on tap (not just mass-market American crud...yes, I'm a beer-snob :) )
• The Clay Pit (Indian food) referenced above...I've never eaten there, but one of the owners is a former co-worker of my wife, and it comes highly recommended.
• BJ's (also above) is quite good.
• There's a great greasy spoon type place across the street from the Londoner, but the name escapes me.
• The Blue Goose -- the second best Mexican food in Dallas (IMNSHO), but has the best fajitas.
• Christina's -- aha, I knew you were going to ask...this is the BEST Mexican in Dallas (except for fajitas...again, just my opinion)

There are also most of the national chain restaurants: Chili's, Bennigan's, T.G.I. Friday's, Outback Steakhouse, etc.

And of course the usual fast food joints.

Really too many eateries to list here...there are literally HUNDREDS of restaurants in Addison, and it's not a very big town (pop. around 14,000)

Eugene Lazutkin (local):

I have a private page of good lunch places I visit regularly:

http://home.comcast.net/~elazutkin/Articles/LunchBox2.0.html.

It was made for my friends, and lists only good food restaurants. Don't be afraid --- they are open for dinner too. You can find location of all places and my notes on the interactive map.

Reviews and Notes About Some of the Better Choices

Queen of Sheba - The best Ethiopian food in Dallas is just around the corner from the conference, and is a must-try if you like spicy food. For those wanting a more conventional meal, Queen of Sheba also offers Italian food. This restaurant has a fairly upscale interior but the prices are reasonable. It also has also has the advantage of being a well-kept secret; since it has just moved not a lot of people know about its new location in Addision. Normally, lunch crowds in Addison make it difficult to get a seat at any restaurant, but that's not a problem here--yet. This restaurant also has some very good vegetarian and non-dairy meals.

Vernon's Bar and Grill

Your typical bar with sandwiches and pool tables. There is smoking but a good filtration system. Open every night until 2 am. Not within walking distance.

• BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse (Directions, Distance 1 mile) has Pizza and Americana, decent beer (free samples), and a killer baked deep-dish cookie called a "pizzookie" or somesuch for desert.

TeresaVanDusen? (local)

If you are a meat lover, there are 3 Brazilian style steak houses nearby. They serve all you can eat meat, there is an awesome salad bar and delicious deserts. Remeber to try the caipirinha.

• Fogo de Chão (pricey, but it's the best)
• Texas de Brazil (the owner is not Brazilian but they do a decent job)
• Rafain (best cost/benefit, but they are further North on Tollway & Frankford)

Kenny's Woodfire Grill

Walking distance from the hotel. Great place to eat, though a little expensive. 5000 Beltline Rd. #775

Ate there last year because it was the first place a came to when I walked out the back door of the hotel by the Addison room. The owner Ken is also the head chef and it turns out he grew up one town over from me back in Mass. Quite personable and checks up on the guests (something you don't often see).