GORGE ON BARBECUE AND TEX-MEX

Fly into: Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW)

Check out: Dallas and, um, Fort Worth

The lure: Ribs, and brisket, and tamales, all Texas-size

The experience: The place to start chowing down is the same place you'll be staying: the new Ritz Carlton, Dallas. The in-house eponymous restaurant of chef Dean Fearing was voted 2007's Restaurant of the Year by Esquire magazine. Fearing's nouveau takes on local dishes like barbecued oysters and duck tamales must be tasted to be believed. You'll also want to sneak out to Sonny Bryan's (pictured), a local smokehouse that serves a classic Texas-style meat-fest of brisket and sausages. The next day, make for Fort Worth, less than an hour's drive away, for Angelo's, where the pork ribs are legendary and beef comes chopped or diced. And you've got to get some Tex-Mex, too. Joe T. Garcia's, also in Fort Worth, serves locally prized enchiladas in a lovely courtyard, best when washed down with a swirl (a tie-dyed–looking mixture of lime margarita and strawberry daiquiri that's sure to seduce). Just be warned: Joe T.'s doesn't take reservations, and it gets crowded.

Oh, and: If you can spare the calories, savor chicken-fried steak at Ranchman's Steakhouse, 45 minutes north of Fort Worth. Chicken-fried steak is to Texans what pizza is to New Yorkers—a taste of home that's missed desperately when they leave town.

Ritz-Carlton, Dallas
Tel: 214 922 0200
Doubles from $329

Sonny Bryan's Smokehouse
Tel: 214 744 1610

Angelo's
Tel: 817 332 0357

Joe T. Garcia's
Tel: 817 626 4356

Ranchman's Steakhouse
Tel: 940 479 2221

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