Itinerary: Mouthwatering Places to Eat in Downtown McKinney

Meet Gavin & Karen (Couple in the Kitchen) writers and avid travelers who live in the Austin, Texas, area and share a love of travel and great food! With backgrounds in marketing (Karen) and the restaurant/culinary industry (Gavin), they've developed a website full of great recipes and travel guides to destinations around the world.

While in town, they hit some fun non-culinary spots, too - Arcade 92 in Downtown McKinney; The Picklr McKinney, a pickleball facility at Central Expwy./Eldorado; and Adriatica Croatian Village in Stonebridge Ranch. And they enjoyed pet-friendly dining patios and shops with their furry companion, Louie!

Following are some of Gavin and Karen’s top culinary recommendations from the spots they visited on their itinerary. For all the details of their visit, read their full McKinney Travel Guide to learn about all the tasty culinary delights they experienced in Downtown McKinney. (Find the link at the end of this blog post.)

If you’re looking for a cold one, head to TUPPS for dinner, beer tasting, and a night of fun! Stay for live music or even free trivia night at this massive brewery that features an adult play zone with cornhole and bocce ball, a children’s area, and a live music lawn.

G&K's Favorite: The Texas Dirty Dog (shown), a Polish sausage split in half and charred until crisp on the grill, stuffed with sweet corn queso, chopped jalapeno, and even more meat: brisket!

Why go to an ice cream parlor when you can go to an ice cream "barlor"? Over 99 ice cream creations at Cocktail Creamery contain about 4% to 4.5% alcohol.

G&K’s Favorites: Particularly Pistachio, which uses pistachio butter imported from Italy and is spiked with amaretto liqueur.

The Guava Tree Cuban Cafe and Cantina started as a food truck, but is now a brick-and-mortar mainstay in Downtown McKinney.

G&K’s Favorites: The Cuban Sandwich (shown), made with pork lechon (which you can also get in a bowl) that is incredibly tender and flavorful, and features a house-made guava mustard. Also try the cortado coffee or check out Guava Tree’s full bar.

Rick’s Chophouse, connected to the historic Grand Hotel, is the best place in downtown McKinney for a date night or to celebrate a special occasion, and it is one of the best restaurants on the square for high-end steaks and seafood.

G&K’s Favorites: The fried chicken is brined,soaked in buttermilk, and fried in pork fat, taking three days to prepare (shown). And save room for dessert: Key Lime Pie with toasted meringue on top.

This local favorite is dedicated to supporting the local community. In fact, 70 cents of every dollar stays in the local community. All of the ingredients making up the menu at Harvest come from within a 150-mile radius or from their own organic farm, Water Boy Farms. The restaurant is located in the historic Masonic Lodge and sprawls over three floors.

G & K’s Favorite: Harvest’s menu is filled with house-made charcuterie, lots of dishes featuring their organic produce, as well as meat from local ranchers. (Shown is one of the house specialty dishes - deviled eggs.)

This self-proclaimed “craft coffee and culture house” also offers a variety of loose-leaf teas and Italian sodas. In the evenings, Filtered offers craft beers and wine selections to enjoy as you peruse the local art on display. G&K’s Favorites: We loved the rose and pistachio latte as well as their iced peach matcha (shown)!

This farm-to-table lunch spot has been a mainstay for the past 12 years. The only menu at Patina Green Home & Market is the lunch menu, which changes based on seasonal ingredients.

G&K’s Favorites: We savored the roasted poblano and beer cheese sandwich and the smoked ham sandwich with smoked cheddar and jalapeno peach jam (shown), each with a mini cookie sweet treat.

Texas is a hot state, so there’s never a time when ice cream isn’t a good idea. Miruku’s owners make everything from scratch in-house, from their ice cream flavors to toppings to cotton candy for their super Instagrammable Day Dream treat that we enjoyed (shown).

G&K’s Favorites: The Miruku Milk flavor is one of the best vanilla flavors we’ve ever had, and it tasted incredible wrapped with the cotton candy.

Bresnan is a husband-and-wife bakery churns out sourdough breads and French pastries out of a small space.

G&K’s Favorites: The almond croissant (shown) at Bresnan was great, but the Kouign Amann was potentially the best bite we had while in McKinney.

Cadillac is the perfect place for the best wood-fired pizza featuring homemade dough, all-natural sauce, and locally sourced ingredients. They also serve salads, wings, baked pastas, hot sandwiches, and a variety of appetizers like stuffed mushrooms (shown) and some massively large pretzels.

G&K’s Favorites: The Goat & Fig pizza was SO flavorful. And Gavin couldn’t stop saying how their oven-baked wings were the best wings he’s had all year.

There are a ton of places to get a cocktail in McKinney, but a hidden gem of a night spot is located through a classic Coca-Cola vending machine. (Room One Eleven cocktail bar is located through a secret door of Layered, a brunch cafe by day.)

G&K’s Favorites: We loved their take on the classic Old Fashioned. They bruleed the bitters and used their house-selected single-barrel bourbon.