Plano is a prosperous suburb north of Dallas that has grown into a city in its own right — population approaching 300,000, corporate headquarters stacked along the tollways, and a downtown that has been carefully rebuilt into something genuinely worth visiting. Toyota North America is here. Liberty Mutual. JPMorgan Chase has a major campus. The economy is as solid as Texas real estate.
The surprise is that Plano has a real downtown. The Downtown Plano Historic District along 15th Street and K Avenue has late-19th-century storefronts converted into restaurants, bars, and galleries. It's small — you can walk the whole thing in twenty minutes — but it's lively in a way that most Texas suburbs never manage. The Interurban Railway Museum sits in a restored depot. The Courtyard Theater puts on actual plays.
East Plano is more suburban but has some of the best Vietnamese and Korean food in the Dallas area, a legacy of immigration waves in the 1990s and 2000s. The international restaurants along Jupiter Road punch well above what you'd expect from a city this far from the coast.
Plano is not a destination for most travelers coming to Texas, but if you're staying in the Dallas area, it's easy to reach by DART rail and worth a half-day. The dining scene is excellent, the historic downtown is charming without being precious, and the city has a civic confidence that comes from actually working.