This Week in Gluttony

Beer for breakfast and sweet Easter pop-up top best Dallas food events this week

This coming Sunday is Easter, and that means brunch. But there are more food-filled events to be had, from a beer breakfast to a wine dinner to a lunch break at Sammons Park. Or if you just want to hang on a patio, we feel you.

Tuesday, March 31

Kibble & Cocktails at 3015 Trinity Groves
Hosted by Barking Hound Village, this event benefiting DFW Rescue Me’s Voice of Justice Fund features food from some of Dallas’ top restaurants, including Nick & Sam’s, Gemma, Rodeo Goat, Luck, Amberjax, Kitchen LTO. To wash it all down, there are Stoli vodka cocktails, Argentinean wines from Bottled Poetry and beer tastings courtesy of Texas Ale Project. Also expect live music by David Cote, raffle, live auction and puppies for adoption. Tickets are $100 (all of it goes to the fund), and the fun lasts from 7-10 pm.

Wednesday, April 1

Hirsch Vineyards Wine Dinner at Pappas Bros. Steakhouse
Hirsch Vineyards is recognized as one of the premier U.S. sites for Pinot Noir, and the California winery’s Jasmine Hirsch hosts this special dinner. Dishes include seared Hawaiian tuna, pheasant consommé, crisp five spice beef short rib, hoisin-glazed roast rack of lamb and rosemary pound cake. Dinner starts at 7 pm and costs $275. Reserve your spot by calling 214-366-2000.

Thursday, April 2

Sammons Lunch Jam at Sammons Park
Join AT&T Performing Arts Center for this exciting event supported by Neiman Marcus, featuring performers from Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. Fill up during your lunch hour at Dallas’ best food trucks, or bring your own picnic to the park located right outside the Winspear Opera House. The fun starts at noon, and it is free to attend, but you need to RSVP.

Saturday, April 4

Easter Pop-up Shop
Sucre Sucre by Lucia, Bark Chocolate, Val’s Cheesecakes, Dallas Caramel Company, Miss Naughty Brownie and others are teaming up for a pop-up shop the day before Easter, in the old Big E’s convenience store at 3001 Gaston Ave. Pick up macarons, pies, caramels, decadent layered brownies — even organic dog treats. For a feel-good twist, the companies are donating proceeds to their favorite charities, including Emily’s Place, Body & Soul, DFW Rescue Me and Operation Homefront. The shop is open from 10 am-3 pm.

Healthy Mediterranean Cooking Class at Sur la Table
An instructor takes you on a journey through Italy, Spain, France and Greece for healthy dishes that burst with flavor. Recipes include Moroccan carrot salad, grilled prawns with chermoula sauce, quinoa tabbouleh salad, and citrus in rose-scented syrup with yogurt and pistachios. Class starts at 10 am and costs $69 per person.

Jester King Beer Breakfast at Meddlesome Moth
Join the Moth crew for a beer breakfast as unorthodox as Jester King, with host and brewery founder Jeff Stuffings. Enjoy five beers and four courses starting at 10:30 am. Dishes include tamagoyaki with pork belly, bonito, nori and sea bean salad; foie gras on a rhubarb croissant; mascarpone pot de crème; and Texas pastrami biscuits with beef jerky marmalade. Tickets are $65.

Sunday, April 5

Marriage Equality Brunch at W Dallas Victory
This new monthly Sunday brunch, in partnership with the Human Rights Campaign, helps support the fight for marriage equality. The first Sunday of every month, enjoy brunch classics and live entertainment in the hotel’s Living Room Bar from 11 am-2 pm.

Meddlesome Moth is partnering with Jester King for a beer breakfast on April 4.

Meddlesome Moth restaurant and bar in Dallas

Photo courtesy of Meddlesome Moth

Meddlesome Moth is partnering with Jester King for a beer breakfast on April 4.

unspecified

Chocolate News

Richardson dessert shop Chocolate Drip lays out eye-catching treats

Chocolate Drip

Chocolate bear with pistachio sauce at Chocolate Drip

A dessert shop in Richardson has become the toast of the sweets world: Called Chocolate Drip, it opened in August at 1057 S. Sherman St., in a center east of US-75 near Spring Valley Road, where it's rolling out some eye-catching chocolate treats.

Chocolate Drip is a passion project from Mohammad Quzmar, a Palestinian-born owner who moved to Dallas four years ago and taught himself to cook through tinkering. That experimentation has translated into a constantly evolving menu, with new creations appearing whenever inspiration strikes — earning him a growing reputation as something of a modern-day Willy Wonka.

"Chocolate is my passion. I just love being in the kitchen and creating,” he says.

The cafe's offerings are extensive, from sweet breakfast staples like pancakes and waffles to off-menu items teased on the café’s Instagram, such as the Dubai Drip platter — an interactive fondue plate with fruit, brownies, waffles, marshmallows, to be dipped into melted chocolate and pistachio cream.

Many of his items have the kind of eye-catching twists and table-side presentations that draw attention on Instagram, such as the cruffle (a waffle made from a croissant) topped with spaghetti-like strands of gelato, which a server extrudes through a potato ricer right before your eyes.

Other signatures include a teddy bear made of chocolate mousse and kanafa, finished with pistachio sauce for $13.30, and crepes filled with a brownie, with pistachio and chocolate sauce for $15.

Prices are not cheap but these are ultra-decadent items with generous portions, often meant for sharing.

The drink list is ambitious, spanning coffee, matcha, smoothies, milkshakes, and nonalcoholic mocktails. It's obvious Quzmar is having fun, rolling out his versions of viral items like the famous s'mores hot chocolate pioneered by New York dessert shop Glace, which features a cap made of marshmallow meringue that’s torched.

There are also a few savory offerings like egg-and-cheese crepes, a salmon croissant, and a turkey waffle. Those in the know also come to order Middle Eastern treats like salab, a creamy milk drink topped with cinnamon; and Om Ali, a sugary pudding with nuts, dried fruit, and coconut.

Named after the Gen Z slang for “cool” or “stylish,” Drip is meant to be a hangout spot more than a quick dessert stop, Quzmar says — a place to linger over brunch, then return late night to a place that feels buzzy and fun sans alcohol.

“Everyone who works here is either family or treated like family and everything is homemade with love," he says.

desserts openings