This Week in Gluttony

Grace goes vegetarian and more top food events in Dallas-Fort Worth

If you were too slow to score tickets to DFW Restaurant Week's kick-off party, your week is not a total wash. There are plenty of legit food and drink events, ranging from a boozy oyster-eating opportunity to an exciting vegetarian wine dinner in Fort Worth to a porky pop-up in Oak Cliff.

Tuesday, August 5

National Oyster Day at Driftwood
Guests can enjoy four oysters paired with absinthe, mezcal, scotch, sherry or sake for just $15. Sit at the bar, eat your oysters and a bartender fills each empty shell with your drink of choice, giving your taste buds a one-of-a-kind experience. In addition, à la carte oysters are $1 each, including Kusshi, Duxbury, Barnstable and Misty Points. The specials last from 5-7 pm. Call 214-942-2530 for reservations.

Thursday, August 7

Vegetarian Wine Dinner at Grace
Using the freshest locally harvested produce, Grace chef Blaine Staniford prepares an eight-course vegetarian dinner highlighting the flavors of the Texas summer; five are paired with wines. Courses include frozen white gazpacho, Texas baby summer squash carpaccio, blistered heirloom tomatoes, Texas corn bisque and cauliflower steak. Cost is $65 per person for dinner only or $115 per person with wine pairings. All dishes can also be prepared vegan. Dinner starts at 6:30 pm. Call 817-877-3388 for reservations.

Porchetta Pop-Up at Oak Cliff Social Club
Lucia Dallas is on vacation this week, so Justin Holt and Michael Gibson are hosting a one-night pop-up at Oak Cliff Social Club. Holt is a pop-up veteran; he used to do ramen pop-ups at Oak Cliff venues such as Ten Bells Tavern. He and Gibson serve red wattle porchetta with salsa verde and pickles for $10 a plate. Dinner starts at 8 pm; Barefoot Hippies play at 8:30. No reservations are needed. Call 214-941-0298 for more info.

Friday, August 8

German Riesling Tasting with Kuby's Sausage at Wine Poste
Wine Poste is celebrating all things German in honor of Germany's World Cup victory. Tickets are $20 and include four Riesling tastings, sausage from Kuby's and music by Kraftwerk. The fun starts at 6 pm, and you can buy tickets online.

Monday, August 11

Seasonal Heirloom Summer Supper at Canary by Gorji
Heirloom tomatoes set the scene for presenting sustainable wild Pacific salmon and Texas wild boar tenderloin in a three-course dinner for $49. Produce experts from Whole Foods are available for discussion and questions about the delicious tomatoes they are providing. There is limited seating; reservations and pre-payment are required by calling 972-503-7080.

Slices for Supplies at Greenville Avenue Pizza Company
Customers who bring at least one school supply item receive one free slice of cheese pizza with one additional topping at this second annual event. The supplies go directly to the teachers at DISD's Ignacio Zaragoza Elementary. In addition to supplies, Greenville Avenue Pizza Company is collecting money to purchase supplies that teachers and students need at the beginning of the second semester of school. The event lasts from 5-8 pm.

On August 8, enjoy Kuby's sausage at a Wine Poste dinner celebrating Germany's World Cup win.

Kuby's Sausage House in Dallas' Snider Plaza

Kuby's Sausage House Facebook

On August 8, enjoy Kuby's sausage at a Wine Poste dinner celebrating Germany's World Cup win.

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Tex-Mex News

Upscale Dallas Mexican restaurant Hugo's Invitados closes last outlet

Photo courtesy of Hugo's Invitados

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A highly-regarded Mexican restaurant has closed: Hugo's Invitados, which had been wowing crowds at its Las Colinas location 5240 N. O'Connor Blvd. #160 since 2018, closed in mid-May.

According to spokesperson Matt Whiteley, the lockout came as a surprise. The restaurant issued a statement which said that "we find ourselves unexpectedly closed," before apologizing for the "incredible inconvenience."

"We assure you, this was not our decision. We were in the midst of ongoing negotiations with property ownership, when the proprietors elected, without warning, to suddenly and fully terminate the terms of our lease," their statement said.

Hugo's first opened as a partnership between entrepreneur Mark Hulme and restaurateur Hugo Miranda (Meso Maya), with an ambitious and well-executed menu of chef-driven Mexican food with dishes such as Wagyu carne asada, Mexican cioppino, and scallops with huitlacoche & corn couli. Margaritas were made with organic ingredients, and everything on the menu was gluten-free.

They went on to open a Tex-Mex spinoff Hugo's Lost Colony in 2021, followed by the debut of a fresh taqueria called Honest Taco in Dallas' West Village in 2022. (They also had plans to open a second Hugo's in Uptown Dallas in the McKinney & Olive luxury tower but that plan got scuttled; they went on to open a Hugo's in the West Village in 2023.)

Their momentum got derailed due to a string of unfortunate circumstances — including Miranda contracting COVID in 2020, as well as a change at the West Village. Restaurateur Mike Karns took over as majority owner and promptly installed his own concepts: first Mexican Test Kitchen, a temporary pop-up, which he replaced with UnaVida, now reportedly closed.

The Hugo's at Las Colinas still had a loyal and consistent following, and had also become a destination for gluten-free diners, Whiteley says.

"That location was still doing very well," he says. "We had regulars from the neighborhood as well as customers who came from outside the area, and we also had the same staff who were with us from day one, who cared deeply and who get all the credit for the quality and service."

They hadn't lagged significantly on rent and were anticipating a brisk Mother's Day weekend with full reservations; alas, the new-ish landlord, a company called Water Street O'Connor LP, abruptly locked the space the Thursday before.

"It would have been a special weekend for our customers as well as for our 70-plus employees, whose livelihoods depended on this small business," Whiteley says.

It's an unfortunate ending for a restaurant that could have been a run-of-the-mill Tex-Mex but was instead something much better, and Whiteley says that, at this point, as much as they'd like to revive it, the likelihood that it will resurface is slim.

tex-mex closings