Weekend Event Planner

These are the 8 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

While the majority of events around Dallas have either been postponed or canceled, there are a few that have popped up to offer the masses some entertainment while still adhering to the social distancing necessary during the coronavirus pandemic.

Below are the best ways to spend your free time this weekend. While they're not all outside of the house, they all promise to provide a nice distraction from the everyday life.

Thursday, August 13

Women Texas Film Festival
The fifth annual Women Texas Film Festival focuses solely on the work of visionary female filmmakers. Pivoting to an all-virtual presentation, it will open with Olivia Peace’s teenage comedy Tahara, and Lisa Donato’s Gossamer Folds will be the Closing Night Selection. The festival, taking place through Sunday, features LGBTQIA+ stories, provocative documentaries, and Texas-based female filmmakers throughout its lineup, which includes 11 feature films and 36 short films.

Ochre House Theater presents Mousey
Ochre House Theater Cinema is streaming its 2018 production of Mousey, a dark musical written and directed by Carla Parker. Available for free at any time on Ochre House's YouTube channel, Mousey tells the story of how things have gone rotten in the world of toys. Mrs. Mousey begins to suspect that there is more to life than just being a toy and launches into the dangerous journey that questions the very existence of their innocent lives. Rebellion and unrest erupt and turn the toys’ once-harmonious lives into bitter-sweet chaos, where once peace-loving and compliant toys turn on one another in search of a Utopia that does not exist.

Friday, August 14

Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum Reopening Day
As part of a coordinated plan among six downtown Dallas museums, the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum will reopen to the public Friday. They are highlighting the special exhibition "The Fight for Civil Rights in the South," a photographic exhibit that chronicles the African American struggle for civil rights and social equality in the 1960s, including the burning of the Freedom Riders bus and the March from Selma to Montgomery.

Dallas Museum of Art Reopening Day
The Dallas Museum of Art will also reopen on Friday, greeting visitors with two new exhibitions. "For a Dreamer of Houses," which was to have opened in March, presents contemporary artworks that evoke personal spaces and consider the politics of places we identify with. The presentation will debut major recent acquisitions, immersive installations, large-scale works, and more. "Dalí’s Divine Comedy" showcases Salvador Dalí’s most ambitious illustrated series: his colored wood engravings of the Divine Comedy.

Addison Weekend Drive-In Concert Series
The Addison Weekend Drive-In Concert Series, where guests can listen to live music from a variety of Dallas-Fort Worth bands, returns. Attendees will be able to enjoy the shows from the comfort of their vehicles, or bring lawn chairs to sit next to a car. Music will be transmitted via both speaker system and FM radio. This weekend features performances by Extended PLAY on Friday and Joseph Veazie on Saturday.

Saturday, August 15

Christopher Jackson: Live from the West Side
In Christopher Jackson: Live from the West Side, the Tony Award-nominated actor best known for originating the role of George Washington in the cultural phenomenon Hamilton will perform songs from his favorite musicals, pop standards, and original material, and share stories from his time affiliated with In The Heights and Hamilton. Audience members for the virtual concert will also be invited to text in questions, some of which will be answered during the live event.

CarBaret's "Back to School Special" - Fast Times at Ridgemont High
CarBaret, which takes place in the parking lot outside of Brizo in Richardson, will present a "Back to School Special" featuring the 1982 Cameron Crowe coming-of-age classic, Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Pre-show entertainment will be provided by Yippee Ki-Yays and DJ Devin Pike. The drive-in menu kitchen + bar will feature a menu of beer bratwurst, grilled kebabs, and veggie tacos that will be delivered to cars or chairs.

Sarah Jaffe in concert
Originally a live, in-person concert until, you know, COVID, singer-songwriter Sarah Jaffe will take the virtual stage for a Texas Tunes concert. Streamed live from Medical City Lewisville Grand Theater in Lewisvlle, Jaffe will perform songs from throughout her career, including her most recent album, 2017's Bad Baby.

Sarah Jaffe will perform a virtual concert from Medical City Lewisville Grand Theater in Lewisvlle on August 15.

Photo by Brian K. Ullrich

Sarah Jaffe will perform a virtual concert from Medical City Lewisville Grand Theater in Lewisvlle on August 15.

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Chef News

Asian restaurant with ties to Dallas' Monkey King to open in Fort Worth

Courtesy photo

Noodles coming from Eazy Monkey.

A rad new restaurant with Dallas ties is opening in Fort Worth. Called Eazy Monkey, it's an Asian-themed restaurant that will open in late summer at 401 W. Magnolia Ave., from chef Andrew Dilda, who has worked for more than a decade in some top restaurants in Dallas-Fort Worth including CBD Provisions, Barter, and Lonesome Dove.

For this new venture, he's partnered with Andrew Chen, who founded the Monkey King Noodle Company chain of local restaurants; and Sonali Kumar, also a partner in Monkey King.

Dilda, who was nominated for Rising Star Chef in CultureMap's Tastemaker Awards in 2014, is also Monkey King’s Director of Culinary Operations, but clarifies that Eazy Monkey is independent from the chain.

"It’s not a branch of Monkey King," he says. "It's a concept Monkey King is investing in."

Dilda describes the menu, which he's developing with an assist from Chen, as “Asian-inspired flavors with Texas roots." Dishes include:

Crab rangoon nachos
Smoked brisket bao buns
Cheeseburger fried rice
Dan Dan Sloppy Joes
Beef cheek hash
Orange chicken and bubble waffles

Drinks will include craft cocktails and canned beers.

Many of the recipes were inspired by Dilda's travels to Beijing, where he helped open a brewery and barbecue restaurant called Jing A Brewery; and Estonia, where he consulted on another barbecue concept.

"I wanted to come up with something fun and easy and approachable for everybody, but with little twists here and there," Dilda says. "I want to offer something for everyone. Bring your kids, they’ll find something cool. Adults will have plenty to choose from. I also want it to be a place where people in the service industry can come and hang out after they get off and have a cool meal and a beer."

A native of California, Dilda moved to Saginaw when he was a teen. As he had done in California, he immersed himself in Fort Worth’s skate/punk scene. While still in his teens, he began to run sound and lights for some of his friends' bands.

At Eazy Monkey, he'll weave in some of those very personal elements, including a '90s/skateboarding/pop-punk vibe; the restaurant will be located blocks away from a soon-to-open skateboard park called Fire Station Park.

"I want this place to remind people of KDGE/The Edge, back when The Edge was cool," Dilda says. "And when there were shows down the street at Mad Hatters."

But the restaurant will strike a balance between rock 'n roll and upscale.

"It’s not going to be a loud, noisy, music-blaring place," he says. "There may or may not be a skateboard wall, a '90s-theme mural, and other nods to the '90s. But it’ll all be done tastefully."

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