Food Fest Fun

The 8 fall food fests no respectable Dallas gourmand would miss

It’s all feast and no famine for Dallas foodies this fall. From Texas’ biggest veggie festival to the ultimate meat battle to one very secretive white dinner party, it’s all here for the taking.

Now pencil in these dates for the best food-filled celebrations of the season, listed in order of occurrence:

Harvest, September 15
Event chairs John and Mary Martha Pickens, with honorary chairs Michal and Loyd Powell, host this event at The Shed at the Dallas Farmers Market, now in its third year. Chef chair Sharon Hage recruits some of the best local chefs, resulting in delicious food along with specialty cocktails, entertainment by Aaron Einhouse Music, and silent and live auctions. All proceeds benefit the senior and child programs of the North Texas Food Bank. Tickets are $200, and the event starts at 7 pm.

Smoked Dallas, September 24
Pitmasters from all over the state — including Fort Worth’s Heim Barbecue and Dallas’ Slow Bone — descend on Main Street Garden Park downtown to show off their barbecue skills. There is also a stellar lineup of live music, with performances by the Toadies, Shinyribs, Dirty River Boys, the Roomsounds, and Dean Fearing’s Lost Coyote Band. Tickets start at $28, and general admission starts at 2:30 pm.

Chefs for Farmers, September 25
This event is all about chefs and farmers coming together to provide good food to passionate attendees. More than 120 food vendors from all over the country set up shop alongside DJs and other live entertainment at Gilley’s Dallas. Tickets are $100, and the event starts at 2 pm. Also new noteworthy: the Chefs for Farmers Street Food Night Market the night before, September 24, in the Dallas Design District, sponsored by CultureMap.

Dîner en Blanc, September 30
The picnic-style Parisian dinner party is popping up again, with plans to wine and dine more than 2,200 attendees in an undisclosed location. Expect dinner from Food Glorious Food, entertainment by Bravo, dancing, and a Pyrotex fireworks show. Participants of this mysterious dinner are in charge of setting up and taking down the entire operation, leaving no sign of their experience when it is all over. Tickets are $37, and more information will be emailed before the night of the event — if you make it off the wait list.

DIFFA Burgers & Burgundy, October 7
Chef John Tesar is rounding up celebrity chefs for an epic upscale cookout themed DIFFAcella on the Ron Kirk Pedestrian Bridge. This a definite change in scenery, as it has formerly been held in Karen and Bill Seanor’s backyard. Guests can expect bunned bites; cocktails; entertainment by Repel the Robot and the Please, Please Me; live art installations; three caricature artists; and a henna artist. Oh, and lots of support for DIFFA Dallas via the "Pawkitecture" auction. Tickets are $150, and the event starts at 6:30 pm.

Park & Palate, October 22
In its second year, this two-day shindig at Klyde Warren Park starts with the already-sold-out Down to the Roots event, where 12 chefs create comfort food with a modern twist. But the main attraction is the grand tasting on Saturday, with 30 chefs and 30 wineries offering tastings, cooking demos, and book signings. All proceeds go directly back to Klyde Warren Park. Tickets start at $75 for the grand tasting, which lasts from 2-6 pm.

Texas Veggie Fair, October 22
This free, dog-friendly event is wildly popular in Dallas, and you should expect a packed park full of veggie-enthusiasts. Taking place at Reverchon Park, it’s the largest veggie festival in Texas and features speakers, chef demos, live music, and vendors galore. (Official lineup announcement coming soon.) The festival lasts from 11 am to 6 pm.

Meat Fight, November 13
Tickets for this annual barbecue competition benefiting the National MS Society typically sell out fast, so set your alarm for October 4, 10 am, when they officially go on sale via Meatfight.com. This year the event returns to Four Corners Brewery, where teams of Dallas’ top chefs compete for bragging rights to the best smoked meats, as determined by BBQ authorities like Texas Monthly’s Daniel Vaughn. You must go hungry, because you will want to eat all of the things. Also bring your wallet, to bid in the live auction that in the past has included items like a smoker built by famed pitmaster Aaron Franklin. Last year it raised $150,000.

Meat Fight is going down on November 13.

Aaron Franklin and Justin Fourton at Meat Fight 2014

Photo by Nicholas McWhirter

Meat Fight is going down on November 13.

where-to-eat

Taco News

Award-winning Dallas restaurant Taco Y Vino branches out to buzzy 'burb

Taco Y Vino

An award-winning taco restaurant in Dallas is bringing its taco magic to Garland: Taco Y Vino, the innovative gourmet taqueria and casual wine bar in Oak Cliff, is opening a second location in downtown Garland, in a darling storefront at 706 Main St. that was formerly home to Jim's Barber Shop.

Taco Y Vino is the brainchild of the ultra-charismatic Jimmy Contreras, a hospitality veteran who cut his teeth at Pappas Restaurants then worked for more than 15 years in the wine industry, representing boutique wineries and helping restaurants build their wine lists.

He developed the original idea of a restaurant doing a fine-dining twist on tacos, along with an affordable wine list, and opened Taco Y Vino in 2018. Its combination of good food and wine at low prices made it an instant favorite.

"We always want to be affordable — a place you can go daily to grab bottle of wine and tacos, but also nice enough to bring out of town guests," he says.

The menu features a "three tacos for $14" that lets you mix and match fillings like cochinita pibil (pulled pork braised in bitter orange & achiote), pork carnitas, carne asada, barbacoa, brisket guiso, ahi tuna, tempura catfish or shrimp, chicken tinga with guacamole, black bean & cheese, and fried avocado.

Shareable dishes include jalapeno poppers stuffed with catfish and shrimp; and avocado "toastadas" — a witty twist on avocado toast, featuring corn tostadas topped with guacamole, pico de gallo, lettuce, and pickled onions.

They do brunch — but it's every day from 11:30 am-3 pm, with dishes like Brisket Con Huevo, featuring stewed brisket and scrambled eggs on a flour tortilla.

Everything about the place is much like Contreras himself: approachable, friendly, and fun, and has generated intense goodwill and loyalty for the restaurant among locals and foodies alike. There is no one who does not love Jimmy.

Jimmy Contreras with a glass of wine.Courtesy

"Oak Cliff has been amazing to us," Contreras says. "We're so grateful for the support from neighbors, diners, and wine lovers, and we have great employees who give a sense that they're happy to be there, which has definitely been a big part of our success."

With the original location humming along, Contreras began considering another location. It only took one visit to downtown Garland and he and his business partner Brian White were smitten.

"We immediately fell in love," he says. "The area has great old buildings and businesses like Intrinsic Brewing, Fortunate Son, Rosalind Coffee, Latham Bakery, plus music-forward places like guitar shops and Dead Wax, the record store. It just felt like a cool place to hang out."

Garland has been undergoing a major transformation, one that includes a big revitalization of the Downtown Garland Historic District.

The building they're going into was built in 1928 and they're doing as little as possible to alter the original structure. It's 1300 square feet, with a front and back patio, patio being part of Taco Y Vino's DNA. (They even won a CultureMap Tastemaker Award in 2024 for Best Patio, hoo-rah.)

"We did remove the stucco wall so that the original brick could come through, and we're putting in doors and windows from that timeframe to match," he says. "We just want to keep it as is."

The menu will be the same, with one exception.

"Garland will have not only wine but cocktails," Contreras says. "You would not believe how many people walk in and ask about margaritas. So we'll do a frozen margarita, a paloma, ranch water, a sage margarita on the rocks — but not a full bar."

Their planned for opening date is the end of summer.

Contreras' idea when he opened was to have a business where he did not always have to answer to somebody, to not have a boss. "But every person who comes in is my boss," he says. "I think that service ideology is something you can never lose."

tacos openings

Food Fest Fun

The 8 fall food fests no respectable Dallas gourmand would miss

Meat Fight is going down on November 13.

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