This Week In Gluttony

These are the 10 best food and drink events in Dallas this week

Beer, beer, and more beer — there is lots of it this week. Throw in a side of barbecue and a new local market, and we’ve got a solid week of food events.

Wednesday, September 14

Karbach Brewing Company Dinner at Mudhen Meat and Greens
Executive chef Suki Otsuki expertly pairs four courses with six beers — Love Street, Weisse Versa, Hop Delusion, Rodeo Clown, Karbach Oktoberfest, and Bourbon Barrel Aged Hellfighter — from the Houston-based brewery. Dinner starts at 6:30 pm, and tickets are $65 in advance and $75 at the door.

Texas Fall Wild Game Wine Dinner at Y.O. Ranch Steakhouse
Becker Family Vineyards kicks off fall in Dallas with a wild game and wine dinner. Courses include antelope carpaccio, warm arugula and spinach salad with grilled quail medallions, axis venison chop, grilled bacon-wrapped elk, buffalo tournedos rossini, and pineapple carpaccio. Dinner is $95 and begins at 6 pm. To make reservations, call 214-744-3287.

Thursday, September 15

Addison Oktoberfest at Addison Circle Park
This four-day, family-friendly festival features German entertainers in authentic costumes performing traditional Bavarian folk dances, schuhplatten, oompah music, sing-a-longs, yodels, and more. A special Oktoberfest Paulaner Bier is served along with several types of German sausage, sauerkraut, strudel, and giant pretzels. Also expect carnival rides, midway games, and children’s entertainment. Gates open at 6 pm on Thursday and Friday and noon on Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are free on Thursday and $10 the other days.

Beats & Eats at Granada Theater
This new series showcases the talents of Dallas’ best chefs and musicians with dinner and a concert. First up: chef Graham Dodds of Wayward Sons and true-blues artist Charley Crockett, who blend their talents for a one-night collaboration. Courses include bruschetta and lamb brisket biscuits, rabbit agnolotti and rabbit lonzino, heirloom tomatoes with chevre and picked red onions, oxtail ragout with crispy gnocchi and basil pesto, and white-chocolate banana tile and cajeta. Tickets are $85, and the doors open at 7 pm. The show starts at 8 pm.

Saturday, September 17

Barks, Brews & BBQ at Intrinsic Smokehouse and Brewery
After you stroll the downtown Garland square, visiting pet vendors, a mobile vet, and adoption stations, enjoy pub-made brew, barbecue, and ice cream. Tickets are $20, and the fun starts at 11 am.

Battle of the Pitmasters at NorthPark Center
Barbecue, Boots & Badges, the charitable foundation of Dickey’s Barbecue, host this event in which teams of police and firefighters compete for bragging rights to best BBQ and cash prizes. Guests enjoy craft beer from Community Brewing and Four Bullets, as well as entertainment by Guy Forsyth, South Austin Moonlighters, Dirty Echoes, and Breaking Southwest. There are also vendor booths, pet adoption from Paws in the City, a kids zone, and more. Tickets start at $5, and the event kicks off at 10:30 am.

Local Market at Highland Park Village
Farm-sourced produce, artisan goods, games, and live entertainment for the entire family are on display at Highland Park Village’s experiential market. Happening the third Saturday of each month through December, expect everything from kolaches to flowers to handcrafted soaps. Participating vendors include Avant Garden, Baugh Farms, Kessler Pie Co., Tribal Juice, White Rock Soap Gallery, and more. The seasonal open-air market runs from 8 to 11:30 am, between Balenciaga and Celine.

Oktoberfest at Oak Highlands Brewery
In its second year, this fall festival features beer sausages by Double M Barbecue, German beer, lawn games, live music by No Medina, and more. The first 250 guests get to take home an Oktoberfest pint glass. A percentage of all Oktoberfest beer sales benefit the Breast Cancer Can Stick It Foundation. Admission is free, and the beer starts flowing at noon.

Monday, September 19

Guest Chef Series at FT33
FT33’s guest chef dinner series continues when chef Jonathan Brooks of Indianpaolis’ Milktooth drops by for a night dedicated to innovation and collaboration. The eight-course dinner costs $95 per person, plus $55 for optional wine pairings. The dinner starts at 7 pm; call 214-741-2629 for reservations.

Surf & Turf Redefined at the Second Floor
Hosted by executive chef Scott Gottlich, the night begins with passed tastings like corn crab cakes and lamb mint meatballs followed by a four-course menu anchored by wild striped bass with avocado-cilantro pesto and seared beef tenderloin with wild mushroom ragout. Cocktails to be served with the meal include a lemonberry cooler, Kentucky mule, and Negroni fizz. Tickets are $70 ($95 with cocktail pairings), and dinner begins at 6:30 pm.

Jonathan Brooks of Indianapolis' Milktooth invades FT33 for its monthly guest chef dinner series on Monday, September 19.

Jonathan Brooks of Milktooth restaurant in Indianapolis

Milktooth/Facebook

Jonathan Brooks of Indianapolis' Milktooth invades FT33 for its monthly guest chef dinner series on Monday, September 19.

event-planner

Downtown News

Vintage downtown Dallas building to become lounge with stellar drinks

Brian Van Flandern

Cocktail by Brian Van Flandern

A vintage building in downtown Dallas is getting a new lease on life: Located at 1519 Main St., the space will become a spectacular new lounge and event space called 1519 Main, and it's from Hospitality Alliance, the company led by restaurant wunderkind Kevin Lillis, who helped create the original AT&T Discovery District downtown.

1519 is situated in the thick of the Central Business District, across the street from the Joule Dallas hotel and in the same stretch as The Eye sculpture and the Forty Five Ten boutique.

The building is unusual because it's a two-story space, which might be a challenge for most potential tenants. But Lillis had the ideal scenario.

"I fell in love with the building," he says. "It had so many original features like the rose-and-cream marble floors from the 1920s. I could immediately see a sophisticated lounge on the first floor. It became viable because I have a friend who was looking for office space, so we're partnering on it, and he's leasing the second floor."

1519 will boast a cosmopolitan, low-key atmosphere, with ultra high-end cocktails from acclaimed mixologist Brian Van Flandern, a food TV regular (Bar Rescue, Barefoot Contessa), author, and consultant who created the renowned cocktail program at the Palm Court at The Plaza Hotel in New York, where he and Lillis both worked.

"Brian had done the Plaza Hotel and has a taste for a concept like this, with sophisticated cocktails and 3-Michelin-star service that will match the beautiful space," Lillis says.

1519 Main St. downtown Dallas Courtesy

Hospitality Alliance beverage director Angela Montesclaros will be a partner, as well.

The project has been in the works for two years, requiring a special use permit, plus the typical delays in dealing with the city (a scenario that is supposedly going to improve!). They also needed to reassure their neighbors, including the St. Jude Chapel next door, that their impact on the area would be low-key.

Dallas County Appraisal District puts the building's date of birth at 1928 — although the building's current co-owner Scott Remphrey, CEO of The Brytar Companies, says he's not sure that's correct.

Brytar acquired the building from an oil and gas company. Prior to that, it was occupied by Bank of America, with offices and a conference room on the second floor with a glass wall overlooking Main Street.

But here's a fun fact: In its earliest pre-Depression-era days, it was home to a Planters Peanut Shop, which eventually moved to Elm Street.

"Some of the brick walls have original painted advertising from the early 1900's that were retained," Remphrey says. "They were advertisements on the exterior walls, which became interior walls of the building when the Planters store was open in the 20's."

That will definitely all stay.

"We're not doing much with the walls or the floors, other than trying to make sure we minimize any damage," Lillis says. "The goal is to retain as much of the original features as possible."

Lillis is currently overseeing the hospitality programs at Victory Park as well as Toyota Music Factory, where they've only just opened a number of restaurant concepts including Jaxon, a modern Texan Restaurant; Pistil, a cocktail lounge; and Shoals Smokehouse, a BBQ restaurant.

1519, which is slated to open in late spring, is on a smaller scale, and that's part of the appeal.

"This is a concept where I can be extremely focused," he says. "At our other Hospitality Alliance projects, we have to be different things to different guests at different times of the week — convention, concert-goers, local residents, office tenants, etc."

"Here we are being only one thing: a high end cocktail den with no compromises," he says. "We aren't trying to please everyone — we are trying to be great at one thing, for a guest looking for that experience."

cocktails downtown nightlife openings