This Week In Gluttony

These are the 9 best food and drink events in Dallas this week

This Week in Gluttony has it all: beer, bourbon, bacon, and barbecue. More than one of these tasty happenings also features live music. Good tunes + good food and drink = good times.

Thursday, November 10

Alamo Beer Live at Harvest House
Enjoy this Americana-inspired concert series presented by Alamo Beer Company and produced by Untapped. The Denton concert features Possessed by Paul James with Doug Burr and is free with an online RSVP. The concert kicks off at 7 pm.

Friday, November 11

Beer and Bacon Festival at Julia Pearl Southern Cuisine
Chef Jermaine Brown is serving Southern comfort food in a five-course tasting. Rob Holbert & Company is tasked with keeping the groove going as you savor various dishes while sampling delicious bourbons and beers. Tickets are $50, and dinner starts at 7 pm.

Blues, Bandits & BBQ at Kidd Springs Park
This two-day festival features 30 barbecue teams showcasing the best food they have to offer. In addition to the food and drinks available, the event includes a great music lineup in a nod to Oak Cliff’s history as the birthplace of legends like Stevie Ray Vaughn and T-Bone Walker. Barbecue tasting tickets start at $20, and doors open at 6 pm on Friday, and noon on Saturday.

33rd Annual French-American Chamber of Commerce Wine Festival at Frontiers of Flight Museum
Formerly the Beaujolais & Beyond Wine Festival, this rebranded event features a new name and new venue but the same great collection of French and American wines. Guests can also enjoy savory and sweet delicacies from some of the top restaurants and gourmet food providers in Dallas-Fort Worth. Other highlights include live music from Rockestra, photo opportunities and autographs from Miss Texas 2016, and a silent auction. Tickets start at $75, and the event kicks off at 7:30 pm.

Holiday Wine Tasting at Pappas Bros. Steakhouse
Raise a glass, kick off the holiday season, and celebrate a year full of great wines and good cheer. Selections come from France, Italy, Portugal, California, and more. Tickets are $75, and the event begins at 6 pm. Call 214-366-2000 for reservations.

Saturday, November 12

Untapped at Fair Park
This is the fifth year for the popular craft beer and music festival featuring more than 100 breweries and 400-plus craft beers. Festival-goers can also enjoy live music from local and national bands, snack on delicious food from local restaurants, and peruse a village of crafty vendors. Tickets start at $35, and general admission gates open at 3:30 pm.

Monday, November 14

The Barman’s Fund Night for Dallas CASA at Top Knot
Brian Floyd of the Barman’s Fund is once again joining the Top Knot team for a great cause. He’s mixing up four specialty cocktails, and all tips from 8-11 pm benefit Dallas CASA. Guests can also enjoy chef de cuisine Angela Hernandez’s Korean fried chicken as part of the “Seoul Food” series that happens every Sunday and Monday.

School of Bourbon at the Venue at 400 North Ervay
At this interactive tasting, pair Woodford Reserve with some of your favorite foods — aged cheese, toasted nuts, citrus fruit, dark chocolate, dried cranberries — to train your palate to identify the flavors in every sip. Tickets are $30, and the event starts at 6:30 pm.

Sicilian Wine Dinner at Americano
This special wine dinner features Cantine Barbera, a winery in southwestern Sicily. The evening takes place on the restaurant’s open-air patio and begins at 7 pm with a welcome reception, followed by a seated Sicilian-inspired five-course dinner from executive chef Matt Ford. Courses include assorted meats and cheeses, tuna crudo, pasta with fresh prawns, assorted pizzas, lamb shoulder, and sheep’s milk ricotta cannolis. Tickets are $80; call 214-261-4600 for reservations.

School of Bourbon returns to the Venue at 400 North Ervay on November 14.

Photo by William Neal

School of Bourbon returns to the Venue at 400 North Ervay on November 14.

event-planner festivals music dinner

Bread News

Award-winning Dallas bakery scores storefront in Oak Cliff mixed use

Photo courtesy of Kuluntu

Kuluntu bread

One of Dallas' best bakeries is graduating to a new location: Kuluntu Bakery, which currently operates as a cottage bakery in Oak Cliff, is moving into the East Dock, the innovative new mixed-use hub at 900 E. Clarendon Dr. near the Dallas Zoo and Halperin Park.

Founded in 2018, Kuluntu is the cottage food bakery that has been selling breads and pastries from an Oak Cliff home. Despite not having a brick-and-mortar location, the bakery has racked up numerous awards including an impressive ranking on a Food & Wine list of the Best Breads in Every State, a 2023 nomination for a James Beard Award, and a CultureMap Tastemaker Awards nomination for co-founder Stephanie Leichtle-Chalklen for Best Pastry Chef.

And now they will have a brick-and-mortar location.

Their current menu changes weekly, with breads such as country sour and lemon-lavender-walnut sour; their signature granola; cinnamon rolls; and pastries such as almond & lemon croissant, cheesy artichoke galette, and salted rye chocolate chip cookies. They send out an email to subscribers every week listing the latest offerings. (To get on the list, email kuluntu@kuluntubakery.org.)

"At the new location, we will be expanding the menu quite a bit," Leichtle-Chalken says. "It will include items that we’re currently baking plus South African dishes for lunch service."

They're hoping to be open by the end of the year, and once they do open, they'll close down the cottage operation.

But Leichtle-Chalklen says this new location will be more than a bakery — it will be a community hub that centers women’s experiences and builds collective power through education, health & wellness, and equity initiatives.

She already operates Kuluntu as a non-profit, with a goal of co-creating a more equitable food system and community by connecting the food industry, consumers, and partners to center women and humanize all food workers.

Sustainability and taking care of the planet is a practice that threads throughout their organization: whether that's using Barton Springs Mill organic flours and Cedar Ridge Egg Farm free-range eggs, or whether it's following zero-waste baking by recycling, composting, and using environmentally friendly packaging.

East Dock Courtesy rendering

They'll fit right in at East Dock, a former industrial building that was built in 1915 and is being thoughtfully refurbished with a goal of creating an 18-hour campus: coffee in the morning, daytime operators such as offices, studios, and restaurants, then bars and entertainment at night.

On July 12, Kuluntu will host "Reimagining an Inclusive Restaurant in Dallas," where attendees can learn about the lived experiences of women food workers and how we can humanize the food system, as well as re-imagine what an equitable and inclusive restaurant could be — sharing your experiences, ideas, and perspectives to shape Kuluntu Bakery into a true community space for all. Pastries and beverages will be included.

The session will take place at East Dock, allowing a preview of the site which will be under active construction. Get tickets here.

desserts openings