Best Foodie Gifts

10 delicious gifts for the Dallas foodie on your list

A discerning Dallas foodie knows that nothing is better than spreading the good word of good local food for the holidays. For that we’ve put together a list of tasty gifts perfect for your favorite gourmand.

Bandera Foods Chocolate-Covered Killer Pecans
Bandera, the company formed by chef duo George and Katie Brown, is best known for its spicy Killer Pecans. This year, they're offering two new treats: Killer Pecan Shortbread Cookies and Chocolate-Covered Killer Pecans. The original Killer Pecans are mammoth pecan halves coated in an addictive spicy mix and roasted until crisp. Imagine them baked into a rich sweet shortbread or enrobed in chocolate. Gift boxes range from $15.99 to $60.99. Call 214-366-9100.

Empire Bakery Pies
Every year, Dallas' best bakery releases a special lineup of treats for the holidays, which makes foodie gifting easy. For 2013, the pies include apple cranberry, pecan and pumpkin, ranging in price from $20 to $22. There are sweet breads including cranberry walnut and gingerbread, plus holiday stollen. Savory breads include challah, molasses wheat and sweet potato rolls ($5.95 for a package of nine).

Romanick Growler from Craft and Growler
Dallas' beer scene has gotten impressive in the last few years, but not all brews are available in stores. Gift some craft beer in a handmade ceramic growler that's practically a work of art. Not only will your recipient get some nice, cold Dallas beer, they'll have a container that’s beautiful enough to display in the living room. The 16-ounce version is $89.99, the 32-ounce one is $119.99 and the 64-ounce growler is $149.99.

Kate Weiser Chocolate Holiday Ornaments
By combining chocolate and holiday ornaments, Kate Weiser has taken two staples of the holiday season and created foodie perfection. They look good enough to hang from a tree, but odds are your gift won't make it more than a few seconds out of the box before there’s chocolate everywhere. You can find them at her pop-up shop in the lobby of the Hilton Anatole.

Herman Marshall Bourbon
North Texas liquor distilling hasn’t reached the level of craft beer, but that doesn’t mean it’s not out there. Herman Marshall is Dallas County’s first bourbon. It’s already won awards despite being around less than a year. It’s available at Spec’s, Goody Goody and Sigel’s.

Mölli Sauces
With Mölli sauces, created by Lakewood couple Leticia and Rodrigo Salas, you can gift the flavors of interior Mexico. The Morelos sauce, a sweet and savory blend with smoky chipotle, tomatillo and tomatoes, works well with fish; the Mexico City sauce has red ancho chiles and tomatillos for pairing with beef and pork. Pick them up at Deep Ellum Postal & Grocer, Rudolph’s Meat Market, Loco Cowpoke or White Rock Local Market.

Tart Bakery Macarons
This French-inspired bakery on Lovers Lane specializes in cakes, cake balls and other bite-size sweets. For the holiday season, the bakery is offering pumpkin spice tarts, chocolate-peppermint cake balls, a breathtaking chocolate-vanilla Buche de Noel, and macarons in flavors such as cranberry and salted caramel.

Sissy’s Southern Kitchen & Bar Canned Jellies
Sissy’s owner Lisa Garza-Selcer is selling her house-made canned jellies during the holiday season. The jellies come in both jalapeño and seasonal fruit flavors, and they are available in 4-ounce jars for $5 and 8-ounce jars for $8.

Luscher’s Post Oak Red Hots
The Grape’s Brian C. Luscher couldn’t find a hot dog that suited his Chicago taste buds, so he decided to make them himself. The handmade tubes are smoked with oak and stuffed with naturally raised, local meats for a sausage that blends the best of Chicago and Texas into each bite. Buy them at Green Grocer.

Wine Poste Gift Basket
The Design District wine shop has partnered with Scardello Artisan Cheese and Dude, Sweet Chocolate to create holiday sampler gift baskets. The wines are all top-ranked labels such as JZ Vizcarra, a beautiful red from Spain. A basket with two bottles of 90+ rated wine, chocolates, cheese, corkscrew and a $10 gift card is $99.99.

Mölli Sauces make it possible to infuse the flavors of interior Mexico in your Dallas kitchen.

Photo courtesy of Molli Sauces

Mölli Sauces make it possible to infuse the flavors of interior Mexico in your Dallas kitchen.

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Tex-Mex News

Get Tex-Mex and bargain margs at Alexander's Cantina in North Dallas

A Mexican restaurant with a killer happy hour has debuted in North Dallas: Alexander's Cantina & Cocina, a family-owned restaurant and bar, has opened at 4805 Frankford Rd. #105, a space most recently occupied by Casa Don Luis Tex-Mex and before that, a Corner Bakery.

Alexander's is a bigger-and-better spinoff of Alexander's Mex Cuisine, a restaurant opened in Plano in 2023 by Bernardo Garduño and his family, featuring Tex-Mex and street food from his hometown Mexico City.

Garduño worked for many years in the service industry before coming to Dallas in 2015. He crafted Alexander's menu by drawing on his restaurant experience, along with recipes from his mom.

Signature dishes include:

Pambazo — Mexican bread dipped in chili sauce, filled with potatoes, chorizo, and queso, then fried
Alambre — steak, ham, and bacon with onion, peppers, and cheese
Bistek a la Mexicana — steak tips, onion, and bell pepper simmered in a spicy tomato sauce until it turns into a stew

Other crowd-pleasers include chicken mole, brisket tacos, birria, fajitas, enchiladas, and more. They have a big selection of seafood including tacos with salmon and coconut shrimp, plus vegetarian options such as veggie fajitas and spinach enchiladas. One favorite extra: Their chips come not only with salsa but also black bean dip.

The new location has given them room to grow in a way they were unable to do in Plano, Garduño says.

"Plano is doing very well but that location is small, and there was no room to expand," he says. "We did extensive renovations at the Dallas location that included the addition of a bar, as well as room for parties and entertainment, like salsa on Fridays and Saturdays."

The menu at the two locations is basically the same but Dallas has a few new dishes such as mojarra frita, a whole tilapia fried and served with rice, plus carnitas, and a few more tacos, he says.

One item they recently dropped: soft-serve margaritas. Garduño was quick to jump on that early 2026 trend, and Alexander's made many a "soft-serve margarita" list, but the trend turned out to be short-lived.

"It did well for a month, but people went right back to regular margaritas," he says. "Those drinks are fun but they're very sweet. The mix has to be highly sugared in order to get the texture correct. The ingredients and equipment to make it were expensive, which meant we had to charge more for it — $16 as opposed to $10 for our regular margaritas."

Garduño has kept an eye on the trend. "We're not the only place no longer doing it," he says.

Besides, it was not a good fit with Alexander's generous happy hour, featuring $5.50 house margaritas, $6 flavored margaritas, and $4 beer, available from 11 am-6 pm every day at the Plano location, and Sunday-Thursday at Dallas.

"Our happy hour has become one of our trademarks," he says.

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