This week in gluttony

Chocolate tastings and vats of gumbo: The best food and drink events in Dallas this week

What do gumbo, Asian cuisine and wine have in common? They’re all being highlighted in this week’s roundup of the best food and drink events in Dallas. Learn Asian cuisine from two masters just in time for the Chinese New Year, or get a head start on Valentine’s Day with your choice of chocolate tastings (one with beer, the other with wine).

Then, to wrap up the week, we’ve got a Mardi Gras gumbo party that’ll put you in a New Orleans state of mind. You really can’t go wrong.

Tuesday, February 5

Asian Cooking With Chef Patton Robertson of Five Sixty
Chef Robertson leads a class in how to create modern Asian flavors with good technique and ingredients at Central Market cooking school. Dishes include Chinese chicken salad, Five Sixty’s signature crab cakes and tandoori arctic char. The class begins at 6:30 pm and costs $60 per person.

Chef Robertson also leads a dumpling class on Saturday, February 9, 11 am-noon, at Five Sixty. You learn to make dumplings as well as enjoy a family-style dumpling feast and “Year of the Snake” punch for $75 per person. For reservations, call 214-741-5560.

Thursday, February 7

“All You Need Is Love” Dinner benefiting the Promise of Peace Garden
For $85 you can enjoy a five-course dinner put together by Central 214’s Graham Dodds and Chad Houser, executive director of Cafe Momentum. Proceeds from the dinner support kids’ camps for the Promise of Peace Community Garden in East Dallas and a new garden at CC Young Retirement Center.

Chocolate and Wine Tasting at Cadillac Wines
Enjoy a tasting at Cadillac Wines from 7 to 8 pm for $15 per person. Wines are paired with chocolates from Schakolad Chocolate Factory, and guests take home a complimentary Riedel glass. For reservations, email natashia@cadillacwines.com or call 817-989-4435.

Friday, February 8

Ring in the Chinese New Year With Fuchsia Dunlop
Fuchsia Dunlop has written for the Financial Times and the New Yorker, and she is the author of four books on Chinese cooking. She knows Asian cuisine, so check out her demonstration at Central Market cooking school, where she shows students how to make dishes like smacked cucumber in garlic sauce, sea bream in fish-fragrant sauce and choy sum with sizzling oil. The class begins at 6:30 pm and costs $75 per person.

Saturday, February 9

Scardello Fondue Night
Enjoy a three-mountain cheese fondue complete with salami, bread and fruit. You also receive a glass of sparkling wine, salad and a chocolate truffle for dessert. But we’re pretty sure we had you at cheese. The feast starts at 8 pm and costs $40 per person.

Beer and Chocolate Tasting at the Ginger Man
The Ginger Man was recently named the best beer joint in town by Foursquare, and the place is putting its rep on display with a tasting that features 10 beers in five rounds of head-to-head competition with chocolate selected for each beer. It’s a few days before Valentine’s Day, but chocolate and beer is just romantic any time. The tasting begins at 2:30 pm and is $35 in advance or $40 the day of.

Sunday, February 10

12th Annual KNON Mardi Gras Gumbo Party at Poor David’s Pub
Not everyone can make it down to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, but that doesn’t mean you have to miss out. From 5 to 9 pm at Poor David’s Pub, revelers can enjoy authentic gumbo from restaurants such as Alligator Cafe, Crawdad’s of Dallas and David’s Seafood Grill before dancing off the roux to Papa LeBeaux’s Jazz Gumbo Band. Tickets are $15 and can be bought at knon.org, Bill’s Records in Dallas or Forever Young Records in Grand Prairie.

Enjoy Schakolad chocolate paired with wine at the Cadilliac Wine tasting February 7.

Photo by Cheo Jackson

Enjoy Schakolad chocolate paired with wine at the Cadilliac Wine tasting February 7.

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Spring Roll News

Asian restaurant fixated on Vietnamese spring rolls debuts by Addison

Nem Spring Roll Bar

There's an Asian restaurant near Addison with a one-of-a-kind obsession: spring rolls. Called Nem Spring Roll Bar, it specializes in Vietnamese fresh spring rolls, with an emphasis on customization that encourages diners to "build your own."

The restaurant opened in late spring 2025 in the Prestonwood Place shopping center at 5290 Belt Line Rd. #114, in a former Pho Bowl space next to Jeni's Ice Cream.

It has a fast-casual format with a simple but brilliant menu that begins with a base of five options:

spring rolls
rice bowls
vermicelli noodle bowls
salad
banh mi

From there, you customize: adding fillings such as shredded lettuce, cucumber, shredded carrot, bean sprouts, mint, basil, and jalapeño; protein options such as chicken, steak, shrimp, tofu, mushrooms, and beets; and sauces from an array that includes peanut sauce, fish sauce, pineapple sauce, tamarind sauce, ginger-sesame dressing, and more.

It's affordable: Three spring rolls are $11. Banh mi is $9. The bowls are $14.

There are also snacks such as wings, nuggets, flat eggrolls, and fried shrimp wraps, and they recently introduced a limited-edition chicken & waffles special.

Nem is by Winston Phan of Vie Concepts LLC, with a menu crafted by Kay Akhotmy. Phan is a local food & beverage veteran and a previous franchisee of Yumilicious, Sip Stir Coffee House, and Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ Restaurant.

"I’ve always loved the simplicity of a fast-casual concept like this," Phan says. "It's efficient for customers, as well as restaurant owners."

Akhotmy, who has been friends with Phan for more than 20 years, wanted to design a menu that would home in on fresh ingredients while honoring their heritage.

“Our flavors are Vietnamese flavors,” says Akhotmy. “I wanted to bring those, but with a modern twist on the dishes I grew up with.”

“Our ancestors were very limited with resources,” adds Phan. “They cooked with whatever was around. But now, with unlimited resources and modern ideas, we like to fuse those together.”

They hope to open more locations, not only in Dallas, but in the Austin and San Antonio areas as well. Seeing customers enjoy the tastes of their homeland is the most rewarding part of their journey.

“As we grow, we want to add more, and we want to introduce our customers to traditional and modern flavors,” says Akhotmy. “We are planning to add more to our menu, and hopefully everyone gets to experience the Vietnamese culture.”

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