This Week's Hot Headlines

New downtown speakeasy sneaks into this week's 5 hottest Dallas headlines

Dr. Larry Gentilello's lawsuits against UT Southwestern Medical School and Parkland Memorial Hospital preceded the numerous state and federal investigations that have found fault with the storied insitutions.

Photo by Conner Howell

Editor's note: A lot happened this week, so here's your chance to get caught up. Read on for the week's most popular headlines. Looking for the best St. Patrick's Day festivities? Find that list here.

1. Downtown Dallas boutique hotel reveals speakeasy bar with secret entry. Pssst, a downtown Dallas hotel has a secret. Sova, a boutique hotel with mini-rooms that opened in 2021, has debuted a new bar that embraces one of the buzziest trends in bars right now: the speakeasy. Called Room 520, it's a secret bar tucked between hotel rooms, open limited hours with a small menu of specialty cocktails boasting Japanese flavors.

2. 2 Dallas companies clock in as the top employers in Texas, says Forbes. Dallas reigns as the capital of Texas when it comes to the best big and small employers, according to Forbes magazine. New rankings from Forbes put University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas at No. 9 among the country’s best large employers in the country and Dallas-based life insurance platform Bestow at No. 16 among the country’s best startup employers.

3. Yellowstone's Kevin Costner and his Modern West band saddle up to play Grapevine gala. A Dallas-area nonprofit has wrangled the biggest star from the hottest show on TV as its headlining act: Kevin Costner and his country rock Modern West band will be the featured entertainers at Emily's Place 20th anniversary gala. The event will take place Saturday, April 23 at the Gaylord Texan Resort in Grapevine.

4. Dallas mansion in Lakewood with colorful vintage bathrooms up for sale. A historic Dallas home is for sale, built in 1929 with only two owners and blessedly few updates. Located in Lakewood just west of White Rock Lake, it's a French Eclectic mansion on a 1.07-acre lot, known as one of the most well-known historic estates in Texas. The property is at 7030 Tokalon Dr. and is listed by Dave Perry-Miller Real Estate agent Rob Elmore for $2.5 million.

5. 3 Dallas bars where Troy Aikman will personally pour you a beer. Does beer taste better when it's been poured by a celebrity? Local beer drinkers got to find out on March 9-10 when ex-Dallas Cowboy Troy Aikman hit six bars across Dallas-Fort Worth in a cross-town guest-bartending wave. Aikman was not pouring just any beer: He poured Eight Elite Lager, the new light lager for health-minded drinkers, which he co-founded and launched in February.

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Sova Hotel

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This week's hot headlines

Michelin Guide awards shine in 5 most-read Dallas stories of the week

dallas.culturemap.com

Tatsu Dallas

Editor's note: Restaurants that received Michelin Guide honors were the hottest topic of the week in Dallas and all across Texas. Also of note: The death of a beloved Dallas restaurateur, a new wing joint, and more. Here are the most-read stories of the week. Looking for things to do this weekend? That list is here.

1. More than a dozen Dallas restaurants earn Michelin Guide awards. The winners of the first Michelin Guide awards in Texas have been revealed, with 117 restaurants earning some kind of nod, including 15 one-star establishments. More than two dozen restaurants across Dallas-Fort Worth earned some kind of nod or another, but only one won a star. Then, oops, there was a goof on Michelin's list.

2. Reducetarian Summit had to be unlikeliest convention in Dallas ever. Dallas likes to promote itself as a great place to host conventions, but one of the most unpredictable would have to be the Reducetarian Summit, which took place at the end of October at the Fairmont Hotel in downtown Dallas, where 500 people from around the world met to brainstorm on ways to reduce consumption of animal products.

3. Where to eat in Dallas right now: 10 hot new restaurants for November. This month's installment of Where to Eat is bursting at the seams with newcomers and spinoffs. For November, we've got a vast range of cuisines, from Asian to seafood to the beloved Dallas staple, the Irish pub. To find many cuisines in one spot, there's also a new food-hall near downtown Dallas.

Dallas restaurateur Al Biernat, RIP. Facebook

4. Beloved Dallas restaurateur Al Biernat dies at 69 after ALS battle. Beloved Dallas restaurateur Al Biernat, founder of the acclaimed local steakhouse Al Biernat's, passed away on November 13, following a battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also called ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease; he was 69.

5. Pluckers Wing Bar opens first Dallas location in a decade in Mesquite. A Texas wing staple is bringing the wings to Mesquite: Pluckers, famous for its wings in many flavors, is opening at 1340 N. Peachtree Rd., in the old Joe’s Crab Shack space. According a marketing spokesperson, it's opening in mid-December.