All On The Same Team

CultureMap Dallas' winning Tailgate bash unites sports fans + foodies

CultureMap fans know how to party, especially when they're cheering on their favorite sports teams with a taco in one hand and a beverage in the other.

That was precisely the vibe on Sunday, October 5, at The Empire Room, where fan assembled to celebrate all things sporty at The Tailgate.

Decked out in plenty of blue and silver, in honor of the Dallas Cowboys taking on the New York Jets that afternoon, guests arrived at the indoor-outdoor venue ready to score an afternoon to remember.

Dallas Tailgate 2025 Grace Tudor, Tanner Agar, Dee Lincoln, Bella Dinardo.Photo by ASHGPHOTO

A strut across the football field-inspired "green carpet" brought hungry attendees inside, where their taste buds were not disappointed. No tailgate is complete without killer eats, and this year’s restaurant roster was championship caliber. Attendees indulged in a dizzying spread of creative, tailgate-inspired bites, including:

Assorted po'boys from Antone's Famous Po' Boys
Chicken and tofu lettuce wraps from Feng Shui
Roast beef sandwiches on Heritage wheat bread from Empire Baking
Pastalaya: penne pasta with shrimp, andouille sausage, chicken, and Creole cream sauce from Dee's Table
Football-shaped Jamaican jerk pork tostadas from Loro
Fried chicken sandwich with gochujang, caramelized onion, mayo, and pickles from Kona Grill
JOA Grill's bulgogi ssam and akaushi sausage kimbap
Five spice slow-braised pork bao from Komodo
McRae's American Bistro & Cocktails' cherry BBQ short rib sliders with feta cheese and apple-cabbage slaw
Harissa-glazed chicken wings with black garlic ranch and scallions from Fearing Restaurant Group
Taqueria La Ventana's bistek and al pastor tacos
The All American, Kevin Bacon, and The Western burgers from Twisted Root Burger Co.
Slow-cooked pork carnitas tacos from Señor Oink
Lil' BRGs from STK Steakhouse
Corn Holes (petite deep-fried Better Balance vegan hot dogs dipped in a cornmeal-infused beignet batter on a stick, and drizzled with a spicy bourbon mustard) from Richardson International Food Festival (RIFF)
Scout at the Statler's pineapple char siu pulled pork sliders
Spiced apple crisp cups from Ruby Baking Co.

To wash it all down and keep spirits high well past the fourth quarter, there were Patron Silver margaritas and ranch waters, Reyka Vodka's Midfield Mule, The Ryes of Texas and the Bourbon Peach Buzz from Still Austin Whiskey, water from Saratoga, and an array of beers from Yuengling.

Dallas Tailgate 2025 Loro brought football-shaped Jamaican jerk pork tostadas.Photo by ASHGPHOTO

Following last year’s fan-favorite Ultimate Wing Showdown, this year’s competition turned up the heat with the Top Taco Tournament. After weeks of online voting, the champion was revealed live at The Tailgate: Taqueria La Ventana.

Kona Grill's spicy, savory chicken sandwich scored big as attendees' official favorite dish of the day.

In between nibbles, guests could browse Mizzen+Main's collection of high-performance and collegiate shirts, explore holiday party options at Puttshack, and learn about crowd-funded college football from Sportsmo.

Those ready to get a jump on holiday shopping — or eager to complete their own collections — bid on sports and pop-culture memorabilia in the silent auction.

Dallas Tailgate 2025 Crystal Hardman, Michelle Vo.Photo by ASHGPHOTO

Photo by ASHGPHOTO

Guests received quite a welcome.

Guests who arrived early scored big with an appearance from former Texas Rangers pitcher Derek Holland, who greeted fans, signed autographs, and snapped photos for the first hour. Holland, who famously helped pitch the Rangers to their 2011 World Series run, was all smiles as fans lined up to meet him.

As the cherry on top, the Cowboys trounced the Jets as Tailgate fans whooped and celebrated — no need for overtime here.

---

The Tailgate was sponsored by FLIGHT by Yuengling, Sportsmo, Puttshack, Mizzen+Main, Antone's Famous Po' Boys, NXL LVL Events, Patron, and Still Austin Whiskey.

dallas cowboys derek holland sports tacos taqueria la ventana the empire room the tailgate

Movie Review

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is better than the first but not by much

Blumhouse

Five Nights at Freddy's 2

Blumhouse Productions first made their name with the Paranormal Activity series, establishing themselves as a leader in the horror genre thanks to their relatively cheap yet effective movies. In recent years, they’ve added on “soft” horror films likeM3GAN and Five Nights at Freddy’s to draw in a younger audience, with both films becoming so successful that each was quickly given a sequel.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 finds Mike (Josh Hutcherson) and his sister Abby (Piper Rubio) still recovering from the events of the first film, with Abby particularly missing her “friends.” Those friends just so happen to be the souls of murdered children who inhabit animatronic characters at the long-defunct Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, children who were abducted and killed by William Afton (Matthew Lillard).

A new threat emerges at another Freddy Fazbear’s location in the form of Charlotte, another murdered child who inhabits a creepy large marionette. Mike, distracted by a possible romance with Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail), fails to keep track of Abby, who makes her way to the old pizzeria and inadvertently unleashes Charlotte and her minions on the surrounding town.

Directed by Emma Tammi and written by Scott Cawthon (who also created the video game on which the series is based), the film tries to mix together goofy elements with intense scenes. One particular sequence, in which the security guard for Freddy Fazbear’s lets a group of ghost hunters onto the property, toes the line between soft and hard horror. That and a few others show the potential that the filmmakers had if they had stuck to their guns.

Unfortunately, more often than not they either soft-pedal things that would normally be horrific, or can’t figure out how to properly stage scenes. The sight of animatronic robots wreaking havoc is one that is simultaneously frightening and laughable, and the filmmakers never seem to find the right balance in tone. Every step in the direction of making a truly scary horror film is undercut by another in which the robots fail to live up to their promise.

It doesn’t help that Cawthon gives the cast some extremely wooden dialogue, lines that none of the actors can elevate. What may work in a video game format comes off as stilted when said by actors in a live-action film. The story also loses momentum quickly after the first half hour or so, with Cawthon seemingly content to just have characters move from place to place with no sense of connection between any of the scenes.

Hutcherson (The Hunger Games series), after being the true lead of the first film, is given very little to do in this film, and his effort is equal to his character’s arc. The same goes for Lail, whose character seems to be shoehorned into the story. Rubio is called upon to carry the load for a lot of the movie, and the teenager is not quite up to the task. A brief appearance by Skeet Ulrich seems to be a blatant appeal to Scream fans, but he and Lillard only underscore how limited this film is compared to that franchise.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is better than the first film, but not by much. The filmmakers do a decent job of making the new marionette character into a great villain, but they fail to capitalize on its inherent creepiness. Instead, they fall back on less effective elements, ensuring that the film will be forgettable for anyone other than hardcore Freddy fans.

---

Five Nights at Freddy's 2 opens in theaters on December 5.

movies film