This Week in Gluttony

Community Beer's 1st anniversary party tops best food and drink events in Dallas

Texas winters are a study in instability. The ice storm of early December and the recent Polar Vortex have given way to downright hospitable conditions perfect for New Year’s resolution-makers to clog up jogging lanes across the city.

Yet we know this won’t last, because in a week or two, it will probably be back down into the 20s and 30s, and people will scramble to the dry cleaners because they got cocky and didn’t bother to get their Merino wool sweaters cleaned during the window of bliss.

Anyway, This Week in Gluttony is quite fond of Community Beer Company, as the brewery takes part in a beer dinner on Friday and then celebrates its one-year anniversary on Saturday. If that’s not your style, there’s another, totally different beer dinner; an underground dinner featuring foods from White Rock Local Market; and a dinner at the Wine Poste via Kent Rathbun. Yes, that’s a lot of dinners.

Take your sweaters to the dry cleaners first, though.

Tuesday, January 14

Boxwood Beer Dinner with Rahr & Sons
Boxwood Tap + Grill teams up with Rahr & Sons for a four-course beer dinner beginning at 7 pm. Pairings include candied pork belly salad with frisee, arugula, red potatoes, spiced almonds and roasted tomato vinaigrette with Rahr Blonde, and duo of beef with tartare, truffle and quail egg short ribs and crispy mushrooms with Bourbon Barrel Winter Warmer. Reservations are $55 and can be made at 214-220-2901.

Wednesday, January 15

Chef DAT Underground Dinner featuring White Rock Local Market
Chef DAT uses foods from White Rock Local Market for a six-course underground dinner in Lakewood beginning at 7 pm. Courses include Kitchen Pride mushroom soup with black truffle and Eagle Mountain Gouda, as well as 24-hour braised JUHA Ranch pork shoulder with Grapevine Grains bean puree and toasted quinoa. Seats are $70 and can be purchased by emailing info@chefdat.com. Diners can also make additional donations to White Rock Local Market.

Thursday, January 16

Kent Rathbun Dinner at the Wine Poste
Kent Rathbun and the Wine Poste join forces for a five-course wine dinner beginning with a champagne reception at 7 pm. Courses include chickory and mizuna salad with candy striped beets, warm goat cheese and almond-tarragon vinaigrette paired with a 2009 Cantina Terlan “Porphyr,” and red wine-braised veal cheeks with butternut squash risotto, pan-roasted Brussels sprouts and blackberry-veal jus paired with a 2001 CVNE Grand Reserve Rioja. Reservations are $125 and can be made at 214-272-3221.

Friday, January 17

Community Beer Dinner at Cook Hall
Cook Hall hosts Community Beer Company for a six-course beer dinner beginning at 7 pm. Pairings include grilled snapper with beet marmalade paired with Mosaic IPA; black truffle cheese fritters paired with Inspiration Ale; and veal chop with celeriac, smoked bacon and quince mustard paired with Trinity Tripel. Reservations are $55 and can be made at 214-397-4111.

Saturday, January 18

Community Beer Company's First Anniversary
Community celebrates opening its doors a year ago with a party beginning at 2 pm. The brewery is serving 15 different beers; local band Shotgun Friday provides live entertainment. Each ticket gives guests eight drinking coupons, a commemorative glass and a tour of the brewery. The brewery also just debuted a new tap room for the festivities. Spots are $20 and can be purchased online.

Celebrate with the Community Beer gang at a beer dinner at Cook Hall on January 17 or the anniversary party the next day.

Photo by Rasy Ran Photography

Celebrate with the Community Beer gang at a beer dinner at Cook Hall on January 17 or the anniversary party the next day.

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Omakase News

Downtown Dallas restaurant Sauvage expands with new dining twist

Sauvage

A downtown Dallas restaurant famous for its multi-course tasting experience is letting its hair down: Sauvage, the high-end mom-and-pop restaurant near the Statler Dallas hotel, has a new dining option that gives a smaller, more casual taste.

The restaurant opened in September with a set menu featuring 16 to 18 courses — wild game, seafood, vegetables, and dessert — all cooked via grill and smoker.

While 16 courses might sound like a lot, the courses are mostly small bites. However, owners Casey and Amy LaRue received feedback from diners wanting a smaller option.

"We were getting a ton of messages from guests who want to stop by just to try one dish, a bite, or a specific pairing without committing to the full tasting — so we built something for exactly that," Casey says.

They've introduced a new three-course "Cocktails & Bites hour" featuring three dishes, each paired with its own cocktail, served from 5–6 pm on weekdays.

Last week’s menu consisted of:

dry-aged red snapper crudo with La Chinola Way, a cocktail featuring passionfruit, mezcal, lime, and ginger
foie gras & truffle on house-baked croissant with Pendennis Club, a gin sour with apricot liqueur bitters
jerk-spiced shrimp with Clarified Paper Plane, a bourbon cocktail with Aperol, Amaro Nonino, and lemon juice

The new offering continues their pattern of pairing courses with cocktails rather than wine — an approach they've embraced since opening. "Limiting pairings to wine can get boring — it so often ends up being one expensive red after another," Casey says.

You can make a reservation on Tock, or just walk in and grab a seat.

Caviar
They've also added a new version of their classic menu: no caviar.

"Some love having caviar integrated into the menu, but others prefer to skip it, whether for taste or dietary reasons, but still want the full value of the experience," Casey says. "With such a small counter, this put us in a strange position: do we give everyone caviar whether they want it or not, or do we remove it entirely and lose a core part of our menu?"

Thus, a new menu without caviar, priced at $195, with an optional caviar course available for those who want it for $245.

downtown