This week in gluttony

These are the 11 best food and drink events in Dallas this week

It's going to be a good week for soup.

Photo courtesy of Uchiba

A new month brings a slew of new events along with the Lunar New Year, and there are plenty of ways to celebrate. Many restaurants are offering Year of the Tiger menu specials, and one, an Asian-themed high tea service. It’s also still Girl Scout Cookie season, and there’s a beer pairing event to go with that. Also on the long list this week is a five-course dinner featuring five local chefs, a cocktail class, two weekend brunches (one with bubbly and the other with beer), and a 14-course dessert tasting intended only for gal pals.

Tuesday, February 1

Lunar New Year at Nuri Grill
The upscale Asian-inspired steakhouse will celebrate Lunar New Year with a $29 special available Tuesday through Saturday. The multicourse meal includes rice cake soup, shrimp pancake, and braised short rib with white radish, pear, and green onion. Reservations recommended.

Lunar New Year at Wok Star Chinese
The festive downtown Dallas Chinese restaurant and bar will celebrate the Year of the Tiger with an extravagant performance by a local dance troupe, set to start at 6 pm. Start the party at 5 pm for specials on dumplings and cocktails, as well as giveaways.

Girl Scout Cookie & Beer Pairing at Lakewood Growler
The East Dallas neighborhood taproom will offer a brew tasting paired with Girl Scout Cookies. The pairings include Adventurefuls with 3 Nations Brewing Mexican Chocolate Stout, Trefoils with Odell Brewing Co. 90 Shilling Ale, S’mores with Karbach Brewing Co. Brewsanity, and Lemon Ups with Founders Brewing Co. All Day Haze. The entire ensemble is $13 while it lasts.

Wednesday, February 2

Lunar New Year High Tea at The Adolphus
Celebrate the Lunar New Year with high tea in The French Room at The Adolphus. Guests can enjoy a special themed tea service with a dim sum-inspired savory course and traditional pastries featuring East Asian flavors. Sandwiches include char sui pork in duck buns, primavera spring rolls, shrimp and pork steamed dumplings, and chicken and zucchini steamed dumplings. Tea cake and pastry menu highlights include honeyed caramel candy, red berry tart, and Mandarin orange ganache truffle. The experience is $65 for adults and $30 for children under 12, plus tax and gratuity. Reservations will be taken from 11 am-2:45 pm Wednesday through Sunday.

Thursday, February 3

Chef’s Night at Terra
Five local chefs will collaborate on a five-course dinner hosted by Eataly Dallas. The Italian food destination will welcome Tiffany Derry of Roots Southern Table, Brandon Pappalardo of Suburban Yacht Club, and Junior Borges of Meridian to work with Eataly chefs Jake Epstein and Michael Lawson. Menu items will be inspired by each of the chefs’ own specialties, and each course will be paired with Italian wines. The dinner is $150 per person and begins at 7 pm. A portion of the proceeds will benefit North Texas Food Bank.

Cocktail Class at Tricky Fish
Preston Hollow’s new Tricky Fish location will host its first cocktail class featuring Roxor Gin. Participants will be guided through creating two full-size gin cocktails to be enjoyed with lots of bar bites. The event is $25 per person, and two lucky guests will win either a $25 Tricky Fish gift card or a bottle of Roxor Gin. Class begins at 6 pm.

Saturday, February 5

Champagne Brunch at Trova Wine + Market
There’ll be champagne paired with every luscious course during this posh brunch event. Menu items include sourdough apple doughnuts, smoked salmon and caviar on bagels, truffled potato-mushroom frittata, brisket and parsnip hash, and citrus tea cake. Tickets are $94 per person, plus tax and gratuity, and brunch begins at 11 am.

La Cruda Hangover Brunch at Four Corners Brewing Co.
This once-a-month Saturday taproom brunch will feature cajeta-filled churro doughnuts, breakfast tacos, migas tacos, a loaded burrito called “Todo lo Imaginable,” and Four Corners' new “Buchalada” boozy kombucha seltzers. Visit from 12-3 pm, when a live DJ will be playing, too.

Galentine’s 14-Course Dessert Omakase & Tasting at Hall Arts Hotel
Get the gal-pals get together to celebrate friendships over food and drink. Girl groups can splurge on sweet desserts during this one-hour experience that comes with 14 indulgent courses. Seats are $135 per person and the event begins promptly at 3 pm.

Monday, February 7

Silverado Vineyards Wine Dinner at Sea Breeze Fish Market & Grill
The Plano seafood destination will transport diners to the West Coast with a five-course dinner featuring the Stags Leap District Silverado Vineyards. The seafood-centric menu will feature shrimp and scallop escabeche, jumbo lump crab arancini, escargot and caviar with linguini and black garlic, and red wine braised short rib for the meat eaters. Each course will be paired with wine, except dessert, which will pair red velvet cheesecake with a Black Cherry Bourbon Smash cocktail. Dinner is $125 per person, plus tax and gratuity, and cocktail hour begins at 6 pm.

Uncommon Ramen at Uchiba
The Japanese hideaway discreetly located above Uchi in Uptown Dallas will invite Matt Balke of Oak Cliff’s Encina to collaborate on some “uncommon ramen” for this monthly event. Balke’s a la carte bowls will include a vegetarian option with mushroom broth and green apple Chow Chow, and “Matt’s Bowl,” which comes with beef cheek pastrami. There’ll also be a crispy pork jowl bao. The menu will be available from 5-11 pm and reservations are encouraged.

dinner news-you-can-eat desserts holidays

new roots

L.A. celebrity favorite The Ivy plants Dallas branch near Katy Trail

Photo courtesy of The Ivy/Facebook

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A Los Angeles restaurant famous for celebrity sightings on its bright floral patios is opening a branch in Dallas: The Ivy will debut in fall 2027 at 4205 Buena Vista St. inside The Terminal at Katy Trail.

“This will be the first Ivy outside of Southern California,” says India Wolfe, the restaurant founders' daughter, in a release. "I felt a strong calling to bring The Ivy somewhere new and to plant roots there with our family.”

India’s parents opened The Ivy on Robertson Boulevard in 1980, followed by Ivy at the Shore in Santa Monica five years later.

While her father, chef Richard Irving, and mother, Lynn von Kersting, remain in LA, Wolfe and her husband, Ernest Wolfe IV, will move to Dallas in February with their two children and dogs, to operate The Ivy. The restaurant will be located inside a luxury apartment tower overlooking the Katy Trail.

India started working as a teen at the family's third branch in Santa Monica and learned everything "from greeting guests and waiting tables to staging events, filming viral social media, and modernizing the business for a new generation," says the release.

Both she and her husband spent time in other professions but were drawn to the dining field. Ernest helped his in-laws so often at The Ivy that they finally employed him full-time.

“I love working with him," India says, "and we complement each other’s skills really well, not unlike my mom and dad.”

The Ivy The family behind The Ivy.Courtesy photo

The Wolfes say they want the Dallas restaurant to retain The Ivy’s familiar cooking, warmth and character, while making it feel like home in a new city.

“I love the idea of people taking a walk on the Katy Trail and then meeting friends for brunch at The Ivy,” India says.

Her parents are assisting with the design and menu; India wants a contemporary vibe but doesn’t plan to change what works so well.

“I don’t want to make it too different because I think the reason that people from Dallas come to The Ivy is because they love The Ivy,” she says. “That said, this new restaurant will certainly stand on its own two feet.”

Unlike the original, the Dallas Ivy will have a bar, an idea India dreamed up. While restaurant bars are nothing unusual, India actually envisioned what her family jokingly calls “the D Bar" (so named for Dallas), where guests can clink glasses and share good energy around a curved, D-shaped counter.

Her interest in art and flowers will result in a space well-appointed with roses, a family tradition, and local blooms like zinnias and snapdragons.

The Ivy serves upscale American comfort food and Californian cuisine with influences from Italian, French, Cajun, and Mexican cooking. Dishes are made with seasonal ingredients, so the menus evolve throughout the year.

While the Dallas menu is being developed, the restaurant's Southern California winter menus, for example, include starters such as crab cakes, Caesar salad, and grilled-vegetable salad. Pasta options include lobster ravioli with Ivy pink sauce and lobster tagliatelle. Wood- or stone-fired pizzas include margherita and Cajun shrimp pies, while house-baked breads, old-fashioned red velvet cake, coconut cake, and chocolate chip cookies round out the menu.

The Ivy has always been at the center of family life, India notes. Now she and Ernest are bringing that way of life to Dallas.

She adds, “I am confident it will be a great home for The Ivy and for our family.”

openings katy trail