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

Taco News

Family taqueria nabs Thunderbird Station space in Dallas' Deep Ellum

El Arquito

A Dallas family-owned taqueria chain has opened a location at a historic Deep Ellum address: Taquería El Arquito, known for its trompo tacos and customer-friendly hours, has opened an outlet at 3400 Commerce St., in the space previously occupied by Thunderbird Station, which closed in 2023.

Taqueria El Arquito opened in late June. It's a family venture from siblings Analí, Nancy, Martha, and Victor Hugo Reza, working with chefs Juan Diego Gutierrez and José Angel Avila, to recreate family recipes — particularly for their tacos de trompo, with a goal to spotlight their Mexican heritage by serving a strictly authentic rendition.

They keep long hours, opening early at 6 am Monday-Saturday and 7 am on Sunday, spotlighting the key meal: breakfast, with classics like a breakfast taco with eggs and mozzarella cheese on a flour tortilla, with choice of bacon, beans, house-made chorizo, ham, potatoes, or sausage, for $2.89. They also do a breakfast sandwich and breakfast burrito, plus generous $10.39 plates such as migas, huevos rancheros, and chilaquiles.

They're open for lunch and dinner with their bestselling trompo tacos, plus hefty torta sandwiches, in four "global" varieties that include Milanesa (beef with mozzarella cheese), Cubana (beef, trompo meat, salchicha, ham, American cheese, and mozzarella cheese), and Hawaiian, a clever twist on pastor with trompo meat, ham, and pineapple. Torta prices range from $12 to $14.

They also have tamales and menudo on weekends, plus horchata, aguas frescas, and churros and elote for dessert.

“We love to prepare the food with love — we call it magic flavors," Analí says. "We’re known for our tacos but we also have burritos, tortas, burgers, chilaquiles, breakfast, and refreshing agua fresca. Don’t even think about skipping the horchata here."

They founded the concept — named for the many arcs in their hometown Taxco, Mexico — during the pandemic, opening their first location in a convenience store at 1909 S. Cesar Chavez Blvd. in 2020. They've expanded quickly, opening eight other locations, primarily in gas stations across DFW from Royse City to Dallas to Haltom City to Fort Worth.

They put themselves on the map after opening a location at The Corner in Preston Center in 2024 — one of the few not located in a gas station.

El Arquito Former Gulf station at 3400 Commerce St. Courtesy photo

The Deep Ellum location is special for a couple of reasons. Like Preston Center, it is not a gas station offshoot but is on its own, and it will be the first in the chain to serve alcohol. They've applied for a license which is pending.

"We'll have some alcohol two frozen margaritas with a wine base, plus Michelada, Pulque, and three to four beers," Anali says.

But there's also the synchronicity of the building itself. While it is not a restaurant-in-a-gas-station like most of their other locations, the building itself is a former gas station, and one with a venerable history: the former Gulf station at the corner of Canton Street that was built in 1957, and operated for decades as Riegel's Gulf Service. In a neighborhood being mowed down by developers, it's an exemplary example of preserving the heritage via re-use. The space boasts indoor seating and comes with an expansive outdoor patio.

tacos openings