This Week in Gluttony

Bird Cafe's first beer dinner tops best food and drink events in Dallas-FortWorth

Bird Cafe hosts its first beer dinner on March 2.
Photo courtesy of Bird Cafe
The Bird Cafe beer dinner features Prairie Artisan Ales.
Beef tenderloin is just one course at the February 26 Hogue Cellars Wine Dinnerat Olenjack's Grille.
Photo by Paula Murphy
Lazaranda hosts a Partida tequila dinner on February 27.
PartidaTequila.com
Nonna is devoted to exploring balsamic vinegar February 27-28.
The Rustic welcomes Real Ale for a February 28 beer dinner.
The Rustic/Facebook

This Week in Gluttony is jam-packed with tasty dinners, featuring wine, beer, tequila and balsamic vinegar — but not all during the same meal. If sitting down for a multicourse feast is your idea of a good time, then this week is for you.

Wednesday, February 26

Hogue Cellars Wine Dinner at Olenjack’s Grille
Olenjack’s Grille hosts Hogue Cellars for a four-course dinner paired with wines from Washington’s Colombia Valley. Dishes include baby back ribs, warm mushroom and arugula salad, beef tenderloin, and chocolate angel food cake with hazelnut mousse. Cost is $65 per person, and you can reserve your spot by calling 817-226-2600.

Thursday, February 27

Partida Tequila Dinner at Lazaranda
Chef Antonio Marquez prepares a six-course dinner paired with Partida tequila for those who dare to partake on a school night. The menu includes crab-stuffed piquillo peppers, Caesar salad, Parmesan chicharron and smoked salmon, chicken breast with zucchini blossoms and black beans, sauteed prawns in Partida Silver tequila, goat cheese and peanut-crusted filet mignon with wild mushroom sauce, and corn flan for dessert. The cost is $46 per person, and you can reserve your spot by calling 972-866-8900.

Aceto Balsamico Dinners at Nonna
For two nights only (February 27-28), the menu at Nonna is devoted to exploring aceto balsamico — better known to Americans as balsamic vinegar. The dinners have a unique format with three categories: young balsamic, medium aged balsamic and old balsamic. Dishes include fennel salad, beef tongue with sunchokes and balsamic mayonnaise, sweet potato gnocchi with brown butter and Castelmagno, Windy Meadows chicken and sausage with butter and sage, and fluke with fumet and leeks. Pricing is à la carte. Call 214-521-1800 for reservations.

Friday, February 28

Real Ale Beer Dinner at The Rustic
The Rustic hosts a six-course beer dinner with Real Ale Brewing Company. Chef Matt Balke prepares courses such as avocado salad with grapefruit, endive, beet and tarragon; blue cheese and bacon dates with chestnut puree and arugula; steak tartare with dill crème fraiche, egg yolk and grilled baguette; rabbit sausage risotto with spicy soppressata, Spicer’s mushrooms, mustard jus and kale; pork cheeks with grits and stinging nettles; and goat cheese cheesecake. Cost is $75 per person. Reservations can be made by emailing at events@therusticrestaurant.com.

Sunday, March 2

Prairie Artisan Ales Dinner at Bird Cafe
Bird Cafe in Fort Worth has chosen Prairie Artisan Ales for its inaugural beer dinner. Owner and brewer Chase Healey pairs his beers with six courses prepared by chef David McMillan, including Hawaiian fish auction crudo, mushroom fritto misto, pork belly, chicken with forbidden rice and squid ink, and chocolate mousse with almond mole and cream scones. The dinner costs $75 per person, and reservations are highly recommended. You can call 817-332-2473 for those. The event is going down in the Rookery on the second floor.

unspecified

Hummus News

New Mediterranean restaurant in McKinney spotlights Greek and Lebanese

Ilio's

Chicken shawarma plate at Ilio's Greek & Lebanese

A new Mediterranean restaurant starring two cuisines has debuted in McKinney: Called Ilio’s Greek & Lebanese Restaurant, it's now open at 210 N. Custer Rd. #130, with a collection of Middle Eastern favorites like gyros, shawarma, kebabs, hummus, falafel, and pita wraps.

The restaurant, which opened in mid-May in a center on the newer west side of McKinney, is from a pair of restauraunt veterans, Anas Abu-Ziad, nicknamed "Ziad," and Talal Hammad, who owned a similarly-themed and similarly-named concept in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Managing the front of the house is Ziad's affable wife Jessica Gardener, whose doting customer service has quickly made her a diner favorite.

"The idea with combining Greek and Lebanese was to make the restaurant inviting to everyone," Gardener says.

Baton Rouge has a reputation for good Greek and Lebanese food, even boasting a few restaurants that feature "Greek & Lebanese" as part of their name. Those two cuisines are slightly less common in Dallas, where the Middle-Eastern restaurant scene has been dominated mostly by Turkish and Syrian places.

Ilio's, which was the ancient Greek name for the city of Troy and is a popular moniker for Greek restaurants across the U.S., specializes in sizzling grilled kebobs, which are available in chicken, beef, shrimp, and kafta, the Lebanese favorite consisting of ground meat — often a combination of beef and lamb, with spices, onions, and herbs — molded into a long cylinder.

Greek dishes include dolmas (stuffed grape leaves with rice), spinach pie, and lamb shank — all dishes that can appear on many Middle Eastern menus but are most closely allied with Greek cuisine. That includes moussaka, the homey casserole dish made with eggplant, meat sauce, and bechamel — although Ilio's version is deconstructed, which is easier for restaurants to execute than the traditional layered version favored by home cooks.

Hummus comes in three options: traditional, Mediterranean, and Sultan, topped with chunks of meat. Other Mediterranean classic dishes include chicken shawarma, gyro plates, falafel, and fried halloumi cheese.

Most dishes come in under $15 and the restaurant is also BYOB.

There are extra-healthy dishes including salads, lentil soup, and pita wraps, made with pita that's a little softer and less doughy than many pitas in town. And there's also a fusion twist that's very Texas: a "Greek quesadilla" with your choice of grilled meat stacked between pita bread.

greek cuisine lebanese cuisine mckinney mediterranean restaurant middle eastern favorites openings