Farmers Market Eats

Dallas Farmers Market recruits just about every restaurant in town

It’s kolaches and crawfish, popcorn and macarons: In its ongoing revitalization efforts, the Dallas Farmers Market has signed on more than 20 new and returning vendors and merchants for The Market (formally Shed 2). The list includes nearly every restaurant currently open in Dallas.

Okay, that’s an exaggeration. But there are a lot. These are the ones new to the farmers market:

Bohemian Cafe. Texan-Czech bakery offering scratch-made kolaches, klobasneks, soups, salads, gourmet hot dogs and coffees.
Cajun Tailgators. Brought the first gourmet Cajun food truck to DFW, cooking up crawfish étouffée, jambalaya, gumbo, and red beans and rice.
Chelles Macarons. Specializing in handcrafted French macarons in assorted flavors.
Doc Popcorn. National concept offering more than a dozen flavors of popcorn, kettle corn and caramel corn using non-GMO corn and 100 percent corn oil.
Dallas Caramel Company. Caramels and turtles in a dozen unique flavors with Dallas-inspired names like Texas Drunken Nut, Armadillos and Horned Toads.
Jack’s Modern Southern Kitchen. Southern comfort food, known for its biscuits and gravy.
Mild Bill’s Spice Co. Chili powders, spices, seasoning mixes and specialty rubs.
Scardello Artisan Cheese. Cut-to-order cheese shop focused on handcrafted cheeses and tasty accompaniments expanding from its location on Oak Lawn Avenue.
Si Tapas. A selection of hot and cold tapas, Spanish cheese plates, cured meats, soups and paellas.
Sterling Tea. Specializes in a variety of loose-leaf teas, herbal blends and tea accessories.
Betty’s Blue Ribbon Fare. State Fair of Texas-winning jams, preserves and marmalades.

There is also Dallas Antique Company, a non-food vendor selling antiques and vintage items.

Serving as anchor restaurants are the previously announced Rex’s Seafood and Market; Stocks & Bondy; Taqueria La Ventana; Nammi/Coolhaus; Palmieri Cafe; and Mudhen, a free-standing restaurant and beer garden from restaurateur Shannon Wynne.

They join a roster of returning vendors and merchants that includes the following:

Abundantly Aromatic. Handmade, all-natural scented bath and body soaps, sprays, scrubs and candles.
Boom Juice. Organic, plant-based cold-pressed juices and raw foods.
Caribbean Cabana. Authentic cuisine originating from different Islands in the Caribbean.
Frenchie’s Bistro. Fresh, made-to-order salads, sandwiches and delectable desserts.
La Popular. Signature tamales, breakfast tacos and other Mexican favorites.
San Miguel Exporta. Mexican imports including tapestries, pottery, and gift items from San Miguel de Allende.
The Brownie Cottage. Famous for its sweet and savory brownies, TBC will introduce a new Milk Bar serving fresh milk and chocolate milk from Waco-based farm Mill-King.
The Good Stuff Dallas Organic Kitchen. Healthy, gluten-free, organic fare including smoothies, flatbread pizzas and its famous carrot cake.

Jack Gosnell of CBRE | UCR, who is leasing the retail space, said in a release that tenants are lining up. "Unlike any project I’ve worked on in my 40-year career, 98 percent of the space available in The Market has been leased prior to construction."

When it reopens in June, the 26,000-square-foot Market will be fully renovated, with multiple indoor seating areas, new patio seating and an outdoor beautification program. A new interior design, using natural elements like wood and colors inspired by nature, will create a more inviting layout.

Final renovations include a parking garage and a mixed-use complex with lofts and retail space, slated for completion in 2016.

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Holiday News

Tom Thumb-Albertsons and UNT Dallas to gift free Thanksgiving meals

Thanksgiving

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Three organizations have come together to serve up Thanksgiving dinner to those in need: The North Texas Food Bank, in collaboration with the University of North Texas at Dallas (UNT Dallas) and Tom Thumb / Albertsons, will host a Thanksgiving food distribution on Saturday, November 23.

Each participating family will receive a turkey and approximately 60 pounds of food. The event is open to the public and will take place at UNT Dallas at 7300 University Hills Blvd. in Southern Dallas from 9 am-12 pm or until supplies last.

Participants in the mobile distribution do not need to register in advance but must have a vehicle for the drive-through event. Food will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. While no identification is required, attendees will be asked to provide their family size and zip code.

According to a recent study, Texas has become the leader in food insecurity, surpassing California with a food insecurity rate of 16.4 percent or nearly 5 million residents, more than a third of whom are children.

In NTFB’s 13-county service area, around 778,000 individuals face food insecurity, translating to 1 in 7 people, with nearly 286,860 being children. Dallas County accounts for more than 50 percent of NTFB's food-insecure population and ranks sixth in the nation for total food-insecure individuals and fifth for food-insecure children.

Tom Thumb/Albertsons is committed to addressing local food insecurity through its Recipe for Change initiative. The company champions innovative programs and partnerships to help break the cycle of hunger, donating millions of pounds of food annually to local food banks and pantries. Recently, Albertsons Companies announced $9 million in multiyear grants to three nonprofits dedicated to food security, with NTFB among the recipients.

“We have a long-standing commitment to hunger relief and are pleased to collaborate with the North Texas Food Bank and UNT Dallas in helping to ease the financial burden that the holidays present for many families,” says Tom Thumb / Albertsons PR director Christy Lara. “We are dedicated to fueling innovative programs that aim not just to feed our neighbors in need but also to help break the cycle of hunger.”

UNT Dallas has served as a partner to the North Texas Food Bank since 2020, regularly hosting mobile food distributions on campus alongside NTFB. Each month, UNT Dallas hosts a free, drive-through food distribution event to provide relief to students and the Southern Dallas community members in need of support. Hundreds of students and faculty volunteer for the monthly campus food distributions.

UNT Dallas also established the Trailblazers Care Pantry, an on-campus resource for students that offers non-perishable and perishable food items, hygiene products, and more to UNT Dallas students. The pantry also includes a Career Closet that provides clothing items to students to use for internships and job interviews.

In addition to the Thanksgiving distribution at UNT Dallas, NTFB purchased and distributed approximately 30,000 turkeys through its network of about 500 food pantries and organizations.

There is also a second giveaway in West Dallas — a turkey dinner distribution on November 22 at The Texas Rangers Youth Academy, in partnership with Buckner International and Kroger, in which turkeys and side dishes will be provided to hundreds of West Dallas families. Several Texas Rangers players will be on-site to help volunteers distribute food. However, all recipients are preregistered, and the event is not open to the public.

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