This week in gluttony

These are the 8 best food and drink events in Dallas this week

Frozen cocktails, cheers, a toast, The Rustic

The Rustic is serving up Bourbon Street bevs for Mardi Gras.

Photo courtesy of The Rustic

Tuesday is officially Mardi Gras and Wednesday is Texas Independence Day, and there are celebrations for each this week. Whiskey connoisseurs should take note that one of New York's most popular whiskey festivals is making its Texas debut in Dallas this weekend. Also, Monday is the beginning of spring break for some schools, and Legacy Hall is ready to help with activities both kids and parents will enjoy.

Tuesday, March 1

Mardi On Crawfish Boil at Rex's Seafood and Market
Don't miss this chance to "Mardi on" at the Dallas Farmers Market, where Rex's Seafood will bring the bayou to DFW with all-you-can-eat crawfish plus drink of your choice. There'll also be live music, plus prizes for best dressed. The party runs from 5-10 pm. Tickets are $40 and can be purchased online.

Mardi Craw at The Rustic
Celebrate Fat Tuesday with a crawfish boil at The Rustic. There’ll be fried crawfish tails, jambalaya, etouffee, and Bacardi-based Bourbon Street beverages like frozen hurricanes and Swamp Thing. Stay for live music, beads, and giveaways. The party starts at 5:30 pm.

Wine Dinner at Gorji
The fine dining Mediterranean restaurant will celebrate its 19th anniversary with a four-course steak dinner paired with Reddy Vineyards wines. Courses will include prime beef tenderloin, New Zealand venison tenderloin, grilled veal scallopini, and dessert. Wines to be paired recently won multiple awards at the 2022 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. Dinner is $230 per person and begins at 6 pm.

Wednesday, March 2

Texas Independence Day at Jaxon Texas Kitchen & Beer Garden
The AT&T Discovery District restaurant and bar will celebrate its second anniversary on Texas Independence Day lots of action: live music in the beer garden, a hat bar and branding station, photo booth, and food and drink deals. The event will include $2 burgers and specials on Texas beer, whiskey, and ranch waters. The party will start at 5 pm with 90s country cover band Straight Tequila Night to play from 7-10 pm.

Judgement of Texas on The Porch at The Ranch Las Colinas
In honor of Texas Independence Day, The Ranch is hosting a blind tasting of eight Texas wines, compared to similar varietals from other wine regions in the world, for a total of 16 wines. Attendees also get chef's bites, a custom tote, wine glass, and tasting notebook. Each of the wines will be available for purchase following the event. It runs from 6-8 pm. Tickets are $75 and can be purchased online.

Saturday, March 5

Community Beer Co. Grand Opening Bierfest
The brewery will celebrate the opening of a new two-story taproom and outdoor biergarten with a party. Festivities will include live music, two new specialty beers to be released, and German cuisine from chef Kent Rathbun. The $30 ticket includes two pints plus a four-pack of a commemorative IPA with early entry at 12 pm. The $15 ticket grants entry at 1 pm and includes two pints.

Whiskey Riot Festival
Popular in New York, the Whiskey Riot Festival is making its Texas debut in Dallas. To be held at the Fashion Industry Gallery, the festival will feature more than 200 whiskeys for guests to try, from Glenfiddich to local favorites TX Whiskey and Blackland Distilling. Tickets are $85 per person and the event will run from 4-7 pm.

Monday, March 7

Superhero Lunch at Legacy Hall
Spring break starts now for many kiddos, and parents can stay sane thanks to Legacy Hall’s Spring Break Takeover activities. First up, lunch with Spiderman, Wonder Woman, and Captain America. The superheroes will lead kids through games and lessons from the stage, followed by lunch and photo ops. Tickets are sold by tables of two ($40), four ($80), and six ($110) and includes a $15 per person gift card for the food hall, and a keepsake superhero cape and mask. Check-in begins at 11 am and showtime is at 12 pm.

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Where to drink

Where to drink in Dallas right now: 5 essential happy hours for June

Crown Block

Tini-time at Crown Block

In the nick of time for the weekend and beyond, it's the latest edition of Where to Drink, CultureMap's monthly roundup of the best new happy hours to get a drink (and maybe a bite) at a discount. For June, the list stretches from downtown Dallas to McKinney, from $12 cocktails to cheap beer at a would-be dive bar.

Here's where to drink in June 2026:

Crown Block
Michelin-recommended restaurant atop Reunion Tower has launched "Tower Hour," a new summer happy hour available daily June 1-August 31 from 5-6:30 pm. Served in the Bar & Lounge only, it spotlights new martini-focused offerings including the TIni Tower, a two-tier tower with food & drink. The bottom tier has shellfish including oysters, crab claws, and lobster. The top tier has martinis and fixings, including a martini carafe, olives & other accoutrements, and martini glasses face down on crushed ice. Festive! They're also pouring $12 classic martinis with choice of Townes Vodka or Greenhouse Gin.

Elle on Ross
For cheap beers near downtown Dallas, hit this dive bar next to the former XOXO Dining Room (and from XOXO's owners Gap Concepts AKA Veeral Rathod and Obi Ibeto), which comes with pool table, arcade, TVs, and a happy hour offering every day, weekends included. Hours are Monday-Friday from 6-9 pm, Saturday-Sunday from 2-6 pm, when cocktails are $10, well drinks are $6, and beers are $4. Food consists of $8 dips and bites including sliders and wings.

Maroma
Upscale Mexican seafood restaurant which opened in May in the Design District has now introduced its happy hour, with a selection of bites and cocktails all priced at $12, served daily from 2-6 pm at the bar. Bites include calamari frito, green chili burguesa, and smoked beef cheek barbacoa sope. Plus oysters for $3. Drinks include the Maroma Paloma with Mi Campo tequila blanco and Fever Tree grapefruit soda; martini with choice of Citadelle Gin or Tito's Vodka; Mexican martini with castelvetrano olive juice; Muchacho margarita, rocks or frozen; and Corona y Caña with rum & pina colada candy floss. Plus house sparkling, red, and white wine.

Union Bear
Small local craft beer chain has three locations including Plano and Denton, but it's the McKinney outlet where you'll find the cool two-part happy hour: There's a "social hour" on weekdays from 3-6 pm, and then a second late-night happy hour daily from 9-11 pm with food, cocktails, wine, and beer. The food includes green chile pork rinds for $6, chips & queso for $6, pretzel bites for $8, and flatbreads for $13. Union Bear brews including IPA, amber, lager, blonde, & light are $4. House wine and well liquors are $7.

Uptown Dumpling
Chic Asian restaurant with California roots opened recently in North Dallas with a focus on xiao long bao, the famed soup dumplings, as well as Peking duck. But they also offer a happy hour with some real deals: Monday-Friday from 4-6 pm they become a "$5 sanctuary," with drinks and bites for $5 that include their signature Uptown Dragon — an intoxicating elixir containing rum, passionfruit, dragonfruit, lemon juice, and orange juice; plus margaritas, draft beer, house wines & sake. Their $5 snacks include edamame, spring rolls, cheese wontons, and fried popcorn chicken.

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