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.

news-you-can-eat holidays wine

Greek News

Savvy chef team to open Elia Greek Tavern in Dallas' Bishop Arts

Weight Watchers

Branzino with olives and tomatoes

A new restaurant is coming to a revered Oak Cliff location: Called Elia Greek Tavern, it will open this summer in Bishop Arts at 205 N. Bishop Ave., better known as the former home of Nora Restaurant and Bar.

Elia is from highly prolific chef Habip Kargin and his partner Hayko Sherenian, who also own Selda Mediterranean, the growing Turkish restaurant concept which now has four locations in Dallas — including The Mayor's House by Selda, also in Bishop Arts — as well as a location in San Antonio.

When Nora closed in May, they saw an opportunity to offer something new to the neighborhood.

"We wanted to bring an authentic Mediterranean/Greek seafood restaurant to Bishop Arts and also bring another attraction to the area," Sherenian says.

Elia will be a fusion, combining Turkish and Greek cuisine, especially seafood such as baked Greek branzino, dorado, swordfish, and snapper, as well as Greek classics like chicken and lamb.

They'll also do classic Greek dishes like tzatziki and caviar dips, calamari, and saganaki — a pan-fried Greek cheese. Prices will be reasonable for a nice place, from $20-$40 per person.

As is their habit, they're bringing in chefs with expertise: Abdullah "Apo" Acik and Yusuf Alasulu, two chefs from Cyprus, an island south of Greece, to head the culinary team.

The restaurant will be open late nights until 2 am and feature a full bar with wine, beer, and cocktails, as well as a weekday happy hour from 3-6 pm.

The inside of the restaurant is also being renovated with a classic Greek vibe incorporating lots of the color blue.

"It will be upscale but cozy and relaxed at the same time," Sherenian says. "We want the customer to feel as if they just had a meal at a small family restaurant in Greece."

Kargin opened his first restaurant in Mersin, Turkey, before moving to the U.S. He founded Pera, a Mediterranean concept, in 2012 and later opened the original Selda on Belt Line Road in 2020. Sherenian became a partner when they expanded with a location in Frisco, which opened in May.

oak-cliff openings