This week in gluttony

These are the 9 best food and drink events in Dallas this week

Cane Rosso at The Star will be serving star-shaped pizza-calzones on Cowboys Draft Night Out.

Photo courtesy of Cane Rosso

This week is busy with delicious events for both humans and canines. Read closely — there’s also opportunity for free lunch and dinner. Pairing events are also prevalent this week, featuring whiskey, bourbon, and Napa Valley and Spanish wines. Watch the weather forecast, as a handful of the events are planned for outdoor settings.

Tuesday, April 26

Free Tacos & Jarritos
Mexican soda brand Jarritos is partnering with local Dallas eateries Del Sur Tacos and El Come Tacos to pick up customer tabs. Visit Del Sur Tacos from 11 am-2 pm for a complimentary lunch, and El Come Tacos from 5-8 pm for a complimentary dinner. The campaign encourages diners to support local while highlighting how tacos and Jarritos make the perfect combo.

High West Pairing Dinner at Whiskey Cake Plano
There’ll be six lip-smacking courses served during this whiskey pairing dinner, with highlights including pork dumplings, pickled shrimp salad, blue potato cakes, “shake & bake” pork chop, and double chocolate bread pudding. All courses come with either a straight pour or cocktail made with High West whiskey. Dinner is $85 per person, plus tax and gratuity, and begins at 7 pm.

Wednesday, April 27

Global Dinner Series at Harper’s Steakhouse
Experience a taste of Japan during this four-course dinner and cocktail tasting. Dishes include tonkotsu ramen, A5 Wagyu ishiyaki, mochi and more, all prepared by Harper’s executive chef Daniel Griffith. Dinner is $125 per person, plus tax and gratuity, and begins at 6:30 pm.

Thursday, April 28

The Pour with Sagamore Spirits at Bourbon & Banter
The latest edition of The Pour — a series of spirits and culinary tastings at The Statler’s underground speakeasy — will feature Maryland’s Sagamore Spirits, known for its rye whiskey. Highlights from the three-course menu include grilled Scottish salmon, West Texas wild boar and buffalo meatloaf, and a Texas pecan tart with strawberry and rhubarb jam. The pairing event is $100 per person, plus tax and gratuity, and will run from 6-8 pm.

Wine & Wag Walk at Victory Park
Victory Park will transform into “Victory Bark” during this weeknight dog-friendly sip-and-shop event. Bring your canine companion and enjoy wine and dog treats at multiple stops including Biago Wine and Spirits, Escapology, ViVi’s Victory Park, and more. Tickets are $15 and the event will run from 6-9 pm.

Lamborn Family Vineyards Wine Dinner at Al Biernet’s North
Special guest Brian Lamborn of Napa Valley’s Lamborn Family Vineyards will visit the iconic Dallas restaurant to lead guests through a four-course wine dinner. Red wine varietals will be paired with menu items such as grilled poblano pepper Caesar salad, roasted quail with gruyere sausage risotto, and grilled lamb chops. Save room for chocolate peanut butter brownies and spiced rum banana milkshakes. The dinner is $175 per person, plus tax and gratuity, and begins at 6:30 pm with a reception.

Wine Dinner at Saint Ann: Tour of Spain
Seating is limited for this five-course dinner and wine pairing, which will take guests on a culinary tour of Spain. Wines include Mercat Brut Cava, Menade Rueda Verdejo, and Vall Llach Porrera Vi de Vila. Reservations are $185 per person, including tax and gratuity, and dinner begins at 6:30 pm.

Friday, April 29

Dallas Cowboys Draft Night Out
Coinciding with the 2022 NFL Draft, several restaurants in The Star District in Frisco will offer Draft Night Out special dishes and prix-fixe menus. Participating places include Lombardi Cucina Italiana, Tupelo Honey, The Common Table, Sushi Marquee, and more. At Cane Rosso, folks can order The Star — a star-shaped pizza and calzone hybrid. At Dee Lincoln Prime, the #1 Draft Pick Roll comes with king crab, caviar, wasabi truffle aioli and gold flakes. Look for live music, games, photo ops and more throughout The Star District.

Saturday, April 30

Pupchella at Happiest Hour
The Harwood District happy hour hotspot will host a dog-friendly festival. Humans can bring their furry friends for frozen watermelon pup treats, pup biscuits, and giveaways. There’ll also be live music, dog adoptions, and cocktails for adults, and $1from each one ordered will be donated to Friends of Dallas Animal Services. Pupchella will run from 12-4 pm.

Sunday, May 1

Dinner in the District
The Adolphus Hotel and its neighbor The Exchange have rounded up five Dallas chefs for one big dinner on the lawn in the AT&T Discovery District. The six-course dinner will feature dishes from Regino Rojas of Revolver Taco Lounge, Katherine Clapner of Dude, Sweet Chocolate, The Exchange chef Richard Blakenship, and Adolphus chefs Ruben Torano and Charles Olalia. Dinner is $150 per person, plus tax and gratuity, and includes wine paired with each course. Also included is a digital art show by the Discovery District’s creative director. The event begins at 6 pm.

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Chicken & Waffles News

Celeb-owned Johnny's Chicken & Waffles opens second DFW location

dallas.culturemap.com

Johnny's Chicken & Waffles

A restaurant dedicated to chicken & waffles with celebrity ties has doubled down on Dallas-Fort Worth: Johnny's Chicken & Waffles, founded by reality TV star Crystal Smith; her ex-husband singer Ne-Yo; and Karlie Redd (VH1’s Love n’ Hip Hop), has opened a location in Fort Worth, at 2707 Race St. #117.

The restaurant opened softly on July 11, with an official opening coming on July 22.

This marks the second location for the brunch favorite: AFter debuting the concept in 2020 in the Atlanta area, they opened a location in Dallas at 1326 Botham Jean Blvd. in 2024.

Chicken & waffles, their signature dish, takes its cue from the famous Roscoe's House of Chicken & Waffles in southern California (although the dish originated in Harlem at a place called Wells Famous Home of Chicken and Waffles).

Johnny's menu lets diners mix-and-match: You choose how you want your chicken and then a flavor of waffle, so you can customize your chicken-and-waffle situation to order.

Chicken comes in choice of whole wings, tenders, Buffalo wings, or a combo
Waffles comes in choice of buttermilk, pecan, red velvet, or strawberry

Their other big signatures include mac & cheese which you can order with chicken tenders, fried shrimp, or fried lobster tail, for $29.95; and cocktails served in mason jars, such as bloody Marys, margaritas, espresso martini, and a strawberry lemonade with cognac.

They also have entrees like Cajun penne pasta, brioche French toast stuffed with cream cheese, fried shrimp basket, catfish & grits, and salads like a kale Caesar. Most items are priced between $22 and $30.

Operations manager Randy Lamp says that the Dallas restaurant has been such a smash — always busy, and especially on weekends, when brunch draws big lines — that expanding was a no-brainer.

"We thought, we have this wildly successful restaurant here, it makes sense to open something in the area — but not right in Dallas," Lamp says.

They scouted about 20 locations, but it didn't take them long to narrow it down to Fort Worth, where they opened at at 2707 Race St. #117.

"Race Street fit a lot of same criteria as our Dallas location," Lamp says. "It's centrally located but it's not in a saturated retail area, and that is to our benefit. We are careful in how we choose our neighborhoods and spaces."

Lamp says that the Dallas location "showed us some things about ourselves that we liked learning."

"One lesson we learned from Dallas is that you don't need foot traffic for brunch," he says. "People don't mind driving somewhere to get brunch. So a standalone spot with good parking becomes a positive. The Race Street location has a great parking lot right behind it, and there's no one nearby that's going to get mad if we have people waiting in line."

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