This week in gluttony

These are the 7 best food and drink events in Dallas this week

As July draws to a close, one local brewery is bringing beach vibes to Texas with a party inspired by a popular stretch of coastal Florida highway. There are also lots of pairing dinners, including Southern spirits, tequila, and local beer. Fried chicken lovers will appreciate specials and giveaways at a new hot chicken spot, and there’s even opportunity to measure how loud a hot wing crunch can get via decibel-measuring “crunch booth.”

Tuesday, July 26

Heaven Hill Pairing Dinner at Whiskey Cake Plano
The upscale Southern restaurant will feature Kentucky’s Heaven Hill Distillery for a six-course cocktail and spirits pairing dinner. Among the standout menu items are pan fried scallops with farro risotto and hanger steak bruschetta with serrano chimichurri. Don’t miss Texas grilled peaches with pecan streusel and vanilla cream for dessert. Dinner is $85 per person, excluding tax and gratuity, and begins at 7 pm.

Friday, July 29

Crunch Out Loud at Bonchon
Here’s a new one: How loud is your crunch? Find out at the Addison location of Bonchon, the global restaurant chain known for its double-fried Korean fried chicken. On National Chicken Wing Day, the restaurant will debut its new Crunch Booth, where patrons can step inside to measure in decibels how loud their crunch is when biting into Bonchon’s crispy chicken. The booth — which resembles a phone booth — will be available for guest use from 11 am-7 pm on Friday and 11 am-3 pm on Saturday. Guests who measure their crunch sound will receive a $5 coupon to use toward their next visit.

Saturday, July 30

Peticolas Beer Lunch at Bluffview Growler
The Dallas pub will host a come-and-go beer-pairing lunch featuring four courses and four Peticolas Brewing Company brews. Visit anytime from 12-4 pm for the $29 per person steal of a feast. Menu items include “Texas Twinkies” — brisket and cream cheese-stuffed jalapeños wrapped in bacon — plus watermelon and arugula salad, brisket banh mi, and peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream. Purchase tickets in advance.

Sal’s Nashville Hot Chicken
This hot chicken and waffle concept is now open in Plano and will celebrate with lots of giveaways. Be one of the first 200 customers and receive a free sandwich. The next 100 guests will receive a buy-one-get-one deal on any item. Even more, on both Saturday and Sunday, get 50 percent off your order of two or more items. Every customer will also be entered to win a 50-inch TV. Sal’s touts organic, hand-breaded, never frozen chicken spiced by unique blends of exotic peppers. Note that menu items will be limited. Arrive starting at 1 pm.

30A Beach Bash & Seltzer Launch Party at Tupps Brewery
The McKinney brewery will bring beach vibes to landlocked North Texas with a party themed around 30A, the beautiful stretch of coastal Florida highway popular for vacations. Taste four new year-round seltzer flavors inspired by the beach: strawberry margarita, watermelon mint, mojito, and rosé. The seltzers will only be available in the Tupps taproom and in select venues on 30A itself. Enjoy live music and kiddie pools at the beach bash, which will run from 2-8 pm. Don’t forget your beach hat and flip flops.

Couples Cocktail Class at Akai
Visit the Japanese-inspired speakeasy hidden in Musume for a couples cocktail class, where participants will learn how to make three craft cocktails. All will get their own barware and swag bag to create the drinks at home. Light apps will be served. The $190 price is per couple, and the class begins at 5 pm.

Sunday, July 31

Calirosa Dinner at Urban Seafood Company
The Plano seafood stop will pair New England-inspired dishes with tequilas in a unique culinary twist. Tequilas will be by Calirosa, known for its Rosa Blanco, which is aged in California red wine barrels. The four-course dinner paired with four tequilas is $75 per person, plus tax and gratuity, and begins at 5:30 pm.

news-you-can-eat cocktails craft-beer dinner

Bagel News

Buzzy Northeast chain PopUp Bagels ready to debut in Dallas

PopUp Bagels

PopUp Bagels coming to Dallas.

A buzzy bagel concept founded in the Northeast is coming to Dallas: Called PopUp Bagels, it famously started as a backyard project during the pandemic, and will open a location at Inwood Village, in the former I Heart Yogurt shop (which only just closed), next to the Inwood Theatre at 5450 W Lovers Ln. #143.

Signage has already gone up on the location and according to a spokesperson, the shop will open in early spring.

PopUp Bagels was founded in Westport, Connecticut by entrepreneur and home baker Adam Goldberg, with his cousin Jeff Lewis, as a side project during the pandemic, when everyone was baking at home. The bagels earned such a warm reception that Goldberg started hosting bagel popups in various locations near his home.

The concept's success has been helped by a national surge of interest in bagels, as well as viral moments on TikTok and other social media. Goldberg sold the concept to equity growth firm Stripes in 2023, who drew celebrity investors such as Paul Rudd and Michael Phelps, with plans to open hundreds of locations across the U.S. Talk is cheap but for now, there are 23 locations in New York, Maine, Florida, Connecticut, Massachusetts, California, and North Carolina.

One of their selling points for a seamless expansion is that they've kept things simple including a compact menu of bagels, spreads, and a pound of smoked salmon. There's a minimum purchase of three bagels, along with a mandatory tub of cream cheese or butter, for $12, and they only offer five flavors: plain, salt, poppy, sesame, and everything.

Bagels are sold whole only, no sandwiches and also not sliced — leading to their nickname "rip and dip," in which customers rip the bagels and dip them into spreads. Their texture is softer and lighter than the classic New York dense bagel, making them easier to "rip."

They're also known for their collaborations on over-the-top schmear flavors — beyond their regular original cream cheese, scallion cream cheese, and vegan cream cheese — which they rotate in with frequency. Recent specialty schmears include Honey Chipotle Cream Cheese, Salted Maple Banana Bread Schmear, Cheez-It Schmear, and a Lemon Pepper Schmear just announced with WingStop that summons the wing chain's Lemon Pepper sauce.

bagels openings