Chefs for Farmers 2016

Famed Dallas food fest attracts best U.S. chefs to dish out for 3 days

Chefs for Farmers food festival in Dallas

Chefs for Farmers returns September 23-25.

Photo by Robert Bostick

UPDATE: Due to threat of rain, the main event for Chefs for Farmers is moving to Gilley’s.

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Popular Dallas foodie fest Chefs for Farmers returns for its fifth iteration on September 23-25. The three-day party starts with a dinner with James Beard Award winners on Friday night and culminates with the main dine-around at Lee Park on Sunday afternoon.

The annual festival’s mission is to promote and raise awareness of the North Texas farming industry. It’s come a long way since that first event in 2010, at a long dinner table for 125 at Eden’s Organic Farm in Balch Springs. The goal that evening: bring together farmers and chefs to promote the benefits of working closely.

For Friday night’s Celebrity Cruises Creme de la Femme Dinner presented by Whole Foods, James Beard Award winners Virginia Willis and Celina Tio, along with four other female chefs (three from Dallas), collaborate with farmers for a six-course meal. Dinner starts at 7 pm at Arlington Hall at Lee Park, and tickets are $200 per person (maximum 200). Proceeds benefit the Family Place.

Saturday brings the Street Food Night Market in the Dallas Design District, where up to 800 people can eat their way through street food prepared by 15 chefs, including Whistle Britches’ Omar Flores and Top Knot’s Angela Hernandez. Participants from outside of Dallas include 2016 James Beard Award winner Michael Gulotta (MoPho, New Orleans); Justin Brunson, (Old Major, Denver); and Chris Morningstar (Terrine, Los Angeles). Tickets are $75 per person, and the event begins at 7 pm.

Sunday’s main event returns to Lee Park, with more than 40 chefs; 35 farmers and artisans; and more than 50 wineries, breweries, and distilleries handing out samples to thousands of hungry festivalgoers. Dallas participants include CFF co-founder Matt McCallister of FT33, Justin Fourton of Pecan Lodge, Graham Dodds of Wayward Sons, Matt Dallman and Scott Gottlich of 18th & Vine Barbeque, Jeramie Robison of Uchi, and John Tesar of Knife. National chefs include Stephen Stryjewski (Couchon, New Orleans); Kevin Johnson (The Grocery, Charleston, North Carolina); Steve McHugh (Cured at Pearl, San Antonio); Jeremiah Langhorne (Food & Wine 2016 Best Restaurant of the Year The Dabney, Washington D.C.); and more. The event lasts from 2-6 pm, and tickets are $100 per person.

Discounted early bird tickets are now on sale now via the Chefs for Farmers website. Beginning August 1, tickets will be regular price.

Chefs for Farmers collaborates with nonprofits that are like-minded in their understanding and appreciation of the culinary and farming industries. In addition the Family Place, this year’s partners include Cafe Momentum and the North Texas Food Bank.

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Coffee News

New Dallas coffee shop opens with good coffee — and great hair

Common Good

Common Good coffee and good vibes

A new coffee shop with some serious styling has opened near downtown Dallas: Called Common Good, it's located at 1619 N. Hall St., right off Ross Avenue, in what was previously a retail outlet for Rakkasan Tea Company, who left the space in mid-2024.

Common Good is more than just a coffee shop – it's a coffee shop-hair salon from Christopher Bermudez, a stylist who previously owned Ellum Salon in Deep Ellum which he sold in 2022. Their motto: "Good coffee, good hair, good vibes."

Bermudez was born in Mexico City and moved to Dallas when he was one year old but remained close to his culture and often travels to Mexico City, where he found the inspiration behind this new concept.

"I was inspired by the multiuse spaces in my hometown of Mexico City: coffee shops that turn into a nightclub or tequila tasting rooms in the evening. Great vibe is what we are going for," he says.

The coffee shop is in the front, while the hair salon is in the back, divided by a large glass. The salon has eight stylists, including Bermudez.

The shop also features all-vinyl jam tables where guest DJs play music most weekends, creating a cool atmosphere. The décor resembles listening rooms that are popular in South Korea, with custom-made wooden walls and modern furniture.

Good vibes at Common Good Coffee and hair salonCommon Good

Heading the coffee operation is Jesse Nava, who recently worked at Xaman Coffee in Oak Cliff, and they're partnered with Lemma Coffee for beans and barista training. The shop offers a small but solid menu, with espresso and coffee classics, plus some specialty drinks including pistachio matcha, cardamon rose latte, espresso freddo, and a Mexican mocha.

“We want to stay consistent with a small menu — we want to get it right, then eventually add to it," Bermudez says.

They plan to add food, as well, working with a local bakery still to be decided for muffins, croissants, kolaches, cookies, and bagels.

They're open Tuesday-Saturday from 7 am-7 pm, with shorter hours Sunday and Monday, from 7 am-2 pm, since the salon portion is closed those days.

They've enjoyed a high demand for coffee in the area since the center they're in was once home to Fiction Coffee, a few doors down on the corner of Hall and Ross, which closed at the end of 2023.

They see themselves as a neighborhood coffee shop, where residents of the multiple apartment complexes around can become regulars. They are dog-friendly, serving pup cups.

"I always believed that if you have a good product people will come," Bermudez says.

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