This week in gluttony

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

It's luau time.

Photo courtesy of Blue Owl Brewing

This week brings the Labor Day holiday — considered the unofficial end of summer — and there are several soirees to celebrate. Plan for a poolside party with live music, a Labor Day family-style brunch (with more live music), and a Hawaiian-style luau to send off summer in tropical fashion. Soak up the last of summer shindigs while they last.

Saturday, September 4

The Bacon Tour
The bacon craze carries on through this savory tour, which will include stops for bacon pizza, bacon doughnuts, BLTs, bacon-covered chocolate, and bacon-wrapped quail. (Save room for something called the bacon “Bucket of Love,” too.) Board the motor coach — which is BYOB — at 12:30 pm for a four-hour excursion. Tickets are $59 for adults and $49 for children ages 5-10.

Sunday, September 5

Spanish Latin American Duo Boards with Amor y Queso
Grab a friend and head to this Latin-inspired charcuterie class at the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden, where each duo will create their own board to share. The class will be led by the experts from Amor y Queso cheese shop. Some ingredients will be harvested from the gardens. The class will run from 11 am-1 pm and is $75 per pair for members and $80 for a guest couple.

Life at the Lakehouse Outdoor Party
It’s an end-of-summer soiree at the Omni Las Colinas lakeside hotel, where The Lakehouse Waterfront Lounge will host a poolside party. The event will feature live music, lawn games, and menu items fresh off the grill. Go Instagram-ready, as there will be photo ops situated throughout the property by Corona Premiere, Chandon Garden Spritz, Belvedere Organic Infusions, and Aperol liqueur. The event will take place all day from 11 am-8 pm and is free to attend; however, pool access requires a $25 resort pass for non-hotel guests. Food and cocktails will be available for purchase.

Chef Wars Food Festival at Grow DeSoto Marketplace
Family-friendly event includes food, music, bounce house, face painting, vendors, and games. A mix of foods will include barbecue, funnel cake, turkey legs, tacos, vegan, and keto. Chefs will compete to win a $200 gift card to Flobinna House of Fashion, and it will be up to the audience to vote for their favorite. It takes place 1-7 pm at 324 E. Belt Line Rd. Tickets are $5 in advance or $10 at the door and cover entry; food requires separate purchase.

Labor Day Weekend Luau at Legacy Hall
Wrap up summer Hawaiian-style with a taste of the tropics at Legacy Hall. There’ll be hula and live fire dancers, a limbo competition, and live music by Jimmy Buffett and Kenney Chesney tribute bands. Tickets start at $15 for general admission. The $60 ticket comes with VIP seating, a Hawaiian dinner of pulled pork, teriyaki chicken, slaw, potato salad and sweet rolls, and one tiki cocktail in a collectable coconut cup. The event will run from 2-10 pm.

Monday, September 6

Labor Day Jam and Toast Brunch at The Rustic
The Rustic’s popular Sunday brunch will be served Monday this week, paired with jamming live music. The generous menu is served family-style ($16.95 per person) and includes local cheeses and fruit, avocado toast, country baked eggs, bacon, sausage, Nashville-style spicy fried chicken, smoked cheddar grits, and small-batch doughnuts baked in-house. Wash it all down with mimosas or bloody marys sold by the carafe and pitcher. Brunch begins at 10 am and ends at 2 pm.

Labor Day Brunch at City Works Eatery and Pour House
Both locations, in Frisco and Fort Worth, will extend the usual weekend brunch to a Labor Day Monday "Funday" rock 'n' roll-themed event. Menu includes the Jon Bun Jovi (warm jumbo cinnamon roll), Johnny Hash (hardwood-smoked pulled pork shoulder over sunny side up eggs), Chimi Hendrix (breakfast chimichanga), and more. Brunch is offered from 10 am-3 pm; reservations are recommended and can be made online or by calling the restaurants.

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Cocktail buzz

New Art Deco-inspired cocktail lounge Marlowe shakes into Uptown Dallas

Rendering courtesy of Duncan Design Group

Rendering of the Marlowe cocktail lounge coming to 2912 McKinney Ave. in the fall.

A cocktail lounge coming to Uptown Dallas this fall will give night owls a new place to hang. Called Marlowe, it will open in September at 2912 McKinney Ave., in a space that most recently housed Theory Nightclub Uptown (which closed in June 2025), and before that, Avenu Lounge and Aura Lounge / Club Babalu.

A release calls Marlowe an "a richly layered hospitality experience where design, food, cocktails, music and service have been conceived to work together as one."

It will be open just Wednesday through Saturday, from 5 pm-2 am.

The project is led by Dallas hospitality entrepreneur Alon Abramov, who has more than a decade of experience developing and operating hospitality concepts, the release says. Thomas Menaitreau is operating partner and general manager, while Kyle Buckelew serves as beverage director and Garrett Swain, also known as DJ Zillamatic, is music programming director.

Marlowe is designed as a place where guests can drop in for drinks and a bite, stay for dinner, or swing by after dinner for a late-night drink, the owners say.

While few menu details are available yet, the food will be prepared without seed oils, they say. Early menu items include charred Matagorda Pearl oysters with garlic-lemon butter and parsley, along with beef skewers served with sumac tahini yogurt.

Buckelew, who led the bar team at just-opened Delilah Dallas, is overseeing the cocktail program. One of the early offerings revealed is an espresso martini made with salted caramel vodka, dulce de leche, espresso, and Demerara syrup.

The interior is designed by Duncan Design Group and takes cues from Art Deco and cinematic design, they say. The space will feature wood-vaulted ceilings, curved architectural elements, tiered seating, antique-mirror and marble bars, brass details, velvet seating, and a central stage. There's also an enclosed glass-and-brass patio with a birdcage-inspired structure. Music will be another major component, with Swain overseeing the programming.

Abramov says the idea for Marlowe started with the guest experience.

“Marlowe started with one question I’ve carried throughout my career: how should a guest feel the moment they walk through the door?” says Abramov in the release. “We’ve approached every decision through that lens. The lighting, music, design, cocktails, service and energy of the room all have to work together. We’re not interested in creating the biggest room — we want to create one of the most memorable, and a place people feel connected to enough to return to again and again.”

Menaitreau, who was born and raised in Strasbourg, France, has worked at Michelin-recognized restaurants including Fiola and Bresca in Washington, D.C., and Joël Robuchon in Las Vegas.

“At Marlowe, every element should contribute to how a guest remembers the evening — not individually, but collectively,” Menaitreau says. “Our vision is to pair refinement with warmth and create an atmosphere where excellence feels natural, personal and never overly formal. Ultimately, we want every guest to leave feeling better than when they arrived.”

What is the significance of the name "Marlowe?" The release does not explain the name, and CultureMap has asked. Considering the logo is a penguin, it could possibly be a "Marlowe penguin," referring to the Penguin Classics editions of works by Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe. Stand by for an update on the intriguing name.

The exact opening date, full menu, cocktail list, reservations and entertainment programming will be announced in the coming weeks, the owners say say.

bars cocktails uptown dallas

This week in gluttony

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

Cocktail buzz

New Art Deco-inspired cocktail lounge Marlowe shakes into Uptown Dallas

Dallas civic leader Calvert Collins-Bratton named Klyde Warren Park CEO

Dallas restaurant group to open modern Mexican spot in Grapevine

Frisco development Fields West adds more big-name shops and restaurants