This week in gluttony

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

Chips, queso, and guac — the traditional 103rd birthday present.

It's that time of the year when Oktoberfest events start to pop up around town, and this week's event roundup includes two multi-day festivals. Also on the list: The return of Grapevine's Grapefest, along with an anniversary for a Dallas Tex-Mex chain. Plan ahead for National Punch Day next Monday, because there's an event for that, too.

Wednesday, September 15

El Fenix 103rd Anniversary
The Dallas-based Tex-Mex institution will celebrate its 103rd birthday at all 15 DFW locations with some giveaways. The first 103 customers at each outlet will receive a complimentary cup of queso with an entrée purchase and be entered to win free El Fenix for a year. At the downtown Dallas location, guests can enjoy live mariachi music and dancers, margarita and ranch water samplings, and special guest appearances by members of the Martinez family, who founded the Tex-Mex institution more than a century ago.

Thursday, September 16

35th Annual GrapeFest – A Texas Wine Experience
The largest wine festival in the Southwest is back, this year featuring non-stop live music on four different stages for four days. Headliners include 80s musical titans Berlin and Asia, along with AshenMoon featuring Garry Beers of INXS and Stray Cats’ Slim Jim Phantom. As for the wine, Texas wineries will be well-represented along with this year’s featured guest wineries: Napa Valley and South Australia’s Barossa Valley. Admission is free on Thursday. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, admission is $10 for adults and $5 for seniors (62-plus) and children 6-12.

Addison Oktoberfest
Raise a stein and make room for German sausage, sauerkraut, strudel, giant pretzels, and more at this four-day festival celebrating the traditions of Oktoberfest. There’ll be Bavarian folk dances, carnival rides and midway games, and a special Oktoberfest Paulaner Bier. Admission is free Thursday and Sunday, and $10 Friday and Saturday. For a longer list of Oktoberfests this fall, head over to this story.

Beer vs. Wine Dinner at Vector Brewing
Lake Highlands brewery hosts a four-course dinner accompanied by both a pour of Vector beer and a fine wine from David Mayfield. Courses include roasted bone marrow, cauliflower steak, New Zealand Cervena elk, and white sponge cake with white chocolate and Italian meringue. Speakers include co-owner Craig Bradley, brewer Tommy Gutierrez, sommelier Kelsey Keener, chef Brittany Bryant, and bartender Jorshy French. A reception begins at 7 pm. Tickets are $120, and seating is limited to 30 tickets.

Saturday, September 18

Dallas Farmers Market Pumpkin Patch
Pumpkins have arrived from Floydada, Texas, featuring more than 25 pumpkin varieties. The patch is open every day inside The Shed, from September 18-October 31, Monday-Friday 10 am-6 pm, Saturday 9 am-5 pm, Sunday 10 am-5 pm.

10th Annual FOE BBQ Cookoff
Amateur barbecue event takes place at the Fraternal Order of Eagles, the nonprofit organization and East Dallas' favorite poolside hang. There's BBQ, drink specials, axe throwing, and more. This is a charity event with proceeds benefitting the Mental Health Awareness and Suicide Prevention. This year it's presented by Deep Ellum Brewing Co. Tickets are $15, and get you in for BBQ samples from 20 different BBQ teams competing to win your vote for "People's Choice". The awards ceremony is at 5 pm. Parking is limited; ride-sharing, Lyft, or Uber are strongly recommended.

Cotton Candy Release & Concert at Texas Ale Project
Coinciding with the upcoming start of the State Fair of Texas, the Dallas brewery will release its Cotton Candy Pilsner with a party. Visit from 4–10 pm for pints of the sweet and creamy brew, along with live music and grub from Dallas Grilled Cheese food truck. Admission is free before 6:30 pm, and $5 thereafter.

Truck Yard Trucktoberfest
At this inaugural event at both Truck Yard Dallas and Truck Yard Colony, guests can don their lederhosen (if desired) and participate in a lively line-up of Oktoberfest-themed activities, from stein-holding contests to yodeling competitions. There’ll also be a tapping of a 200 year-old keg of Trucktoberfest brew. The event will run Saturday and Sunday starting at 4 pm at both locations and admission is free.

Monday, September 20

National Punch Day at Punch Bowl Social
It’s National Punch Day and it only makes sense that Punch Bowl Social is here for it. All day long, guests can partake in a $10 punch flight. The trio of punches include Watermelon Polo Punch, with reposado tequila and watermelon spearmint tea; Featured Punch, made with Cruzan rum, coconut rum, pomegranate green tea and orange syru; and I’m on a Whiskey Diet with bourbon, pear chamomile tea, blueberry syrup, honey and lemon juice. The Deep Ellum restaurant and entertainment venue is open from 4 pm to midnight on Monday.

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Uptown News

Canadian upscale restaurant Joey to open location in Uptown Dallas

Joey Dallas

Steak and sushi at Joey Dallas

An upscale restaurant chain from Canada is coming to Uptown Dallas. Joey, the chain known for its global food and art-lined walls, is opening a location at 2508 Maple Ave., next door to the Old Warsaw.

According to a spokesperson, the restaurant will open in September. If all goes according to plan, they will soft-open with limited hours over Labor Day weekend, then celebrate a grand opening on September 10.

"Joey Maple will offer a unique culinary journey and exceptional mixology, led by Executive Chef and Top Chef Canada winner Matthew Stowe; Bar Development Leader Jay Jones, a Restaurant Hall of Fame inductee; and Group Sommelier Jason Yamasaki," their statement says.

Joey Restaurants is a "premium casual" restaurant group founded in 1992 in Calgary by Jeff Fuller, who came from a restaurant family. He started Joey out as a pasta place but the concept has since evolved into a globally-themed concept with fusion dishes such as truffle udon carbonara.

There are now 36 locations in various Canadian cities plus Seattle, California, Miami, and Houston, where it opened at the Galleria in 2021. Joey Restaurant Group also encompasses a sports bar-gastropub concept called Local Public Eatery, which opened a location in Dallas at 2323 Henderson Ave. in 2024.

Food
The menu at Joey features "a fusion of flavors," including fire-torched sushi, steak, bowls, tacos, and burgers. Signature dishes include top sirloin steak with their "famous" fully loaded crispy mashed potatoes (which are actually mashed potatoes with garlic, cheese, and green onions wrapped in a spring roll and fried); plus hummus, seared salmon sushi, and sake-glazed sea bass.

Joey crispy mashed potatoes Crispy mashed potatoes at Joey.Photo courtesy of Joey

There are: Japanese pork dumplings, Korean fried cauliflower, fajitas, and lobster spaghetti with prawns, shallots, and cherry tomatoes in a lobster-lemon butter sauce. There's a tuna poke bowl and a tofu bowl with Korean chili spiced tofu, wontons, coconut jasmine rice, and green papaya slaw in carrot miso dressing. There's sushi including a sushi cone with tempura shrimp.

The bar menu has beer on tap and a wine list featuring notable by-the-glass selections such as Taittinger Champagne and Pahlmeyer Chardonnay from Napa Valley ($50 per glass, but it's an iconic wine). Cocktails include not one but three spritzes — Aperol, Rosé, and Hugo with St. Germain — plus martinis, margaritas, and slush cocktails like frozen Irish coffee.

Location
This will be the second Joey in Dallas and will be a stand-alone location; the first opened at NorthPark Center, in the former Seasons 52 space, in January 2024. According to their statement, the warm reception they've received in Dallas convinced them to expand.

Every Joey is custom built to match its surroundings, often from the ground up, and no two restaurants are alike. The restaurant is going into a space that was previously home to a restaurant called Crab House, and before that Sisu, a bar with the pool, and before that, Matthew Trent Jewelry. It'll feature a "thoughtfully curated" art collection — a Joey trademark — as well as a private dining space. Other details on the space are still to come.

Is it deliberate or merely kismet that they landed on Maple Avenue, given the fact that the maple is Canada's national tree, and that Canada is frequently called "The Land of Maple," and the maple leaf is their national symbol as well as the central image on their national flag?

It'll be neighbors with another Canadian import: Moxie's, the casual concept founded in Canada and co-owned by Dallas Stars proprietor Tom Gaglardi, which opened across the street at 100 Crescent Court in 2016.

Maple Avenue is becoming Dallas' buzziest street, with openings such as Elephanté, the Italian restaurant opening at the 23Springs office tower in September, joining already-buzzy restaurants such as Catch Dallas, the Houston seafood chain which opened at the Maple Terrace development in 2024, and Uchi Dallas, a Maple Avenue pioneer that opened in 2015 — all teed up to feed the traders at The New York Stock Exchange Texas opening at 3819 Maple Ave. just a mile down the road.

uptown openings