This Week in Gluttony

These are the 8 best food and drink events in Dallas this week

The Greek Food Festival of Dallas will take place at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church on September 21-23.

This week is all about fancy dinners and fun festivals. In one weekend, you can don your lederhosen for the big Addison Oktoberfest and say, "Opa!" at the annual Dallas Greek Food Festival. There will still be time for special events featuring premium wine, beer, and whiskey.

Wednesday, September 19

Justin Wine Dinner at Jasper's Plano
New executive chef Joseph Healy creates a special menu featuring items that will pair perfectly with assorted wines from Justin Winery winemakers Fred Holloway and Scott Shirley. Courses include hearth roasted Maple Leaf Farms duck breast, A Bar n Ranch pepper crusted striploin, and pineapple upside down cake. Tickets are $75 and dinner starts at 6:30 pm. Contact Shannon Tinsley at 972-673-0823 for reservations.

Thursday, September 20

Addison Oktoberfest at Addison Circle Park
This festival features four days of food and family-oriented entertainment. Think German entertainers in authentic costumes performing traditional Bavarian folk dances, schuhplatten, oompah music, sing-a-longs, yodels, and more. A special “Oktoberfest” Paulaner Bier is served along with several types of German sausage, sauerkraut, strudel, and giant pretzels. Guests can even register to dine at the Chamberlain’s Brau Haus for a full-service dining experience featuring an exclusive menu. Tickets start at just $10 and begins at 6 pm on Thursday and Friday and 12 pm on Saturday and Sunday.

Friday, September 21

Greek Food Festival of Dallas at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church
Celebrate the magic of Greece with delicious cuisine, pastries made with love, spirited live music and dance, fun attractions for kids, and a marketplace brimming with imports and activity. New this year is karpouzaki, a wedge of watermelon that gets its Greek accent from crumbled feta, fresh mint, and a balsamic glaze. There are lamb chops seasoned and grilled to perfection and many other meat and veggie options. The annual festival is three days and runs through the weekend with doors opening at 11 am each day. Tickets start at $7.

Celebrating Texas Blood at Texas Ale Project
Texas Ale Project is celebrating the latest R&D Series release at the brewery — Texas Blood. Explore the taste of this juicy, blood orange IPA, with a clean, crisp finish. The event will also feature live music by Rob Redwine. Admission is free and the fun starts at 4 pm.

WhistlePig Whiskey Dinner at Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse
Enjoy a four-course menu by chef Teli Trikilis that pairs perfectly with fine-aged whiskey cocktails from WhistlePig. Courses include passed appetizers, duck leg confit, Texas Rosewood Wagyu, and chocolate ganache-orange marmalade tarte. Tickets are $195 and the dinner starts at 7 pm.

Taco Cabana Anniversary Party
Celebrate 40 years of Taco Cabana, home of late-night bean-and-cheese burritos and the cheapest margaritas in town. The San Antonio-based Mex chain is holding patio parties at two of its best known restaurants: one on Lower Greenville at 1827 Greenville Ave., and the other in Hurst at 1241 Precinct Line Rd. They'll be doing all-day happy hour, but the official party runs from 4-9 pm, with mariachi music and other festivities.

Sunday, September 23

Bolsa 10-Year Anniversary Party
Pioneer of Dallas' farm-to-table food and craft cocktail movement marks its 10th anniversary with a mega-party welcoming back former chefs and bartenders. Current executive chef Matt Balke will be joined by former chefs Graham Dodds, Jeffrey Harris, Andrew Bell, Eric Wolf, Joel Harrington, and "Chuy" (longtime line cook who worked with every Bolsa exec chef) to create the food. Behind the bar, previous head bartenders Jason Kosmos, Eddy "Lucky" Campbell, "Dub" Davis, Kyle Hilla, Joni Long, and Spencer Shelton will craft special cocktails. Tickets are $10 and the event starts at 6 pm.

Monday, September 24

Avery Brewing Beer Dinner at Meddlesome Moth
In celebration of Avery Brewing Company’s 25th anniversary, Meddlesome Moth is hosting Adam Avery for a six-course beer pairing experience showcasing 25 years of Avery Brewing Company history. Each course will be paired with an Avery sour, as well as an Avery barrel-aged beer, following a White Rascal welcome beer. Courses include crispy pork belly, braised octopus, Texas Wagyu and foie gras terrine, and more. Tickets are $100 and the event starts at 6:30 pm.

news-you-can-eat dinner festivals wine

Skewers News

Chinese restaurant Yang's Smokehouse in Plano has sensational skewers

Yang's Smokehouse

Crispy tofu balls at Yang's Smokehouse

A new family-owned Asian restaurant specializing in skewers has opened in Plano: Called Yang's Smokehouse, it's a Chinese place now open at the Mitsuya Marketplace center at 240 Legacy Dr #306, with a menu featuring dishes you won't find anywhere else in Dallas.

That includes skewers of all kinds: meats such as beef tongue, pork belly, lamb, sausage, mini pork ribs, pork skin, and duck gizzard; and veggie skewers including green beans, cabbage, eggplant, zucchini, and lotus slices.

These skewers have a history that dates back to the restaurant's roots in China, says Yang's founder Candice Cao.

"The legacy of Yang's Smokehouse began in 1980 with secret family recipes from my Grandma Yang, which were passed down through generations," Cao says.

After being widowed at the young age of 30, Grandma Yang launched a charcoal stall from which she served skewers, enhanced by her hand-crushed spice blends and cooked over live fire. She eventually built a small chain with six locations, each serving about 10,000 skewers per day, Candice says.

Candice's mother joined the business and now Candice, who came to Dallas more than a decade ago to attend Dallas Baptist University, represents the third generation.

"I'm proud to follow the family tradition of women owning their own business," Candice says.

While skewers are the star, Yang's also serves unique dishes that are native to the Guizhou province in southwestern China where Candice is from.

That includes spicy stir-fried clams in black bean sauce with garlic, ginger, scallion, and cilantro; and a dish called Spicy and Numbing Chicken Knee Cartilage featuring a delicacy taken from the small joint connecting the drumstick to the foot.

"Asians know about this dish — it has a really strong, spicy flavor that almost has a numbing effect," Candice says.

There are also crispy tofu balls, popular snacks in Guizhou featuring a crisp tofu skin wrapped around soft mashed tofu filling which is dressed up with radish and spices and fried.

"It's crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, and we serve it with a spicy dipping sauce that has radish and cilantro," Candice says. "We recommend poking a little hole and adding some of the radish to make it juicy. It's one of our most popular items, equally loved by vegetarians and diners seeking truly authentic Chinese food."

Other menu items include egg fried rice, Korean kim chi egg rice, stir-fries, potato pancakes, potstickers, cucumber salad, and "Southern" cold noodles — featuring sweet potato noodles in a simple but satisfying sauce made with soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, and chili, topped with cucumber, perfect for summer.

They recently added an all-you-can-eat skewers offering at lunch, Monday-Friday, for $40 that'll last through the summer.

To guarantee a smooth and successful launch in the U.S., Candice brought in a secret weapon: Grandma Yang herself.

"Grandma traveled here to help get Yang's off the ground," Candice says. "That's her coaching the team in the kitchen."

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