This Week in Gluttony

Winter Warmer beer fest tops best food and drink events in Dallas

There was ice on the ground, and then the world survived. That’s how they’ll tell the story of the icepocalypse 2013 in 30 years. But we’ll all remember it much more vividly as the time there was ice on the ground and everyone acted like the world would end.

Now that North Texas is returning to its natural setting, people can actually go outside without freezing to the ground instantaneously. Fortunately, there are plenty of events worth exploring for This Week in Gluttony.

There’s a massive winter beer festival downtown, a couple of wine dinners and a lesson in how to bake holiday breads. And if putting heat to ingredients is too much for you, there’s a raw foods class that will teach you everything you need to know about not cooking things.

Wednesday, December 11

Max’s Wine Dive Red Mare Wine Dinner
Max’s Wine Dive and Red Mare Winery host a four-course wine dinner beginning at 7 pm. Chef Patrick Russell’s courses are designed to pair with Red Mare Cabernet, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc wines. Reservations are $75 per person or $125 per couple and can be made at 214-559-3483.

Global Wine Tasting Dinner at the Fairmont Hosted by Master of Wine Peter Marks
Peter Marks hosts a global wine tasting and five-course dinner at the Fairmont Dallas beginning at 6 pm. Pairings include bison carpaccio with caper berries, blueberry Manchego tuiles, toasted faro and a cinnamon-pomegranate reduction with 2010 Ruffino Modus from Tuscany, and chile-glazed Hudson Valley duck breast, saffron pear chutney and cashew crumbs with 2011 Ravenswood Single Vineyard Teldeschi Zinfandel from Dry Creek Valley. Reservations are $125 per person and can be made at 214-720-5263 or dallasevents@fairmont.com.

Saturday, December 14

Dallas Winter Warmer 2013
Get your winter beer fix at the Dallas Winter Warmer festival from noon to 5 pm at Main Street Garden. Nearly three dozen breweries from Texas and the rest of the country are represented with stouts, porters, barley wines, barrel aged beers and winter seasonals. Guests can enjoy local food and live music as well. Tickets start at $40, and everyone receives a 5-ounce glass snifter, a dozen 2-ounce samples, free drinking water and access to No Beer Left Behind educational courses. Purchase tickets online.

Holiday Breads Cooking Class at Central Market Lovers
Learn how to make holiday breads at the Central Market cooking school beginning at 6:30. Students pick up tips and techniques on breads, including eggnog rum-glazed bread, banana spice muffins with walnut streusel, and apple spice bread. Each student takes home one mini-loaf of each recipe. Spots are $55 and can be reserved online.

Sunday, December 15

Raw Foods 101 at Be Raw Food and Juice
Be Raw hosts Raw Foods 101 with special guest Bruce Briggs from 5 to 7 pm. Briggs talks about the basics of a raw diet, five easy and quick recipes you can make at home, how to lose weight without calorie counting, and more. A light dinner is also served. Seats are $40 and can be reserved via email at paula@berawfoodandjuice.com.

Sample winter brews from nearly three dozen breweries at Winter Warmer beer festival on December 14.

Deep Ellum Brewing Company's Darkest Hour

Deep Ellum Brewing Company Facebook

Sample winter brews from nearly three dozen breweries at Winter Warmer beer festival on December 14.

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Chocolate News

Richardson dessert shop Chocolate Drip lays out eye-catching treats

Chocolate Drip

Chocolate bear with pistachio sauce at Chocolate Drip

A dessert shop in Richardson has become the toast of the sweets world: Called Chocolate Drip, it opened in August at 1057 S. Sherman St., in a center east of US-75 near Spring Valley Road, where it's rolling out some eye-catching chocolate treats.

Chocolate Drip is a passion project from Mohammad Quzmar, a Palestinian-born owner who moved to Dallas four years ago and taught himself to cook through tinkering. That experimentation has translated into a constantly evolving menu, with new creations appearing whenever inspiration strikes — earning him a growing reputation as something of a modern-day Willy Wonka.

"Chocolate is my passion. I just love being in the kitchen and creating,” he says.

The cafe's offerings are extensive, from sweet breakfast staples like pancakes and waffles to off-menu items teased on the café’s Instagram, such as the Dubai Drip platter — an interactive fondue plate with fruit, brownies, waffles, marshmallows, to be dipped into melted chocolate and pistachio cream.

Many of his items have the kind of eye-catching twists and table-side presentations that draw attention on Instagram, such as the cruffle (a waffle made from a croissant) topped with spaghetti-like strands of gelato, which a server extrudes through a potato ricer right before your eyes.

Other signatures include a teddy bear made of chocolate mousse and kanafa, finished with pistachio sauce for $13.30, and crepes filled with a brownie, with pistachio and chocolate sauce for $15.

Prices are not cheap but these are ultra-decadent items with generous portions, often meant for sharing.

The drink list is ambitious, spanning coffee, matcha, smoothies, milkshakes, and nonalcoholic mocktails. It's obvious Quzmar is having fun, rolling out his versions of viral items like the famous s'mores hot chocolate pioneered by New York dessert shop Glace, which features a cap made of marshmallow meringue that’s torched.

There are also a few savory offerings like egg-and-cheese crepes, a salmon croissant, and a turkey waffle. Those in the know also come to order Middle Eastern treats like salab, a creamy milk drink topped with cinnamon; and Om Ali, a sugary pudding with nuts, dried fruit, and coconut.

Named after the Gen Z slang for “cool” or “stylish,” Drip is meant to be a hangout spot more than a quick dessert stop, Quzmar says — a place to linger over brunch, then return late night to a place that feels buzzy and fun sans alcohol.

“Everyone who works here is either family or treated like family and everything is homemade with love," he says.

desserts openings