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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Pizza News

Donatos Pizza totes its unique crust to new location in Flower Mound

dallas.culturemap.com

Donatos

A pizza chain with a quirky obsession on its crusts is coming to Flower Mound: Donatos Pizza, the franchise famous for spreading its toppings to the very edge of the pizza, will open a location at 1400 Long Prairie Rd. #160.

According to a release, it'll open on December 17.

Donatos Pizza was founded by Jim Grote in Ohio in 1963 from a single stand, and remains family-owned. Their signature is to place the toppings on their pizzas "edge to edge" — for clueless diners who do not like plain crust edges. (Come on, the crust is the best part.)

Their menu features more than a dozen varieties of pizza such as veggie, four cheese, and pepperoni with hot honey. Their signature crust is a thin-crust but they also offer thicker alternatives as well as a cauliflower crust. Pizzas come in a 7-inch individual and go all the way up to a 14-inch large. Prices range from $15 to $25.

Fans appreciate their better-than-average ingredients and describe it as more flavorful compared to other corporate pizza chains, with a crisp thin crust and generous toppings.

In addition to pizza, Donatos' menu includes oven-baked wings, sub sandwiches, including meatball and Italian cold cuts, plus appetizers and salads.

The Flower Mound location will be a family affair, owned by Lynne and Ralph Pence, whose son Travis will oversee day-to-day operations. The Pence family has deep connections to Donatos including the fact that Lynne's sister used to work for the company, while her brother-in-law still does.

"We're from Columbus, Ohio — it is where our kids grew up and where our family is—it also happens to be the hometown and birthplace of Donatos Pizza," Lynne says. "Our daughter in Oklahoma found out Donatos was coming to Edmond, where she lives, and called us. She was so excited that Donatos was finally coming down south and we wanted to be a part of it."

This is the second Donatos in the Dallas area: a location opened in Frisco in November — the first in Texas.

There are currently 470-plus locations in 28 states. That includes 175 stores plus nearly 300 non-traditional locations nationwide, including select Red Robin restaurants, sports, and entertainment venues.

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