With Christmas on the horizon, there's starting to be the usual lull in restaurant news that always precedes the holidays. But that doesn't mean there aren't a few nuggets to digest. This round of Dallas restaurant news includes winter menus, truffles, and tiki cocktails.

Here's what's happening in Dallas dining news:

Snooze, An A.M. Eatery is offering a special Holiday Menu, in addition to their daily breakfast and brunch, available through January 2. It includes seasonal dishes like Peppermint Bark Pancakes topped with spiced cocoa sauce, peppermint bark, and mascarpone; Jalapeno & Pomegranate Glazed Bacon; and the Holiday Harvest Bowl with butternut squash, sweet potato, sautéed onions, poblano peppers, corn, pork belly, poached egg, cream cheese hollandaise, candied cranberries, crispy prosciutto, and jalapeno pomegranate molasses. Yikes that is a complicated bowl. Holiday cocktails include hot mulled cider with white rum and aperol; Spiked Cocoa with Snooze Hot Chocolate, tequila, coffee liqueur, peppermint, vanilla, whipped cream, and crushed candy canes, omigosh; and Cosmopolitan Mimosa with vodka, orange liqueur, cranberry juice, Snooze Sparkling and a lime wheel.

The Charles in the Design District is celebrating white truffle season with the return of their tradition of shaving fresh truffles tableside on any appetizer or entrée with great fanfare: presented in a wooden box, with a scale and shaving tools. Freshly shaved truffles can be split between several dishes across the meal. They pair well with The Charles' Lightly Buttered Casarecce Noodles, Ancient Grain Risotto, and Soft Scrambled Eggs. White truffles are incredibly pungent, with deep, earthy flavors. The Charles flies them in from northern Italy through the end of the season in January. Reservations are encouraged.

Mi Dia From Scratch, from chef Gabriel DeLeon, will celebrate the five-year anniversary of its West Plano Village location on December 21 with a five-dollar happy hour menu featuring Mi Dia's Frozen Over and Rocks signature margaritas, plus Chile Con Queso Cup, Flautitas, and Mini Churros.

Tommy Bahama at Legacy West in Plano has created specialty batched cocktails and cocktails-to-go kits - pre-made or mix it yourself versions of your favorite island-inspired cocktails including the Mai Tai, Classic Margarita, Pineapple Paradiso, Grapefruit Basil Martini and Coconut Cloud Martini. The pre-made batched cocktails come in 16-ounce bottles, for $20; each makes 3 to 4 cocktails over ice.

Greenville Avenue Pizza Co just launched a new "Disaster Pizza" with fried Spam, pineapple, bell pepper, hard-boiled egg, pimento cheese, black pepper, Alfredo sauce, and mozzarella cheese, available at both locations (Greenville Ave and Peavy Rd) through December 31, for dine-in or carry-out. A large pizza is $20, small is $17, and a single slice is $6.50.

Fairmont Dallas hotel has a new executive chef, Jean-Francois Fortin. Most recently the Executive Chef of Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise in Alberta, Canada, chef Fortin has been with various Fairmont resorts throughout his 22-year career including Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac, Fairmont Hotel Macdonald, Edmonton, Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge, Fairmont Algonquin St. Andrews, and Fairmont Chateau Montebello.

Foxtrot Market, the modern-day convenience store with two Dallas locations, is launching "Up and Comers Small Makers Awards," an initiative designed to find the next great brands in food, beverage, wellness, self-care, while also helping small business owners gain exposure. Today through January 10, business owners and makers are encouraged to apply to the Up and Comers Small Makers Awards for a chance to be sold in Foxtrot’s stores. Details are online.

Natural Grocers is offering Holly Deals, a savings special for holiday gift ideas, with deals on 100-plus products inclduing stocking stuffers, treats for family pets, baking/cooking ingredients, and party foods. The deals run through December 24. Visit www.naturalgrocers.com/holly-deals.

J. Rae's Dallas the Lovers Lane bakery, won't open until spring 2021, but they're offering $25 holiday cookie decorating kits, with nine sugar cookies, three color icing bags, and 3 varieties of sprinkles, available on December 18 and December 22. Alto delivery is $15, available within 10 miles; otherwise it's curbside pick up at J. Rae's on those two days from 12-3 pm.

Torchy's Tacos has a new December Taco of the Month: Called the Naughty Santa, it has grilled shrimp, chorizo, pickled onions, jack cheese, avocado, cilantro, and poblano sauce on a flour tortilla for $5.95.

Corner Bakery has launched new and improved curbside pickup. When guests select curbside pickup while placing an online order through cornerbakery.com, they will be prompted to enter their vehicle information, so that their orders can be delivered straight to their car. Once completing an order, they will receive a text with directions to the cafe, where to park and the number to call upon arrival.

Emmer & Rye, the Austin restaurant, will gets its pasta sold by the package at Whole Foods Market stores in Highland Park, Lakewood, and Plano. This is the first time the pasta will be available for purchase in a national grocery store. Since its inception in 2015, Emmer & Rye has focused on highlighting the depth and complexity of flavor in freshly milled heritage grains. Each specialty pasta features heirloom grains grown and milled by Hayden Flour Mills in Arizona and Barton Spring Mill in Dripping Springs. The pasta will be sold in 12-ounce packages, in options that include Blue Beard Durum Spaghetti, Egyptian Emmer Rigatoni, and Rouge de Bordeaux Strozzapreti. Each package is $7.99.

Tacodeli, the Austin-based taco chain with locations in Austin, Dallas and Houston, now has its corn tortilla chips and refried black bean molidos available at Whole Foods Markets. The Molidos is a term for blended black beans in Spanish. On the restaurant menu, the molidos can be found in the Otto breakfast taco, the lunch/dinner tacos The Heather and The Freakin Vegan," and in the Bean and Cheese Taco. At Whole Foods, the chips are $4.49 and the molidos are $6.99. Whole Foods Market already carries Tacodeli salsas and queso.

DoorDash State of Flavor Report is a summary of trends and data, culled between January 1, 2019 and October 31, 2020, plus a survey of 1,000 Americans, which found:

• Food of the year was classic comfort: chicken fingers and french fries.
• Increase in breakfast items ordered through DoorDash including iced coffee, breakfast burritos, pancakes, and French toast.
• Plant-based is the hot trend, for the fifth year in a row, with 72 percent of Americans surveyed planning to eat healthier in 2021, and nearly half (47 percent) incorporating more plant-based foods into their diets.
• DoorDash’s mid-year trend report showed that vegetarian food trends are growing in popularity at a steady rate, with Black Bean Tacos seeing a 456 percent increase, Plant-Based Burgers seeing a 225 percent increase, and Mushroom Burgers seeing a 195 percent increase in orders, compared to 2019.