This week in gluttony

These are the 10 best food and drink events in Dallas this week

Toast to the end of summer with tequila this week.

Courtesy photo

Summer officially ends on Saturday, and this week’s event lineup provides for a perfect farewell. There’s a sunflower festival with floral-themed cocktails, a tropical island-themed birthday celebration, and two tequila-themed parties. Cheers to surviving another Texas summer.

Tuesday, September 19

Tequila Dinner at Chido Taco Lounge
The Frisco taco hot spot will host a four-course dinner paired with ArteNOM tequilas, including blanco, reposado, and anejo. Menu items include chicken tinga sopes, sopa con albondigas, crispy carnitas with elote sweet potato, and Mexican chocolate cream pie. Dinner is $165, plus tax and gratuity, and begins at 7 pm.

Wednesday, September 20

Harvest Season Wine Dinner at Bonefish Grill
A four-course dinner paired with select varietals from Napa Valley's Duckhorn Vineyards will include: spinach salad with goat cheese, cranberries, and apples; linguine with clams; apple chutney pork tenderloin & swordfish with pumpkin ravioli: and pumpkin spice lava cake with a cream cheese molten center, served warm. Starts at 6:30 pm, $55 per person, at 190 E. Stacy Rd. in Allen. Call 972-737-3018 to RSVP.

Thursday, September 21

Sunflower Festival at Haywire and The Ranch at Las Colinas
Celebrate the Texas sunflower with menu specials at both Haywire locations in Plano and Dallas and The Ranch at Las Colinas. From Thursday through Sunday, the sister restaurants will offer sunflower-inspired cocktails, including The Western Wildflower with lemon vodka, and the Sunflower Sour with bourbon. They're also serving sunflower seed hummus made with herb-infused olive oil. All guests who purchase a sunflower menu item will receive a complimentary packet of sunflower seeds to take home and plant.

Caymus Vineyards 4-course Wine Dinner at LVI at the Statler
special four-course dinner featuring wine pairings from Caymus Vineyards in Napa Valley. The menu by chef Leo Morales includes Lobster Truffle Arancini, greens with figs & goat cheese, Frenched lamb chops with black garlic chimichurri, and white-chocolate-lemon tart. Caymus Brand Ambassador Robert Tousley will be the featured speaker. Cocktail Hour begins at 6pm, followed by dinner at 7pm. Tickets are $125.

Beviamo Italian Wine Dinner at Knife Plano
Chef John Tesar’s Plano steakhouse will host a multicourse Italian-themed wine pairing dinner with Texas touches on the menu. Think figs with ricotta, honey, and Texas pecans; cacio e pepe; and 45-day dry aged beef from 44 Farms. Wines will be paired with each course. Dinner is $150, plus tax and gratuity, and dinner begins at 6:30 pm.

Kick Back Dinner Series at LORO
Both the Dallas and Addison locations of the Asian smokehouse and bar will host a five-course, family-style dinner paired with beers from a local brewery. In Dallas, it’s Community Beer Company and in Addison, it’s Manhattan Project Beer Company. Menu items range from pineapple tuna poke and green curry mussels to smoked spatchcock chicken and charred prawns. Tickets are $75 per person, plus tax and gratuity, and dinner begins at 7:30 pm.

Friday, September 22

The Island Spot’s 13th Anniversary Celebration
The Carrollton location of this Jamaican-inspired gem will host a birthday party to kick off the weekend. It will include live reggae music, rum specials, giveaways, and dishes like jerk chicken, plantains, and fried dumplings. The fun will run from 7-10 pm.

Saturday, September 23

Sugar Fest at Mexican Sugar
Both locations of the festive Mexican restaurant (Las Colinas on Saturday and Plano on Sunday) will host an afternoon of sampling agave-based spirits, with a special focus on tequila and mezcal. General admission is already sold out, but there are $65 VIP tickets available that include complimentary premium tastings, hand-crafted cocktails, and Mexican Sugar cuisine in a private area. The event will run from 2-6 pm both days.

Monday, September 25

Pints & Pies Beer Dinner at Urban Seafood
Indulge in four courses of both sweet and savory pies paired with pints of various brews at the Plano seafood destination. Tickets are $65, including tax and gratuity, and dinner starts at 6:30 pm.

86 Cancer at The Adolphus
Makeready’s annual fundraiser to benefit cancer research will feature a Chopped-style culinary competition at The Adolphus. Dallas chefs will compete alongside culinary students from El Centro College for a panel of judges. Participating chefs will come from Monarch, Circle T Ranch, Fearing’s, Bistro 31, Billy Can Can, and SER Steak + Spirits. The $130 ticket includes hors d’oeuvres from participating chefs, along with food, beer, wine, and signature cocktails from The Adolphus. The event will run from 6:30-10:30 pm.

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Cedars News

Dulce Nina hopes to be Dallas Cedars' neighborhood restaurant

Dulce Nina

Dulce Nina is coming to the Cedars.

A hip food truck team is bringing a cool restaurant-bar to Dallas’ Cedars District: Called Dulce Nina, it’s at 1800 S. Ervay St. #A, in a former car battery warehouse from the owners of Tacos, Bites & Beats, a food truck catering business.

Owners Vo Singhal and Jorge Castellanos previously founded Tacos, Bites & Beats in 2017 as a food truck serving Mexican food along with high-energy music — kind of like a party in a box, with Singhal overseeing marketing, while Castellanos runs the kitchen.

The food truck menu features street tacos, burritos, quesadillas, with an unusual combination of Mexican and Indian influences — carnitas alongside chicken tinga and paneer cheese — that reflects the two owners' heritage.

They started out at Harry Hines Bazaar, then opened a restaurant spinoff in the former Taco Stop at 1900 Blvd. But at the end of 2023, they closed to focus on catering for clients like the Dallas Mavericks, and they'll continue catering after Dulce Nina opens.

Dulce Nina — full name, Dulce Nina At the Cedars, or "ATC" — is their next step to fulfill a dream that Castellanos has fostered ever since he started out as a waiter at Mariano's: to open a neighborhood restaurant and bar, serving a mix of casual and upscale eats.

"The food truck business was going well, and we felt ready to expand," Singhal says.

They'll open with a compact menu featuring bites and entrees. There's hummus, gourmet and vegan burgers, and wings with gourmet rubs.

The food will be under the direction of Bharat Bala, a chef from Mumbai India, who has serious experience working at places like St. Regis and JW Marriott Mumbai Sahar hotels in India. Singhal put out the word that they were looking for a chef and Bala, who'd been cooking at Michelin-rated Vina Enconta in California, applied.

Though the menu verges on fine-dining fare, they're going for a profile of an approachable neighborhood watering hole, with outdoor seating and a full bar with cocktails, wine, and beer.

They chose the Cedars District because they liked the neighborhood, and worked with agent Susan Griffin to find a building they could repurpose.

They brought in a familiar design name to renovate: Hatsumi Kuzuu, who has worked on numerous Dallas eateries over the years, including Tei An, FT33, Red Stix, and more. Kuzuu's team has been in the process of transforming the warehouse into a counter bar and dining room with TVs for sports and an outdoor jumbotron screen to stream local artists.

One nice touch: They incorporated some found materials from the space.

"That building was owned by the same family for 100 years, so when you go there, you're going to see a table we made out of a compressor to pay homage to the Butler family that owned the shop," Singhal says.

Another nice touch: Dulce Nina is named for the founders' wives. "They've supported us through all this," Singhal says.

They hope to be open in January.

“This is going to be a special place for so many reasons, we have poured our hearts and souls into this place," he says.

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