This week in gluttony

These are the 9 best food and drink events in Dallas this week

Legacy Hall presents Oktoberfeast Beer and Music Festival

Photo courtesy of Legacy Hall

Pairing dinners run wild this week with more than a half-dozen on the list, including beer, wine, and whiskey. Pricing ranges from $65 to $185 per person, the latter of which includes tax, gratuity, and even valet parking. It’s also Oktoberfest season, and there are two notable German-inspired fetes happening this weekend.

Wednesday, September 21

Love Runs Deep Beer Dinner at The Stoneleigh
Deep Ellum Brewing Company will welcome the flavors of fall with a four-course beer pairing dinner at Perle on Maple at The Stoneleigh Hotel. The menu includes coffee-crusted filet mignon, smoked paprika dusted scallops, and tangerine cake. Each course will be paired with a different Deep Ellum Brewing Company beer. Dinner is $89 per person and begins at 6 pm.

Commons Club Wine Dinner
This mid-week wine-pairing dinner will feature six courses by chef Christian Panepinto of Virgin Hotels Dallas Commons Club. Expect courses to be paired with wines by Kenwood Vineyards and G.H. Mumm Champagne. Menu highlights include burrata with charred peaches, hamachi, and bison with black garlic. Dinner is $125 per person and begins at 7 pm.

Thursday, September 22

Far Niente Wine Pairing Dinner at The Ranch at Las Colinas
The Texas-inspired steakhouse in Las Colinas will host a five-course wine pairing dinner with a mystery menu. Dishes will be revealed only as they come. But the wines are not secret – all will come from Napa’s Far Niente winery. Dinner is $165 per person and begins at 6 pm.

Nonna Night 3 at Saint Rocco’s New York Italian
The Trinity Groves Italian destination will host its third installment of Nonna Night, a four-course wine pairing dinner with comfort classics. Menu highlights include chicken saltimbocca, scallop and smoked mozzarella ravioli, and lemon blueberry cake. Tickets are $65 per person, plus tax and gratuity, and the event begins at 6:30 pm.

White Rock Beer Dinner
Located near picturesque White Rock Lake, White Rock Alehouse & Brewery will host a beer pairing dinner to benefit Friends of the Santa Fe Trail. The fun five-course menu includes fried poblano mac and cheese bites, potato pancake and schnitzel tostada, an heirloom beet salad, steak and shrimp with cheesy grits, and house-made spiced doughnut holes. Dinner is $65 per person and starts at 6:30 pm.

Friday, September 23

Pegasus City Brewery’s 2nd Annual Downtown Oktoberfest
The three-day German-inspired fete will the downtown Dallas brewery’s special Oktoberfest brew, Big D Jamboree. There’ll be daily live music, food vendors, beer hoisting and games, and a Saturday and Sunday artisan market. The party starts Friday at 5 pm and admission is free.

Whiskey Dinner at CBD Provisions
The folks from Texas-based Garrison Brothers Distillery are back in town for another whiskey pairing dinner, this time at CBD Provisions inside The Joule hotel. Go for cured salmon, braised lamb, gorgonzola fennel salad, and spiced pear galette, all paired with four different straight bourbon whiskeys. Dinner is $185 per person and includes tax, gratuity, and complimentary hotel valet. Arrive by 6 pm.

Wine Dinner at The Oceanaire Seafood Room
The Galleria Dallas outlet of this popular high-end seafood chain will host a four-course wine dinner featuring wines by Sonoma-Cutrer. Menu includes jumbo lump crab cakes, lobster bisque, smoked salmon mousse, grilled filet of beef, and more paired with Rose, Pinot Noir, and Chardonnay. Save room for sticky toffee pudding. Dinner is $165 per person, including tax and gratuity, and begins at 6:30 pm.

Saturday, September 24

5th Annual Oktoberfeast at Legacy Hall
The Plano food hall goes German with an all-day party. Doors open at noon and the live entertainment will run from 1 to 6 pm. General admission is free, or folks can purchase a $60 VIP ticket that includes a jalapeno-cheddar sausage on a stick, Bavarian pretzel, beer stein with a beer (refills will be $7), and access to a VIP-only seating area. Plan for stein-holding competitions and costume contests.

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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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