This week in gluttony

Chocolate tastings and vats of gumbo: The best food and drink events in Dallas this week

What do gumbo, Asian cuisine and wine have in common? They’re all being highlighted in this week’s roundup of the best food and drink events in Dallas. Learn Asian cuisine from two masters just in time for the Chinese New Year, or get a head start on Valentine’s Day with your choice of chocolate tastings (one with beer, the other with wine).

Then, to wrap up the week, we’ve got a Mardi Gras gumbo party that’ll put you in a New Orleans state of mind. You really can’t go wrong.

Tuesday, February 5

Asian Cooking With Chef Patton Robertson of Five Sixty
Chef Robertson leads a class in how to create modern Asian flavors with good technique and ingredients at Central Market cooking school. Dishes include Chinese chicken salad, Five Sixty’s signature crab cakes and tandoori arctic char. The class begins at 6:30 pm and costs $60 per person.

Chef Robertson also leads a dumpling class on Saturday, February 9, 11 am-noon, at Five Sixty. You learn to make dumplings as well as enjoy a family-style dumpling feast and “Year of the Snake” punch for $75 per person. For reservations, call 214-741-5560.

Thursday, February 7

“All You Need Is Love” Dinner benefiting the Promise of Peace Garden
For $85 you can enjoy a five-course dinner put together by Central 214’s Graham Dodds and Chad Houser, executive director of Cafe Momentum. Proceeds from the dinner support kids’ camps for the Promise of Peace Community Garden in East Dallas and a new garden at CC Young Retirement Center.

Chocolate and Wine Tasting at Cadillac Wines
Enjoy a tasting at Cadillac Wines from 7 to 8 pm for $15 per person. Wines are paired with chocolates from Schakolad Chocolate Factory, and guests take home a complimentary Riedel glass. For reservations, email natashia@cadillacwines.com or call 817-989-4435.

Friday, February 8

Ring in the Chinese New Year With Fuchsia Dunlop
Fuchsia Dunlop has written for the Financial Times and the New Yorker, and she is the author of four books on Chinese cooking. She knows Asian cuisine, so check out her demonstration at Central Market cooking school, where she shows students how to make dishes like smacked cucumber in garlic sauce, sea bream in fish-fragrant sauce and choy sum with sizzling oil. The class begins at 6:30 pm and costs $75 per person.

Saturday, February 9

Scardello Fondue Night
Enjoy a three-mountain cheese fondue complete with salami, bread and fruit. You also receive a glass of sparkling wine, salad and a chocolate truffle for dessert. But we’re pretty sure we had you at cheese. The feast starts at 8 pm and costs $40 per person.

Beer and Chocolate Tasting at the Ginger Man
The Ginger Man was recently named the best beer joint in town by Foursquare, and the place is putting its rep on display with a tasting that features 10 beers in five rounds of head-to-head competition with chocolate selected for each beer. It’s a few days before Valentine’s Day, but chocolate and beer is just romantic any time. The tasting begins at 2:30 pm and is $35 in advance or $40 the day of.

Sunday, February 10

12th Annual KNON Mardi Gras Gumbo Party at Poor David’s Pub
Not everyone can make it down to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, but that doesn’t mean you have to miss out. From 5 to 9 pm at Poor David’s Pub, revelers can enjoy authentic gumbo from restaurants such as Alligator Cafe, Crawdad’s of Dallas and David’s Seafood Grill before dancing off the roux to Papa LeBeaux’s Jazz Gumbo Band. Tickets are $15 and can be bought at knon.org, Bill’s Records in Dallas or Forever Young Records in Grand Prairie.

Enjoy Schakolad chocolate paired with wine at the Cadilliac Wine tasting February 7.

Photo by Cheo Jackson

Enjoy Schakolad chocolate paired with wine at the Cadilliac Wine tasting February 7.

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Taco News

Tacos and tequila restaurant takes over historic blue house in Rowlett

Ollie's

Tacos from Ollie's Azul House

The city of Rowlett has a fine new place for tacos and tequila: Called Ollie's Azul House, it just opened inside the historic Oliver House at 3410 Main St., taking over the space most recently occupied by Brick & Bones (which closed in January), where it's doing "elevated tacos" and "curated tequila."

Ollie's is from some of Rowlett's finest, including Michael Gallops, president of the Metrocrest Area Chamber, former Mayor Pro Tem, and six-year city council member; and Chris Kizziar, founder of hunger organization Life Message, located two doors down from the restaurant.

"I've lived in Rowlett for 22 years and Chris has lived here for 35," Gallops says. "We saw this as another opportunity to give back and do something fun."

That "something fun" includes tequila, a longtime passion and hobby for Gallops, who is a bonafide tequila connoisseur. The bar is stocked with 100 kinds, many of which come from high-end boutique distilleries.

"These are different from the shots you drank in college," Gallops says. "We felt like this was a new idea for Rowlett. We have a full bar and can mix anything you want. But on the tequila side, we have several specific tequila cocktails and we also do flights. The goal is to make it educational — to give people an opportunity to learn about tequila and how it's made."

Gallops' favorite tequilas are additive-free and use a natural process in distillation — El Tesoro, for instance. The focus on tequila also helped shape the direction of the menu, with an eye on affordability, as well.

"We have a couple of entrees and some shareable dishes like nachos, but it's primarily tacos — no enchiladas, no fajitas," he says. "We hoped to provide a place where someone can come in and get a couple tacos and a drink for less than $25."

Facade of Ollie's Azul HouseOllie's

Tacos can be ordered on soft corn, hard corn, or flour tortillas, and include:

Oliver — ground beef, lettuce
Miller — steak, onions, peppers, and chimichurri
Carnitas — slow-cooked pork with crisp edges
Elote chicken
Mushroom — a vegan option

They encourage diners to mix and match, adding whatever ingredients they want. They recently added breakfast tacos with eggs, chorizo, potatoes, and more, which can be ordered from 7-10 am from the back window and taken to-go or enjoyed on their expansive patio — a legacy left from the Brick and Bones days.

Beyond providing great food and drink, the restaurant afforded them an opportunity to give something back to Rowlett and celebrate its history, one in which the "azul" blue house — built in the early 1920s for early Rowlett residents Dee and Maggie Oliver — played a central role.

They've filled the walls with photos of Rowlett's founding families, old homesteads, churches, an old cotton gin, almost like a museum.

"It's all about the history of Rowlett," Gallops says. "We're big history buffs and are proud of our city."

tacos openings