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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Heirloom Pizza in Plano dishes up New York and Detroit-style pies

Heirloom Pizza

Heirloom Pizza in Plano

A pizzeria in Plano is slinging both New York-style and Detroit deep dish pizza: Called Heirloom Pizza, it’s a small shop at 2225 W. 15th St., where it's enjoying a second wind of sorts.

The shop first opened in 2022 under a different owner, then reopened in 2024 under new owner Justin Horton, a first-time restaurant owner and native of the area who'd worked in restauants, mostly as a waiter, for more than a decade.

“I saved up because I always wanted to own my own business and found this little place for sale,” Horton says. “A month later, I had my own pizza shop."

He had no previous pizza-making experience when he took over the place, but it didn't take him long to delve into a mastery of pizza — "it's like a work of art," he says. It helps that he's a quick study who researched pizza types and ingredients before arriving at his own recipe and style.

"Our classic is like a cross between a New York-style and New Haven, noted for its thin crust," he says. "But the one that has put us on the map lately is our Detroit deep-dish style. It's one I've been doing for the past few months. It has an airy, crunchy, crispy crust that people love. It's made in a trademark rectangular pan and I do them in limited quantity because I only have 15 pans, so we usually sell out."

His pizza hews carefully to the Detroit deep-dish style, with sharp squared-off edges that have a crispy caramelized "wall" of melted cheese while super soft and airy inside. For cheese, he uses the genre's standard, Wisconsin brick cheese, and makes his own tangy tomato sauce.

Heritage Pizza Detroit deep dish Detroit style deep dish pizza at Heritage PizzaHeritage Pizza

He's a true enthusiast, ready to talk about geeky pizza guy stuff like fermentation of the dough and the sourcing on his tomatoes.

Pizza options include creative options like an all-white pizza with white sauce, garlic, and three cheeses: mozzarella, ricotta, and Parmigiano-Reggiano. Another called Fred's Steakhouse Special is a collaboration, using and cheesesteak from the Fred's Downtown Philly next door.

"All the dough is fermented from 48-72 hours," he says. "We use the same dough, but it gets proofed differently depending on what we're making."

Prices are affordable, ranging from $12 for a 12-inch cheese pizza to $22 for a 16-inch specialty pizza.

They also have four salads including a Caprese and a Greek; and desserts, like tiramisu, cannolis, and cheesecake. Horton emphasizes that he makes the cannolis with specialty ingredients.

"I get the shells shipped in from Sicily, then I make the cream myself," he says. "I try to put a lot of love and passion behind everything I do."

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