This week in gluttony

These are the 6 best food and drink events in Dallas this week

A boozy afternoon tea comes with your very own bonsai tree.

Kessaku/Facebook

It’s officially time to get fancy. This week’s list of holiday dinners, brunches, buffets, and one elegant afternoon tea warrant donning your Christmas best and toasting with friends and loved ones. From a seven-course wine dinner to a breakfast with Santa brunch with live jazz, these happenings will be a hit – and sure to fill up fast.

Tuesday, December 13

Holiday Dinners at the Dallas Arboretum
Enjoy a festive, elegant dining experience amid the beauty of the Dallas Arboretum this month. A special three-course holiday menu will be available on select weeknights through December 29. The $79 dinner includes choice of salad; choice of entrée including Texas Angus short rib; and dessert including hazelnut roulade with salted caramel sauce. Or visit on Saturday, December 17 and Friday, December 23 for a holiday dinner buffet featuring carved sirloin, herb crusted halibut, and smoked turkey. The buffet is $75 for adults and $45 for kids 2-12. Seating times are 6 and 7:30 pm for both dining events.

Thursday, December 15

Orin Swift Cellars Wine Dinner at Restaurant Beatrice
Orin Swift Cellars winemaker Dave Phinney was recognized as winemaker of the year in 2019 by Wine Spectator magazine. Taste his portfolio of wines at the contemporary Creole restaurant during this seven-course menu featuring beef bourguignon, beef tartare with quail egg, poached pear and fennel salad, and chocolate Mississippi mud pie. Dinner is $150 plus tax and gratuity. Seating times vary and are limited.

Saturday, December 17

Santa Brunch at Nine at the National
Santa will visit the ninth floor restaurant of the Thompson Hotel for an upscale brunch worth wearing your holiday best. There’ll be a live jazz trio, a bloody Mary bar, and elaborate brunch buffet. Brunch is $50 for adults and $15 for children. Reservations are available Saturday and Sunday from 10 am-2 pm.

Breakfast with Santa at Legacy Hall
Santa is bringing Blitzen to the Box Garden at Legacy Hall for a family-friendly brunch. Table reservations include one brunch entrée per person and Christmas tree hot cocoa piled high with homemade marshmallows, candy canes, chocolate sauce, and more. Reservations are $25 per person, and tables are available for two to six guests. Brunch starts at 10 am.

Boozy Bonsai at Kessaku
Style your very own Bonsai tree during this boozy afternoon tea at Kessaku. The $200 price includes tea cocktails, tea bites, and an authentic Bonsai tree to take home. The event will run from 1-3 pm.

Afternoon Tease at Elm & Good
No teasing. Guests can honor the tradition of traditional afternoon British tea at this Deep Ellum restaurant inside the Kimpton Pittman Hotel. The tea service will come with a towering array of goodies including scones with raspberry compote and clotted cream; mini sandwiches such as cucumber with crème fraiche; crepe-wrapped salmon roe and crème fraiche; deviled quail eggs with pancetta and chives; and fresh pastries. Glasses and bottles of bubbles will be also available. The price is $48 plus tax and gratuity and the tea will take place from 2-4 pm.

news-you-can-eat dinner chefs brunch

Opening News

Dallas diner & music venue will open in former Ferris Wheeler space

Courtesy

Pancakes

A new restaurant has been unveiled that will take over the former Ferris Wheeler space near Dallas' Design District at 1950 Market Center Blvd.: Called AM/FM, it'll be an all-day diner and lounge with a big backyard and a stage for live music, and it's from Spune Productions, the music and event production company.

According to a release, it'll open in early January initially with evening hours, cocktails, and a few afternoon soccer matches. Music acts are already booked beginning January 8. More hours will be added down the road.

Ferris Wheelers BBQ, which was also a restaurant with a big backyard and a stage for live music, closed in November after eight years. Spune had already been involved since 2023 to help ramp up the live music side. Now they'll take it over with a fresh new personality and long hours.

They were famous for having a Ferris wheel on-site; an inquiry on its status went unanswered.

The diner will open daily at 7 am, serving "musicians coming off late nights, workers heading into morning shifts, and neighbors who want a place that remembers their name," says the release very poetically.

They've redecorated the interior with a new bar and banquettes that wrap the room. Alongside the renovations inside, the set-up outdoors will evolve over the coming weeks, with extra care given to the concert experience,

Menu
The food at AM/FM will be rooted in elevated Diner classics, with a menu overseen by chef Anastacia Quinones-Pittman (Oh, Hi! Hospitality) that's influenced by Mexican-American kitchens and Nuevo Southern traditions.

Breakfast offerings include huevos rancheros, breakfast tacos, breakfast empanadas, French toast, avocado toast, pork belly toast, and an intriguing twist on pancakes called masa pancakes, made using masa harina AKA corn flour.

Lunch includes a chicken Milanesa Caesar salad, Sonoran hot dog, fried catfish po'boy, kale salad, Cobb salad, and a Mexican twist on chicken noodle soup with fideo noodles.

Entree plates include pot roast, meatloaf, fried chicken, and a weekly pot pie.

The beverage program will aim for accessibility with coffee, cocktails, and craft beer, says Victor Rojas, Quinones-Pittman's partner at Oh, Hi! Hospitality.

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