This week in gluttony

Gingerbread, decadent chocolate and wine aplenty: The best food and booze eventsin Dallas

The 29th annual Beaujolais & Beyond Wine Festival on November 30 features winesfrom France, Texas, California and the Pacific Northwest.
Chocolate Secrets' Kate Weiser leads a chocolate-and-wine pairing at People'sLast Stand November 27.
Chocolate Secrets/Facebook
Gingertown Dallas kicks off November 27 as teams create their houses to beauctioned off. The village is on display through December 1 outside of Nordstromat NorthPark.
Photo courtesy of Gingertown Dallas
The Irving Convention Center hosts the 29th annual Beaujolais & Beyond WineFestival November 30.
Irving Convention Center / Facebook

You should finally be done eating leftover turkey sandwiches by now, so we found some food and drink events that have absolutely no turkey in them.

There’s more Beaujolais to be had, a chocolate session with one of our own and plenty of holiday seasoning now that it’s okay to play Christmas music.

Tuesday, November 27

Nosh Duckhorn Wine Dinner
The Plano location of NOSH is throwing a wine dinner beginning at 6:30 pm. For $105 per person, you can enjoy a four-course meal featuring seared scallops, duck confit, medallions of beef and lamb, and a dark chocolate tart to finish. Duckhorn Vineyards out of Napa brings the featured wines. Reservations required. Call 972-612-3200.

Cook for a Cause Guest Chef at The People's Last Stand
The People’s Last Stand has teamed up with Kate Weiser of Chocolate Secrets for the Cook for a Cause event from 7:30-9:30 pm. Guests sample a selection of chocolates prepared by Weiser and wine pairings picked by TPLS. You also get tips on wine and chocolate pairings and a gift bag. Tickets are $15, and all proceeds go to Naomi’s Village, which supports orphans in Africa. If that’s not enough to get you off the couch, our own Teresa Gubbins is the host.

Gingertown Live Build
You can eat gingerbread houses, right? Regardless, the Dallas Gingertown Live Build and Competition takes place from 5-9 pm in front of Nordstrom at NorthPark. The town stays on display through Saturday, when the silent auction goes from 11 am-8 pm. Now that we think about it, you probably shouldn’t eat the houses — homeless gingerbread families are a sad sight for the holidays.

Friday, November 30

Beaujolais & Beyond Wine Festival
The French American Chamber of Commerce is hosting the 29th annual Beaujolais & Beyond Wine Festival at the Irving Convention Center from 7-9:30 pm, with wines from all over France and the United States and some craft beers to boot. Throw in small bites, a silent auction, dancers and Miss Texas 2012 Danae Couch, and you’ve got a party. General admission is $65 before or $70 at the door.

Saturday, December 1

British Emporium Christmas Open House
The British Emporium in Grapevine is hosting a Christmas open house from noon-4 pm. There is a British Father Christmas to greet children and take their requests for monocles and tins of biscuits. But the big draw is Darren McGrady, who was Princess Diana’s personal chef. A Dallas regular, McGrady is signing his book, Eating Royally, from noon-2 pm.

Dave & Buster's Grand Opening
Dave & Buster's is moving across Walnut Hill to the space where Glen Lakes AMC used to be. Get complimentary bites and drinks at the unveiling and VIP grand opening from 7-11 pm. It's important to RSVP at Dallas_Party@daveandbusters.com so you can unleash your inner kid.

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Greenville Avenue News

Las Brasas to do Mexican and grilled meats on Dallas' Greenville Ave

Las Brasas

A meaty new restaurant is opening on Dallas' Greenville Avenue: Called Las Brasas, it'll open at 1424 Greenville Ave., next door to Palapas, the seafood restaurant from partners Tim Goza and Gustavo De Los Rios (owner of Mami Coco), who are also opening this new venture.

Goza says the concept is inspired by the cuisine found north of Monterrey and Mexico. It'll open in mid-March.

Goza first opened Palapas Seafood Bar in the former home of Dallas Tortilla and Tamale Factory in 2014, and has survived more than a decade on Greenville Avenue — no small feat. Las Brasas will be like a companion concept to Palapas.

"Palapas is very much about seafood while this will be primarily steaks and chicken, cooked over a wood grill we had made in Monterey," Goza says. "It's pulled from the style they do there — the way they cook meat over charcoal and wood. We had a grill custom-made, which helps you control your cooking by providing a way to pull your chicken and steaks off the heat cook it a little bit slower."

Las Brasas entrees will be brought to the table in portable little grills made of cast iron, almost like the plate used to deliver sizzling fajitas.

Everything is a la carte, whether its sliced rib eye, pork, or chicken cooked butterflied half or whole on the same grill. There are also Mexican dishes like Los Piratas — blue corn tortilla with Oaxaca cheese and choice of pork, chicken, steak, or sweetbreads, topped with pico and molcajete sauce. There are dishes to share like the Brasero for two, featuring a half grilled chicken, arrachera, half rack of pork ribs, and sausage, with corn, onions, charro beans, queso fundido, molcajete sauce, and tortillas.

They'll also be open for brunch with chilaquiles and huevos rancheros. And of course, there will be tequila from a brand with which Goza is involved.

"We'll also showcase Dos Perros tequila — the only tequila we'll serve," Goza says.

The space was recently home to a weekend brunch pop-up, but they've added decorative features, recycled from found objects such as a gas firepit that Goza had made out of an old wind pump from his ranch in Alvarado, and an old rail car that came from Cleburne rail yard, which will serve as a party table on patio.

"We feel like that will be a big hit for us," he says.

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