This week in gluttony

New supper series top 6 best food and drink events in Dallas this week

Crossbuck BBQ will launch a new supper club this week.

Crossbuck BBQ

Two Dallas-area restaurants will launch new dinner series this week - one featuring celeb chefs and the other, craft cocktails and modern Texas barbecue. Also partake in some plant therapy paired with mocktails or a cocktail showdown featuring coconut and rum. Don't miss a Scottish January tradition at a local pub that'll host bagpipers to serenade guests during a three-course Scottish dinner.

Tuesday, January 20

Dallas Coquito Final Showdown at Saint Valentine
Top Dallas bartenders will compete to create their best coquito – a Puerto Rican Christmas cocktail similar to eggnog and made with rum and coconut – during this cocktail competition hosted by Tales of the Cocktail and Bacardi Rum. The competition will take place at Saint Valentine from 7-11 pm and guests are invited to sample each bartender’s entry and vote for their favorite. Entry and sampling are free, although an RSVP is encouraged.

Wednesday, January 21

Old Forester Whiskey Dinner Experience at Barrel & Bones
The Colony outlet of the craft bar and smokehouse will host a four-course dinner featuring bourbon expressions from Kentucky-based Old Forester. The menu includes salted cod croquettes, panzanella and panela cheese salad, roasted pork shoulder, and raspberry opera cake. There are a few tickets left and they’re $75, plus tax and a service fee. Dinner begins at 7 pm.

Thursday, January 22

Plant Project Sip & Shop 8 Hundred North
Get a dose of plant therapy during this a pop-up shopping experience in the lobby bar of JW Marriot Dallas Arts District by the team from The Plant Project. Enjoy a welcoming elixir upon arrival and take advantage of a $10 special on the bar’s signature Daisy mocktail. The event will run from 5-9 pm.

Celebrity Chef Dinner Series at The Crescent Club featuring Dean Fearing
Hotel Crescent Court has launched a monthly dining series featuring big-name chefs, with the first to include Dean Fearing, widely recognized as the “Father of Southwestern Cuisine.” Highlights from the three-course menu include Dean’s tortilla soup and a Texas surf and turf dish of chicken fried lobster and barbecue-spiced beef filet. Courses come with wine pairings, and the dinner will take place inside The Crescent Club located on the 17th floor, which is typically not open to the public. Reservations are $250 and the event begins at 6 pm with a cocktail reception. The new dinner series will run through June.

4th Annual Burns Night at The Londoner Pub Dallas
Burns Night is a Scottish tradition in January that celebrates the life and work noted Scottish poet, Robert Burns. A supper of haggis (a savory Scottish pudding) is served with scotch whiskey while bagpipers play. Experience The Londoner’s version of the tradition, which will include a three-course dinner, Glendronach Scotch whiskey, highland dancing, and bagpipes by North Texas Caledonian Pipes and Drums. Reservations are $60 and the event begins at 7 pm.

Friday, January 23

Supper Club at Crossbuck BBQ
UPDATE 1-22-26: The Crossbuck BBQ Supper Club has been postponed to Friday, January 30 due to weather.
The Farmers Branch destination for a modern take on Texas barbecue has launched a new monthly supper club series. Pitmaster and owner Tim McLaughlin will present five courses paired with craft cocktails. Highlights from this week’s inaugural supper club menu include smoked brisket empanadas, smoked cherry and star anise sorbet, twice-cooked bone-in pork chop with chipotle and pear compote, and blueberry ginger cobbler with peppermint ice cream. Tickets are $150, plus tax and dinner begins at 7:30 pm.

dinner food events

Burger News

Family-owned Patty Lou's Smashburgers will open in old downtown Plano

Photo by Sara Aurora Cimminiello on Unsplash

Smashburger

A new restaurant starring a buzzy burger is coming to old downtown Plano: Called Patty Lou's Smashburgers, it will feature the namesake smashburger, and will open at 1004 E. 14th St. #105, in a historic location that was most recently home to a Starbucks.

Patty Lou's is a new concept from Urban Family Concepts, the hospitality company whose other restaurants include Urban Seafood Co., Urban Rio Cantina & Grill, and Italian restaurant Urban Crust, all located in the downtown Plano area.

Patty Lou's is their burger entry, a quick-service spot serving smashburgers, the flattened version of a burger with crisp edges that's been a hot trend for the past year.

According to Urban Family Concepts partner and spokesperson Dana Blaugrund, the restaurant will open in late spring.

Patty Lou's is also a sweet homage to a family member — named for Patty Lou Peters, of "Patty Lou and her Texas Sweethearts" fame, an all-female country & Western / Western swing group founded in the '40s, when female groups were a rarity.

Patty Lou was the mother of Bonnie Shea, who co-founded Urban Family Concepts with her husband Nathan Shea. Infusing the personal touch into everything they do is part of the company DNA, says Urban partner Michael Lee.

"Urban is generally driven by what we like," Lee says. "Urban Rio, our Mexican concept, came about because Bonnie loved that cuisine, and Urban Seafood Company, Nate loves seafood. Burgers are a favorite of their son-in-laws."

Their version of the smashburger will feature American cheese and onions that melt into the meat, Lee says. They'll be served on potato buns, and there'll be some toppings — but they won't go too crazy.

"It'll have onions, lettuce, and pickle, but we're going to stay minimal, with additional toppings on the side," he says. "Going overboard with ingredients can get complicated. Our goal is, very simple burgers that taste very good, at a value price, so that everyone can enjoy coming back and getting a burger."

The menu will also feature smashed chicken burgers, hand-cut French fries skin on, lightly battered onion rings, and milkshakes. They'll also serve alcohol, including bottled beers, wine by the glass, and a signature frozen cocktail. Eventually, they'll add specials like a burger of the month.

The location was originally home to the Ice House, built in 1917, an institution that provided ice products to Plano residents and businesses, says Urban partner Payton Hickey.

"You could pull up and get a block of ice from workers with tongs," Hickey says. "During remodeling, we could still see the raised floor where the freezer was, where they kept the ice."

They operated a licensed location of Starbucks in that space until 2024, when Starbucks opened a store nearby with a drive-thru in the former longtime Jack in the Box at 15th Street and US-75.

Decor at Patty Lou's will embrace a diner feel with counter seating, while incorporating elements from Patty Lou Peter's life, Blaugrund says. (It's a nice coincidence that her name syncs up with "hamburger patty.")

"We'll have her original guitar and some memorabilia in the restaurant — a cool mixture of country music and burger restaurant," Blaugrund says.

burgers openings

This week in gluttony

New supper series top 6 best food and drink events in Dallas this week

Burger News

Family-owned Patty Lou's Smashburgers will open in old downtown Plano

Cult ice cream brand Salt & Straw makes Texas debut in Dallas

Deep Ellum bar duo to open bohemian French restaurant in Bishop Arts

Dallas woos top-15 spot on new list of best places to get married