This week in gluttony

These are the 8 best food and drink events in Dallas this week

Lamb lollipops at Rye.

Rye

International culinary influences abound this week, with flavors from Germany, Canada, South Asia, and Spain appearing on event menus. For those who want a taste of the State Fair of Texas paired with cocktails, there’s a four-course dinner just for you. Also plan for a tongue-in-cheek fundraiser event that will support the reopening of a popular McKinney restaurant that was recently damaged by a fire.

Wednesday, October 5

Munich Street Garden
Downtown Dallas’ Main Street Garden will transform into Munich Street Garden for a celebration of German culture in partnership with Pegasus City Brewery. There’ll be barrel racing, beer tastings, lawn games, food trucks, and live performances. The event will be held on three Wednesdays this month: October 5 with music by AlpenMusikanten, October 12 with The Dogensteins, and October 19 with Brave Combo. All concerts will begin at 7 pm, and the event will run from 5-9 pm. Entry is free, but an RSVP is required.

Thursday, October 6

Mad Hatter Movie Night at Ida Claire
Don’t be late for this very important date. The Southern-inspired Ida Claire will screen Alice in Wonderland on the patio with themed cocktails, appetizer, and desserts. Apps will include pimento cheese, smoked chicken salad, and marinated cucumber tea sandwiches, “Very Important Dates” with goat cheese and bacon, and an “Off with their Heads” array of desserts. Try a Queen of Hearts cocktail with gin and crème de violette, or Forbidden Fruit made with red wine, orange liqueur, ginger, lemon, and pineapple. The special menu will start at 4 pm and movie will start at 8 pm.

Paso Robles Wine Tasting at On The Levee
Experience Paso Robles Wine Country at a walk-around tasting of 100-plus wines from 20 producers such as J Lohr and Ancient Peaks Winery, plus a showcase from Travel Paso, featuring Paso-based goods such as olive oil, honey, and spirits. A food truck by Crown Catering Authentic Mexican Food will be onsite selling wine-friendly fare. The tasting is from 6-8:30 pm, at 1108 Quaker St. Tickets are $65 and can be purchased here.

Molino Olōyō Fall Tasting Dinner at Dude Sweet Mothership
Acclaimed mom-and-pop known for its handmade tortillas is hosting a dinner at the headquarters of Dude Sweet Chocolate, located at 1340 Inwood Rd., with seven courses and an invitation to BYOB. The meal includes lobster soup, rockfish with chanterelle mushrooms, Wagyu huarache with eggplant, chicharron on heirloom corn tortillas, pommegranate sorbet, and persimmon tamalito with toasted corn ice cream. It's at 7 pm and it's $140 per person. For reservations, contact Molino through their Facebook page.

Saturday, October 8

Canadian Thanksgiving at Maple Leaf Diner
For those who can’t wait for Thanksgiving, Canada’s version of the holiday arrives Monday, October 10. Maple Leaf Diner – the Canadian-themed restaurant in Dallas owned and operated by an Ontario native – will celebrate for three days with a Thanksgiving plate special. The $17.50 deal includes turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, brown sugar carrots, pepper squash, and a sweet potato tart. The plate will be available Saturday through Monday, including during special dinner hours Sunday and Monday. Reservations encouraged.

Sunday, October 9

International Fall Soul Cooking at the Dallas Arboretum
The pinnacle of pumpkin patches may be currently found at the Dallas Arboretum, and this weekend there’s a cooking class on-site to match. Chef Jamaal Johnson will showcase fall flavors with a menu of pumpkin and potatoes, including pumpkin chicken curry, sweet potatoes with bacon and bourbon, and patatas bravas – olive oil fried potatoes with a spicy sauce. The class is $65 for Arboretum members and $75 for non-members. Class will run from 11 am-1 pm.

Monday, October 10

State Fair & Spirits Dinner at Urban Crust
The Plano wood-fired pizzeria will pay homage to State Fair of Texas cuisine during this four-course dinner, which will come paired with cocktails by local Lockwood Distilling Co. Reservations are an exact $64.90 per person and dinner will begin at 6:30 pm.

Fyrefest at Rye Dallas
After experiencing a devasting fire in August, the McKinney location of Rye Craft Food & Drink is working to rebuild for a 2023 reopening. Customers can help support the efforts at Rye’s Greenville Avenue location during Fyrefest, a fundraiser and play on the infamous music festival that went awry in the Bahamas in 2017. The event will feature a special guest DJ, specialty cocktail menu with guest bartenders dressed as superstars Nelly, Ricky Martin, Billy Joel and more, along with complimentary bites and a silent auction. The party will run from 5-10 pm.

dinner festivals news-you-can-eat

Mex-Mex News

Popular Plano restaurant Mexican Bar Company to spin off sibling

Photo courtesy of Mexican Bar Company

Fajitas at Mexican Bar Company

An acclaimed Mexican restaurant in Plano is expanding: Mexican Bar Company, which has been a bright spot at The Shops at Willow Bend for eight years, will open a second location in Allen at 800 Shelby Dr. in Sloan Corners, a master-planned community from the Billingsley Company located at the intersection of SH-121 and US-75.

The Mexican Bar Company is from Brian Dunne, a hospitality industry veteran from the northeast who has run many restaurants and bars. He opened the original Mexican Bar Company in 2018 — part of an initiative to draw customers to The Shops at Willow Bend.

The restaurant has shone as one of the standout success stories and is among the few businesses that will remain during a major transformation at Willow Bend, which closed in August, into a mixed-use destination incorporating a new arena that would become the future home of the Dallas Stars.

Food
Mexican Bar Company debuted with a menu created by Patricio Sandoval, a James Beard-featured chef and brother of global restaurateur Richard Sandoval, with whom Dunne had worked decades ago in New York. The menu combines Mexican flavors with "Texas attitude," with house-made tortillas and regional Mexican dishes cooked on a rustic wood and coal-burning grill.

It includes a number of ceviches, such as scallop, lime-cured shrimp, lobster, and even a vegan ceviche with hearts of palm. There's traditional guacamole but also a chef-driven guacamole with habanero, mint, and pomegranate seeds. One customer-friendly option they offer is samplers, in which you can combine three ceviches, or else guacamole and queso.

A dozen street tacos include brisket, pork belly, beer-battered fish, chipotle-marinated shrimp, al pastor, and a vegetarian battered cauliflower, priced from $17.50 to $19.50, three to an order. There are also entrees such as fajitas, ribeye with lobster mashed potatoes, chile relleno, and enchiladas, priced from $23 for the enchiladas to $54 for the steak.

Dunne says they've survived in Plano due to a combination of quality and innovation.

"During COVID, we did the opposite of everyone else — we raised prices and raised quality," he says. "We went 100 percent seed oil- free. We cook our wings and French fries in beef tallow and everything in extra virgin olive oil. We have 23 TVs, so on weekends, we morph into a sports bar."

The Plano location also boasts a robust social scene, with DJs and live music, lots of dancing, and even dance lessons.

Expansion
Allen came about because one of their regulars was Lucy BIllingsley, partner of the Billingsley Company, which is developing Sloane Corners.

"Lucy was a big fan of Mexican Bar Company — she would come in for dinner, she liked our signature Pollo A Las Brasas [adobo marinated half butterflied chicken with plantain rice and garlic mojo], and invited us to open a location in Allen," Dunne says. "It's been a long time in the works."

Dunne also lives in Allen — "I live about seven minutes away," he says.

Allen's menu will be similar although they'll institute nightly chef's specials. And unlike Plano's mild swinger vibe, Allen will embrace more of a family focus, to meet the needs of the neighborhood.

"That will include a play area off the main dining room so that the kids can go enjoy themselves while the parents sit and talk," Dunne says. "There'll also be a 1,700-square-foot patio with retractable roof and roll down system that overlooks a two-acre park."

Allen will have double the size of its private dining facilities with a few bells and whistles including what Dunne calls his "piece de resistance": a 220-square-foot dining room, dubbed the Miami Cabana, that seats a dozen people, with bi-fold doors that open onto a pond, suitable for bachelorette parties or football parties, since the room will have two TVs.

Construction is ongoing. Dunne, who also co-owns Centro on the Square, which he opened in downtown McKinney in 2025, is visibly excited, calling it "the best build-out I've ever been a part of — I put in all the things over the years that I've accumulated," he says. The goal is to be open by December.

"We're hoping to take Allen to a higher level of hospitality," he says.

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