This Week in Gluttony

These are the 7 best food and drink events in Dallas this week

Cheers to Texas Independence Day at Culpepper Cattle Co.

Culpepper Cattle Co./Facebook

Food events this week include a rare once-every-four-years occasion: Leap Day. This week also features Texas Independence Day, bringing more reasons for restaurants and bars to celebrate with festivities like live music, pop-up vendors, and food and drink specials. Also make plans for a bourbon maker meet-and-greet and a "fowling" birthday party.

Wednesday, February 28

Meet the Maker: RD1 Spirits at Republic Texas Tavern
The Kentucky-based bourbon will be featured during this meet-and-greet event with RD1 Spirits co-founder Barry Brinegar. Tickets are $20 and include bourbon served neat or in a specialty cocktail. There'll also be small bites for pairing. The event will run from 6-8 pm.

Thursday, February 29

Leap Day at City Works Eatery & Pour House
Calling all Leaplings! If your birthday is February 29, you'll get a free entrée at City Works Eatery & Pour House, which has locations in Fort Worth and Frisco. Prepare to show an ID for proof. The deal is good for lunch and dinner.

Friday, March 1

Fowling's 1st Birthday Bash
A cross between football and bowling, the game of fowling takes place in Plano at Fowling Warehouse DFW, which will celebrate its one-year anniversary with a party. There'll be DJ music, casino games, photo booth, giveaways, free samples, a balloon drop, and food and drinks specials, including an adult birthday milkshake made with ice cream from Plano's Local Creamery. The party is open to those 16 and up and will run from 7-10 pm. Admission is free.

Saturday, March 2

Bengali Food Fiesta at Sigree Indian Restaurant and Banquet
Long awaited lunch buffet is a two-day weekend event, March 2-3 from 12-3 pm, with all manner of Indian dishes: pani poori, aloo tikki, vegetable chops, samosas, gobi Manchurian, veg noodles, cholar dal, kichdi, labada, loochi/aloo bhaji, panner tikka masala, veg pea pulao, kolkata chili chicken, tandori chicken, kosha mangsho, chingri biryani, chicken tikka masala, and tomato date chutney. It's all-you-can-eat, $19 for adults, and $14 for kids 9 and under. What a deal.

16th Annual Texas Independence Day Chili Cook-Off at The Ginger Man
Irving pub will host a chili tasting and cook-off benefitting EPIC Animal Rescue. Tickets are $15 for five tasting cups and two raffle tickets, or $25 for 10 tasting cups and five raffle tickets. Additional raffle tickets will be available for $5 each or $20 for five. The event will run from 2-6 pm.

Texas Independence Day at Culpepper Cattle Co.
Rockwall Texas-style home cooking sister restaurant to HG Sply Co., Leela's Wine Bar, HERO, and Standard Service will celebrate Texas Independence Day with live music, a pop-up hat vendor, and $10 Milagro margaritas. The Makhatter will be on-site from 6-10 pm and the Kasual T's will play classic rock from 7-10 pm on the patio. Reservations encouraged.

Texas Independence Day at PGA District
Frisco's Omni PGA District will host a Texas-sized Texas Independence Day Party offerings sounds and spirits from the Lone Star State. Garrison Brothers Distillery will be on-site to serve complimentary whiskey samples, with an appearance from founder Charlie Garrison himself. There'll also be a pop-up hat bar by Blue Lacy Mercantile, and live music by Unwound: A Tribute to George Strait. The event is free and open to the public, and will take place from 6-8 pm.

event-planner

Pasta News

Downtown Dallas tasting restaurant embraces new Italian theme

Sauvage

Pasta at Sauvage Dallas

A chef-driven restaurant in downtown Dallas is shifting gears: Sauvage, the fine-dining concept near the Statler Dallas hotel known for its multicourse tasting experience, is diving into a more fluid approach by taking on a new identity each month.

Their new model will begin in February with an embrace of Italian food. Each ensuing month will usher in a new theme, driven primarily by cuisine.

According to chef Casey La Rue, it's just a fine-tuning of the seasonal approach that the restaurant already takes.

"Sauvage has always shifted with the seasons — ingredients come and go, dishes evolve, small changes happen constantly," he says. "The rotating theme lets us explore a cuisine, a perspective, and a set of flavors more deeply, while still staying grounded in the local farmers, ranchers, and producers we work with every day."

Casey opened Sauvage with his wife, Amy La Rue, in September 2025 at 1914 Commerce St. as a tasting-menu-style restaurant with just 12 seats and two seatings per night. The restaurant is a collaboration, with Casey serving as chef and Amy, who is a pastry chef, doing desserts and breads; the couple also owns La Rue Doughnuts, the massively popular artisan shop at Trinity Groves.

Their unique approach included cooking everything on a wood fire, eschewing traditional methods such as a deep fryer. They'll still make the wood fire the centerpiece, but with an embrace of Italian food. That means pastas made in-house, plus meats and seafood with Italian ingredients and techniques.

The starting menu includes dishes like gatto di patate — smoked potato with a savory custard and caviar, or couscous rustico with Wagyu beef cheek.

"We'll be making couscous in-house — it's 'rustico' because it's handmade and the couscous pearls won't be uniform in size or shape," Casey says.

There'll be smoked Wagyu beef rib, crusted not in the usual salt and pepper but with olives instead, and served with lion's mane mushrooms; and carne cruda with venison and crispy sunchoke which he describes as "an Italian tartare."

Other courses include Gulf prawn sausage with Swiss chard, boar belly with parsnip puree, and opening dishes such as focaccia with Gulf snapper baccala spread.

Desserts include spumoni, an eye-catching ice cream confection that originated in Naples and is hugely popular in the Northeast, featuring three distinct layers of cherry, pistachio, and chocolate ice cream; white coffee tiramisu, a decidedly chef's take with a coffee-cocoa gel and hazelnut sabayon; and zeppole — ricotta doughnuts, summoning the restaurant's doughnut-shop sibling.

"Part of our motivation is that we didn't want to be doing the same thing over and over," he says. "When customers come in, they invariably ask when the next menu change will take place. Changing to a new theme or identity every month also gives our staff a chance to get creative."

downtown chefs openings