This week in gluttony

These are the 9 best food and drink events in Dallas this week

Whiskey Riot is back for a second shot.

Photo courtesy of Whiskey Riot

Texas Independence Day happens this week, and there’s a Texas beer festival and Texas-themed restaurant anniversary party to celebrate. Actor (and tequila entrepreneur) Mark Wahlberg is coming through town, and mushroom lovers, take note: a pop-up this week is just for you.

Tuesday, February 28

Fantastic Fungus Pop-up in Bishop Arts
Chef David Rodriguez of Oddfellows will host a pop-up with a mushroom-themed menu. Go for Maitacos – tacos with roasted maitake mushrooms, charred corn pico, and avocado crema – along with roasted chestnut and wild rice risotto, and oyster mushroom ramen. Prices are a la carte. The pop-up will take place at 336 W. 8th St., in the same location as A.J. Vagabonds and Oak Cliff Creperie, from 6-9 pm.

February Wine Dinner at Oak’d
The Greenville Avenue barbecue restaurant will host its monthly wine dinner with a Pacific Mexican-themed menu. Highlights include tuna tostadas, smoked pork tamales, smoked iron steak, and tres leches cake. All courses will be paired with wine, with the exception of dessert that will be paired with a Lemon Drop shot. Dinner is $79 and begins at 6:45 pm.

Wednesday, March 1

Stag’s Leap Wine Dinner at Le Meridien Dallas, The Stoneleigh
Sip Stag’s Leap Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, red blend, and Petite Syrah during this four-course wine dinner at Le Meridien. Menu highlights include an entrée duet of macadamia crusted halibut and lollipop lamb chop, and hazelnut milk chocolate cake. Reservations are $145 and dinner will run from 6-9 pm.

Thursday, March 2

Jaxon Beer Garden’s Third Anniversary
Saddle up for Jaxon Beer Garden’s third anniversary party, which just so happens to fall on Texas Independence Day. Specials will include $3 burgers, $3 Community Beer Co.’s Texan pilsner, and $5 Ranch Waters. There’ll also be live music by Raised Right Men and a longhorn for photo ops. The party starts at 5 pm and reservations are encouraged.

Friday, March 3

Flecha Azul Tequila Bottle Signing with Mark Wahlberg
Actor Mark Wahlberg will be visiting Dallas for a bottle-signing event featuring Flecha Azul Tequila. Wahlberg is a backer in this tequila company co-founded in 2016 and launched in 2020 by Mexican PGA golfer Abraham Ancer and Mexican entrepreneur Aron Marquez. At these events, he signs the bottles only, no other personal memorabilia items. The event is 1-3 pm at the Specs at 9500 N. Central Expy. #200 in Dallas, and is free.

Saturday, March 4

Dallas Whiskey Riot
Popular in New York, the Whiskey Riot Festival made its debut in Dallas last year and will return for 2023. The festival, at the Fashion Industry Gallery (F.I.G.), will feature more than 200 whiskeys for guests to try, from Old Pulteney 12-year scotch to local favorite TX Whiskey. Tickets are $90, and the event will run from 4-7 pm. Or pay $160 for VIP tickets and get early admission at 3 pm and dinner provided by Whiskey Cake.

TEXFest at Historic Downtown Carrollton
At least two dozen breweries will be pouring samples of their craft beer during this “Texas-sized good time” in Carrollton. A tasting card good for 12 samples is $25. Breweries include many local favorites like Peticolas Brewing, Deep Ellum Brewing Co., and Revolver Brewing. The event will also include food vendors, live music, yard games, a mechanical bull, and a longhorn for photo ops. The event will run from 3-9 pm and admission is free.

Barrel-aged Flight Tasting at Manhattan Project Brewing
Brewery is hosting this tasting event in the barrel room featuring four experimental beers that have been aged in barrels: Barley Wine aged in cabernet barrels, Enriched Plutonium aged in rum barrels, Winter Coalition aged in bourbon barrels, and Nuclear Winter aged in bourbon barrels. The ABVs range from 9-11 percent, and they're serving the flight in 8 oz pours. It's at 3 pm and it costs $20 in advance, or $24 the day of, limited to 50 attendees, and no children allowed. Order tickets here.

Monday, March 6

Tasting Dinner at Petra and the Beast With Highland Park Whiskey
Acclaimed restaurant will host special six-course tasting menu featuring cocktails and neat pours from Highland Park Whiskey, located in Orkney, Scotland. The dinner is one in a series that the distillery is doing at restaurants across the U.S. Menu details are still to come but will feature elements of farm, forage, fermentation, and fire to table. It's $160 and starts at 7 pm. Seating is limited. For reservations, call or text 318-935-0906.

Taste of Richardson Food Tour Dallas Whiskey Riot dinner news-you-can-eat

Tres chic

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

Courtesy Peter Novotny

The in-progress exterior of Trapeze

A new French-inspired restaurant and bar from the team behind two Deep Ellum hot spots will soon make its debut in Dallas' Bishop Arts District: Called Trapeze, it will open this spring in a cute bungalow at 240 W. 8th St.

Trapeze is from Peter Novotny and Dan Murry, who operate popular Deep Ellum haunts Ruins and Armoury D.E. They have been remodeling the old Bishop Arts bungalow extensively for their newest restaurant venture.

“It’s basically going to be kind of a French bohemian bar and restaurant, with real emphasis on the bohemian,” Novotny says. “It will kind of feel like an old-fashioned bohemian artist’s enclave.”

Matt Battaglia, the founder of the now-defunct Denton music festival Oaktopia and current tour manager for musician Marc Rebillet, is also involved in the project.

The space itself underwent a massive revamp that’s been in the works for months, including a few weather-induced delays. And because Trapeze is located in a conservation district, that construction had to be done in a way that would maintain the home’s original look.

“It’s basically a complete renovation,” Novotny says. “They had to rebuild the entire structure. The whole exterior is all new.”

Novotny says that the inspiration for Trapeze comes from Oak Cliff’s own historical French influence. That will be reflected in the space’s “quirky” vibe, which he says will be very colorful and in keeping with the bohemian theme.

The neighborhood was once home to the French utopian community La Reunion, which sprouted up around 1855.

“We’re trying to do a tribute to the French history of Oak Cliff and Bishop Arts, and our goal is to capture the things we love about regional French cuisine and culture,” he says.

To head up the kitchen at Trapeze, Novotny and Murry tapped Jeremy Spector, a New York chef who’s worked in much-lauded kitchens like Balthazar and Gramercy Tavern, along with owning and operating his own restaurants in the city, as culinary director. Spector is developing the menu for the restaurant, which will serve classic dishes from the different regions of France, along with flavors inspired by France’s once-vast colonial empire, including Moroccan cuisine.

As one might expect from two Deep Ellum bar experts, the cocktail program at Trapeze will be serious. Expect classic French cocktails, New Orleans-influenced libations, and an extensive list of cognacs, rhum agricoles, and “many other classic French spirits and liqueurs,” Novotny says. The bar will also offer a solid menu of aperitifs and digestifs, along with cocktails mixed with absinthe, cognac, and Chartreuse, and French and “French-adjacent” cider and beer.

Novotny and Murry are shooting for an opening date in April, just in time for what will hopefully be good spring weather.

bishop arts deep ellum openings

This week in gluttony

These are the 9 best food and drink events in Dallas this week

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