Events You Can Eat

The 6 best food and drink events in Dallas during Thanksgiving week

A popular Louisiana-based wine festival will make its debut in Dallas this week.

3 Strands Wine Festival - Shreveport/Facebook

It's time for turkey to take centerstage this week with Thanksgiving arriving on Thursday. (Don't want to cook at home? Find reservations somewhere here.) But make plans for the rest of the holiday week with "Drinksgiving" specials, a couple cooking classes, and a big wine festival making its debut in Dallas.

Tuesday, November 26

Holiday Pie 101 at Thompson Dallas
As part of the luxe hotel’s 12 Days of Thompson event series, an evening of pie-baking and merry-making will be hosted by the hotel’s exec chef Jeramie Robison. Specialty cocktails for adults and hot cocoa for kids are included in the $60 price, as is your scratch-made pie to box up and take home along with a complimentary apron. Class begins at 5:30 pm.

Friday, November 29

Drinksgiving at Fish City Grill
While the made-up holiday is typically marked on the day before Thanksgiving, Fish City Grill locations will keep the party going all weekend. Visit locations in Mansfield, and Burleson for all-day happy hour specials including half-price bottles of wine, $5 gold margaritas, $2.50 chargrilled oysters and East Coast oysters, and $2.25 Gulf oysters. Open 11 am – 10 pm.

Saturday, November 30

3 Strands Wine Festival
The Louisiana-based wine festival is coming to Dallas for the first time this Saturday. To be held at the AT&T Discovery District, the “boutique” festival will feature 100 wines from around the world along with a Christmas theme. General admission tickets are $100 (sales end Thursday) and same day tickets are $75. The festival will run from 1 – 4 pm.

Hands-On Cheesemaking Class at The Mozzarella Company
Make fresh ricotta, queso Oaxaca, and mozzarella balls during this hands-on class that will end with a wine and cheese pairing. The class also includes a behind-the-scenes tour of The Mozzarella Company. Class is $85 per person and will run from 3–5 pm.

Sunday, December 1

Crown Block "Thanksgiving" Brunch
Iconic restaurant atop Reunion Tower is not open on Thanksgiving, boo — but they're making up after the fact with a Thanskgiving-style brunch, featuring their usual sushi and seafood bar, carving stations with smoked ham and beef striploin, and more. If you want to play catch-up, they'll have Cajun fried turkey breast, cornbread stuffing, and candied yams. 10:30 am-2 pm, $80, or $40 for 12 and under. 214-321-3149.

Monday, December 2

Tokyo Nights at Musume
The finale in Musume’s event series inspired by Japan’s culinary scene after dark, “Tokyo Nights” will feature on-theme cocktails from mixologist Gabe Sanchez and late-night dinner menu. Think beef tallow fries, bao bun cheeseburgers, and hand rolls. All menu items and drinks are $9 each. While the event is geared toward those who work in the service industry, Tokyo Nights is open to the public from 8 pm – midnight.

lists event-planner

Ice Cream News

Kwality Ice Cream shop to bring creamy exotic desserts to Frisco

Kwality

Kwality Ice Cream

An ice cream chain with an Indian flair is dipping into Dallas-Fort Worth: Called Kwality Ice Cream, it's a concept founded in New Jersey that specializes in traditional Indian ice cream and cold drinks, and it's opening a location in Frisco, at 13089 Main St. #500, in a new shopping center.

According to franchisee Raju Vikey, the shop will open sometime in 2025. It joins two DFW locations already open: Irving at 8600 N. Macarthur Blvd., and Euless, at 1060 N. Main St. at Harwood Crossing shopping center, which opened in April.

Kwality Ice Cream was founded by food scientist Dr. Kanti Parekh and his son Anand, in New Jersey in 2003. It has expanded with 38 locations in 14 states including Pennsylvania, Florida, and Texas, where there are three locations in Houston and one in Austin.

“The idea was to create a South Asian-specific ice cream, which is more known for fruits and nuts,” Anand says. “As a Ph.D. in food and nutrition, my father’s background and expertise were in flavor. He used that to create very unique flavors and top notes to give a really good mouth feel and experience.”

They have close to 50 ice cream flavors with classics like cookies & cream, chocolate supreme, and butter pecan; but South Asian and Indian flavors dominate the menu with exotic options like green guava, lychee, and Nuttie Tuttie Fruitee, a berry-flavored ice cream with nuts and candied fruit.

There is also kulfi, a frozen dessert that's like ice cream but with less added air so it has a stiffer, creamier texture. It's served in slices and comes in popular Indian flavors like pistachio, mango, and rose.

Other novel frozen treats include cassata, an ice cream cake with three flavors of ice cream layered over sponge cake.

As with many Asian desserts, they're often less sweet than American-style confections. Wild inventions include the mawa rabdi cup, with ice cream, rice noodles, basil seeds, and rose syrup, topped with nuts and candied fruit; and Thandai ice cream, a staple at Indian festivals, consisting of almonds, fennel seeds, poppy seeds, watermelon seeds, rose petals, pepper, cardamom, saffron, milk, and sugar.

Rabdi is like a pudding, believed to have originated during the 1600s. Kwality makes it following the traditional method of slow-cooking milk until it thickens and reduces, enhancing its sweetness and creaminess, then adding ingredients like cardamom, saffron, and pistachios.

Pints of ice cream and frozen desserts range from $8-$11, and cassata ice cream cake slices are $7.

ice cream openings desserts