This Week in Gluttony

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

Take a class and learn to make your own tamales.

Photo courtesy of Latino Cultural Center

Recover from the Thanksgiving food coma with a visit to a vegan eatery. Then prepare for more holiday entertaining with a classes on making chocolate and tamales. This weekend, there'll be a chili cookoff and a cocktail competition.

Tuesday, November 28

Explore Plant-Based Eating at My Thai & Vegan
Explore the plant-based menu at this Las Colinas Thai restaurant with a group of like-minded folks. Menu items include fried coconut tofu, spring rolls, Thai mango wraps, and tofu satay. There will be prizes and an opportunity to share tips with the group. Beer and wine are available for purchase, as are non-vegan items. Hosts for the evening are Mollie Mossman CPA and Dr. Dän Lee Dimke, co-directors of Future-World Institute. The event is free, and starts at 6:30 pm. First 30 attendees get a $10 gift certificate good for items on the menu that evening. Pre-registration is required.

Wednesday, November 29

Holiday Chocolate Workshop at Ellie’s
Hall Arts Hotel restaurant will host a chocolate truffle class featuring chocolatier Zach Townsend of dallaschocolateclasses.com. The $75 per person price includes the class, wine, charcuterie, and valet parking. Class begins at 6:30 pm.

Friday December 1

Make Your Own Tamale Workshop
If you've ever wanted to learn how to make the perfect tamale, now is your chance. This is a time to not only have an amazing meal, but a time to spend time together talking and enjoying others' company. In this class you will learn how to prepare your own tamales at home. The class will share the ins and outs of creating wonderful masa, flavorful fillings and perfectly steamed tamales, covering two fillings and accompanying sauces. The class is $70, and takes place at the Culinary Community Kitchen, at 4401 N. Belt Line Rd. in Mesquite. 7-9 pm. Reserve online.

Friday, December 1-Sunday December 3

Alexander Mansion Holiday Home Tour & Bistro
Peek inside the historic Alexander Mansion at 4607 Ross Ave, with docent-led tours. Groups leave approximately every half hour, from 10 am-4 pm. $15. No reservations required for the tour. A separate bistro lunch catered by Chocolate Angel featuring chicken salad, pasta salad, pretzel salad, scones, and iced tea hosts one seating at 12 pm each day. $40, includes the brunch and tour. Reservation deadline for brunch is Monday, November 27.

Saturday, December 2

Two Mules Cantina Chili Cook-Off
First annual chili cook-off at Texican Court hotel by Valencia Hotel Group in Las Colinas features chili made by chefs on-site as well as from sister properties in Austin, College Station, and Lubbock. Get ready for an evening of tastings and toasts, with tokens you can use to vote for your favorite chili in the competition. It's from 5-7 pm, and tickets are $10, although they're doing some giveaways on Facebook.

Book Signing at Original Pancake House with Mark Brezinski
Addison restaurant is hosting a breakfast and book signing with Mark Brezinski, the veteran restaurateur who recently released Fork Fight!, a restaurant industry tell-all and memoir about his days founding concepts such as Pei Wei and Velvet Taco, a book that Simon & Schuster called "the most compelling, insightful and white-knuckled journey behind the restaurant curtain since Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential." The signing is from 10 am-12 noon.

Sunday, December 3

Repeal Day & Mixology Match-Up at Celestial Beerworks
Celebrate the end of Prohibition, called Repeal Day, with a cocktail competition. Guests can pay $15 to enter their best beverage made using at least one Celestial Beerworks ingredient. (A surprise variety will be provided on the day of the event.) Contestants should bring any other components needed, including mixers, fruit, liqueurs, and garnishes. The wining drink will be used to make an official Celestial Beerworks canned beverage, and the winner will get to collab with the Celestial team on name and label design. The celebration will run from 2–7 pm, and the competition will begin at 4:30 pm with a winner announced at 6:30 pm.

Holiday Drinking News

Where to drink Dallas right now: 5 bars with festive holiday sips

North Italia

Dallas has always liked the holidays but the festive fervor has significantly ramped up in 2025, with more holiday pop-up bars, holiday ice rinks, and holiday lights than ever before. Just about every bar has a special holiday drink, and for the December edition of Where to Drink, our monthly roundup of bars to try, we've gathered four establishments offering a big selection of special Santa-styled sips. The fifth bar recommendation this month is a local Mexican favorite with a new happy hour.

Here's where to drink in December 2025:

Cristina's Fine Mexican Restaurant
Local Tex-Mex chain has an amazingly generous new Happy Hour featuring bites priced from $5-$7, and drinks starting at $4. We are talking chile con queso; queso fundido in a hot cast iron skillet with choice of chorizo, chicken fajita, or poblano & mushrooms; guacamole; nachos with taco meat or chicken; a half-quesadilla with sour cream, guacamole, and choice of fajita chicken or beef; mini chicken & cheese flautitas with queso & guacamole; and three mini tacos with choice of ground beef or chicken. It's on at all 12 locations around DFW: Flower Mound, Fort Worth, Garland, Frisco, Trophy Club, Lewisville, Dallas, Plano, North Richland Hills, and McKinney, Sunday-Thursday all day and Friday 11 am-6 pm.

Culinary Dropout
Anti-foodie gastropub from Fox Restaurants Concepts (Flower Child, The Henry) which opened in the Design District in 2024 hosts a happy hour with a menu of appealing bites and $8 cocktails, available in the bar and on the rooftop only. Bites include sushi rolls, soft pretzels with fondue, Wagyu pigs in a blanket, house-made potato chips with onion dip, and more, priced from $11 to $17. The must-get are their $10 frozen drinks in five varieties including Breakfast in Dublin with cinnamon & vanilla soaked whiskey, espresso liqueur, and a Guinness float.

North Italia
Restaurant chain is hosting Bar North Pole, a festive drink menu featuring six cocktails and two zero-proof options. The cocktails are $15 each and include Sweater Weather, like a sangria with Pinot Grigio, lemon, and apple; Jingle Bell Rock with Aperol, blood orange, ginger beer, and prosecco; and Rudolph’s Replacement with Lalo tequila, Disaronno, apple, and cinnamon. Zero-proof cocktails are $12 and include the White Elephant Gift with Seedlip non-alcoholic, coconut, and white chocolate; and Cocoa Claus with dark chocolate crème and marshmallows.

Punch Bowl Social
Deep Ellum eatertainment restaurant is embracing the holiday with a festive cocktail menu priced from $12 to $14, that includes three drinks made with Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7: a Gingerbread Old Fashioned, a Chai Old Fashioned with chai bitters, and a Baked Apple Old Fashioned with a baked apple reduction. The drink called Santa Pants is a collaboration with Matthew McConaughey’s Pantalones tequila, combined with ginger beer, cranberry, and lime juice. The Ho Ho Ho has Don Q Cristal Rum, Irish cream, Owen’s nitro-infused espresso, and cold foam.

Tinseltown Tavern
The holiday pop-up at The Stix Icehouse in McKinney returns and they've really outdone themselves with ever-more festive holiday-themed food and drink. Bites are $9 each and include meatballs with pesto, a turkey burger with fontina & blueberry-orange chutney, cake balls dipped in white chocolate served with dirt pudding and fried twinkie, and Mrs. Claus Cookie Kit featuring sugar cookies and icing ready to decorate. Drinks are $11-$13, all served in festive glassware, and include Crown Apple & Cinnamon Fizz, a spiced rum hot toddy, and a frozen coconut margarita.

cocktails holidays Where to Drink