This week in gluttony

These are the 6 best food and drink events in Dallas this week

The Feast of the Seven Fishes special at Meddlesome Moth.

Raynor Brumfield

Let’s call this week “Feast of the Seven Fishes Week.” Multiple Dallas restaurants will celebrate the traditional Italian dinner – typically held on Christmas Eve. Why the number seven? Symbolic representations range from the seven days of creation to the seven days it took Mary and Joseph to reach Bethlehem. Regardless of religious background, everyone is welcome to enjoy various versions of the dinner at multiple eateries all week long.

Wednesday, December 21

Watercolor & Wine at Ellie’s
Learn the art of watercolor with a glass of wine in hand at the Hall Arts Hotel restaurant. This artist-led workshop will teach different techniques to create an original masterpiece based on a theme. The $75 ticket includes wine, light bites, paint supplies, and valet parking. Class will run from 6:30-8:30 pm.

Thursday, December 22

Feast of the Seven Fishes at Meddlesome Moth
An Italian-American celebration typically held on Christmas Eve, the tradition features many dishes of seafood and fish. Meddlesome Moth’s version will offer a Feast special ($59) of lobster with cognac cream, fried smelts, colossal shrimp, mussels, little neck clams, diver scallops, and black bass over a bed of linguini. The special will run Thursday through Saturday.

Feast of the Seven Fishes at Sassetta
This version of the Italian Christmas traditional dinner does indeed feature seven courses. Taking place at Sassetta inside The Joule, the dinner will offer scallop crudo, cioppino with mussels, clams, white fish, and calamari, two kinds of seafood pasta, branzino al forno, and cannoli with ricotta cream filling. The dinner is $130, plus tax and gratuity, and includes a cocktail upon arrival. Reservations are available both Friday and Saturday beginning at 5 pm.

Saturday, December 24

Feast of the Seven Fishes at Urban Crust
The Plano pizzeria and Italian eatery will feature three specialty courses to celebrate the Italian Christmas Eve tradition. Dinner is $49.90, plus tax and gratuity, and seating is first-come, first-serve beginning at 3 pm. Wine pairings will also be available.

Feast of the Seven Fishes at The Kimpton Pittman Hotel
The Deep Ellum hotel will host the traditional Italian Christmas Eve dinner inside Elm & Good, along with live acoustic music. The multicourse menu will include octopus carpaccio with fennel, grapefruit and pumpkin seeds, mussels in saffron broth, linguini with clams, shrimp cocktail, and much more. Dinner is $95, and reservations are available between 5-10 pm.

Christmas Eve & Christmas Day dining
Christmas will be a two-day dining extravaganza, with celebratory meals served from Christmas Eve through Christmas night. Check this list for restaurants serving brunches and dinners both days, along with some to-go options for at-home celebrations. Looking for restaurants to take out-of-town guests throughout the week? Find some great options here.

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Cream of the Crop

Dallas' Michelin-starred Mamani debuts on prestigious Texas dinner series

Photo courtesy of Mamani

Michelin-starred Mamani will be featured on the Lone Star Dinner Series in Austin.

Acclaimed Dallas restaurant Mamani is heading to Austin for a one-night-only collaboration this summer as part of a Michelin-focused dinner series spotlighting some of Texas' top dining destinations.

Austin restaurant Hestia unveiled the return of its Lone Star Dinner Series, a lineup of collaborative dinners featuring acclaimed restaurants from around the state. Mamani, the French-inspired Dallas restaurant that earned a Michelin star just two months after opening in 2025 and recently won Restaurant of the Year at the 2026 CultureMap Dallas Tastemaker Awards, makes its debut on the series.

The dinner will take place July 21 at Hestia in Austin and marks the first time the two-year-old Lone Star Dinner Series has ever included a Dallas restaurant.

This year's lineup features:

June 16: Hestia and Tatemó from Houston
July 21: Hestia and Mamani from Dallas
August 25: Hestia and InterStellar BBQ from Austin

“The Lone Star Series allows us to tighten our relationship with other Michelin-starred restaurants in Texas,” says Hestia chef de cuisine Paul Wensel in a release. “It is great to share experiences and different techniques across other incredible restaurants. Additionally, it's just fun to bring other chefs into our space for one night and do a different style of service; our team loves it, and it makes the summertime more interesting.”

Mamani opened in Dallas in 2025 under chef Christophe De Lellis, whose menu blends influences from Paris and the French and Italian Rivieras. The restaurant quickly became one of Dallas' most acclaimed new openings.

While menus for the dinner series have not yet been announced, the collaboration is sure to showcase Mamani's French-inspired cuisine alongside Hestia's live-fire cooking style.

The Dallas dinner is one of three collaborations designed to highlight the growing network of Michelin-recognized restaurants across Texas.

Houston's Tatemó is expected to showcase masa, the cornerstone ingredient that led to the restaurant's formation and still informs nearly everything it does. It's even in Tatemós mission statement: "Our mission is to restore the cultural value of maíz, and its nutritional value in Houston, Texas by showcasing the diversity of heirloom corn, from different landscapes and purveyors of Mexico via masa products like tortillas.",

InterStellar BBQ is known for mostly traditional barbecue with some unexpected culinary twists like peach tea glazed pork belly, lamb tacos, and brown butter mac and cheese. That makes it well-suited to the collaborative format, where it can once again run with ideas that hardly cross paths with barbecue.

"They do a lot of cool interpretations of classic BBQ dishes," said Wensel. "It's going to be really interesting to see what they create in a tasting menu format."

Appropriately for this diverse set of culinary perspectives, Hestia is more attached to a technique — live-fire cooking — than to any one place or ingredient. Executive chef Kevin Fink and partner Tavel Bristol-Joseph have developed a tasting menu that responds to the seasons and utilizes Texas ingredients above all.

Reservations for each dinner are available on OpenTable, with seatings ranging from 5:30-10 pm. Each menu costs $225 per person, with optional wine pairings for $125 per person. Hestia is located at 607 W. 3rd St.

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