Hundreds of hungry guests made their way to Seven for Parties in the Design District to raise a glass to the 2014 CultureMap Tastemaker Award winners — and to savor creations from the best restaurants and bars in Dallas.

To get warmed up, attendees — a mix of foodies, restaurant industry insiders and award nominees —stepped into the SmileBooth to snap a few party pics before heading into the food-and-drink extravaganza. Is this what heaven is like? We’d like to think so.

For drinks, partygoers got to choose between Herradura tequila cocktails created exclusively for the event by the Best Bartender nominees; a selection of wines from the Abigail Adams portfolio; and craft beer from Alaskan, Odell Brewing Company and Real Ale. Event partner Herradura even had its own tequila tasting lounge.

DJ Sober and DJ Tony Schwa kept the party hoppin’ while an artist from Pinot’s Palette created custom portraits of each Tastemaker Award winner. But let’s get to the food already, shall we?

Participating restaurants included award nominees Dive Coastal Cuisine, The Grape, Barter, Bite City Grill, Chino Chinatown, Sundown at Granada, The Rustic, Meso Maya, Savor and Kate Weiser Chocolates. Among the talkers were Barter’s deviled egg with micro stick of bacon and truffle-infused baby pancake topped with whipped cream and maple syrup, beef carpaccio on toast from Bite, Sundown’s vegan gumbo, and Weiser’s almost-too-pretty-to-eat creations. FluffPop Gourmet Cotton Candy and HotPoppin Gourmet Popcorn also helped with the sweet stuff.

Spotted in the crowd were judgesKent Rathbun, Jon Daniel, Beth Adams and Chad Houser; nomineesJohn Tesar, Barbara Werley, James Tidwell, Laurel Wimberg, Andrew Dilda, Patrick Stark, and Tiffanee and Richard Ellman; and industry types Jack Perkins, Lucian LaBarba from sponsor FreshPoint and Scott Gottlich.

And as if anyone could still manage to eat one more morsel, guests were gifted Hypnotic Donuts and Noble Coyote coffee on their way out the door — a combo that made for the perfect morning-after breakfast.

Like any CultureMap party, we were sad to see it end. But because we are glass-half-full kind of people, we choose instead to look ahead to the next event. We will see you there.

Karl Siebert, Louise Siebert, Linda Snorina, Sinan Gurman

  

Photo by Sylvia Elzafon

Karl Siebert, Louise Siebert, Linda Snorina, Sinan Gurman