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Fill up on pizza, crawfish, chocolate, and seltzer this week. The latter will be available at a festival dedicated to solely to seltzer that’s making a stop in Dallas this weekend. There are a few events dedicated to St. Patrick’s Day, and pop-ups around town celebrating the humble corn dog. Last but not least, there is a giant potato chip making a one-day appearance.

Tuesday, March 14

Pi Day at Urban Crust
The Plano pizzeria will celebrate the special math "holiday" with a special. Enjoy their wood-fired cheese pizza for only $3.14. But plan accordingly; the deal will only be available between 3:14 and 6 pm.

Footlong Potato Chip at Subway in Frisco
In a silly promotion, Lay's is collaborating with a single Subway location in Frisco to share a free 12-inch potato crisp. First it was the footlong sandwich, then the footlong cookie, and now the Baked Lay's 12-inch potato crisp, available only on March 14, and exclusively at the Subway located at at 6700 Stonebrook Pkwy. #100. If it's worth it to you to drive to Frisco for a free chip, then the giveaway starts at 11 am and goes until supplies last.

Friday, March 17

St. Patrick’s Day Crawfish Boil at the Dallas Farmers Market
Rex’s Seafood and Market will bring a taste of the bayou to the Dallas Farmers Market with all-you-can-eat crawfish. The $45 ticket includes the mud bugs and a drink – a Hurricane is the suggested pairing. Children 12 and under can get the deal for $20. The boil will run from 4-10 pm and will feature live music, outdoor games, and prizes for best dressed for St. Patrick’s Day.

St. Paddy’s Day Beerfest at Happiest Hour
Every hour is a happy one at this Olive Street bar, which’ll celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with an inaugural beer festival. The $50 early bird ticket will include unlimited beer and seltzer tastings, live music, and food specials. Day-of general admission jumps to $75. The event will run from 6-10 pm, but a $100 VIP ticket grants access an hour earlier and comes with a souvenir hat.

Saturday, March 18

Fletcher’s Original Corny Dog Pop-Ups
Fun fact: corny dogs were invented in Dallas by brothers Neil and Carl Fletcher in 1938. The meal-on-a-stick debuted at the 1942 State Fair of Texas. Celebrate National Corn Dog Day at one of three pop-ups with Fletcher’s Original Corny Dogs: Klyde Warren Park (11 am-:30 pm), Bass Pro Shops in Garland (11:30 am-6 pm), and at 3212 Knox St. (11 am- pm). Fletcher’s mascot Mr. Corny will make an appearance at the Kylde Warren Park pop-up to pose with fans for photos from 12-3 pm.

Seltzerland
It will be a seltzer lover’s paradise during this festival featuring more than 100 hard seltzers and canned cocktails. Produced out of New York City, the event is making a stop in Dallas at Klyde Warren Park. Tickets start at $49 and offer two options for entry: 11:30 am-2 pm or 3:3-6 pm. Ticket includes a tasting cup and samples and food for purchase on-site. There’ll also be live DJ music, games, and plenty of photo ops.

A Tea Party to Celebrate Ireland at Dude, Sweet Chocolate
Travel expert and Ireland native Rachel Gaffney will be a guest speaker at this Irish tea party, which is sure to include gourmet chocolates for pairing. Tickets are $59 and the party will run from 12-2 pm.

Chicago Deep Dish Pizza

New pizzeria in Arlington lobs Chicago-style pizzas and Italian roast beef

Pizza News

A new take-out pizzeria is bringing deep dish pizza to a neighborhood in need: Called Chicago Deep Dish Pizza, it's opening at the Green Oaks Plaza in Arlington, at 4407 Little Rd. #610, where it will serve Chicago's favorite style pie as well as a few other Windy City classics.

Chicago Deep Dish is from Ashraf Ghousheh, a veteran on the Chicago-style pizza front who previously opened Chicago Pizza Las Colinas back in 2009 (which he sold last year).

"I was taking a break from the pizza business, but there's no Chicago-style pizza in this part of Dallas-Fort Worth, and I found this spot in Arlington that's close to where I live," Ghousheh says. "Pizza is what I know."

If all goes well with construction and permitting, he anticipates that this new spot will open in March or April.

His menu includes 15 specialty pies, each named for an element of Chicago culture. There's one called the Chicago Bulls with pepperoni, salami, sausage, and bacon; and another called the Great Chicago Fire with sausage, sport peppers, garlic, cilantro, and mozzarella cheese.

His pizza with Alfredo sauce, fajita chicken, red onion, bacon, and jalapeno is called the White Sox, while the John Dillinger has BBQ chicken, red onion, and smoked Gouda cheese.

He offers five vegetarian options including one with spinach and olives, and the "Sears Tower," with "veggies stacked high as the sky."

While deep dish is the trademark, he'll do a thin-crust option as well. He makes his own tomato sauce using Bonta Brand tomatoes and Grande brand mozzarella. There's also pesto sauce, alfredo, barbecue, and olive oil.

Sizes begin at 6-inch for an individual, starting at $7.99, and top out at 16-inch, with a basic cheese pizza going for $19.99.

Other Chicago specialties include an Original Chicago hot dog topped with pickle, celery salt, red onion, mustard, sport peppers, tomato, and green relish; and an Italian roast beef sandwich, sliced wafer thin.

There's also a meatball sub, Greek salad, antipasto salad, wings, garlic bread, cheese bread, and pesto garlic cheese bread, a sourdough baguette topped with basil pesto and mozzarella, with a side of marinara.

One thing that drew him back into the restaurant world was the post-pandemic trend of being a place that does delivery and takeout only. His location does not have a dining room or dine-in option.

"Staffing is still an issue these days, and this means that I can put my focus on the kitchen," he says.

Nickelback/Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/Nickelback]

Nickelback's upcoming tour stop rocks this week's 5 hottest Dallas headlines

This week's hot headlines

Editor's note: A lot happened this week, so here's your chance to get caught up. Read on for the week's most popular headlines. Looking for the best things to do this weekend? Find that list here.

1. Juggernaut rock band Nickelback is touring summer 2023 with stop in Dallas. Nickelback is back: Canadian-born rock juggernaut Nickelback is going on tour in summer 2023 to support their new album, Get Rollin'. Called the "Get Rollin’ Tour," it'll hit 38 cities, including Dallas on July 22 at Dos Equis Pavilion.

2. Behind the wall of greenery and other Dallas restaurant must-haves. If you're a Dallas restaurant in 2023, you're nowhere without a wall of greenery. Walls covered with greenery are among the features restaurants are deploying these days to lure in diners. Food is still the official reason people go out to eat, but restaurants these days are more experience-oriented. Here are few features being rolled out at restaurants around town.

3. Affluent Dallas neighbor cashes in as the richest city in Texas for 2023. North Texans wanting a glimpse into the lives of the 1 percent won't have to travel far to get a peek. Southlake has been named the richest city in Texas for 2023 in a recent study.

4. South Polk Pizzeria in Dallas' Oak Cliff slings perfect pies in pizza desert. Dallas has plenty of pretty pizza these days — but nearly all of it is found north of I-30. So let's hear it for South Polk Pizzeria, a new shop that opened in late December in Oak Cliff, at 3939 S. Polk St #527, just off US-67 and north of Loop 12, slinging the same kind of artisanal pies that are being slung across Deep Ellum, Oak Lawn, and North Dallas.

5. 12 Dallas-Fort Worth restaurants score coveted James Beard Award nominations. The James Beard Foundation has revealed the semifinalists for its 2023 Restaurant and Chef Awards. A dozen Dallas-Fort Worth restaurants have been included in both national and regional categories. Here are the nominees.

Donnie Dickerson

South Polk Pizzeria in Dallas' Oak Cliff slings perfect pies in pizza desert

Pizza News

Dallas has plenty of pretty pizza these days — but nearly all of it is found north of I-30.

So let's hear it for South Polk Pizzeria, a new shop that opened in late December in Oak Cliff, at 3939 S. Polk St #527, just off US-67 and north of Loop 12, slinging the same kind of artisanal pies that are being slung across Deep Ellum, Oak Lawn, and North Dallas.

South Polk is doing serious pizza with stellar toppings — the foodie-famous Jimmy's Italian sausage, for example — as well as the telltale sign of great-quality pizza: a crust made from dough that's been fermented — left to age — for many hours to give it a light, crisp texture and toasty flavor.

South Polk is from Terrill Burnett, a chef and Detroit native who moved to Dallas in 2015 and has worked at fine-dining restaurants such as Knife, Nobu, and Saltgrass Steakhouse. For this first solo venture, he's partnered with famed developer Monte Anderson.

Pizza is an exciting new avenue for him.

"When I partnered with Monte, I initially pitched barbecue," he says. "But Monte encouraged me to think about pizza. I started doing my research on the concept of fermentation and got an understanding of how to do it."

That included studying books like The Joy of Pizza: Everything You Need to Know, plus classes such as the Pizza Master Class with Vito Jacopelli.

He uses some of the techniques and ingredients of a classic Neapolitan-style pizza, with his own tweaks. He experimented with different flours until he found one with the right blend of seminola and a high percentage of gluten, and he's fermenting his dough for 72 hours.

"I worked on my dough for a year and a half, baking pizzas every day, and learned how to handle it," he says.

If he has a signature pizza, it's his BBQ chicken.

"The chicken gets pan-seared, and we use a BBQ sauce base with Sweet Baby Ray's, plus Colby-Jack cheese and red onion," he says.

He's also doing a chicken bacon ranch, plus Meat Lovers, Sweet Heat, Supreme, and one with cheese and chunks of pineapple.

"I'm still seeing what customers in the neighborhood want," he says. "Everybody likes pepperoni pizza, cheese pizza, so you start there, then slowly add new varieties and toppings."

south polk pizzeriaTwo pizzas to go from South Polk Pizzeria.South Polk Pizzeria

There's no dining room inside, so it's been to-go only, but the response has been so brisk that they're adding a canopy for outside dining, and Burnett has just applied for a license to serve beer and wine.

The pizzeria is drawing comments social media such as "After speaking with the owner and head chef at South Polk Pizzeria, I think it's safe to say that we no longer live is a pizza desert" — or "This is the best pizza I've had in a long time. Bonus: It's a Black owned business. I ate the whole thing."

"I've always had a passion for cooking and good food," Burnett says. "I love the opportunity to do something that involves skill and technique - I got the passion."

Taste of Chicago

Taste of Chicago dishes out deep-dish pizza at two Dallas-area locations

Pizza News

Five months ago, there was no Taste of Chicago in Dallas-Fort Worth. Today, there are two.

This family-owned restaurant serving deep-dish pizza and other Chicago specialties first opened in Addison at 14833 Midway Rd. in 2013, where they attracted former Windy City residents craving the meaty cheesy dishes of their hometown.

But much of 2022 were dark times for Taste of Chicago fans: In January, owners Michael Kim and Suzana Alic, sister of original founder Emin Alic, closed the restaurant to execute a renovation, with a goal of creating a more efficient kitchen and a more attractive space.

But the sun rose again in the fall when they launched a spinoff. According to a release, they've opened a location in historic downtown McKinney, at 216 W. Virginia St. #102, in a space previously occupied by the short-lived Koren chicken chain Mad For Chicken.

Michael Kim is the busy restaurateur who owns Sugarbacon Proper Kitchen among other concepts, and who had brought Mad For Chicken to DFW. With his partnership, they opened McKinney with a full bar and outdoor patio.

Finally, on November 29, they re-opened Addison.

Both locations feature a menu starring build-your-own Chicago-style deep dish pies as well as specialty pizzas, namely the Chicago Classic with pepperoni, mushrooms, onion, and green pepper.

Other menu items include:

  • Italian beef sandwich with roast beef, cheese, and giardiniera
  • Thin-crust Tavern-style pizza
  • Pastas such as Mama’s Marinara, Meat Sauce Masterclass, and Chicken Parmesan
  • Meatball sub
  • Toasted ravioli

They've added new menu items as well, including tried-and-true Midwesterner big draws such as a classic Chicago dog (an all beef wiener with bright green mustard relish, onions, pickle spear, sports pepper, tomatoes, celery salt, and yellow mustard), and Wisconsin cheese curds. Also hot wings. Wings are always welcome.

Olivella's

Pizzeria in Deep Ellum spins off deli sandwich shop with panini and subs

Deli News

A pizzeria in Deep Ellum is spinning off a sandwich shop within: Olivella’s Pizza & Wine, the Dallas chain that opened a location at 2816 Elm St. in early 2022, has unveiled a new deli concept within the restaurant where it's serving panini and sub sandwiches during lunch hours.

Called Olivella's Italian Deli, it's open from 10 am-3 pm with a menu of 11 panini and eight 8-inch sub sandwiches, using hoagie rolls and house-made bread, plus your usual meats, cheeses, and peppers, priced from $8 to $11.

Highlights include:

  • Meatball - house meatballs, house mozzarella, sauce
  • Chicken Parmesan - breaded chicken breast, house mozzarella, sauce
  • The Don – mortadella, capicola, soppressata, pepperoni, prosciutto, mozzarella, provolone, Crescenza-Stracchino, lettuce, tomato, red onion, oregano, oil, vinegar
  • Sausage & Peppers - Italian sausage, peppers, onions, sauce
  • Olivella’s Cheesesteak - Italian sliced beef, sauteed mushrooms, provolone, truffle cream, sweet peppers
  • Italian Club - mortadella, ham, prosciutto, capicola, provolone, lettuce, tomato, red onion, herb vinaigrette

The menu also includes appetizers such as meatballs & caprese skewers; salads such as Primavera and Caesar; soups such as minestrone, Italian wedding, and tomato basil; desserts such as cannoli and tiramisu; and a limited selection of Olivella's pasta and pizza.

There's a full bar with wine by the glass or bottle, plus draft and bottled beer.

Olivella's specializes in Neapolitan pizza, as well as a Roman/Northern Italian-style thin-crust pizza. There are currently four locations: Deep Ellum, Lakewood, Camp Bowie Boulevard in Fort Worth, and the original near SMU at 3406 McFarlin Blvd.

Olivella's founder Charlie Green says in a statement that they've always made panini, even though they're more famous for pizza.

"Our panini has been our best-kept secret since we first opened in Dallas over 16 years ago,” Green says. "Customer reception has always been great for our panini, but we haven’t had a large-enough offering for the public to think about us as a go-to sandwich place."

"So, in the last few years, we got serious about it, digging into the trove of family panini recipes and adding our take on Italian-American sandwich favorites," he says.

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Dallas native directs new Netflix series Waco: American Apocalypse

Documentary News

Netflix has a new series on the tragedy that took place in Waco three decades ago: Called Waco: American Apocalypse, it's a three-part series documenting the standoff between cult leader David Koresh and the federal government that ended in a fiery inferno, televised live, with 76 people dead.

The series debuts on March 22, to coincide with the 30-year anniversary of the event which took place from February 28 to April 19, 1993. There's a trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scZ2x7R_XXc.

It's an oft-told tale and not the only new release to try and exploit the 30-year anniversary: Jeff Guinn, former books editor at the Fort Worth Star Telegram, just came out with a book also described as definitive, called Waco: David Korsh, the Branch Davidians, and a Legacy of Rage.

Waco: American Apocalypse is directed by another "local": Dallas native Tiller Russell (Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer), who obtained never-before-seen videotapes of FBI negotiations, as well as raw news footage and interviews with insiders.

Those insiders include one of David Koresh’s spiritual wives; the last child released from the compound alive; a sniper from the FBI Hostage Rescue Team; the FBI Crisis Negotiation Unit Chief; journalists; and members of the ATF tactical team who watched colleagues die in the shootout against the heavily armed members of the religious sect.

The FBI videotaped inside the hostage negation room, thinking they'd be there maybe 24 hours, not 51 days.

"These are video cassettes that were sitting in somebody’s closet for 30 years, that show the mechanics of hostage negotiations in an intimate setting - not the hostage negotiation scenarios you see in films, but a team of people grinding, day in and day out, for 51 days," Russell says.

He also procured footage from Waco TV station KWTX, who had a reporter embedded in the initial gunfight.

While the standoff was broadcast live on TV at the time, much of it was out of camera range. The film uses 3D graphics to recreate the details of the compound.

Russell acknowledges that the tale of the cult leader who was also a pedophile, the debate over the right to bear arms, the constitutional limits of religious freedom, dredge up painful conversations that continue today.

"It cast a long shadow, pre-saging the Timothy McVeigh bombing in Oklahoma, the shooting at Colombine, and a growing distrust of government, but I think it's important to reckon with our past so we don't repeat mistakes," he says.

"So much of what’s roiling in culture today can be traced to Waco, a story about God and guns in America with all these children at the center whose lives were determined by the adults around them," he says. "There was no playbook for what happened, everyone was out on a limb, and people made mistakes. But almost everybody was trying to do their very best."

"I think this is a story that's often recalled in politicized terms, with finger-pointing on who screwed up and how did we get here, but there's a profound humanity to it all," he says.

Bluegrass trio Nickel Creek celebrates new tour + album with fall Dallas date

Welcome Back

The Grammy Award-winning bluegrass trio Nickel Creek — mandolinist Chris Thile, violinist Sara Watkins, and guitarist Sean Watkins — is extending their 2023 tour into the fall with a stop at the Majestic Theatre in Dallas on October 20.

This is the first tour that the folk group has headlined since 2014, and it kicks off in Cincinnati, Ohio, on April 15. The Dallas stop is one of the tour's last, followed only by a night at Austin's Moody Amphitheatre at Waterloo Park on October 21.

Nickel Creek is also releasing a new 18-track studio album for the occasion, titled Celebrants. It's their first new album in nine years and is available beginning March 24, which is also when tickets for the Texas tour stops go on sale.

Ahead of the release, Nickel Creek has unveiled three album tracks: “Where The Long Line Leads,” “Holding Pattern,” and “Strangers."

Nickel Creek revolutionized bluegrass and folk in the early 2000s and ushered in a new era of what we now recognize as Americana music. After meeting as young children and subsequently earning the respect of the bluegrass circuit for a decade, the trio signed with venerable label Sugar Hill Records in 2000 and quickly broke through with their Grammy-nominated, Alison Krauss-produced, self-titled LP.

Each member has also kept busy with individual projects over the years. Thile is a 2012 recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and served as the host of the American radio variety show Live from Here (formerly A Prairie Home Companion) from 2016 to 2020.

Sean Watkins is a co-founder of Watkins Family Hour alongside his sister Sara, who has released four albums and maintains a long-running collaborative show in Los Angeles. Sean has also released a string of solo albums, while Sara’s extracurricular projects include the Grammy-winning roots trio I’m With Her, which she co-founded alongside Aoife O’Donovan and Sarah Jarosz.

Sara has also contributed fiddle to recordings by artists like Phoebe Bridgers, the Killers, and John Mayer.

Pre-sale tickets are on sale now, with general onsale beginning March 24 at 10 am here.

There is also the option to join the VIP Celebrants Club, which in addition to a premium reserved or GA ticket includes a private pre-show performance and Q&A with Nickel Creek plus early access to the venue, an enamel pin, and a limited edition poster signed by the band. Membership starts at $169 plus taxes and fees. More info can be found here.

Dallas women Go Red and raise $1.9 million at heartfelt spring luncheon

Go Red for Women

What: Dallas Go Red for Women Luncheon benefiting American Heart Association

Dallas Go Red for Women Luncheon 2023

Photo courtesy of AHA

Carolyn Dent, Olya Brase, Sierra Tuthill, Neely Duncan, Sophia Garrison, Mattie Lewis

Where: Omni Dallas Hotel

The 411: "Her Story is Our Story" was the theme of the 2023 luncheon that raises awareness of heart disease in women - and hundreds of guests heard the message repeatedly that it could happen to any woman they know or love. Jennifer Durbin (in attendance with husband Bill Durbin and daughter Vivienne) was this year's event chair.

Donning their best red attire, guests arrived to a champagne reception and free health screenings by Texas Health. A Go Red Passport let guests experience different activations around the hotel, taking a journey into the fight against cardiovascular disease. Miss Texas Averie Bishop added a blingy tiara to her red ensemble to greet attendees, and there was even a puppy station.

During a heart-healthy lunch, Emma Lovewell, senior Peloton instructor and author of Live Learn Lovewell, delivered an inspiring keynote address. Barbara Smith was recognized as the Sandi Haddock Community Impact honoree, and Sheena Fannin was the featured survivor. WFAA's Tashara Parker served as mistress of ceremonies.

Live and silent auctions for luxury trips, retail experiences, jewelry, and even a basketball autographed by the Dallas Mavericks' Luca Doncic raised crucial funds for American Heart Association's lifesaving research, education, and health impact initiatives for women. In total, an impressive $1.9 million was raised at the luncheon.

2024 will mark American Heart Association’s centennial year and 20 years of Go Red for Women; next year's event co-chairs will be Stacy Nahas and Susan Wetzel.

Who: Hundreds of participants, organizers, patrons, and guests including Shea Manigo, Scott Murray, Carol Murray, Sandi Haddock, Carolyn Dent, Olya Brase, Sierra Tuthill, Neely Duncan, Sophia Garrison, Mattie Lewis, Doreen Griffith, Nichole Jordan, Cecelia Smith, Tanya Edwards, Nancy Brown, Gary Brown, and Tiffany Haddock.