3 North Texas superstars receive state's highest honor for achievement in the arts

Legendary Texans

Photo by Taylor Prinsen Photography

The stars at night are always bright in Texas, but they were particularly brilliant in Austin on February 22 as some of the state's biggest superstars gathered to receive the 2023 Texas Medal of Arts.

Among them: Dallas-born actor Luke Wilson, Dallas fashion designer Lela Rose, and Weatherford's Taylor Sheridan, creator of TV's Yellowstone universe.

The biennial ceremony recognizes extraordinary achievements in the arts, with recipients representing a diverse selection of Texas cities and a range of mediums — film, fashion, music, choreography, literature, architecture, and more.

The 2023 TMAA honorees were:

Taylor Sheridan (Weatherford) - Film/Producer
Luke Wilson (Dallas) - Film/Actor
Lela Rose (Dallas) - Design
Miranda Lambert (Lindale) - Music/Songwriter
Christopher Cross (San Antonio) - Music
Deborah Roberts (Austin) - Visual Arts
Benjamin Alire Sáenz (El Paso) - Literary Arts
Houston Methodist Center for Performing Arts Medicine (Houston) - Arts/Health
Juan Miró and Miguel Rivera (Austin) - Architecture
Septime Webre (Brownsville) - Dance
In Memoriam: Carole Cook (Abilene) - Lifetime Achievement/Musical Theatre

Held at Austin's Long Center for the Performing Arts, the 2023 TMAA honorees walked the red (well, purple) carpet before the event.

The ceremony, emceed by Elliott Forrest, included a special performances by Miranda Lambert, joined by Jack Ingram and Jon Randall for a selection of songs off their recent collaborative album, The Marfa Tapes.

2023 TMAA honoree Christopher Cross also performed, backed by the Barton Springs Orchestra; and previous TMAA honoree Ray Benson capped off the evening with a cover of Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again" for a special curtain call with the night's performers and honorees.

Wilson, who was born in Dallas and attended St. Mark's School of Texas, is best known his roles in films such as Bottle Rocket (1996), Rushmore (1998), My Dog Skip (2000), Legally Blonde (2001), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Idiocracy (2006), You Kill Me (2007), The Skeleton Twins (2014), Meadowland (2015) and Brad's Status (2017); and on TV, for playing Casey Kelso on That '70s Show (2002–05), Levi Callow on Enlightened (2011–13) and Pat Dugan / S.T.R.I.P.E. on Stargirl (2020–22).

Raised in Dallas, Rose's eponymous Lela Rose fashion collections are known for everything from impeccably crafted everyday separates to her sought-after wedding gowns.

Sheridan, of course, is the brains behind the TV sensationYellowstone and its acclaimed prequel 1883 (plus spinoffs 1923,1883: The Bass Reeves Story, and more). He's also creator of the hit series of Mayor of Kingstown and Oscar-nominated writer of the film Hell or High Water.

Sheridan attended Fort Worth's Paschal High School and lives with his wife, Nicole (a board member of the National Cowgirl Museum & Hall of Fame), on a Bosque Ranch in Weatherford.

Photo by Taylor Prinsen Photography

Taylor Sheridan (on the red carpet with wife Nicole) received the 2023 TMAA for achievement in film and production.

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New H-E-B stores in DFW top 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 listhere.

1. H-E-B continues Dallas expansion with 3 new supermarkets in the suburbs. Texas supermarket chain H-E-B continues its Dallas-Fort Worth expansion, with three new stores in the works. The retailer is opening stores in Melissa, Prosper, and Rockwall. This comes just as the chain opens a new store in Allen.

2. Country's largest hot springs pool complex coming to Grandscape in The Colony. The newest attraction headed to Grandscape in The Colony is a wellness spa-amusement park: WorldSprings, a nine-acre outdoor mineral springs experience, will debut in spring 2024.

3. Award-winning Mexican restaurant hits the jackpot at new location in Denton. A DFW restaurant that's earned national acclaim has opened in Denton: El Rincón del Maiz, previously of Garland, is now located at 1431 E. McKinney St. in Denton where it's winning over locals with its Tex-Mex classics and vegan dishes.

4. New burger joint in McKinney with chef toppers and full bar is a sizzler. McKinney has a new burger joint that is already lighting up the Collin County foodie scene. Called Loyo Burger, it's part of the Local Yocal empire, and is newly opened in downtown McKinney at 216 W. Virginia St. #102.

5. Pickleball-restaurant with chef-level food paddles into Farmers Branch. A new pickleball concept is paddling into Farmers Branch: Called At Fault, it's a pickleball-restaurant facility, opening its first DFW location at 2330 Jett St., in spring 2024.

Where to drink in Dallas right now: 5 best new happy hours

Where to Drink

Maybe because it's fall or maybe because we're just lucky, but it's an especially rich time right now for happy hour offerings, with five spots that have either just debuted new happy hours (or are about to debut). There's a chef take at a restaurant-bar on Greenville Avenue; a fun music bar in Bishop Arts; a chance to sneak into a upscale steakhouse in a Dallas high-rise; and a restaurant-bar overlooking a tranquil golf course in Frisco.

Here's five hot new happy hours for our latest installment of Where to Drink:

Quarter Acre
Greenville Avenue restaurant has a new “Garden Hour” happy hour program Tuesday-Friday from 5-6:30 pm on the patio or at the bar, featuring snacks, three for $11, such as the Watermelon Bite, Crispy Pork Belly with avocado whip and sour lime, Half Shell Oyster with kiwi bubbles and rosé mignonette, and Mushroom Croquette with goat cheese. Select cocktails are $8 including the Front Deck Spritz with Aperol, passionfruit, and bubbles; and Bumble Bee’s Knees with Ford’s Gin, honey, and lemon. Three bottles of wine are $40: Pierre Sparr “Brut” Cremant d’Alsace, Mahua Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough 2022, or Black Cottage Pinot Noir, Marlborough 2021.

Revelers Hall
New Orleans-style bar in Bishop Arts has a new summer happy hour Monday-Friday from 4-7 pm, with good deals: half-price food, $6 wines, $5 well drinks, and $4 beers. They also have live music daily, featuring a variety of genres including jazz, bebop, Cumbia, and Latin jazz. Plus indoor and outdoor seating, and now is the time of year for that.

Ryder Cup Grille
Restaurant-bar at the Omni PGA Frisco Resort — one of 13 restaurants and bars at the resort — has a new happy hour with postcard-worthy views overlooking the Fields Ranch golf courses. It's an early one, running Monday-Friday from 2-5 pm and includes some domestic beers for $6, house wines for $10, and Ranch Water for $13. Food specials include Parmesan fries ($7), a guacamole and salsa flight ($9), chicken tenders with Buffalo sauce, Deep Ellum blue cheese dressing, and ranch ($11), nachos with brisket and refried beans ($12), and Cobb salad ($12).

SER Steak & Spirits
Steakhouse on the 27th floor of the Hilton Anatole has a Social Hour Tuesday-Thursday from 5-6:30 pm with $10 cocktails, $10 wines by the glass. A new bar menu features oysters, beef tartare, and gochujang chicken, priced from $9 to $23. They also have two new cocktails: Fall Berry Bush with tequila, Chambord, lime, rosemary, and sage; and a boozy lemonade with vodka, lavender, dill, lemon juice, and soda water.

Whiskey Cake
A new $7 Social Hour begins September 26, and runs Monday-Friday 3-6 pm with cocktails like the Old Fashioned, Margarita, Daiquiri, and a CYOM (create your own martini) with vodka or gin, clean or dirty, wet or dry, shaken or stirred, with a twist of lemon or olives, all for $7. House wines are also $7 and beers are $5. A menu of bar bites includes Wagyu corn dogs, BBQ spiced pork rinds, and blue cheese kettle chips.

Famous doner kebab restaurant makes Dallas debut with location in Frisco

Kebab News

A big name in doner kebabs is coming to Dallas-Fort Worth: German Doner Kebab, famous for pioneering gourmet doner kebabs in the UK and worldwide, will open its first location in Frisco, at 12025 E. University Dr. #100.

According to a release, it'll open on September 25, with seating for 77, making it the brand’s largest North American restaurant in terms of capacity.

Doner kebabs are a street food, centered on meat cooked on a rotating vertical spit. The name comes from two Turkish words: 'Doner' meaning rotate, and 'Kebap' meaning grilled meat. It's similar to a gyro, but döner meat is made from lamb or pork, while gyros are lamb or chicken.

German Doner Kebab, abbreviated GDK, is known for its distinctive waffle bread, in which the pita-like bread is imprinted with a waffle pattern. The company opened its first restaurant in Berlin in 1989 and is headquartered in Scotland. There are now 100-plus locations across UK, Europe, and the Middle East.

They made their U.S. debut in 2021 and have locations in New Jersey, Astoria, Queens, New York, and Sugar Land, Texas, outside Houston, which opened in 2022.

Their menu features doner kebabs made with toasted waffle bread, halal meat, vegetables, and signature sauces. GDK locations have an open kitchen so you can see the food being prepared to order.

In addition to the waffle bread, you can get the doner as a wrap, a panini, or in quesadilla form. Other items include a burger topped with Doritos and cheese sauce - like chips & salsa on top of doner meat, but all inside a bun; a black bean veggie burger; spring rolls; jalapeno poppers; and fries in a quartet of options including cheese fries, flaming fries, and curry fries.

“Many Americans are familiar with gyro, shawarma, and shish kebabs, however our ‘doner kebabs’ will be a new experience in both taste and format to most," says GDK North America managing director Nigel Belton in a statement.

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