This week in gluttony

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

Tuan Pham, Dean Fearing, Tastemaker Awards Dallas

Chef Dear Fearing with chef Tuan Pham of Four Sisters, the 2019 Tastemaker Award winner for Best New Restaurant in Fort Worth.

Photo by Ashley Gongora

School is back in session for many, but summer events are still in full-swing. This week brings an ice cream social for all ages, international tastes of Asian and Spanish dishes, an educational tequila tasting, and the start of Fort Worth Burger Week. There’s also still time to taste Hatch chiles this season, and one restaurant is celebrating with a dinner buffet dedicated to the piquant pepper. Then, of course, there's the biggest foodie event of them all — the CultureMap Tastemaker Awards.

Wednesday, August 18

Summer Social Series at the Worthington Renaissance Fort Worth Hotel
Visit the downtown Fort Worth hotel for an ice cream social complete with margaritas and bourbon. MELT Ice Creams will be on-site serving complimentary scoops alongside a bourbon tasting led by Charlie Garrison of Garrison Brothers Distillery. There’ll also be $5 house margaritas and complimentary handmade churros from the hotel’s Latin steakhouse, Toro Toro. The social will take place from 5-7 pm. Note that Toro Toro’s DFW Restaurant Week menu special will be available through September 5. The $49 four-course menu features sweet corn empanadas and Cusco chicken.

Thursday, August 19

CultureMap Dallas-Fort Worth Tastemaker Awards
The time has finally come for the most anticipated foodie event of the year. CultureMap's Tastemaker Awards, our annual celebration of the best in DFW food and drink, will culminate in a signature tasting event and awards ceremony at 7 pm at Fashion Industry Gallery in downtown Dallas. Attendees will dine on bites and sips from nominated restaurants and bars while emcee CJ Starr reveals the winners. Read up on all the nominees here and buy tickets ($75 general, $125 VIP) here.

Hatch Chile Festival Buffet at Blue Mesa Grill
It’s an opportunity to partake in an evening buffet at the Southwest restaurant, known for its Sunday brunch buffet. Hatch chile specialties will range from fish stew and chicken piccata with Hatch lime butter to shrimp chile rellenos and a street taco bar. There’ll also be $5 Hatch chile palomas. The buffet is $24 per person and will run from 5-9 pm.

Asian Night Market at The Table
Visit the South Fort Worth market and culinary studio for a night of Asian street foods. Vendors will be on-site to serve specialties like dumplings, soba noodle salads, rice bowls, and yakitori. Sip a complimentary cocktail and shop local artisan products. The market will run from 7-10 pm.

Friday, August 20

Iberian Experience: A Taste of Spain at Hotel Vin
Visit the downtown Grapevine hotel’s Rioja Rooftop Terrace for Spanish tapas paired with wines. A master carver from Familia Torres wines will be on site to carve Spanish jamon and talk through the pairings. Also enjoy live flamenco music. Tickets are $40 per person and the tasting begins at 7 pm.

Saturday, August 21

Tequila Tasting at the Gaylord Texan
Learn the differences between blanco, resposado, anejo, and mezcal at this tequila tasting paired with bites at the Grapevine resort and hotel. Tickets are $75 per person and tasting will run from 2:30-4:30 pm. Hotel stay not required.

Monday, August 23

Fort Worth Burger Week
More than 30 Fort Worth restaurants will begin a week-long $5 burger special, set to run through Sunday, August 30 with proceeds benefitting the Tarrant Area Food Bank. Participating restaurants include Fred’s Texas Café, Fuego Burger, The Meat Board, Michaels Cuisine, Pouring Glory, Rodeo Goat, Roger’s Roundhouse and more. A digital passport diners can use to check off their burger destinations will be released this Friday.

news-you-can-eat tastemakers

Mex Mex News

El Garambullo Mexican restaurant in Hurst is the real deal

El Garambullo

Sopes plate at El Garambullo

A restaurant in Hurst is serving something that just about everybody wants: authentic Mexican food. Called El Garambullo, it’s a family-owned place located in the former Harwood Cafe space at 109 Harwood Rd., where it's serving breakfast, fajitas, and house-made horchata.

El Garambullo is owned by Lisa Rodriguez and her family, who come from San Luis Potosi in Mexico. That's where they got the inspiration for the name of the restaurant: a garambullo is a type of cactus native to northern Mexico that Rodriguez views as a connection to her family origins.

Signature dishes include enchiladas, flautas, street tacos, and the fajitas, with a choice of the usual beef, chicken, or shrimp, or a more inclusive El Piquin Grill fajita plate featuring a combination of all three meats plus sausage.

Here's where to get a molcajete, a piping hot stone bowl and mixing pestle filled with sausage, shrimp, peppers, and cheese. Plus breakfast every day, including chilaquiles, eggs & chorizo, and huevo rancheros. Prices range from $10 for breakfast plates to $40 for fajitas that can feed two.

"I would describe our style of cooking in three simple words: Traditional, authentic, and for the whole family," Rodriguez says. "Our food is what you would imagine to taste in every town in Mexico. Most of the ingredients we use are from there, and we stick to our traditional recipes."

The horchata is made with homemade rice milk and spices. One thing you won’t find at this restaurant, however, is a margarita. There’s no bar or alcohol served here, but it is a BYOB restaurant.

Rodriguez, who learned to cook as a child from her mother and grandmother, worked in several restaurants but always dreamed of having her own restaurant and she wanted to do it in her own hometown.

"Hurst is not only the place where this restaurant opened its doors, but also the place I chose to live in for me and my family," Rodriguez says. "It's a very good place, along with all of the neighbors and the community."

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