This Week in Gluttony
These are the 5 best food and drink events in Fort Worth this week
Fall is officially here, and one local brewery and café is celebrating with a late-harvest beer dinner featuring a special guest chef. This week’s events also highlight flavors of Japan, Germany, and Mexico. End the week with a “foodie fête” 25 years in the making.
Tuesday, September 24
Funky Picnic Beer Dinner with Stefon Rishel
While former Max’s Wine Dive chef Stefon Rishel readies to open his new restaurant, Wishbone & Flynt, he’ll make an appearance at the Near Southside brewery and café to help chef Josh Rangel prepare a five-course meal. Together they’ll crank out sweet corn panna cotta, roasted pumpkin spinach salad, a ballotine of rabbit with truffled mousse, Texas redfish with blue corn grits and chow chow, and sweet potato beignets. Each late harvest-inspired course will be paired with a Funky Picnic brew. The dinner with beers is $85 per person and begins at 7 pm.
Wednesday, September 25
Flavors of Japan at Ellerbe Fine Foods
The farm-to-table restaurant continues to celebrate its 10thanniversary with another globally inspired wine dinner. This one takes patrons to the Far East, with four courses including vegetable tempura; soy poached Gulf prawn and cucumber salad; an assortment of maki, sashimi, and nigrini; and sponge cake with black sesame seed ice cream. The meal itself is $45 per person, plus tax and gratuity, and there’s an optional sake and beer flight with a signature cocktail for an extra fee. Reservations are required, and seating times take place between 5:30 pm and 9 pm.
Thursday, September 26
Oktoberfest Fort Worth
The three-day celebration of German culture, food, and music returns to Panther Island Pavilion, Thursday through Saturday. Traditional German fare for purchase will include bratwurst, pretzels, strudel, schnitzel, and potato pancakes, along with Spaten beer and Oktoberfest craft brew offerings from around the country. This year, no VIP tickets or reservations are required for Reata’s on-site, German-inspired pop-up restaurant, Reata Haus, which will be located inside the air-conditioned Spaten Hall. Menu items include Reata’s take on pork schnitzel with spaetzle and red cabbage, bratwurst with caramelized onions and horseradish cream on a toasted pretzel bun with warm potato salad, and a kasebrett charcuterie board. Patrons can also imbibe in wine and Spaten lager with grapefruit soda. Admission is $5 Thursday and $10 Friday and Saturday. (A three-day pass is $15.)
Mexican Wine Dinner at Café Modern
Guest chef Alma Cervantes Cota from Sinaloa, Mexico, will visit the museum restaurant to prepare a whopping seven courses. Highlights include shrimp ceviche, chile cheese soup, enchiladas, chilorio (a pork dish with roots from her home state), and custard. Courses will be paired with Casa Madero wines and a mezcal cocktail. The dinner is $149 per person (or $129 for museum members), plus tax and gratuity. Dinner begins at 6:30 pm.
Friday, September 27
The Fabulous Foodie Fête at Central Market
Visit either the Fort Worth or Southlake location for this in-store party celebrating the 25th anniversary of the gourmet grocery store chain, which opened its first location in Austin in 1994. Both stores will have more than a dozen tastings throughout the aisles, including Maryland mini crab cakes with remoulade, New York strip steaks with microgreens and black garlic sauce, grilled salmon, and even a dessert buffet upstairs in the cooking school. Grab a map and a commemorative glass (while supplies last) at the info desk starting at 6 pm. The party is free, but reservations are encouraged.