Foodies rejoice! DFW Restaurant Week, the largest culinary event in North Texas, is underway.
The name is deceiving, because instead of a week, you’ll have the whole month to explore a variety of dining experiences when 125 participating restaurants and bars throughout North Texas offer diners a peek at their establishments with prix-fixe menu options.
We wanted to know more, so we enlisted the help of D Magazine’s dining critic, Brian Reinhart, who has been writing about food in North Texas for nine years. He, told us DFW Restaurant Week started back in 1997 as a way to get people through the doors during the slow part of the year.
“August is historically one of the quietest times in the restaurant's calendar,” Reinhart said. “People are on their summer vacations, they're going out of town, or they're in the backyard and they're grilling burgers themselves and they don't need to go out and buy a burger somewhere else.”
So how does DFW Restaurant Week get grillmasters to take off their aprons and head to the restaurants across North Texas?
Probably the best reason of all–bargain prices. Reinhart said this event offers diners a way to try an upscale restaurant without breaking the bank.
“You can get two or three of their classic dishes and a dessert portion for $29, $39 or $49. And some of them are pretty formidably priced restaurants,” Reinhard said.
It’s a classic win-win situation. Restaurants get an increase in traffic and diners get a price break, but there's also a third ‘win” to DFW Restaurant Week. Approximately 20 percent of sales go to charity. In Dallas County, it goes to the North Texas Food Bank, and in Tarrant County, it's Lena Pope, which benefits children and families.
You can view menus and make reservations at DFW Restaurant Week’s website. Reinhart says the event is very popular, so be sure to make reservations early.
“Remember the caveat that they're a lot busier than they usually would be, so you need to give them a little bit of grace, but otherwise it’s a good way to go exploring.” Reinhart said.
If you’re all in on Restaurant Week, but are having trouble choosing, Reinhart had several places he liked:
Located on Greenville Avenue in Dallas, they’ve got a special tasting menu for Restaurant Week. But the place is also an avant-garde cocktail lounge, so you might want to indulge while you’re there.
“This summer they've been doing a Cocktails Through the Decades menu, serving drinks from the 20s, then the 50s, 70s, 90s,” Reinhart said. “August is going to be a highlight reel of the best cocktails from every decade, so you can kind of time-travel a little bit.”
For the month of August, Apothecary pays homage to the favored Martini crazed of the 90s with an updated Appletini. This cocktail skips the neon green color in favor of a baked apple palette that includes applejack and house red apple cordial. Apothecary describes it as, "An Appletini, but good."
This is a newer spot in the Park Cities. Reinhart describes the food as classic Greek dishes, but plated in a way a Greek Grandma wouldn't recognize. For instance, Course One of their Restaurant Week menu: The Greek Salad.
“They don't just chop up tomatoes, cucumbers, feta cheese, and throw it all in a bowl,” said Reinhart. “They've got different elements plated in different ways. The cucumbers are sliced really thin and then curled up in a spiral and stood on end, so it's like a little cucumber tower. And the black olives are dehydrated into a powder, so you've got olive getting into every single bite.”
“It's a very cool place. It's very bright. It's full of color. Almost entirely street food on the menu and snacks and shareable things like that," Reinhart said. "You can get a really crispy oyster pancake if you love seafood."
ROSEWOOD MANSION ON TURTLE CREEK
Restaurant Week is a great opportunity to try out spots that might be ordinarily out of your budget. Case in point: The Mansion. It’s known for its fine dining experience, and through August 17, you can have lunch there for $29. A relative bargain.
Details: Through Aug. 31 at participating restaurants throughout North Texas. Dinner, $49; Signature Experience Dinner, $99; Lunch, $29; Weekend Brunch, $29.
