What started out with a couple of dozen people in the parking lot at Abacus, with Chef Kent Rathbun grilling with his buddies for good, has turned into one of the best tailgate parties in town benefiting The North Texas Food Bank. 12 years later, more than one thousand guests filled the field of AT&T Stadium in Arlington to taste, bid, sip and enjoy food and entertainment. Those in attendance had the opportunity to rub elbows with Dallas Cowboy’s greats like Chad Hennings, Charles Haley, Travis Fredrick and Preston Pearson before dancing to the music of Texas favorite, Jack Ingram.
The meaty event, as almost every chef who didn’t offer something sweet had a very hearty plate of ribs, brisket, tenderloin, sausage or pork belly, was paired with the wines of Texas Fine Wines, including Duchman Family Winery, Pedernales Cellars, Brennan Vineyards, Bending Branch and, their most recent addition, Spicewood Vineyards. added to the line up just last year. Texas Fine Wine brings together a distinct group of high quality wineries in Texas with the goal to showcase their wines made from fruit grown in our Texas appellations, setting the highest standards in the Texas wine industry. I was able to attend last night’s event as a guest of the wineries.
Over $12 million has been raised for The North Texas Food Bank (NTFB) in the past 12 years from the event, which immediately helps those in need in our community. NTFB distributes food to the hungry in need throughout our 13-county region, with funds from last night specifically going to help the children of our cities. One out of four kids in our community are food-insecure, too many. Great work was done to help end that last night.
