Each week, SideDish will dispatch a round-up of need-to-know News Bites, from quiet closures to opening updates and everything in between.
Winner, Winner, Chicken…Tomahawk
There will be a tallow-fried chicken tomahawk steak (see Instagram-worthy image above), yes, but also, Jaxon Texas Kitchen and Beer Garden will bring a whole Southwest mix of fare—”pot pie” pozole, pork rib, green chile brisket mac and cheese—when it opens on March 2 at 311 South Akard Street. It’s the latest to join AT&T’s massive Discovery District and it will be huge (10,000 square-foot patio space huge, seats 165 humans inside huge).
Water Grill Jumps Ship
After just a few years, Water Grill on McKinney Avenue quietly shuttered this month. When it opened, we noted that it was, up until that point, a rare thing: “What we have not had yet is the likes of Water Grill, the grand dame of seafood in Los Angeles. Its new outpost on McKinney, its first branch outside of Southern California, brings with it the mystique of West Coast seafood.”
PSA: Celebrate Vietnamese Tet at Sandwich Hag
The blessed banh mi outpost in the Cedars is hosting chef Diep Tran’s Banh Chung Collective on Saturday, February 29 for its annual Vietnamese New Year gathering. Tran joins Sandwich Hag’s Reyna Duong who will help lead attendees in making their own banh chung, which is a rich, sticky rice dumpling filled with pork, shallots and mung beans, wrapped in banana leaves. (Tickets are $75–$125 or $25 for kids five and under.)
Meanwhile, on SideDish
The James Beard Award semifinalists were announced, and hoo boy, go Dallas—and Fort Worth!
Dallas’ wine scene may change as the whole supply chain grapples with tariffs.
Speaking of James Beard, the Foundation crowned a South Texas barbacoa spot an American Classic for the way it cooks its cabeza, in the ground.
I, your humble SideDish editor, was bamboozled into going on the EarBurner podcast recently. No enchiladas were harmed in the making of that episode.
What do you know about Tex-topian food? Find out at a counter inside an office park.
We are stoked for the beer to come from Vector Brewing, starting next month.
