Here are some fresh food and booze events happening now through mid-July. Do it!
1.) Café Modern — the restaurant at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (3200 Darnell St, Fort Worth 817-738-9215) — is back open for bar services, brunch, and lunch under new management by Wolfgang Puck Catering. Roxanne McLarry is returning as the GM, and Jett Mora — a veteran WPC chef — is leading the culinary team. Beverages will showcase local spirits, while the food menu will focus on comfort delights with a global influence. Indoor and outdoor patio seating is available. For reservations, go to OpenTable.com or call 817-840-2157.
2.) Sometime soon (probably in the fall), MELT Ice Creams (1201 W Magnolia Av, Ste 115, Fort Worth, 817-886-8365) will open up a place in Mule Alley in the Stockyards. In the meanwhile, MELT is slinging scoops at pop-up locations all around town. Find them 5:30pm to 7:30pm Fri at Jazz on the Green at the Kimbell Art Museum (3333 Camp Bowie Blvd,) and 11am-5pm Sat-Sun in the Stockyards (130 E Exchange Av.) To book MELT at your event, visit MeltIceCreams.com/Catering.
3.) At noon Sat, the Soul of Sycamore Music & Arts Festival (2525 E Rosedale St, Fort Worth, 817-719-8636) aims to bring the community together for a Juneteenth celebration that will include games, dancers, and live music. There will be performances by Norris J. DJ Davis Mann Jr, DJ Johnnie Judah, Rare Diamonds And Gems Dance Company, Knice 2 Know Band, Dread Beatz, Phroze, Ahsha Fiyah, and Angela Rowe Chambers (Embellished Beauties and Beast.) Community Leader Ernest McGhee will be honored as well. Several food vendors will be on hand. This event is free to attend.
4.) Local salsa maker Blended Family Foods (@BlendedFamilyFoods) has two bits of exciting news. At 5pm Sat, Blended will be stationed at Martin House Brewing Company (220 S Sylvania Av, Ste 209, Fort Worth, 817-222-0177) to help you add #ChipsandSalsa to your craft brew experience. Also, Blended Family Foods has just released its Blueberry Violet Creamed Honey available for sale at The Table Market (120 St. Louis Av, Ste 103-B, Fort Worth, 682-703-1092).
5.) At 6:30pm Thu, Jun 24, the Meadows Museum has a special in-person version of its Culture Corner Live (usually virtual) event. At Tapas & Crafts, learn how to make custom toile ornaments and paper roses. Tickets are $30 and include DIY tapas-to-go provided by a local chef and a link to an instructional video to recreate the experience later on at home. Call the box office at 214-768-8587 to participate.
6.) Back in March, more than 100 members of the North Texas Burmese community gathered outside the Fort Worth Convention Center to raise awareness about the military coup and subsequent violence in their home country, Myanmar. (Read more about this at FWWeekly.com.) At 4pm-7pm Sat, Jun 26, the DFW Myanmar Ethnic Community (@DFWMayanmarEthnicCommunity) invites you to learn about its culinary culture at the Second Annual Food Fair & CDM Fundraiser at Dallas Chin Baptist Church (9850 Walnut St, Dallas, 214-575-5160). (For those unaware — myself included — CDM is short for “Civil Disobedience Movement,” a nonviolent form of protest.) Admission is free, and food coupons can be purchased on-site for $5 each or three for $10.
7.) As part of its Live with Locals monthly series, the Meadows Museum (5900 Bishop Blvd, Dallas, 214-768-2516) presents Live Virtual Cooking Class: The Spanish Paella Experience on Sat, Jul 10, at 11am. In this month’s program, Arantxa Lamas Gastrolamas — a Madrid local who is a Le Cordon Bleu-trained chef and passionate home cook — will show how to cook this iconic Spanish dish. You will receive the recipe beforehand so you can cook along with Lamas at home. Tickets are $10 per household at Eventbrite.com/e/134153766527.
8.) The City of Murphy is getting into the festival game, for the fifth time, with Tunes, Tails & Ales Craft Beer Festival on Sat, Jul 17, from 2pm to 8pm at Murphy Central Park (550 N Murphy Rd, 972-468-4444). Along with craft beer tastings, there will be crawfish, five food trucks, a kid zone, local Texas wine for sale by the glass, and a concert featuring Graceland Ninjaz, Jay B & The Zydeco Posse, and the Texas Bluesmen Band. Tickets are $32-52 at MurphyCraftBeerFest.com, with a portion of the proceeds going to the Murphy Chamber of Commerce Scholarship Fund.