Ah, a Diva’s partying is never done. Alright, alright … her blogging is never done because of the partying. Guilty as charged!
I’ve been to a handful of elegant gatherings recently, featuring food, festivity and, of course — drinky-drinks. Here’s the quick-and-dirty:
PATRON MAGAZINE LAUNCH
The new, luxury-skewing, art-centric publication (pronounce PAY-tron, not Pah-TRONE!) celebrated its first issue, which contains a story from yours truly on pre-theater dining. It’s a lovely mag, and seems poised to become a force in local arts coverage. You can’t have enough, if you ask me.
My favorite part of this shindig was its location — in the beautiful, well-lit Rotunda at Chase Tower, which you see whilst driving up Ross Avenue in the Arts District. I’ve always been so curious about the space — it’s sooo lovely, how come it’s not packed to the gills with parties every evening? Dunno, but I was left even more baffled after being inside it — gorgeous space indeed.
MARCH OF DIMES’ WHISK IT UP
This dress-up event involved 20 of the city’s most talented chefs coming together for the cause of feeding me. I mean, fighting birth defects in babies. Each celebu-chef served
mini-servings of a dish from their respective restaurants: a yummy dumpling from Pyramid; this succulent ricotta-filled, pork-topped ravioli from Charlie Palmer; scallops from Sevy’s. All washed down with a variety of wines and bubbly flowing at bars scattered through the Fairmont’s Regency Ballroom. A fun touch: a couple of photo booths for silly pics in your nice get-up. The after-party left a bit to be desired (what? A cash bar after an open-bar situation? Sacrilege, I say), but Fairmont rooftop is always a sight to behold.
NOUVEAU EXPRESSION
I was hella excited for this food and wine event, as it took place inside the spankin’ new Omni Dallas Hotel downtown. The building didn’t disappoint — I wanted to peek around every corner! But we were off to the spacious Dallas Ballroom a couple floors up. The hosting French-American Chamber of Commerce picked well — the crowd was considerable!
The party was a toast to the arrival of the 2012 Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais Nouveau, which was my first sip of the evening. Talk about fruit-forward! The vino was suggested as a perfect base for sangria, and I agree.
From there, it took a while till my guest and I realized that if we were gonna need to join the long, slow cattle call to get some grub. Every line seemed to be about 20 people long and flowed into the line for the next table of food. Grack! No worries — we skipped straight to the wine tastings, and after about six mini-pours and an attack on the La Madeleine cheese bar, lines were no bother. I wish there’d been more notable restaurants in attendance (umm, Eddie Deen’s?!), AND I wish I’d been notified about the Austin Powers theme of the event, but nonetheless, I had a really great time.