August Food & Wine Restaurant Week 2016 gets ready

Hurley House

5512 Bellaire Drive S.

www.hurley-house.com

Snap Kitchen

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2828 West Seventh St.

www.app.snapkitchen.com

Bird Café

155 E. Fourth St.

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www.birdinthe.net

Central Market

4651 West Freeway

www.centralmarket.com

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Restaurant Week

http://dfw.cbslocal.com/krld-restaurant-week/official-dfw-restaurant-week-2016-list/

It’s time to dine out, discover and give back. Summer’s hottest food event, DFW Restaurant Week, features 3-course prix fixe dinners for a sizzling dining deal Aug. 17-20 and Aug. 24-27. Many restaurants will extend their Restaurant Week menus and generosity through Aug. 28 or Sept. 4.

Dine at a favorite restaurant or try something new, but get your reservations on the books now. Most participating restaurants will have their planned menus posted on their website.

This year’s event is sponsored by Metroplex Cadillac Dealers and benefits two local charities − Lena Pope Home and the North Texas Food Bank. Twenty percent of the value of each meal purchased will be donated to one of the charity partners.

Many participants will also offer the Cadillac Lunch Experience, sponsored by Oak Farms Dairy, featuring two-course lunches for $20. Central Market offers a limited number of Fourth Course Certificates as well – spend $25 at local Central Markets and request a certificate for a free additional dinner course at participating restaurants.

HURLEY HOUSE BAKERY

OPENS NEAR COUNTRY DAY

A corner spot in the strip center across Bryant Irvin Road from Fort Worth Country Day (behind the Valero gas station) seemed the perfect location for a bakery to Katherine Sasser. Most recently that space housed Twigs Floral, but before that it was indeed a bakery. Catherine Reuhle launched her wildly successful Sublime Bakery from the same spot.

Sasser has been hosting “store hours” in her Mont Del home for a year with a tantalizing display of her freshly baked treats arranged in baskets and on pedestals. Look for her hospitality classes to continue in the new store, Hurley House, as well. Store hours will be Tuesday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The first few days were a sell-out.

Hurley House will offer a rotating menu of baked goods including pies, scones and muffins, but its signature Sparkle Cookie Sandwich should be a more permanent item. Customers can also pick up oven-ready take-away meals such as spaghetti pie or poppy seed chicken. Hurley House is already booking the space for private parties and events as well. From whiskey tastings to bridal showers to sit-down dinners, Sasser plans to host many private events on-site.

NEW CHEF AT BIRD CAFÉ

With the recent departure of chef David McMillan to Virginia, Bird Café has named Scott Curtis executive chef of the popular Sundance Square eatery. Curtis most recently was sous chef at the restaurant, which he helped open in 2013 under McMillan’s leadership. A graduate of The Art Institute of Colorado in culinary arts, Curtis’ previous experience includes Meddlesome Moth as well as Four Seasons properties in Denver and Vail, Colorado; Seattle; and Whistler and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Curtis’ influence can be seen on Bird Café’s summer menu with some new offerings including chicken-fried sweetbreads, grilled Texas quail, crispy Mediterranean branzini and the bone-in pork chop.

SNAP KITCHEN ON W. SEVENTH

Feeding the needs of every conceivable dietary restriction (from paleo to vegan and from gluten-free to non-dairy), Snap Kitchen has taken the guesswork out of what you’re eating. With 50 locations in Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston, Austin and Dallas, Snap Kitchen opened its first Fort Worth location on July 17 on West Seventh Street.

With a seamless website that allows customers to efficiently sift through its vast, freshly prepared assortment based on their needs and preferences, Snap Kitchen’s innovative lineup of healthful and convenient meals is just what the doctor (or homeopath, or shaman) ordered. Including a grab-and-go pantry, it’s a one-stop meal shop. You’ll also want to visit the mixology bar to sip some crafty mixed drinks using Snap’s original cold-pressed juices.

HATCH CHILE FESTIVAL

SET AT CENTRAL MARKET

In August 1995, a single pallet of Hatch peppers and one roaster arrived at Central Market in Austin. Within 10 minutes of firing up that roaster, customers were lining up for pounds and pounds of the green gems. Fast forward 21 years. That one pallet has become more than 125 tons of peppers trucked in straight from Hatch, New Mexico, to Central Market locations across Texas.

The entire Fort Worth store will be “Hatchified” during this two-week festival that runs Aug. 10-23. Hatch-infused entrees, appetizers and even desserts will pepper your palate. New items not to be missed include stuffed Hatch brisket and cheddar burger, Hatch lime pound cake and absinthe, and Hatch chile salami. In addition, all Central Market cooking schools will host a multitude of Hatch classes from roasting to baking to special wine pairings.