Dallas: First Ever Park and Palate At Klyde Warren Park

Photo Credit: Klyde Warren Park/Facebook

Edit your calendars for September 25 and 26 because you are going to want to be in on Klyde Warren Park’s inaugural celebration of wine and food, Park and Palate. Not only will it showcase the area’s most popular chefs but wineries, breweries, and spirits from all over the world will be represented. Park and Palate will highlight both the tastemakers and the restaurant scene throughout our area.

Grand Tasting? Evening concert? Tasting event? VIP area?

Yes please!

Not only is this the opportunity of a lifetime to mingle with some of the most esteemed chefs, sommeliers, and vintners in North Texas but you will also be supporting Klyde Warren Park and all of the wonderful activities it provides for the community. All of the proceeds for the event, every last penny, goes right back into the park, which doesn’t take any money from the city.

We had the opportunity to talk with Erika White, VP of Events and Programming at Klyde Warren Park, to get a up-close and personal view of what the Park and Palate event was really all about. She moved up to Dallas from Austin and says she has been enjoying the Dallas food scene since.

Catching up with this busy woman isn’t an easy task but she managed to squeeze in a quick conversation with us about all of the gastro-magic that was going to be a part of Park and Palate.

Photo Credit: Klyde Warren Park/PR Dept

Saturday night kicks off the event with a concert by Paul Thorn Band and a fiery Back to the Roots competition between some of Dallas’ finest chefs to see who really can create the most comforting comfort food. This will no doubt be an intense competition — the winner will walk away Texas style in a pair of Lucchese Boots.

Judges will be:

• Tyler Seguin of the Dallas Stars
• Pat Sharp, executive editor and restaurant critic from Texas Monthly
• Chef Amanda Freitag, New York chef and frequent judge on Food Network’s Chopped.

Attendees will try out imaginative creations from the competitors, all paired to perfection with beer, wine, or cocktails. The VIP area will be hosted in Savor Gastropub and  will feature bites from Chef Jonathan Waxman of Barbuto in New York City. There will be plenty of opportunities to taste, sip, dance, and enjoy a perfect Texas evening — and we really did order a perfect one.

Saturday ushers in Park & Palate’s Grand Tasting which offers a Texas-sized showcase of more than 30 chefs and 30 wineries, plus beers, spirits and craft cocktails. You’ll have the chance to talk to mixologists about why your Old Fashioned lacks any pop or which beers go best with Texas Sheet cake. Then you’ll be able to see many of the chefs do live cooking demos. There will be book signings, and Amanda Freitag will be selling and signing pre-release copies of her new book, The Chef Next Door, which won’t be available to everyone else until September 29.

Although no one under 21 will be admitted to Park and Palate, located on the West Lawn, there are plenty of family friendly activities scheduled for the East Lawn so no one misses out. Tickets, especially VIP tickets are limited so don’t wait to order them. Will we see you there?