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We’ve all heard that Snookie’s will be closing for good this Sunday, but there’s a lot more going on in foodiedom this week and beyond.
John Tesar, the executive chef behind Knife steakhouse at The Highland, has long been an ardent supporter of HIV/AIDS causes — and never more so now. As the Ambassador Chef for Mario Batali’s EAT (RED) DRINK (RED) SAVE LIVES foundation, Tesar has planned an unprecedented series of dinners: Five chefs — starting with recent James Beard Award Best Chef Southwest winner Aaron Franklin (he of Austin’s Franklin Barbecue, in his first time cooking in Dallas) on Monday, and continuing with Alex Stratta (another Best Chef Southwest Beard honoree, Tuesday), Naomi Pomeroy (Top Chef Masters alum, Wednesday), Tim Rattray (San Antonio’s The Granary, Thursday) and Kris Morningstar (L.A.’s Terrine, Friday) — will pair up with Tesar for five intimate dinners (40 seats only) for five consecutive nights for this fundraising culinary experience, running all this week. Each dinner (priced $150) starts at 7 p.m. Call 214-443-9339 for reservations or click here.
June 4 is National Cheese Day, and to mark it, Olivella’s pizzeria (in Lakewood and Victory Park) offers diners a free sampler of its homemake prosciutto-wrapped mozzarella with every order of a Neapolitan or Roman pie.
The new chestaurant Tallywackers has its official grand opening on Saturday.
Klyde Warren Park announced today that it will host its first-ever food and wine festival and fundraiser this fall. Park & Palate will feature celebrity chefs, cooking demos, live music, tasting booths and VIP access. It will take place Sept. 25–26. Keep up with it here.
Lots is going on at Malai Kitchen lately. Braden and Yasmin Wages have added to their beer program, serving beer flights, allowing patrons to sample all three of their house-brewed beers in one sitting. Flights are $8 and include 5-oz. pours of each. In addition, Braden will appear June 25 on the Food Network series Beat Bobby Flay. Finally, the resto has a new chef’s tasting menu. I’ll have a review soon.
This Sunday is the last Sunday (heck, the last day) of the month, which means Drag Brunch at Dish at the ilume, with Jenni P headlining faboo tastings at 10:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m.

Tapas

Tapas on tap at St. Germain Saturday.


Uptown’s classiest restaurant, the Hotel St. Germain, will host a tapas and Spanish wine dinner on Saturday to celebrate the festival of San Isidro with exquisite regional dishes. For reservations, call 214-871-2516 or click here.
The new chef at Cook Hall in the Dallas W is Vijay Sadhu, previously seen at Stephan Pyles’ now-closed Samar as well as Sutra and Pepper Smash. He launches his new menu (including cocktails) starting next month.
Kent Rathbun’s newest concept, Hickory, is finally poised to open. I’ll be checking it out at the earliest opportunity, so check back! Another big opening — finally: Uchi is set to swing out its doors on June 1.
From now through Labor Day, Grace in Fort Worth will offer a special dinner for two celebrating classic summer dishes. The three-course menu from chef Blaine Staniford costs $99 for two, and offers choices such as white asparagus soup, “toad in the hole,” cocoanut cream pie and butterscotch pudding as well as a petite filet and diver scallop.