This week in dining

These are the 13 best food and drink events in Houston this week

Houston, Killen's BBQ, July 2015, fried chicken

Ronnie Killen is popping up with fried chicken on Saturday.

Photo by Kimberly Park

This week is crammed with events that showcase the sheer diversity of the Bayou City. We're not just talking about diverse cuisine, but about how events big and small have the ability to capture the essence of how Houstonians love celebrating Houston.

There's a grand opening of a new outpost of a favorite taco chain this week, plus pop-ups from beloved chefs, and classes that let DIYers make killer desserts. It's also the week of the annual Festa Italiana, and 8th Wonder's Achtoberfest. Salute and prost!

Monday, October 7 through Saturday, October 12

WellWeek continues around Houston
I'll Have What She's Having (IHWSH) brings this initiative back for a second year. It's designed to raise awareness of — and support for — mental health and its effects on the food and beverage community. Participating restaurants and bars will offer zero-proof cocktails designed with the structure and complexity of their full-proof counterparts or a special dessert. $1 from the sale of these drinks will benefit National Alliance on Mental Health - Greater Houston (NAMI-GH), Mental Health of America - Greater Houston (MHA-GH), and the Southern Smoke Foundation.

Look for the specials at places like Anvil, Avondale Food & Wine, Backstreet Cafe, Coltivare, The Dunlavy, Fat Cat Creamery, Feges BBQ, Georgia James, Giacomo’s, Hugo’s, Nancy’s Hustle, Oporto, Paulie’s, Rosie Cannonball, UB Preserv, Xochi, and more.

Monday, October 7

Torchy's Tacos Opening Party at the Woodlands Mall
From 5 to 8 pm, drop in for free tacos, chips, green chile queso and other dips, swag giveaways, and more. Can't make it? Don't worry. Opening day is Wednesday, and guests can stop in then for the chance to win free tacos.

Tuesday, October 8

JQ Tex-Mex and Cochinita and Co pop-up at Decatur Bar & Pop-Up Factory
From 6 to 10 pm, JQ, one of the rising starts in the world of Houston barbecue, will be smoking and grilling the meats while Cochinita, a pop-up that will open at Politan Row, makes delicious salsas and toppings. The event has been a year in the making, so expect a killer party. Those wishing to go need to reserve a spot through the link above, and space is limited.

Wednesday, October 9

Helen Greek Wine Pop-Up with Cava Spiladis at 13 Celsius
From 6 to 8:30 pm, the Midtown wine bar teams up with the Rice Village restaurant to share the joy of Greek wine. Importer Cava Spiladis showcases 10 wines from across Greece. Helen provides light bites for the walk-about tasting, while 13 Celsius offers a few cheese and charcuterie selections. Bonus: each of the wines profiled will be available for sale at special pricing. Tickets are $45 per person and reservations are necessary. Make them online.

Thursday, October 10

Plated by Peroni at the University of St. Thomas
Part of the annual Festa Italiana, this class pairs Peroni's signature Nastro Azzurro with cheeses from Lira Rossa creamery. Guests will try the beer with Ricotta Salata, Mozzarella, and Latteria, as well as learn about the beer-making process. The class begins at 7:45 pm and is free, as is admission to the festival today. Festa Italiana gates open at 5 pm. (Plated by Peroni repeats Friday at 4 and 6:45 pm, Saturday at 3pm and 7pm, and Sunday at 1:45 pm. Admission charges apply from Friday through Sunday.)

Food and Wine Pairing Class at French Country Wines
The continuation of the boutique's popular wine class series concentrates on helping would-be hosts find the perfect combination for dinner parties, holiday get-togethers, and more. It's hosted by Charelle Grant, adjunct instructor at the Culinary Institute LeNotre, who will share her expertise. Participants will taste the wines and learn more about their structure and the best way to showcase them with food. The cost is $48 per person and tickets can be purchased by calling 713-993-9500. Class begins at 7 pm, and those who miss tonight's session can catch a repeat tomorrow.

Friday, October 11

Veuve Clicquot Rich Release Party at a’Bouzy
Enjoy complimentary snacks including popcorn, popsicles and pop-rocks at this celebration for the venerable champagne house's latest rose. Veuve Clicquot Rich is the first champagne designed for mixology, so expect an evening of specialty cocktails with pop-rocks on the rims of the champagne flutes. Reservations are required. Make them online or by calling 713-722-6899.

Saturday, October 12

Fried Chicken and Chicken Fried Steak Pop-Up at Hickory Hollow
Ronnie Killen previews his upcoming Washington Ave. restaurant with this pop-up that includes not only the fried chicken and classic sides, but also pizza and barbecue. Lovers of Killen's signature style won't want to miss it. The pop-up kicks off at 11 am.

Sweet Like Pan Dulce at The Union HTX
This indoor-outdoor event devoted to Mexican pastries features more than 40 vendors selling food, drinks, crafts, and more. In addition to eating and shopping, attendees can groove to music by DJ Act Badd and enjoy interactive photo installations. The family-friendly event is free to attend with a RSVP on Eventbrite; people may also purchase three drink tickets for $10, 11 am - 4 pm.

8th Wonder Brewery Achtoberfest
This day-long celebration of beer and food features music, limited edition glassware, and more. The annual bash is a must-do for brew lovers, and the $20 per person entry fee provides guests with access to the concert, three beer tokens, and a commemorative beer stein. Tickets may be purchased online.

Mexican cooking class at Sylvia's Enchilada Kitchen
The focus of this hands-on class is Mexican desserts, and participants will make polvorones, flan, capirotada (bread pudding), buñuelos, pumpkin empanadas, and Mexican hot chocolate. Class takes place from 1 to 4 pm, and the cost is $65 per person. Reservations are required. Call 832-230-3842 or make them online.

Sunday, October 13

Turkey Leg Hut Fall Festival and Block Party in the Third Ward
From 11 am to 4 pm, this free celebration enlivens the atmosphere on Almeda Road between Wichita and Arbor streets. The family-friendly event is designed to promote unity and stimulate economic development for businesses in Houston’s Historic Third Ward. The festival features live music, food, and drinks from the Turkey Leg Hut and other restaurants, kid’s activities, and vendors.

Boat noodles pop-up at Wooster's Garden
From 3 to 8 pm, chef Niki Vongthong, a longtime kitchen takeover artist at Wooster's and a veteran of the Aqui kitchen, showcases some of her newest dishes. On the menu are boat noodles with noodles from Nongkhai Village, tapioca dumplings, crispy Thai chilis, and tres leches with Makrut lime curd and vanilla ice cream.

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eat real food

Houston DJ-turned-TikTok star cooks up a cult following one recipe at a time

Courtesy of Uncle Dibbz

Uncle Dibbz, a.k.a. A.H. Bowden, has built a devoted following for his viral recipes.

For the past month, Uncle Dibbz has been, shall we say, going ham on social media with the myriad videos of alternative Thanksgiving dishes. He’s dropped how-to clips for such recipes as Cajun-roasted turkey, honey-baked ham/hens, oven-bag turkey, and six-piece fried turkey (to go). Basically, if you don’t want to cook a bland ol’ Butterball this Turkey Day, Dibbz has you covered.

Who is Dibbz, you say? Well, he’s a North Jersey-born, Georgia-bred, Houston-based chef who’s been building quite the foodie rep online. Several videos across his TikTok, Instagram and YouTube pages, from his Cajun-boiled fried chicken (2 million on IG) to his “Propose to Me Pasta” (12.3 million on TikTok), has amassed millions of views. But Dibbz (government name: A.H. Bowden) wasn’t always a culinary content creator. He used to spin music back in Atlanta as DJ DiBiase, named after retired wrestler Ted “The Million Dollar Man” DiBiase. “DiBiase is a mouthful to say, so people just always call me ‘D’ or ‘Dibbz’ for short,” says Bowden, 37, during a Zoom interview.

@uncledibbz PROPOSE To Me PASTA 💍 🍝 Trust your Uncle! This SEAFOOD Pasta will seal the deal 👌🏽 Get my recipe below ⬇️ or on uncledibbz.com [@uncledibbz Link in Bio] 🌐 **Ingredients:** - 8 ounces spaghetti - 1 lb mixed seafood (shrimp, scallops, crab meat, etc.) - 2 tablespoons olive oil - Fresh chopped basil - 2 cloves garlic, minced - 1/2 cup white wine - 1/4 cup heavy cream - 2 tablespoons unsalted butter - Salt and pepper to taste - Uncle Dibbz Delta Dust [link in bio] - Fresh parsley, chopped (for garnish) - Grated Parmesan cheese (for garnish) **Instructions:** 1. Cook the spaghetti pasta according to the package instructions until al dente. Drain and set aside. 2. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the minced garlic, chopped basil and sauté for about 1 minute until fragrant. 3. Add the mixed seafood to the skillet. Season with Uncle Dibbz Delta Dust to taste and cook for 2-3 minutes until cooked through. Remove the seafood from the skillet and set aside. 4. Pour in the white wine to the skillet and let it simmer for 2 minutes, allowing the alcohol to cook off. 5. Stir in the heavy cream, butter, Uncle Dibbz Delta Dust seasoning, salt, and pepper. Cook for another 2-3 minutes until the sauce thickens slightly. 6. Add the cooked spaghetti and cooked mixed seafood to the skillet. Toss everything together until well coated with the sauce. 7. Remove from heat and garnish with fresh parsley and grated Parmesan cheese. 8. Serve hot and enjoy the flavorful Seafood Spaghetti. That's good Shawty! #UncleDibbz #ThatsGoodShawty #Pasta #marryme #proposal #bride #wife #husband #relationshipgoals #datenight #easyrecipe #seafood #cajun #cooking #fyp #foryou #viral #houston ♬ original sound - Uncle Dibbz 🍴

He was making a nice living as a DJ, even serving as rapper Big K.R.I.T.’s touring DJ for a while. But when the pandemic hit, the gigs obviously dried up.

“I was living in Miami at the time,” he says. “And, you know, when you have a lot of time on your hands to think – but also need to figure out a way to, you know, sustain an income and everything like that – the ideas start coming,”

Like most DJs at that time, he was doing live mixes on Instagram. But his days throwing cookout parties in Atlanta inspired him to start doing his cooking videos, where he used his very own seasoning. Of course, he had a lemon pepper blend, which he used in a lemon pepper hot wings video that currently has over a half-million views on TikTok.

“I'm about to go live to DJ later that night, and my phone was just going off with orders,” he recalls. “So I'm like, where are these orders coming from? And it's not from my friends. I'm seeing the cities and the states. I don't know these people.”

Thanks to his videos, which usually end with him saying his signature line “That’s good shawty!” (that’s also the name of his cookbook he released last year), Dibbz went into the seasoning business full time. He eventually hired another person to help send out the piles of orders he was receiving.

He even got an order from former Dallas Cowboy Emmitt Smith, one of his favorite athletes. “I remember doing a book report on him when I was in fourth grade,” he boasts.

Although Dibbz has a flair for making meals that border on decadent, he’s an ardent practitioner of cooking with natural ingredients, especially in his seasoning. He has several low-sodium seasoning, including Bebe’s Salt Free – named after his mother, who had open-heart surgery a few weeks before the pandemic started.

“I don't think a lot of people understand the amount of toxins and chemicals that go into a lot of these seasonings,” he says. “You're starting to see it in the news now. A lot of the foods with certain dyes are being taken off the shelves and things like that.’

Soon, Dibbz moved himself and his new business to Houston, a favorite place to perform as well as a town whose hip-hop got him into music. He cites local chopped-and-screwed gods DJ Screw, Michael 5000 Watts, and OG Ron C as his holy trinity of influences. To give props to the music of his new home, he created a hot sauce – called HXT Sauce – whose uncharacteristically large bottle resembles Promethazine cough syrup (aka the key ingredient in lean, the preferred purple cocktail for the city’s rap community).

“It's not necessarily about promoting that usage,” he says. “But, at the same time, it’s just a homage to one of the factors and influences of screwed-and-chopped music.”

Dibbz still indulges in spinning records from time to time. The Waxaholics’ DJ Big Reeks has gotten him to break out the vinyl a few times during his Thursday-night sets at Alley Kat Bar & Lounge in Midtown. But creating new recipes, dropping delicious content and proving you can eat and live in a hearty, healthy fashion still remains his full-time mission.

“I’m not just talking about eating cauliflower rice all day and every day, but just eat real food,” he says. “We're eating fake food. That's the bottom line. We're eating fake food and my whole purpose is to inspire people to eat real food and that starts with real ingredients, real herbs, you know – real natural seasonings.”

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