Do This!
Men and women are graduating from film school at equal rates but women account for only 9 percent of film directors. The new Women Texas Film Festival is hoping to address this disparity in opportunities by shining a light on the achievements of women in film. Friday through Sunday at the Texas Theatre (231 W. Jefferson Blvd.), the festival will exclusively screen shorts and feature-length films that had at least one woman in an executive role. The festival is headlined by Aussie comedy Girl Asleep at 7 p.m. Friday. For a full schedule and tickets, $11 individually or $125 for a pass, visit womentxff.org.
From 6 to 8 p.m. Friday you can take a ride in a tethered hot air balloon for $15 to $20 in Unity Park (2200 Briarhill Blvd.) during the Highland Village Balloon Festival. If you’re afraid of heights, at 7:15 p.m. you can watch a group of them ascend en masse from the comfort and safety of the ground. Once the sun has set, they’ll even glow in the dark. Admission to the event, which features lots of other activities, is free. For more info and a detailed schedule of events, visit lionsballoonfest.com.
Eat This!
There's a reason chef Mansour Gorji of Canary restaurant (5100 Belt Line Road, Suite 402) once won back-to-back statewide Texas Steak Cook-Offs. The man knows his meat. That's why at Canary, which is definitely not for vegetarians, how your steak is cooked is not optional. You'll be having it medium rare, the way Gorji knows it's meant to be. And it's a decision truly best left to the pro: He only uses salt, pepper and olive oil to season his meat but from the first bite of your perfectly pink steak you'll ask yourself why anyone would bother with more.
We recently completed the grueling, unpleasant task of taste-testing Dallas' french fries, and from that experience we have compiled a list of the best fried potatoes in the city. We suggest you do the responsible thing and check our work this weekend, and when you do, a good place to start is the pork belly poutine ($12) at Blind Butcher (1919 Greenville Ave.) The fries are cooked in duck fat, and graced with cheese curds, gravy, shredded duck confit, a duck egg, and if you like, a puck of foie gras. Fries don't get more decadent than that.
The latest trendy food joint to hit lower Greenville is peddling ice cream sandwiches. West coast import Milk and Cream (5420 Ross Ave.) uses buns that are essentially doughnuts to encase their ice cream, which we've seen before at places like Hypnotic Emporium in East Dallas. What distinguishes Milk and Cream is their technique of warming the doughnut without making it so hot that the ice cream melts. A selection of toppings for your desert — cereal being the most common — is also available.
Drink This!
If you like Slurpees and you like wine, then you're probably interested in this new concoction called frosé. It's exactly what you think: blush wine passed through a margarita machine. However simple the concept may seem, it has nevertheless managed to make waves as big as the heat waves we've been experiencing. We've put together a list of the best bars in the neighborhood to try it out, one being the Standard Pour (2900 McKinney Ave.), which is offering a sweet and tart beverage that's by far the prettiest of the bunch.
Dena Sweis, bartender at the People's Last Stand (5319 E Mockingbird Lane, No. 210) is the inventor of a pretty wicked drink that we're sipping these days. It's a tequila-based cocktail called The Winston McCall, and it packs a spicy punch thanks to the use of peppery hellfire bitters. But the heat is pleasantly counteracted by soothing cucumber, and the combo plays beautifully when mixed with basil, lime juice and ginger simple syrup. Get the recipe here.
Hear This!
Just a few years ago, Snoop Dogg was playing the Dallas Observer's St. Patrick's Day Concert. He must have missed us, because he's returning at 7 p.m. Friday, with Wiz Khalifa in tow, to play Gexa Energy Pavilion (1818 1st Ave.). The name of their tour is predictably weed-themed, and so far "The High Road" has mostly entailed the pair playing the hits they know everyone wants to hear. Isn't that refreshing? Tickets are $30 to $110 at dallaspavilion.org.
DJ and producer pair Stanton Warriors come to It'll Do (4322 Elm St.) dance hall at 9 p.m. Friday. Mark Yardley and Dominic Butler are well known in the U.K. for their bass-heavy dance tunes that are a blend of garage and breakbeat, and they're sure to please anyone who likes Disclosure. Expect to hear songs from their recent release, Rebel Bass. Tickets are $17.
At 8 p.m. Sunday, pop artist Ruby the Rabbitfoot will play Three Links (2704 Elm St.). On her recent album, Divorce Party, Ruby migrated from folk-pop to a more eclectic sound that incorporates synth, hip-hop, jazz and electronica. That sounds a lot like Dallas artist Sudie, so it makes sense she's also on the bill. See them both for $7 to $10.
See This!
Steve-O rose to fame performing painful stunts for laughs on MTV show Jackass. But while he's done a lot of crazy things in his day, he swears that performing stand-up beats them all. See the performance artist/comedian/class clown take the stage at Addison Improv at 8 and 10:30 p.m. Friday, 7 and 9:30 p.m. Saturday, and 7:30 p.m. Sunday, when he'll talk about his days at MTV, doing coke with celebrities, his downward spiral and what it's like to work as a professional idiot now that he's sober. Tickets are $25 to $35 at improvaddison.com.
It's not news to anyone that Donald Trump is perfect fodder for comedy, and Dallas Comedy House (3025 Main St.) is milking the moment by putting on a improvised comedy musical called Trump'd that explores the ridiculousness of the Republican presidential candidate and all of his antics. See it at 9 p.m. Friday or Saturday. Tickets are $15 to $20 at dallascomedyhouse.com.
Dallas is up to its ... neck ... in burlesque events, but Cirque du Burlesque at 9 p.m. Saturday manages to stand out. The 18-and-up event at Viva’s Lounge (1350 Manufacturing St.) will bring together circus and burlesque performers for a sexy evening of juggling, aerial silks, comedy, unicycling, bellydancing and more. Purchase tickets, $20, at prekindle.com.