See It All Here: Fort Worth Food + Wine Festival scores another home run with 2017 sell-out.

There was definitely a right way and a wrong way to tackle the 2017 Fort Worth Food + Wine Festival. The right way: you begged, borrowed or financed a VIP ticket, which granted early access to all the events and tastings. The wrong way: you waited until the last minute to buy your tickets, which basically meant you wouldn’t be attending. Now in its fourth year, the FWFWF sold nearly all of its tickets in advance, including the prized $400 VIPs. There are so many delicious reasons that the Fort Worth Food + Wine Festival ranks among DFW’s top annual culinary events.

The three-day festival kicked off last Thursday with a BBQ Showdown, followed the next evening with the Main Event (where more than 150 wines, craft beers and restaurants were represented) and Desserts After Dark (twelve chefs serving an array of pastries, bartenders pouring strong drinks, a rocking DJ to help burn off all that sugar…you get the picture).

But guests didn’t have much time to sleep off any sugar comas; Saturday morning started early with Rise & Dine, another dine-around where breakfast tacos, donuts, boozy brunch cocktails, coddled eggs, even chia pudding stations took over the Pier One Imports building near downtown Cowtown.

A few hours later, the party moved west to Clearfork for the FWFWF’s Burgers, Brews & Blues. That’s where 12 burgermeisters each handed out more than 750 burgers in a competition for top prize (I was on the judging panel) and breweries poured generous samples of more than 25 beers. The entire event took place on a breezy evening under the long arms of Clearfork’s old oaks. (Rodeo Goat won for its goat cheese-caramelized onion number.)

“Why don’t more people in Dallas know about this?” asked a Dallas chef. “This is so great!”

The ones who read EscapeHatch sure do.