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Dallas, TX
Dallas Mavericks bring fancy restaurants to AAC in sports-food shakeup
Do you want to dine at Dallas hot spot Catch but haven’t secured a reservation? High-end restaurants like Avra, Crown Block, Uchi, Catch and more are setting up pop-up shops inside the American Airlines Center during Dallas Mavericks games.
Those restaurants — plus others coming later in the Mavericks’ season — are among Dallas’ priciest dinner spots.
Patrick Lang, vice president of global restaurant and nightlife development for Las Vegas Sands Corp., a company owned by the families that bought the Mavericks, has a plan to bring high-end restaurants to the AAC without the high price and formal dining.
“How can we take this dining experience that is a real commitment,” he asked of Dallas’ finest spots, “and do it in a more fun, approachable way for fans?”
Catch opened on Maple Avenue in Uptown Dallas in late 2024.
Tom Fox / Staff Photographer
The next upscale restaurant popping up at the AAC is Catch, the seafood spot that originated in New York City and opened in Dallas in late 2024. Billionaire Tilman Fertitta and two NYC restaurateurs have grown Catch across the United States to cities like Las Vegas — yes, the city where Las Vegas Sands Corp. is headquartered.
Catch will sell a double royale with cheese and Parmesan-truffle fries on Dec. 6, 2025, during the Dallas Mavericks-Houston Rockets game. The burger and fries will cost $26.
The restaurant atop Dallas’ iconic Reunion Tower, Crown Block, is next. On Dec. 23, 2025, this restaurant managed by a couple from Vegas will sell a shrimp po’boy at the AAC for around $20.
Loro has restaurants in Addison and East Dallas. For one day, it served food inside the American Airlines Center, during the Dallas Mavericks’ season opener game in October 2025. Chefs sold a limited quantity 30 servings of smoked shishito queso.
Roberto Hernandez / Dallas Mavericks
For the Mavericks’ game against the Golden State Warriors Jan. 22, 2025, the team has confirmed Dallas Design District restaurant The Mexican will join the AAC pop-up. And in the spring, Lang hopes to do a special event with Wakuda, a modern Japanese restaurant in Vegas and Singapore.
Lang said adding restaurant pop-ups in Dallas was a natural step for Las Vegas Sands, which owns and operates resorts in Macao and Singapore.
“When new ownership took over the Mavericks, we had a pretty big vision,” he said.
“For years, we’ve partnered with some of the world’s best culinary brands. We have a deep track record of bringing exceptional experiences to our resorts, and we think these experiences should be part of a game day experience as well.”
It kicked off last season, with a caviar and fried chicken dish from Yardbird.
Other restaurants that have participated include Loro, the Austin-born, Dallas-bred Asian smokehouse; and Uchi, the high-end Japanese restaurant owned by the same Texas group.
Will a high-end restaurant pop up at every Dallas Mavericks game?
Probably not. Lang said they’re focused on “marquee matchups” — basketball games that are on evenings, weekends or notable dates.
Where can I find the food?
The first events were VIP only, just off the basketball court. Starting on Oct. 22, 2025, the pop-ups are on the main concourse of the AAC, accessible to any fan with a ticket to the game. Find them at the Modelo Gold Lion Bar & Grill on the Plaza Level (main concourse), near Section 103.
Will diners find a typical restaurant experience?
No. “It’s an incentive to get fans to show up and get engaged,” Lang said, but it isn’t a replacement for a full meal at one of these restaurants.
He’s dreaming of selling a chicken Parmesan sandwich from Carbone at a future event.
“That could be a really cool item,” he said. “How do we take something seen as very exclusive and a major commitment from a time perspective,” he said, “[and offer it] at a great price point?”
He thinks the partnership allows restaurants to be creative and reach a new audience, in a new place. It also gives Dallas Mavericks foodies a reason to go hunting through the AAC for new food.
Will these restaurants serve food at events other than Mavs games?
No. Las Vegas Sands is utilizing its restaurant relationships for basketball games in Dallas. Concerts, Dallas Stars games and other events are not included.
How can attendees know what’s next to eat?
The Mavericks will share restaurant details in game day preview emails, which are sent to ticketed fans and Mavs subscribers. Details will also appear on the Mavericks’ Instagram story on game day.
Dallas police officers and firefighters are being praised after rescuing a homeless woman who was trapped in a ravine for days. First responders said the rescue pushed them to their limits, but they never gave up.
Paramedics and police officers responded to a call late last month in searing afternoon heat after a man working out near Conrad High School reported hearing faint cries for help.
“When we got the initial call with DPD, we were seeing notes that said that there was someone deep back beside the ravine,” Dallas Fire-Rescue paramedic Robert Kober recalled.
A recent storm had turned the terrain in the area into a thick, sticky mud. “You stepped in it, you sank past your ankles, sometimes halfway or more up to your knees. Nasty, nasty conditions,” Dallas Police Sr. Cpl. Mark Gnewuch said.
They hiked nearly a quarter mile through the muck, thick brush and even sewage to find the woman. A one point they even needed to fashion a makeshift bridge, Kober said.
“By the time I got out there, I’d already slipped and fell once and my thought process was ‘wow, she has been out here for a while,’” Gnewuch said.
“I was expecting to see someone who was barely coherent, possibly deceased, but when we arrived on location and I saw her, she was actually carrying on a conversation,” Kober said.
The woman was taken to a hospital suffering from severe dehydration, prolonged sun exposure and other injuries, but was in stable condition.
“I have been on similar situations where individuals who are in that type of environment for that long, they don’t survive, so it was definitely a miracle to make it through,” Kober said.
The rescue was proof of what can be accomplished when first responders work together.
FC Dallas announced today that forward Logan Farrington signed a contract extension through the 2027-28 season, with club options for the 2028-29 and 2029-30 seasons.
Farrington was previously under contract through the 2027 season. This new deal updates his contract options through the 2029-30 season.
Farrington has appeared in 14 matches this season, scoring a career-high six goals and recording a team-leading four assists. He was named to the MLS Team of the Matchweek Starting XI for Week 5 after scoring a brace and one assist in the Texas Derby against Houston on March 21.
For the first time in his professional career, Farrington scored in back-to-back matches from March 21 to April 4, finding the net in the Texas Derby victory and the road win at D.C. United.
The Racine, Wisconsin, native was drafted No. 3 overall in the 2024 MLS SuperDraft and signed a new contract on Jan. 22, 2025. Farrington has recorded 15 goals and 16 assists in 75 appearances since joining Dallas, the most by any 2024 MLS SuperDraftee across the league. He won the MLS NEXT Pro Cup with North Texas SC on Nov. 9, 2024, scoring a goal in the final. He also became one of six players in MLS history to record multiple games with both a goal and an assist off the bench in a single season in 2024.
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Quick BDS Take
There is no doubt in my mind that we’re going to see more of these types of announcements over the next few weeks as the club begins to reposition itself for the upcoming calendar change in MLS. There are still a lot of players on deals that run through 2027, so addressing what part of 2027 has to be done here.
Either way, I am all for adding more years to Farrington’s contract. He’s been one of the more underrated strikers in MLS and his partnership with Petar Musa has really been fun to watch over the last three seasons.
His numbers alone this year show that he’s been improving year over year with the club, too.
The Stewpot, a Dallas-based homeless services organization, is helping people who have experienced homelessness be seen in a new light.
During a special art exhibit Thursday night, paintings filled the walls, but it was artists like Darrell Plunkett who were the real focus.
When Plunkett first discovered The Stewpot’s art program more than a decade ago, he was at one of the lowest points in his life. He was struggling with alcoholism.
“I was staying in a shelter and I was waiting for them to take us back downtown, and I saw a gentleman with sketches and a bag full of art supplies,” he said.
Immediately, he wanted to learn more.
“He told me about the program, and back then, there was an interview process to get in, and so I went through that,” he said.
Plunkett was accepted and quickly discovered a love for painting, especially sunflowers and roosters. More importantly, he found an escape from the struggles he was facing.
“It kept me out of trouble and give me a safe place to come and create instead of running the streets,” he said.
He said many artists in the program have found that same sense of purpose.
“It gives me peace and quiet and comfort,” Luis Arispe said. “People who buy my work love the way I talk to them and speak to them.”
Every painting sold directly benefits the artists. They receive 90% of each sale, while the remaining 10% goes back into the program to help pay for art supplies.”
“It’s a nice little boost if you get a little more pocket change.. to get paid for your work and to be acknowledged as an artist,” The Stewpot Director of Enrichment Programs, Betty Heckman, said.
“The recognition that someone actually likes what I created it just gives me joy,” Plunkett said.
Since joining the program, Plunkett has remained sober. He now has his own apartment and works at the Dallas Arboretum, where he finds constant inspiration.
“I’ll just stop and take a quick snapshot and go home and create,” he said.
He estimates he’s created hundreds of paintings over the years, and some of his work has even been featured in murals across Dallas.
Looking back, he says he’s forever grateful for this program that changed the course of his life.
“I don’t know what I would do without it,” he said. “It’s been a blessing.”
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