What to Do This Weekend: Thai Festival, Crawfish Boil, Craft Beer

A three-day weekend means there's potential for 50 percent more fun (and drinking), so don't let the chance of rain keep you inside. There's plenty to do this Memorial Day weekend, whether you want to get fancy with Champagne and oysters, hit up a new craft brewery, drink with your dog, or feast on Thai food and soak up some culture. And if all you need is a patio, we've got a guide for that, too.

FRIDAY

OAK CLIFF—What better way to kick off a three-day weekend than with (cheap) oysters and Champagne? Just like every other Friday, Boulevardier will have special happy hour (4:30 to 7 p.m.) pricing for both: $1.95 East Coast oysters, 50 cent Gulf oysters, and half-off all Champagnes and sparkling wines normally priced at $49 or more. Time to get fancy.

UPTOWN—The rain isn't supposed to start until Saturday morning, so it's probably a good time to take your canine friend to Mutts, where they're serving up this sublimely ridiculous cocktail: frozen Deep Eddy vodka lemonade with a boozy strawberry daquiri popsicle plunked into it. (Hell, even if you don't have a dog.)

Saturday

NORTH DALLAS—The second annual Thai Culture & Food Festival kicks off at 11 a.m. at the Buddhist Center of Dallas. The main attraction is of course 15 different Thai food vendors from local restaurants including Thai Soon, Best Thai, Bangkok City, and Thai Orchid; expect dishes like chicken satay, fried bananas, sticky rice and mango dessert, and papaya salad, plus Thai tea and fresh coconuts and a "Best Pad Thai" battle. Also: temple tours, art and gift vendors, Muay Thai demos, and traditional dance performances. Hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday; best of all, both admission and parking are free.

RICHARDSON—Attention, suburban-dwelling craft beer lovers: Newcomer Four Bullets Brewery will be opening the taproom from noon to 6 p.m. pouring their Royal Flush Red, Black Jack Brown, Two Pairs Pale Ale (see a theme here?), and Big Slick ESB. Food truck For Love of Pizza will roll up at 2 p.m. to sling pies.

FORT WORTH—Food truck fans in Cowtown might want to scope out Fort Worth Food Park this weekend; trucks on duty this Saturday will include Holy Frijole and Rollin Stone, and live music from local indie band Moonlight Native kicks off at 7 p.m. There will also be draft beer and cocktails from local brewer Panther Island.

ADDISON—Speaking of craft beer newcomers: Bitter Sisters Brewery will host its own beer bash from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. In addition to $3 beer specials for early birds (until 1 p.m.), expect live music and Big Al's McKinney Avenue Tavern food truck.

TRINITY GROVES—Sushi Bayashi will host a free sake and Japanese wine tasting all day from noon to 9 p.m. As long as you're there, it'd be advisable to sample the tonkotsu ramen and the fried chicken gizzards.

SUNDAY

PRESTON HOLLOW/OAK LAWN—Both TJ's Seafood Market locations are hosting crawfish boils at 2 p.m. on Sunday. Boiled crawfish are priced at $9.99 a pound and will be served with all the traditional accoutrement including corn, potatoes, and andouille sausage.

MONDAY

DEEP ELLUM—In case you really need more excuses to post up on a patio and drink on Memorial Day, Braindead Brewing will be hosting a Honk/Drink patio party starting at noon featuring beers from Texas Ale Project. What does that mean, exactly? They'll have signs encouraging passing cars to honk their horns "in support of us drinking great American beers." (Why? A better question is perhaps, why not.) Additionally, chef David Pena will be grilling up beer brats and chipotle-glazed pork belly on the patio.

DEALFEED—What better way to remember those who have fought for our freedom than by collecting free food from chain restaurants? All Wendy's locations are giving out free small Frostys on Monday; meanwhile, Freebirds will give you free chips and queso(or guac) if you tag them in a social media post.