The Spread.

Zagat Cosigns 10 Dallas Restaurants, and July Alley Installs a TARDIS Vending Machine.

Welcome to The Spread, our weekly feature that aims to share all the area restaurant, food and beverage industry news that's fit to print. Except that this is the Internet, so space isn't a concern. Also: Good thing, because this is Dallas and this town always has breaking restaurant news going down like whoa.

Halloween is merely a few hours away at this point, and while most people are out looking for last-minute costume ideas or planning out ghastly agendas, we're mostly worried about what Friday morning is going to look like.

Costumed walk of shames, anyone?

While there are certainly tons of options as far as Halloween events goes– bar crawls, costume contests and even Halloween raves with drink specials littered throughout — now might be the prime time to take a break from all the Halloween buffoonery and treat yourself to a delicious upscale dinner.

If that sounds good to you, let Zagat be your guide: Long considered one of the best restaurant and nightlife surveys around, Zagat has recently released its picks for Dallas' Hottest Restaurants. Ten of Dallas' best culinary offerings got nods: Chef Matt McCallister's FT33 took the top honors, with Stampede 66, Spoon Bar + Kitchen, Lark on the Park, Belly and Trumpet, Twenty Feet Seafood, Mot Hai Ba, Le Bilboquet, Tanoshii Ramen + Bar and Kitchen LTO rounding out the prestigious list.

On the other hand, if a night of drinking in full costume is actually all you're looking for on Halloween night, perhaps you should check out one of these options: The Bearded Lady out in Fort Worth encourages dressing up and drinking with costume contest and a pumpkin tap takeover party starting at 6 p.m.; Dude, Sweet Chocolate along with The Wine Poste hosts a ghostly wine and chocolate tour; Truck Yard's Halloween party comes complete with adult and pet costume contests; Alamo Drafthouse's “Alaween” Carnival out in Richardson will feature Halloween TV specials being aired on loops, and Deep Ellum Brewing Company will host a Halloween tour and costume contest. And, let's be real here, those are just a very few of your options.

Speaking of drinking: North Texas Beer Week officially kicks off next week, and as such has released its official 2013 online guide. The first of dozens of planned events surrounding this week-long affair is Texas Brewvolution, a Texas-centric craft beer festival taking place November 9 at Fair Park's Centennial Building. Get your tickets here.

In much fishier news, Fish City Grill & Half Shells will host its annual kickoff party for Oyster Fest this Saturday with an oyster eating contest benefiting the No Kid Hungry charity, and Hook, Line & Sinker is hosting a neighborhood bash on November 7 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. with complimentary samples of its newest fall specials, which include double brown stout battered cod fish and chips and Florida-style crab cakes — all topped off with free drinks provided by Deep Ellum Brewing Company (this event has been canceled).

In more follicle-related matters, Del Frisco's Grille is transitioning from Halloween into Movember with its “Major 'Stache Bash” this Friday from 5 to 7p.m. The party, which aims to help raise men's health awareness, will feature free appetizers, raffles and cheap drinks and a mustache competition for ultimate man-bragging rights. Speaking of health: The Daily Beast recently revealed its list of the 20 healthiest colleges in the states, and Dallas Baptist University scored quite well in the rankings, coming in at No. 17 thanks to high scores on the rankings' non-drinking student body, drug-free campus and healthy campus dining option criteria.

Moving on to restaurant opening news: LUCK, which stands for Local Urban Craft Kitchen, officially opened its doors in Trinity Groves last week; Souk Grill Bar Bazaar also opened its doors in Trinity Groves, too; new breastaurant Stingrays had a successful soft opening last week at its West End location and is currently hosting “auditions” for its all-female wait staff; Mama's Pizza has officially opened up its eighth location, this time out in North Richland Hills; Nickel and Rye not only opened its doors last week, but has already expanded upon its brunch menu; the folks behind Cajun Tailgators Food Truck are set to open up a permanent location out in Plano next month; and Fluellen Cupcakes hosted its grand opening earlier today with $2 cupcakes.

And, lastly this week, we share with you some celebratory science fiction-related eating news: Deep Ellum watering hole July Alley has gotten a bit more spacey with the addition of its new Doctor Who-themed vending machine. Sadly the machine, which is shaped like the Doctor's time and space traveling police box, the TARDIS, only shells out snacks such as chips and gum, rather than the bowties or sonic screwdrivers we hoped. Still: It's a win for Dallas' Whovian fan base, no doubt.

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