Valentine's Day 2024

Valentine’s Day 2024

PRICES VALID 2/7/24

THROUGH 2/14/24

DELVE INTO THE DEEP, DARK, RICH, AND SWEET | REALLY INTO CHOCOLATE

CHOCOLATE-DIPPED STRAWBERRIES 6 CT. STARTING AT

$

11.99/EA.

Juicy, fresh long-stemmed strawberries are hand-dipped in-store with decadent imported chocolate. Choose from either Traditional or Pretty and Pink.

FORT WORTH 4651 WEST FREEWAY | 817-989-4700

WILD COLD WATER LOBSTER TAILS 4 OZ.

6.99/EA.

$

SAVE $2.00 A guaranteed stunner for any seafood spread! Easy and elegant, season with lemon and garlic, then broil or grill for 10 minutes and serve with drawn butter.

SOUTHLAKE 1425 E. SOUTHLAKE BLVD. | 817-310-5600

FFOORRTT W WOORRTTHH W WEEEEKKLLYY

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AVAILABLE FOR CURBSIDE PICKUP & DELIVERY VALENTINE’S DAY MEALS FOR TWO STARTING AT $39.99 FEBRUARY 13-14, OR IN-STORE FEBRUARY 12-14.

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S T E V E

S T E W A R D

The week before last Halloween, a guy I know came up to me and said, “Dude.

LABELS. Did you see them?”

He was talking about the local psyche-punk band that had played The Boiled Owl Tavern during Arts Goggle the previous weekend.

It was the third or fourth time I’d talked with someone about them, and every conversation was a variation of “Holy shit, they totally blew me away!”

The new fans I chatted with compared them to Nirvana and Thee Oh Sees, describing the local group in terms of what the fans imagined it would have been like seeing those legendary bands when they were relatively new.

On February 23, LABELS will release Moral Law, their third album, which is surprising to hear about regarding a band that has been playing shows for only about a year. That LABELS seem so fully formed is because they’ve been practicing relentlessly since getting together in 2019. Comparing them to a couple of seminal punk bands — because that’s essentially what the sounds of Nirvana and Thee Oh Sees are rooted in — might sound hyperbolic, but when you look up LABELS and give listen to a couple of their tracks, you find that this is a band that takes pieces of related genre hallmarks, from garage-rock to psychedelic and punk, and electrifies these sonic limbs and hearts into a new species, like if Dr. Frankenstein built Robocop out of a pile of pawn shop amplifiers, detachable-face cassette decks, and dusty, knock-off sunglasses.

Composed of Braden Burgan on guitar and vocals, twin brother Taylor Burgan on drums, and friend Deven Johnson singing lead, LABELS formed during the guys’ senior year at L.D. Bell High School in Hurst.

“We were really into basketball in junior high and high school up ’til, like, 11th grade,” Braden said at a coffeeshop recently with his bandmates. “We were like, ‘We’re for real going to the NBA.’ ” “And then we figured out, no, we’re not,” Taylor said.

The Burgans’ dad, Scott Burgan, had played in local bands — Hillary Smile and Rosemary were a couple of them — and the drummer of one of those groups had left some of his gear lying around the house.

“He just left his drums in our shed,” Braden said, “and we were like, ‘OK, we’re done with basketball.’ [Dad] was like, ‘Oh, you wanna see my guitar?’ The cymbals were super-rusty, super dry-sounding. It was one cymbal, a snare, and a kick. But it worked.”

The brothers learned to play guitar and drums on their own, and they started writing their own songs while they were figuring out their instruments.

“We played the same kind of music back then as we do now,” Braden said.

But he was too nervous to sing, so the brothers recruited Johnson, a mutual friend since 10th grade.

“It was so cringey at first because I had, like, a British accent,” Johnson said. “I guess I thought it was easier to make stuff up in a British accent.”

At the time, the trio was heavily into a British punk duo now known as Soft Play.

“I liked the way [the singer’s voice] sounds,” Johnson said.

The band learned how to work Logic Pro the same way they learned to play instruments — “by just doing it,” Braden said — and recorded an album in 2021, though it is no longer available on any streaming services.

“Since we started making songs right when we started playing, we weren’t good,” Braden said. “The songs weren’t bad, but we weren’t ready to play them live at a show, so we took [the album] down, because it wasn’t the best sounding. We didn’t know what we were doing. We just wanted something out.”

The three might not have been totally stoked with their first effort, but a year later, with better gear and more confidence in both their playing and recording chops, LABELS self-produced their second album. Braden described the 10-song Brain Fragments as “slower, kind of more ‘songwriting,’ I guess.”

Brain Fragments does indeed hover around mellower tempos, but it establishes a few aesthetic ideas that I’d argue give LABELS their signature sound, a sort of giddy psychedelia constantly truncated with compression, giving what might be a hazy guitar journey considerable amounts of hip-shake. It makes me think of a long, plastic bag full of weed smoke that is for

Valentine’s Day 2024 some reason crimped in regular intervals — “Dream Forever” is a good example of this, but the rest of Brain Fragments offers the listener plenty of other vivid mindscapes to go with slinky, fuzzy guitar riffage.

Of the new album Moral Law, LABELS have increased both the speed and the complexity of their riffs.

“The new album is way harder,” Braden said, “a whole lot of hard-rock, punk stuff.”

The LP leans heavily into the garage rock/psychedelia made popular in the earlyto-mid 2000s by artists like Jay Reatard, Ty Segal, and Thee Oh Sees, but it also drifts into a sort of mid-tempo, effects-heavy, sludge metal-esque guitar-pop reminiscent of Dinosaur Jr. Johnson’s vocal delivery, often deadpan, reminds me of the Hold Steady’s Craig Finn — if Finn were 21 and had grown up listening to late-’90s Family Values-era hitmakers like System of a Down and Eminem. Though his voice and phrasing might suggest otherwise, Johnson really loves rap.

“I might write lyrics that sound like a rap in my head, but I change the flow, so they fit more in a punk song,” Johnson said. “I love Sublime. There’s a song on the new album called ‘Time Spent’ that I had a kind of reggae vibe in my head when I sang it,” adding that Sublime frontman Bradley Nowell is one of his biggest inspirations.

“That’s funny, because it’s one of our heavier songs,” Taylor said.

Moral Laws, as a whole, isn’t a stoner-metal album at all, but it is definitely heavy and has a similar effect on the brain.

The album’s first single, called “3D” and released on January 23, sounds to me like if Jacuzzi wrote a Paranoid-era Sabbath song made for a Jim Henson show about a digital afterlife. Another song, “The Feeling,” reminds me of the conversations you have with yourself during Hour 3 of a decently intense mushroom trip. Then there’s “I Just Want to Be Human,” which builds on a majestic, disorienting guitar phrase reminiscent of a Pearl Earl song, then hurls you into the cosmos like the way that same trip might spin you into a state of galloping overstimulation.

And what, if anything, is LABELS’ music about? While some of the songs carry a current of melancholic ennui, mostly they’re just full of good vibes.

“We’re nice people,” Braden said. “We just want to promote the positive, y’know?” l

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LABELS: “The new album is way harder, a whole lot of hard-rock, punk stuff.”

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With a new album on the way, this young yet fully formed punk trio demands your ears now.

FO R T WO R T H W E E K LY

Yes, LABELS

Levi Anderson

MUSIC

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Valentine’s Day 2024

It’s Party Time, Y’all!

price plus a complimentary 2-liter of soda 11am-2am Fri-Sun. 4.) Oscar’s Pub (6323 Camp Bowie Blvd, Ste 125, Fort Worth, 817-732-3833) will host a Super Bowl party 2pm Sun with ribs prepared by Chris Pritchard. There is no cover, so save your door money for football squares.

With the Super Bowl on Sunday, you may need to beg off work Monday to able to enjoy Fat Tuesday on, well, Tuesday. Try to convince your boss that National Football Hangover Day (a real thing) is an actual federal holiday.

Now that your recovery time is planned, here are some ideas for before and after.

7.) Now thru Tuesday, Razzoo’s Cajun Cafe is celebrating Mardi Gras at all its North Texas locations with an all-day happy hour. Drink specials include $5 frozen cocktails, $5 wine, $2/$4 domestic draft beers, and $3/$5 on all other drafts. Food specials include $7 Fire Mouth Wings or Cajun Fondue and $5 snacks like Canal Street Shrimp, boudin balls, shrimp and grits, Rat Toes, and more. For info on the location nearest you, visit Razzoos.com/Locations.

Cour tesy DJ Sof t Cherr y

FO R T WO R T H W E E K LY

DJ Soft Cherry will spin T-Swift tunes at the Super Bowl Party: Taylor’s Version at Gustos 4 Sunday.

8.) Being a non-drinker, I can take it or leave it when it comes to booze during Super Bowl Sunday, Fat Tuesday, or Crap-TuesdayIs-Deadline Day. For those trying to live a sober life, this weekend will be one big trigger. As the inner webs are always accurate, I took to Google for some tips. Here are the top seven for your consideration: Know your triggers; eat and stay hydrated; bring a sober buddy with you; set a limit; hold a nonalcoholic drink in your hand; have an exit plan; and host a sober party of your own. You’ve got this!

By Jennifer Bovee

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3.) It’s a party all weekend at Dough Bro’s Italian Kitchen (1601 Airport Fwy, Bedford, 817-438-8026). In celebration of National Pizza Day on Friday and the big game on Sunday — the single largest pizza delivery day of the year — order a large specialty pizza and receive an additional pie at half

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6.) It’s time for the annual Mardi Gras on Morton celebration at Bar 2909 (2909 Morton St, Fort Worth, 817-332-2909) 6:30pm-11pm Tue. There will be beads, live music, and Hurricane specials along with all-you-can-eat crawfish. As of press time, the cost of the event is still unclear. Keep an eye on the event page at Facebook.com/ BAR2909 for updates.

2.) While Brix Barbecue (1012 S Main St, Fort Worth, 817-386-4694) is closed for a private event on Sunday evening, party packages can be picked up for the game by 3pm Sun if ordered by noon Fri at BrixBarbecue.com. Options include whole briskets, whole racks of ribs, smoked or fried wings, and Wagyu burnt ends.

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1.) DJ Soft Cherry, 2023 Weekly Music Awards winner for best DJ, will spin tunes at the Super Bowl Party: Taylor’s Version at Gustos Burger Bar (1229 7th Av, Fort Worth, 682-250-6926) 4pm Sun. Admission is free.

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5.) The Trinity River Bears, a local LGBTQIA+ social organization focused on cuddly, bearded men, will celebrate Mardi Gras on game day with a Gumbo & Jambalaya Cook-Off at Club Reflection (604 S Jennings Av, Fort Worth, 817-870-8867) 4pm-6pm Sun. Groups or individuals can enter the contest for free. Setup time is 3:30pm. Awards will be given for best taste, crowd favorite, and most original. There will be Hurricane specials and complimentary food samples.

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Six for Saturday E L A I N E

W I L D E R

With Valentine’s Day falling on a Wednesday this year, the Saturday prior is primetime. (This weekend — yikes!) For ideas on dinner reservations, check out last week’s ATE DAY8 column in the Calendar drop-down on FWWeekly.com. For other ideas beyond a simple dinner, here are six more things happening Sat, Feb 10, for your consideration.

Cour tesy Canva

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1.) The Woman’s Club of Fort Worth (1316 Pennsylvania Av, 817-335-3525) is this year’s venue for the Sixth Annual Bleeding Hearts Ball, with proceeds benefiting a nonprofit dedicated to training service animals. There will be a costume contest and a midnight waltz, along with food and drinks.

Tickets for The Dark Kiss: A Regency Era Vampire Ball, as it’s called this year, start at $20 on Eventbrite.com. Doors open at 6pm.

The Dark Kiss: A Regency Era Vampire Ball will raise money to train service dogs.

2.) How about taking your main squeeze boot scootin’? The Stagecoach Ballroom (2516 E Belknap St, Fort Worth, 817-8312261) invites you to a Valentine’s Dance featuring Jamie Richards 7pm-1am. His new album, The Real Deal, promises everything from ballads to bar songs that fans of ’90s country will love. Tickets are $20 at StagecoachBallroom.com.

3.) If you’d like Jesus to take the wheel, the Cowboy Church of Tarrant County (1685

4.) Seeking a special dinner? Make your meal more meaningful by raising funds for a worthy cause. The Seventh Annual Taste the Love Valentine’s Dinner & Fundraiser is at Taste Community Restaurant (1200 S Main St, Fort Worth, 817-759-9045) at 6pm.

All sales benefit the Taste Project’s mission of feeding, educating, and serving the community. This five-course meal is BYOB and features burrata cheese paired with figs and prosciutto; cauliflower steak salad (grilled cauliflower with sultana agrodolce and ricotta salata); lobster ravioli; osso bucco (braised beef shanks with polenta, mushrooms, and herbs); and chocolate almond cake with Amarena cherries. Tickets are $300 per couple on Eventbrite.com.

5.) Local artists and other creatives will sell gift items at the Galentine’s Pop-Up Shop at WineHaus (1628 Park Pl Ave, Fort Worth, 817-887-9101) 4-7pm. Vendors include Bug-n-Bloom, Elegant Arrangements, Handmade Hello Card Co., link x Lou, Stitchy Woman Embroidery, Stumpy & Lily Crochet, Texas Bath Works Candles, and more.

6.) Meat Fight, the event “fighting MS with the best BBQ in DFW,” has a Valentine’s deal for you. What started as a backyard competition among friends is now a nonprofit that

Valentine’s Day 2024

Valentine's Ideas

Cour tesy Meat Fight

Lacy Dr, Fort Worth, 817-716-9940) also has a Valentine’s Dance 6pm-8pm. Kids are also welcome at this night of music, fun, and snacks. There is no cost to attend.

Pick up a Meat Fight Valentine’s Box and join the fight against MS.

has raised over $2 million for the National MS Society. If you’d like to join the fight and grab a great gift for that someone special in your life, order a Meat Fight Valentine’s Box for $145 via Prekindle.com and pick it up at Community Beer Company (3110 Commonwealth Dr, Dallas, 214-751-7921) 2pm-5pm. The box will include snack-sized portions of “meats, sweets, and treats from Dallas businesses.” It feeds two (or more) people. l

GIOVANNI’S Complimentary roses on wednesday the 14 th Opening at 4pm on Valentine’s Day

5733 crowley rd • fort worth tx 76134

817.551.3713 | GIOVANNISFW.COM

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Come see Mamma and Pappa for Valentine’s Day

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I TA L I A N K I T C H E N

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PRICES VALID 1/31/24

THROUGH 2/6/24

DELVE INTO THE DEEP, DARK, RICH, AND SWEET | REALLY INTO CHOCOLATE

CHOCOLATE RASPBERRY ALMOND CAKE 4 CT.

7.99/EA.

$

These rich, moist, and tender little cakes boast big chocolate flavor in each bite. They’re made with brown butter, bittersweet chocolate, and almond flour topped with fresh raspberries.

FORT WORTH 4651 WEST FREEWAY | 817-989-4700

MOLE POBLANO MARINATED CHICKEN BREASTS

6.99/LB.

$

SAVE $1.00 Inspired by the flavors from the Puebla region of Mexico, rich mole sauce that includes ingredients like cocoa, chiles, peanut butter, sesame, and more herbs and spices.

SOUTHLAKE 1425 E. SOUTHLAKE BLVD. | 817-310-5600

AVAILABLE FOR CURBSIDE PICKUP & DELIVERY VALENTINE’S DAY MEALS FOR TWO STARTING AT $39.99 FEBRUARY 13-14, OR IN-STORE FEBRUARY 12-14.

Cour tesy The Rayleigh Underground

Fajitas are great to share, especially at Blue Mesa Fort Worth.

Valentine’s Day 2024

By Jennifer Bovee

Cour tesy Blue Mesa

2.) This year, the Cajun Market at Bourbon Street Bar & Grill (1833 Airport Fwy, Bedford, 817-527-5640) is putting a bit of lagniappe (a little something extra) in its Valentine’s Day Celebration 11am-10pm Wed, Feb 14. For $79.99 per couple, choose

3.) Delta Charlie’s, a restaurant, bar, and grill at the Grand Prairie Municipal Airport (3116 S Great Southwest Pkwy, Grand Prairie, 972-655-6665), invites you to “take your love sky high” this Valentine’s Day. From Fri, Feb 9, thru Sun, Feb 18, there are dinner-and-a-flight packages for two starting at $300. The meal begins with a Caesar salad followed by your choice of entrees, including artichoke pasta with chicken, tilapia with wild rice and mixed vegetables, New York strip steak with garlic mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables, or vegetarian pasta with mushrooms, zucchini, and yellow squash in a marinara sauce. For dessert, it’s New York-style cheesecake.

Wine and specialty cocktails are available for additional purchase. After dinner, your private flight across North Texas takes off.

For reservations, visit DeltaCharlies.com.

8.) Toro Toro at the Worthington Renaissance Hotel (200 Main St, Ste B, Fort Worth, 817-870-1000) is presenting a limited-time, three-course, prix fixe Valentine’s Day Dinner 5pm-10pm Wed, Feb 14, and Fri-Sat, Feb 15-17. Start with your choice of oysters or tuna bonito. Choose between the filet/lobster duo or roasted chicken for the main course. Dessert offerings are an amaretto-strawberry brioche or a chocolate fondant.

For more information and reservations, go to ToroToroFortWorth.com/Valentines-Day. fwweekly.com fwweekly.com

1.) Blue Mesa (612 Carroll St, Fort Worth, 817-332-6372) will offer a special Valentine’s Day Dinner 5pm-9pm Wed, Feb 14. The meal for two includes mini crab and shrimp cakes with ancho crema; combo fajitas (fresh local chicken breast and USDA Choice skirt steak) with smoky black beans, coconut lime rice, guacamole, pico, and jalapeno relish; Mexican chopped salad; a dessert of warm churros with chocolate, cajeta, and sangria dipping sauces; and a bottle of bubbly.

Dinner for two is $75. Call for reservations.

6.) Feb 13 is Galentine’s Day, an unofficial holiday made famous by Parks and Recreation. It is a day for “ladies celebrating ladies,” and the Taste Project invites you to spend it with them during breakfast or lunch at Taste Community Restaurant (1200 S Main St, Fort Worth, 817-759-9045).

Everyone is welcome regardless of means.

You either A.) pay what you can afford, B.) pay what you would typically pay, or C.) pay what you would typically, plus a little extra. Time slots are available 9am-1:30pm at TasteProject.org.

7.) Sobremesa is a Spanish tradition that involves time spent in conversation, enjoying friends and family at the table during and after a meal. Executive Chef Christian Lehrmann invites you to do just that at Sobremesa: Valentine’s Dinner Gathering at Tinies Mexican Cuisine (113 S Main St, Fort Worth, 682-255-5425) at 7:30pm Wed, Feb 14. Enjoy a five-course meal while seated communally with fellow foodies. Tickets are $120 per person on Eventbrite.com.

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Besides restaurants and bars, you can also take your valentines — or galentines — to an airport or a haunted house for a special dinner in the coming weeks. After you digest these eight fabulous ideas below, come back for more in next week’s Night & Day column.

appetizers of either jalapeno shrimp and grits or Cajun chicken bruschetta, followed by gumbo, then a main course of stuffed pork loin or lemon-dill redfish. For dessert, enjoy a praline ice cream sandwich with a caramel rum sauce. Guests will receive a free tableside photo, and if you make your reservation in advance, you’ll get a complimentary glass of Champagne. Call the restaurant to reserve your table.

If your honey likes horror, hit Hangman’s annual Valentine’s event.

Jello-O shots never looked as fancy as these at the new Rayleigh.

F FO OR R TT W WO OR R TT H H W WE EE EK K LL YY

Where to Wine and Dine Your Valentine This Year

5.) Las Colinas has a new Vegas-style venue you can check out with your special someone on the big day. The Rayleigh Underground (316 Las Colinas Blvd West, Irving, 469-9606878) invites you to enjoy its signature Jell-O shots served on a gold platter, a Champagne toast, and a multi-course dinner featuring your choice of airline chicken, bang-bang shrimp, scallop risotto, or smoked chile salmon. Being Las Vegas-themed and all, the music is straight from the Rat Pack days, with Justin & His 6-Piece Swing Band performing classics from Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Bobby Darin. Tickets are $150 per couple at RayleighUnderground.com/ Valentines-Day.

Cour tesy Hangman’s House of Horror

Canva.com

4.) Is Halloween more your speed than Valentine’s Day? If horror is your thing, but you’re still up for celebrating love, then Hangman’s House of Horrors (4400 Blue Mound Rd, Fort Worth, @ HangmansHouseofHorrors) may be for you.

Its annual 50 Shades of Fear event will take place over the next two weekends. On FriSat, Feb 9-17, choose from just the haunted house for $39 per person, the #LoveIsBlind (blindfolded) fast pass experience for $49 per person, or the Haunted Dinner Date with all of the above plus a catered Italian dinner for $199 per couple at Hangmans.com.

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Valentine’s Day 2024