EATS

If you're collecting the full set of Flying Saucer commemorative glasses, you won't want to miss next Wednesday's annual Beer Knurd glass (see left), which the bartenders will start filling at 7 p.m. There's a small charge for the glass, plus the beer in it. If you've just got to have it, get there early; we're told they go fast. The Flying Saucer is at 14999 Montfort Drive in Addison.

Usually when a store offers free sorbet, it comes on an itsy-bitsy plastic spoon. Not so with Sorbeteria, the new sorbet and smoothie emporium that just opened in the strip center at 7700 W. Northwest Highway, across from NorthPark Mall.

Come May 17, Sorbeteria will give out free full-sized servings of your choice of 16 fruit sorbets or nine fruit smoothies. It's a one-day-only grand opening event, designed to get you hooked on a treat that's really good -- and good for you.

We beat the rush and sampled a couple of flavors today. Prices are $3 for a single scoop, $4 for a double and $6 for a take-home pint. The Apricot-Tangerine sorbet bursts with intensely fruity flavor with just the right amount of tanginess.

The Doubleberry Sorbet Smoothie -- a blend of Marion Blackberry and Strawberry Sorbets with fresh berries -- packs a whollop of flavor, plus antioxidants to boot.

The sorbets are made with 90 percent ripe fruit -- much of it from Texas farmers -- and have less than a teaspoon of added sugar per serving. You'd never guess that while tasting these sorbets though -- that's a tribute to the abundance of naturally sweet, ripe fruit used to make them.

Bring the kids for the freebies, and feel good about indulging them with something so healthful.

Sorbeteria
Open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily
7700 W. Northwest Highway
214-373-7777

Tina Danze

Dallas ex-pat Kathryn Hall (how could anyone leave Dallas for Napa Valley?) leads the discussion and previews new HALL Winery vintages at an Abacus wine dinner May 13 at 6:30 p.m.

Kent Rathbun and crew will be pouring the 2007 sauvignon blanc, 2005 merlot, and the 2004 and 2005 cabs with courses that include quail-foie-gras-stuffed mushrooms, grilled elk medallions and pan-seared scallops wtih braised spinach. It's a great chance to see the new digs, too.

The dinner is $130 a person plus tax and 20 percent gratuity. For reservations, e-mail here. For more info, call 469-867-3681.

It was first a blip on Chowhound.com, Addis Abeba, a new Ethiopian restaurant at the southwest corner of Central Expressway and Belt Line in Richardson (crammed behind the Subway). I met our intrepid critic, Bill Addison, there to see what was up, since he's planning an Ethiopian roundup at some point in the future.

He knows his way around the cuisine better than I, but I know this: Addis Abeba, with its clear and distinct flavors, was unlike any Ethiopian I'd had before in Dallas, going back to the original Queen of Sheba on McKinney, when troglodytes roamed the land. I won't tell all, but I could have given myself a butter facial with the kitfo - Ethiopian steak tartare, or cooked, as you like.