Plenty of ways to celebrate Easter 2009 in Dallas

by Teresa Gubbins

Two annual outdoor events -- Easter at the Arboretum, and the Pooch Parade and Dallas Symphony Orchestra concert at Lee Park -- top the list of Easter activities in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, with dozens of brunches and lunches from which to choose:

Easter Weekend at the Dallas Arboretum

The Dallas Blooms festival is celebrating its 25th anniversary with over 450,000 bulbs and a 13-foot anniversary cake topiary. Over the weekend, there'll be a childrens' concert with Eddie Coker, a silhouette artist, and live Easter Bunny photos for $15 each.

Easter Concert at Lee Park

Celebrating its 24th anniversary, Turtle Creek Association presents Easter in the Park at Lee Park, featuring the hilarious Pooch Parade and Costume Contest at 1 p.m., followed by a live concert of light classics and pop favorites by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra at 3 p.m.

Breakfast With the Bunny! at Central Market

On Saturday April 11, from 8 to 11 a.m, the Easter Bunny will be hopping through the Cafe with goodies for kids.

Easter brunch and Easter egg hunt at Cliff Cafe

From 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., executive chef Robin Gill Lacy will supplement the traditional Sunday brunch of sweet potato pecan pancakes, cranberry orange French toast, and almond butter oatmeal with ham and spinach Benedicts and asparagus Benedicts with potatoes and toast for $11. Bar Belmont will serve strawberry mint sangria for $6 a glass or $24 a pitcher. Easter hunt for eggs starts at 1 p.m.

Easter buffet at Chef Point Cafe

Chef Point Cafe will be basking in its newfound fame with a buffet that includes Steamship Round, Lamb in Brown Mint Sauce, Bake Ziti, Chicken Curry Pasta, Blackened Catfish, Chicken Marsala, Spicy Beef Teriyaki, Shrimp Cocktail, Fresh Organic Spring Mix Salad, Eggs Benedict, Waffles, Mini Lox & Bagels, Sausage & Bacon, Biscuits & Gravy, Bread Pudding, Double Fudge Hot Brownie, and much more.

Easter buffet at Maximo's

Five different stations include: a cold and sweet station; omelet station; grill station; hot entrees station; and a sweets and refreshing station. Maximo’s famous guacamole prepared tableside is complimentary with any buffet order. $26.95 for adults and $12.95 for kids. Bottomless mimosas, blueberry mimosas, or blood orange mimosas are an additional $5.

Easter buffet at Seventeen Seventeen

Buffet includes Egyptian ratatouille, made-to-order omelets, and vanilla crème brûlée, available both Saturday April 11 and Sunday April 12 for $46 per person, $18 for children under 12.

Easter brunch buffet at Central 214 at Hotel Palomar

Executive chef and budding reality-TV show star Blythe Beck crafted a special brunch buffet with yummy delights including chocolate, caffeine, carbs, and cocktails. Spread runs from 10:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. for $38 per person, $18 per child.

Candace Washburn Trio at Cadillac Ranch, 857 West Highway 114, Irving

Buffet will have more than 40 items including wild boar eggs Benedict, bone-in ham with apple chutney, Texas goat cheese stone-ground grits, and Texas-style omelets ... which one supposes translates into "big"?