What does Dallas taste like? Deliciousness.

The Taste Buds decided to get a whirlwind foodie experience this past weekend when we set out for Taste of Dallas. The festival featured over 60 local restaurants and a lot of interesting vendors from across the state. All tastings were much like "samples" of the restaurant's cuisine and ranged from $1-3. We arrived hungry and truly ready to find out what Dallas tastes like.

The first tent we stopped by was Farmers Branch's "Nuevo Leon." The samplings offered both brisket tacos and tamales. We had one of each and dug in. The brisket taco was extremely juicy and we added pico, onions and salsa to really give it that extra kick. The tamale was tender inside and absolutely one of the best tamales I have ever tasted. We definitely noted that this is a restaurant we want to go to for a full feature. Let us know if you have been here, and what we must try!

Next we headed inside a very much needed air conditioned pavillion where there were loads of local vendors selling everything from olive oil, hot sauce, jams, soups, nuts and alcohol. We were drawn to the Texas Toffee tent where we were given a free sample of chocolate pecan toffee. Sara's favorite type of candy actually is toffee. We tried the tiny sample and were immediately in heaven. This was love at first taste for Sara. She even kept sending our other friends over to the tent to steal their free samples. The owner told us that he works out of Plano and has a website and will ship anywhere.

The pavillion also had a stand that featured a local version of "skinny margaritas." Instead of being a mix including the alcohol, this mix does not have alcohol in it. It only has 5 calories per serving, making it a 100 calorie drink when you mix in whatever tequila you choose. We each tried a marg and thought it was pretty good. I personally prefer the original version by Bethenny, but Sara stated that she enjoyed this one more and that it was sweeter. It is nice that you can use the mix how you see fit, making it stronger or weaker accordingly.

Both of us have heard nothing short of how amazing the BBQ is at Lockhart's Smokehouse, so we were ecstatic to see they had a tent at the festival. We tried one order of brisket and sausage and split. Both meats had an extremely smoky flavor that was mouthwatering. I preferred the sausage, while Sara preferred the brisket. Both tastings were small, leaving us interested in checking out the restaurant for a full meal.

Lastly, we tried the Woodfire by Kirby tent, featuring beef tenderloin with loaded mashed potatoes. The dish was served on flatbread and the beef tenderloin was well seasoned and flavorful. However, the real star of this dish were the loaded mashed potatoes. I would go visit this restaurant located on Lower Greenville just so I could eat those bad boys.

Overall, the experience at Taste of Dallas was great. We tasted food from several different restaurants that we will take a trip to check out. Also, I now know where I will be ordering Sara's next gift from. Have you eaten at any of these places? Let us know what we need to try!