Taste Addison 2007: Delicious, entertaining, & hot as all heck

by Erin Rice , Laura Seewoester

ADDISON — Taste Addison is pegged as one of the best festivals in DFW, and it's pretty clear why. There was something for everyone including festival-fare shopping (a.k.a. stuff you wouldn't normally buy), amazing food, carnival rides, and entertaining local and national music acts. Photographer Laura Seewoester grabbed some great shots from Saturday that you can view in the photo gallery to the right.

I checked out the event on the final day, Sunday, for two main reasons: 1) to experience all Addison has to offer (in the daytime, no less, and without the beer goggles on) and 2) cheap and easy Mother's Day entertainment all in one place (Hallelujah!). My mom and I were not disappointed.

When we first arrived at Addison Circle Park we were delighted to find that parking was free (cha-ching). Starving, we embarked on a quick loop around the place to decide what the food options were, of which there were many. Mom was impressed to discover that I had been to many of the establishments represented at the festival (but then quickly disappointed to learn that I could only tell her which beers were good because I had never actually eaten at any of them... did I say "Happy Mother's Day" yet?). As such, she stuck with her favorite, the May Dragon Chinese Restaurant, ordering sesame chicken, which was, ummm, good. We're not food critics, bear with me.

I decided to branch out and order food based on coloration and found that a peachy-fuschia dish from Clay Pit met my goal of most brightly hued entree. The name of the dish was the Chicken Tikka Masala, chicken smothered in a "tomato-based butter cream sauce seasoned with herbs & spices," served over rice. According to the Clay Pit's website, it's "Everyone's Favorite." Despite feeling less special now, it was still a nice choice for a first timer to Indian cuisine. I topped that off with a Mango Lemonade, which was light on the lemon and refreshing considering the considerable heat at 3:30 p.m.

We also lucked out; just after we ordered our food the Killdares came on the main stage. Tearing down the house, as usual, the Killdares had much of the crowd up on their feet trying their best Celtic dance moves. Addison, you are great, but good dancers you are not. Just kidding, the enthusiasm was fabulous. Those of us not quite ready to get up from the comfortable ground, clapped along and enjoyed the entertainment.

After the Killdares, we headed indoors to test out our tastebuds at the Taste Showcase. There was a wine tasting at the time, which as Laura points out in the photo gallery, included cups that were rather small and the line rather long, but free nonetheless. I tried a cab-merlot-shiraz-something else-blood-of-first-born mixed wine, which was delicious. I was looking forward to the Budweiser beer sampling, but apparently I had mixed up the times and missed it. There was another display in the showcase that had fruit and jalapeno jams, that were surprisingly good. Take your traditional jams, apple, cherry, blueberry, add some spice and this is what you get. I cannot for the life of me remember the name of the company, so if anyone else can, please add it to the comments below.

After perusing the shopping booths and laughing at the kids swimming and splashing in the various water displays, we had our fill of Addison and decided to head back to our respective locales (Dallas and Keller). On the way out we ordered some hazelnut mocha gelato for mom and Marble Slab for me, which on this hot day I stupidly ordered in a cone. Both were delicious, despite dripping all over my hands and feet. Sweaty, sticky, sated, and smiling, I found that Taste Addison provided a fun day to explore with my mom, so I would say the event was a success.