Bill and I love food tastings, so we decided to try Taste of North Austin in The Domain, a huge outdoor shopping area that’s north of downtown. Although this event is in its tenth year, this was our first visit. We each purchased a wristband with ten little plastic tabs to be exchanged for tastings.

More than 26 restaurants participated. Most were from The Domain, with a few from The Arboretum (another shopping area starting with “The”) and one from really far north near Cedar Park. Restaurants that collected the most tasting tabs earned gift cards for their favorite local charity.

Cap City Band entertained the crowd at the stage in front of the iPic movie theater. DJs were also spinning tunes under tents at opposite ends of the outdoor mall.

Some restaurants offered two food choices, each requiring a separate tasting tab. For example, both the Beef Carpaccio and the Pork Hand Pies looked good (and they were), so Culinary Dropout received two tabs from me. Very clever.

I’m not sure which restaurants won the tasting contest. My favorite tasting was the Shrimp Tostada Bites (with yummy cornbread) from Z’Tejas. Chocolate lover Bill was disappointed that Nothing Bundt Cakes ran out of Bundlets, but he was consoled with G-Ma’s Old Fashioned Dump Cake from The League Kitchen & Tavern.

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