This past weekend I got to hang out at Taco Libre Dallas, a festival celebrating the beauty that is the taco. Represented at the event were 20 plus taquerias from the DFW and beyond.

At the event my taco guides were Michael and Anthony. Michael, aka TacoTeur, is a world record taco eater, currently at 392 consecutive days eating nothing but tacos (that's 3,544 tacos at the time of this writing). Check out his Instagram for daily taco posts if you don't believe me. Ant (Ant Eats) is another taco lover in the area who I will forgive for eating his tacos with just meat (no salsa, no onion, no nothing) because he walked the entire festival with me trying tacos.

There were a ton of amazing tacos to try, here's a quick rundown of what I ate (in the order that I ate them).

Resident Taquería

At Resident Taquería I had their whole head barbacoa taco (check their Instagram for photos of the seasoned beef head they slow cooked). This was some seriously good barbacoa and a great way to start off the festival. The guajillo and green salsas had a great balance of heat and flavor that lent itself really well to the tender and juicy meat.

Maskaras MEXican grill

At Maskaras I got the signature Maskara taco with seasoned beef, cheese, guacamole, pico de gallo, and salsa verde. Texas sized for sure, this was the biggest taco I had all day. It was a great second taco, the beef was tender and caramelized with a crispy edge, paired with unctuous avocado and spicy green salsa I could have eaten five more of these.

Revolver Taco Lounge

I'm a sucker for a good octopus taco, but because octopus is challenging to prepare I'm pretty picky about where I'll order it. At Revolver Taco Lounge they know what they're doing. Topped with a heaping handful of fried leeks and the best salsa verde I had at the event, Revolver's taco de pulpo cannot be missed.

Urban Taco

Urban Taco was serving up some Michoacán style Carnitas de Cazo and Barbacoa de Borrego (goat barbacoa). They went old school and cooked the goat the traditional way by slow cooking the meat buried in the ground. The texture and flavor of the meat was as beautiful as the presentation.

(At this point I was beginning to fully realize that there were no bad tacos at Taco Libre and to wish that I had four stomachs like a cow so I could try them all.)

Ki' Mexico

All the way from Shreveport, Louisiana Ki' Mexico was serving up some great tacos, but what had everyone talking was the Tofu Gringa. Ki's ancho and guajillo seasoned tofu with melted, savory queso oaxaca, jade salsa verde, onion and cilantro on a flour tortillas was absolutely killer.

El Come Taco

El Come Taco had probably the longest line out of any of the taquerias that I saw represented, and for good reason. By nature I'm skeptical of places that describe their tacos as authentic Mexico City style, but when I bit into El Come's alambre (beef with vegetables and cheese) I became a believer. Maybe it was the sharp sizzle of the beef as it hit the grill, the rapid scrape of dueling spatulas in the taquero's hands, the crowd of people all around, the simple but demanding flavors, but for a second I almost forgot where I was.