Feeling the need for a Dallas shopping spree, Jon and I hit the road on Saturday afternoon.  We planned to spend time at the Galleria and then search for a good restaurant for dinner.  Unfortunately, traffic on I-35 came to a screeching halt just south of Norman due to a car accident, and the highway patrol was diverting traffic well off the beaten path.  We decided to go even further off the beaten path to avoid the congestion that was already building up on a one lane road near the highway.  Even though we drove past some pretty countryside and avoided much of the traffic, it still took us more than 5 hours to reach Dallas instead of the usual 3.

By the time we crossed the border into Texas, we were hungry and tired and stopped at an information center to grab a directory of local restaurants – we hadn’t yet given up on a fun, romantic date night.  For some reason Mexican food sounded really good – probably because we were still disappointed at the sad excuse for Mexican food we’d had at Tamazul.

Wild Salsa stood out on the list of Dallas Mexican restaurants mainly because we liked the name and it had a decent online review, so we called for reservations.  After such a long time in the car, it was a relief to arrive at Wild Salsa, in the heart of the busy downtown, and see that it offered valet parking.

We soon discovered that true to its name, Wild Salsa offered different kinds of very creatively made salsa as well as guacamole sprinkled with roasted pumpkin seeds that was addictive.  Our very friendly waitress, Rebecca, had recently moved from California to Dallas and seemed truly happy to have landed at Wild Salsa.  She had extensive knowledge of the menu and seemed to hold high regard for the chef and his focus on bringing authentic dishes of Mexico City to Dallas.  She was also proud that he uses only locally grown ingredients.

Jon had chicken tacos with cilantro rice and mango jicama slaw (left), and I had the Gulf redfish with rice and shrimp taquitos.  It was amazing.  The redfish was the best fish I’ve had in a long time – perfectly prepared.

Although it was a challenge getting to Dallas, the Wild Salsa experience totally made up for the long road trip and started off a really fun weekend.  We were able to have our shopping spree at the Galleria the next day (yes, I got my Nordstrom’s fix, and you should see Jon in his new, hot designer jeans!!), and picked up chocolate chip cookies from Paradise Bakery for the trip home.

I’m sad we don’t have a Wild Salsa here in OKC or really anything like it, but it’s a great excuse to head down south.