In between Welcome Week parties and settling into your new (or old) Madison lifestyle, be sure to stop by the Capitol Square this weekend for the annual Taste of Madison.

For me, Taste of Madison is one of the best festivals of the year. More than 65 of Madison’s well-established restaurants set up booths on the Capitol Square to serve their signature dishes for a fraction of the normal price. Dishes range from $1 to $4, so eating from a wide array of booths won’t put too much stress on your wallet.

There are several ways to approach Taste of Madison. With such a variety of food available and the sheer number of restaurants participating, a little strategizing before you hit the Square is advised. Taste of Madison’s website offers a list of all participating restaurants, so check that out if you feel so inclined, but here are a few suggestions from a fellow student-foodie to effectively navigate Taste of Madison and make it a valuable experience.

The Gourmet Experiment

Stop by one of the more refined culinary arts tents for a taste of something you wouldn’t normally be willing to pay full price for, like Vom Fass’s Goat Cheese & Vegetarian Bruschetta, or The Piece Out Gourmet!’s Watermelon Pork Tacos or Chilled Blueberry Soup. You can expand your taste bud horizons without spending a fortune, and if you don’t like it, you’ll surely be able to find some cheese curds to erase the lingering taste from your mouth.

Best Of _

With many of Madison’s most popular Mexican and Thai places, burger joints and BBQ restaurants participating, you can run your very own “Best Of” trial and test the skills of competing restaurants to find your favorite. Stop by the tents of Bahn Thai, Rising Sons Deli, Thai Noodles, and Sa Bai Thong on a mission to find the best Pad Thai, or join me in my annual favorite activity at Taste of Madison: find the best BBQ ribs. There are plenty of options, and this is one weekend where you don’t have to feel guilty for ordering ribs four times in one day. You can even vote in Taste of Madison’s official “Best Of” contest for your favorite overall restaurant.

Madison Favorites

Make the rounds looking for some of Madison’s staple dishes, like macaroni and cheese from The Old Fashioned, a chocolate mocha cupcake from Daisy Cafe, or the Long-Guy-Land Turkey sandwich at Gotham Bagels. These are treats that you can only find in Madison, and if you discover them early this fall, they’ll become your new comfort foods that you’ll be able to keep going back to throughout the ups and downs of the school year.

Taste of Madison will be from 2 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday. There will be four entertainment stages (Lisa Loeb is headlining the entertainers on the Magic 98 Stage at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday!) and part of the proceeds go to benefit the United Cerebral Palsy charity. The first weekend of the school year is certainly something to celebrate, so let Taste of Madison kick off your school year in the most delicious of ways.

Want to take an even bigger bite out of Taste of Madison? Check out baderherald.com next week for a blog with our resident food columnist to see how a pro tackled a weekend of non-stop feasting.