The Impossible Burger looks, smells, sizzles and tastes like meat. It even bleeds, but it doesn't contain any actual beef.

After turning heads at dozens of restaurants in California, New York, and Las Vegas, the Impossible Burger is debuting in North Texas.

Starting Friday, June 23, this high-tech mock burger will be served at all Hopdoddy Burger Bar locations in the state, including three in the Dallas area. It's a permanent menu item, a publicist confirms. Offered as a take on Hopdoddy's Classic Burger, the Impossible Burger will include the plant-based patty topped with cheddar, lettuce, onion, tomatoes and "sassy sauce" on a brioche bun for $14.

The Impossible Burger, though not made with any meat, sure looks like a beef patty, doesn't it? (Christian K. Lee / TNS)

First launched in New York City back in July 2016 after five years of development, this meaty yet meat-free product was created in a lab by Stanford scientist Patrick Brown, CEO of Impossible Foods. The company, based in Redwood City, Calif., counts Bill Gates and Google Ventures among its investors.

The veggie burger with faux blood quickly became a culinary craze, with lines at restaurants in New York City described by TimeOut New York as "pretty insane." The Impossible Burger sold out so quickly in San Francisco that one restaurant started issuing tickets for every burger, says SFGate.

Made mostly with wheat, coconut oil and potatoes, the Impossible Burger patty resembles ground beef, even when raw.

The not-so-secret ingredient is heme, the iron-containing compound that resembles blood and gives meat the taste, color and smell carnivores crave.

The idea is to replicate the experience of eating meat. The Impossible Burger can even be cooked rare or all the way through. It was created not for vegetarians, the CEO has said; it is designed to sway meat-eaters toward an environmentally friendly alternative. This is, of course, a particularly tall order in Texas.

In a press release from Impossible Foods, Brown admits that the Lone Star State has "the most discerning burger experts on the planet."

We tried the Impossible Burger on the first day it was available in Texas.

Thoroughly cooked, the Impossible Burger closely resembles the taste and texture of the real thing; however, the flavors of wheat and potato are prominent enough to leave much to be desired as far as seasoning.

GuideLive reporter Dawn Burkes hardly picked up any taste but potato. At $14 a pop, if she wants meat, she'd rather go for the real thing, not something that seems as if it fell off the truck on the way to the kitchen. Ouch!

Reporter Tiney Ricciardi thought the burger tasted too much like wheat, and it reminded her of a beer she drank recently — not exactly what you crave from a sandwich. She wasn't a fan of the texture. The Impossible patty was mushier and stringier than a solid hunk of ground beef, she said.

The faux burger shouldn't be ordered medium rare. Yes, it is pink in the middle this way, but the consistency becomes overly starchy and greasy.

The Impossible Burger is the most sophisticated — and perhaps the most filling — veggie burger ever made and it is worth trying. But it is ultimately not worth twice the price of a regular burger.

1 / 8Taylor Owen reacts to eating the Impossible Burger, available at Hopdoddy Burger Bar, 3227 McKinney Ave. (Louis DeLuca / Staff Photographer) 2 / 8The Impossible Burger, available at Hopdoddy Burger Bar, 3227 McKinney Avenue in Dallas, photographed on Friday, June 23, 2017.(Louis DeLuca / Staff Photographer) 3 / 8Taylor Owen, Gregory Castillo and Chris Cuan, left to right, sample the Impossible Burger, available at Hopdoddy Burger Bar, 3227 McKinney Avenue in Dallas, photographed on Friday, June 23, 2017. (Louis DeLuca / Staff Photographer) 4 / 8Taylor Owen takes a photo of the Impossible Burger, available at Hopdoddy Burger Bar, 3227 McKinney Avenue in Dallas, photographed on Friday, June 23, 2017. (Louis DeLuca / Staff Photographer) 5 / 8The Impossible Burger, available at Hopdoddy Burger Bar, 3227 McKinney Avenue in Dallas, photographed on Friday, June 23, 2017. (Louis DeLuca / Staff Photographer) 6 / 8Gregory Castillo proudly displays the flag that comes with the Impossible Burger, available at Hopdoddy Burger Bar, 3227 McKinney Avenue in Dallas, photographed on Friday, June 23, 2017. (Louis DeLuca / Staff Photographer) 7 / 8The Impossible Burger is served to diners at Hopdoddy Burger Bar, 3227 McKinney Avenue in Dallas, photographed on Friday, June 23, 2017. (Louis DeLuca / Staff Photographer) 8 / 8The Impossible Burger, available at Hopdoddy Burger Bar, 3227 McKinney Avenue in Dallas, photographed on Friday, June 23, 2017. (Louis DeLuca / Staff Photographer)