The weather couldn't have been more perfect this past weekend in Dallas. So what do you do when it's absolutely gorgeous outside? You head to the State Fair of Texas of course! This year Chris and I were on a mission to try all the fried and weird things. I'd say that mission was accomplished.
When we arrived, we were greeted by Big Tex himself along with food tent after food tent, home of all the fried things you could think of. Fried jambalaya, fried pizza, fried shrimp boil, fried bubble gum, fried iced tea, fried PB&J, Krispy Kreme Donut burger, along with fair classics like fried Oreos and funnel cake were to be found, just to name a few. If you can think of it, they fry it.
One of the first things that caught my eye was the funnel cake beer. This was last year's winner and sadly it was sold out and I never got to try it, so you can imagine my excitement when I saw it was back and available this year! After the beer, I built up the courage to try this year's winners, the smoky bacon margarita. I was hesitant at first, but it didn't disappoint. Think margarita with a smoky flavor to it. It was actually pretty good!
After drinks, Chris and I headed for the food. We started off with another winner from last year, and one of our favorites, the fried shrimp boil. It's basically a low country boil with shrimp and potatoes fried into a giant ball. It was delicious! I'm thinking a Louisiana restaurant needs to pick up this recipe as an appetizer. It would be a total hit. Next up was one of this year's winner, cowboy corn crunch. The best way to describe it would be a ball of cream cheese, corn, bacon, and jalapeno. It had quite the spicy kick to it, but good nonetheless.
The food fest didn't stop there though. Not pictured are actually some of my all time favorites that were devoured before I could remember to bust out the camera. Located in the Taste of New Orleans tent were the fried crawfish jambalaya balls and seafood gumbo. Out of everything, these two Louisiana inspired dishes were my favorites. The fried shrimp boil is right behind it though! If you only try one thing at the fair, let it be one of these (although I may be biased)! Now I know you're probably thinking why gumbo? That's a normal New Orleans classic, but trust me on this. It was some of the best gumbo I've had in Dallas and when you're craving Nola food, it will certainly do the trick!
So what do you think? Do you think we accomplished mission try all the fried and weird things? We may or may not have also had a funnel cake, a sample of cotton candy beer, a tamale, and fried corn nuggets.
Good thing it was the weekend and calories don't count. Or something like that..
Labels: 26th birthday, dallas, eat, Food, state fair, state fair of texas, texas, Travel
