Pocket Guide to the Best Tasting 2014 State Fair of Texas Fried Foods

If you're going to take the calorie hit to try several fried foods at the State Fair of Texas, you don't want to waste those calories on something that tastes just okay. You want to be wowed! You also don't want to spend a whole fair coupon sheet on food that tastes too funky to finish (anyone remember Fried Beer?)

Lucky for you (and me), I tasted all eight fried food finalists at the Big Tex Choice Awards official judging event. I photographed, reviewed, and ranked them all into this handy, single-image pocket guide, the "2014 Best Tasting Fried Foods at the 2014 State Fair of Texas":

Culinary Superstars and Schedule Announced for Addison’s New Fork & Cork

Get a discount for being a Dallas Foodie fan! See details* below.

Addison’s new epicurean festival, Fork & Cork, is a two-day event bringing together celebrated chefs, craft breweries, wineries and spirit makers. The gourmet gathering, May 16 and 17, will be a destination for those who enjoy food as entertainment by spotlighting Addison’s chef-driven establishments as well as other special culinary-minded guests from Dallas’ best restaurants. Featured talent for the first annual Fork & Cork includes internationally acclaimed, James Beard Award-winning chef and judge on ABC’s The Taste, Marcus Samuelsson, and music from Texas legend Pat Green.

Savor Dallas: My Favorite Food Festival + Free Ticket Giveaway!

2015 Post-Event Update: I no longer recommend attending this event. It has been steadily declining for the past the three years to the point where the 2015 event was not worth going to. Here's why: None of the media reviewers I see there every year or strangers I talked to in line were wowed by the creativity and flavor in any of the dishes this year. This downhill trend started at the 2013 event and has culminated in zero "wows" in 2015. It's nearly the same vendors every year. It seems more of them have figured out they need to make the food ahead of time. Perhaps that explains why taste and creativity has suffered. Although I don't understand why they haven't also learned to bring more food because every year a quarter of the booths run out of food one hour before the event ends and almost no one has food with 30 minutes left. The ticket price used to be cheaper and a good value with several really creative and delicious dishes to try, but $120 ticket price per person is not even remotely worth what you get now. I recommend spending that money on the much tastier and more creative food at any of the reputable restaurants in Dallas.
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You know I attend most of the food and drink festivals and events in DFW, but the one I look forward to the most is this Saturday's annual Savor Dallas International Grand Tasting. I like this event best because it offers the biggest variety of food from so many of the top restaurants in DFW—plus wine, beer, and spirits—and all of it is all-you-can-eat/drink. Also, there are no stupid food coupons needed to buy each item. In the words of comedian, John Pinette, you can just, "grab and move, grab and move!" The only thing you need to bring is a very empty stomach because you can't possibly taste everything at this event!

My favorite chocolatier, Kate Weiser Chocolates, will be there!

Dallas Foodie Supper Club at Parigi

The Dallas Foodie Supper Club (#DFSupperClub) is a way for fans of Dallas Foodie's social media accounts to meet and eat with other local foodies. The intent of each event will vary from trying new foods or restaurants, to seeking the best of a certain food, to sharing one of Dallas Foodie's favorite foods. If you follow Dallas Foodie on any of her social media accounts, then you are automatically elligible to sign up for a Dallas Foodie Supper Club event.

Be My Guest at "Chefs for Farmers" Event

Chefs for Farmers bills itself as "the culinary event of the year". It has an impressive lineup of 40 chefs from many of the best restaurants in Dallas and Austin coming together in Dallas for an afternoon of food tastings with live music and local food purveyors (farmers). They even have chefs from Uchiko coming in from Austin, and that restaurant served the second best complete meal I've ever eaten!

The Best Chocolate Day of Your Life – 2013 Dallas Chocolate Conference

Do you LOVE chocolate? Do you love chocolate enough to be sober at 9 a.m. on a Saturday morning in Addison for the best chocolate tasting day of your life? Because the Dallas Chocolate Conference has been the best chocolate day of my life every year for the past few years, and this year, I want to share the experience with another true chocolate lover.

Preview tasting with chocolates by Sublime Chocolate and Kate Weiser Chocolates

Review: Fried Foods at 2013 State Fair of Texas

Almost every fried food I ate this year ranged from quite tasty to downright outstanding! With so many award-winning fried foods and so-so fried foods from past years still available, plus 23 new fried foods in 2013, deciding which fried foods to eat can be overwhelming. That's where experience comes in—not just my own years of fair food tasting experiences, but everything I hear and read about other people's opinions. With all those things considered, I scouted out the fried foods I felt might be the best tasting this year and complied the lists and commentary below, plus this heavenly collage:

The 9 best fried foods I ate at the State Fair of Texas in 2013.

All 23 New Fried Foods at 2103 State Fair of Texas

There are two big secrets about the fried food at the State Fair of Texas that I never hear other media outlets talking about, so I'm going to let you in on what I know:

1. Most of the best selling (and hence, best tasting) winners and competitors from previous years' fried food contests are still there! I highly recommend the Deep Fried Butter (2009 Best Taste winner), Fried Grilled Cheese, and Deep Fried Jambalaya (2012 Best Taste winner), if you can find them again this year.

2. Every year there is a long list of brand new fried foods that didn't make someone's cut to be in the Final 8 for awards judging, but that doesn't mean these foods aren't also delicious. Some of them sound amazing to me! I never see other publications mention these fried foods, I couldn't find the list on BigTex.com, and their PR rep didn't have a digital copy to email me, so this might be the only website where you'll find this list. I received it as an old-fashioned printout in my media packet at the Big Tex Choice Awards judging, so I have it photographed below for your food planning pleasure. Click to read the pages at full size. I've already starred the ones I want to try!

And, drumroll... I need someone to go to the fair with me and taste test as many of these fried foods as possible! I have a free admission ticket for you (thanks to the State Fair of Texas), but I would like to split the food and food costs with someone. This is a serious foodie challenge! Last year my mom was in town, and we managed to share nine fried foods in one visit. We arrived strategically starving and spent almost the whole time hunting for our food (booths). I'd like to go on the evening of Thursday, October 3 or Friday, October 4. If you're available and up for this delicious quest, comment below or in one of my social media profiles and let me know you qualify. I'll start looking for a winner on Saturday morning.

Be My Guest at GrapeFest

My friend at ILiveinDallas.com wrote the full article on this, but feel free to leave me a comment on this page.

Ladies and gents, this is a call for single men in Dallas who enjoy wine. Help your guy friends out here and let them know about this awesome opportunity to drink free wine with a fun single lady…

You may already know her as "Dallas Foodie". She posts about food and drinks in her social media profiles and occasionally writes for this site. She is also a personal friend of mine, so I can vouch for her awesomeness. She has an extra pass for an exclusive, behind-the-scenes, guided wine tasting tour of GrapeFest, so I told her I'd help her find an eligible gentleman to be her guest. This tour isn't available to the general public, so it is a very unique opportunity for a lucky guy. She wanted me to clarify that this is not a "date", but there are 140 Texas wines you can taste, so it's sure to be a fun time!

   

Read the rest of this article at ILiveinDallas.com.

Dallas Foodie Mystery Excursion

10:00AM – 1:00PM on Wednesday, July 24, 2013 

SECRET LOCATION (will be sent to those who RSVP)

In Dallas we have a ridiculous foodie experience that only happens during this time period, and it would be a lot more fun if a small group of Dallas foodies would like to join me. I can practically guarantee you that we will eat some of the best foods you've ever eatten in your entire life. Bring a camera because your friends will be so jealous they'll be drooling on their screens and asking you to bring them some. This is partly why I can't reveal exactly where we are going, so our meeting location will only be sent to the 10 people who RSVP at this link.

2012 Guide to the Best Fried Foods at State Fair of Texas

I've tried at least 21 fried foods at the State Fair of Texas, including all eight of the 2012 Big Tex Choice Awards fried food finalists. I've posted my photos and commentary in real-time all over the socialsphere, but I thought I'd pull all the links and comments together in one detailed page so you can choose which social site to drool, read, and share your favorites or create your own list of fried foods to try. Scroll down for Facebook, Foursquare, and Pinterest photo links. Up first are descriptions of this compilation photo…

Savor Dallas: Best Food & Wine Event of the Year

2015 Post-Event Update: I no longer recommend attending this event. It has been steadily declining for the past the three years to the point where the 2015 event was not worth going to. Here's why: None of the media reviewers I see there every year or strangers I talked to in line were wowed by the creativity and flavor in any of the dishes this year. This downhill trend started at the 2013 event and has culminated in zero "wows" in 2015. It's nearly the same vendors every year. It seems more of them have figured out they need to make the food ahead of time. Perhaps that explains why taste and creativity has suffered. Although I don't understand why they haven't also learned to bring more food because every year a quarter of the booths run out of food one hour before the event ends and almost no one has food with 30 minutes left. The ticket price used to be cheaper and a good value with several really creative and delicious dishes to try, but $120 ticket price per person is not even remotely worth what you get now. I recommend spending that money on the much tastier and more creative food at any of the reputable restaurants in Dallas.
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From a Dallas Foodie perspective, Savor Dallas is my favorite weekend of the year, and it's coming up at the end of this month. What sets it apart from other Dallas food and drink events is the sheer number and quality of items to be sampled at multiple events over the course of two days.

Photo courtesy of Savor Dallas