Big Tex Choice Awards fries up more winners

For the first time in its 13-year history, the Big Tex Choice Awards — which honors the best of the (mostly) deep-fried concoctions that are served at the State Fair of Texas — had three categories for winners.

And then there were two winners anyway.

Tom Grace & Edna Sutton’s Funnel Cake Bacon Queso Burger — a mouthful in name and more than a mouthful in reality — won in the Most Creative and “Best Taste — Savory” categories. And it had a sweet element as well: two funnel-cake buns, covered in a snowstorm of powdered sugar, enveloped a grilled beef patty with crispy bacon and ballpark-style queso.

Surprisingly, all of this worked, although the funnel-cake buns did struggle to hold everything together. But it was a good meshing of tastes and textures: salty, sweet, mildly spicy, crisp, soft — as well as being a mashup of three kinds of concession-stand food.

“Best Taste — Sweet” went to the Gulf Coast Fish Bowl, which wasn’t deep-fried — it’s a drink, an alcoholic one at that, one that will only be available to fair-goers 21 and over.

Mansfield’s Clint Probst, who has been a finalist several times (including last year) and won in 2014, could easily have taken Most Creative with the Fish Bowl: a snifter-style glass has a bottom layer of Nerds “gravel,” then is filled with a “specially formulated blue alcoholic punch” (Probst was coy about the ingredients) with Swedish Fish “swimming” through the ice, all garnished by a pineapple slice and a straw big enough to suck up all the ingredients. It was described as a “drinkable aquarium” and that’s pretty accurate.

Probst also had a semi-final entry, Beer Battered Beef Jerky, that will also be available at the fair, as well as some of his previous entries.

Tarrant County was also represented in the finals by father-and-son team Rudy and Justin Martinez, whose entry was a “The Tamale Donut” — basically, a pork tamale in the shape of a small doughnut, fried till it’s cripsy on the outside, then garnished with a creamy jalapeño salsa. Perfect for those who don’t like dealing with the tamale husk, it tasted a lot like ... a pork tamale.

Among the other finalists in the Savory category was the curious case of the Deep Fried Chicken Noodle Soup on a Stick, two bite size-balls that reminded us of hush puppies, except that they have an indentation for a spoonful of accompanying broth. It even comes with saltine crackers.

Then there was the Surfin’ Turfin’ Tator Boat, lobster meat and seasoned steak topped with cheddar and Romano cheeses, all of it stuffed into a baked potato that’s topped off with a single empress-cut lobster claw and a side of butter. Judges noted that the full-size version of this is pretty heavy and isn’t exactly walking-around food for the fair. But you’ll want to sit down to use the butter side anyway.

Compared with those, the Texas Fajita Fries were relatively modest: breaded, deep-fried fajita strips seasoned with a Sriracha mix and served in a bread cone, accompanied by fried onions & jalapeños. “Texas Fajita Fries can be enjoyed as a sandwich or individually like french fries” says the description. Our advice: skip the bread. The Fajita Fries are really good all by themselves.

As for the Sweet entries, we got a nostalgic kick out of the Deep Fried Froot Loops, which kind of look like a Froot Loops chimichanga filled with whipped marshmallow. Arguably even more impressive, and just as addictive, is the Fernie’s Fried Texas Sheet Cake, which has a lengthy description, so let’s just say it’s like a brownie coated in ground Cocoa Puffs, fried and then glazed with an icing made with Dr Pepper. And we haven’t even mentioned the pecans, the whipped cream, the strawberry and the cinnamon sugar,

Almost as creative but more modest were the Fat Smooth, mini-cream puffs dipped in Cafe du Monde beignet batter, fried and covered with powdered sugar and a chocolate and caramel sauce; and the Pinot Noir Popcorn, which was hit-and-miss with the wine flavor (this one’s non-alcoholic, so it’s OK for kids) but still had a sweetness and spiciness that kept us eating it.

Judges included Texas musician Casey Donahew, Jack Perkins of Dallas burger joint Maple & Motor, KPLX/99.5 FM “The Wolf” morning personality Lisa Taylor, Rocky “Rock-T” Turner of “The Rickey Smiley Morning Show” (which airs in DFW on KBFB/97.9 “The Beat”) and Adam Medrano, Dallas City Council member and mayor pro tem. They were joined by Cali Villacci, a 10-year-old from Grapevine who won a drawing to be guest judge (her father took judging duties on the Gulf Coast Fish Bowl, which she is too young to drink). Michelle Rodriguez, midday DJ on KSCS/96.3 FM, was MC for the event.

All proceeds from the Big Tex Choice Awards ceremony will be donated to the State Fair of Texas Youth Scholarship Program. The finalists, as well as other entrants in this year’s competition, will have their wares for sale at the fair, which takes place Sept. 29-Oct. 22 at Fair Park in Dallas (details here).

Star-Telegram staff writer Matthew Martinez contributed to this report.

This story was originally published August 27, 2017 at 9:37 PM with the headline "Big Tex Choice Awards fries up more winners."