State Fair News

32 snacks make the first cut for 2021 State Fair Big Tex Choice Awards

Who could forget the chicken of 2019?

State Fair of Texas

In an annual ritual that they're surely thrilled to revive, the State Fair of Texas has unveiled 32 semi-finalists for the 2021 Big Tex Choice Awards Food Competition, with 19 savory entries and 13 sweet.

State Fair concessionaires offer entries they hope will win one of three titles: Best Taste – Savory, Best Taste – Sweet, and Most Creative.

A release from the State Fair of Texas says that the scores were tallied "after much deliberation" in the first round of judging, though the scores did not involve tasting the entries; they were evaluated on name and concept only.

In mid-August, 10 finalists will be culled from this list for the final competition.

The fair returns after the forced cancellation of the 2020 event due to the pandemic. While the fair has many beloved components, none has earned more attention in recent years than the Big Tex Awards, thanks to sites like CultureMap Dallas that dutifully report on the contestants and competition every year.

Here are the 2021 semifinalists:

SAVORY

Bacon Jam Corn Bombs
Warm bacon jam is ladled over hush puppies, drizzled with ranch dressing, and topped with candied jalapeños.

Country Fried Shrimp Grits
Grits are infused with shrimp and cheese, formed into squares, battered, and deep fried, then topped with shrimp and crawfish sauce.

Crawfish Étouffée Stuffed Turkey Leg
Turkey leg is smoked, then stuffed with crawfish etouffee and served with rice on the side.

Crispy Crazy Corn
Corn kernels are battered, fried, and dashed with seasoning, then topped with pulled pork, pineapple slaw, and jalapeño crema.

Dallas Hot
Smoked turkey frank is battered, fried, then topped with mac & cheese, fried jalapeños, and a drizzle of Cholula.

Deep Fried I-35
It's no wonder this entry was approved, read their description: "Our Deep Fried I-35 is a deep-fried Texas road trip on a plate! We start out in Parker County, Texas, which is famous for its peaches. Next, we move down I-35 to West, Texas, where we stop and pick up a dozen of our favorite kolaches. We can never decide which type of kolaches we like more – sweet or savory – always such a dilemma. The only solution? Sweet AND Savory. Next, we head south to Dublin, Texas ...famous for, you guessed it, Dr Pepper. After a few hours of driving and a few hours of snacking on I-35 treats, we finally arrive in Austin, Texas, home of some of the best smoked brisket in the world. We combine these ingredients into a sweet and savory decadent tribute to the Texas road trip...the Deep Fried I-35! First, we fry up our kolache dough, leaving a divot in the center for our filling. We top our fried kolache with smoked beef brisket. Our peach juice combines with the Dr Pepper to make a sweet and tangy BBQ glaze which we drizzle over our brisket kolache. We garnish this roadworthy concoction with peach slices and a sprinkling of powdered sugar. Voila, y'all!"

Deep Fried Seafood Gumbo Balls
Roux balls with Gulf Coast shrimp, chicken, crab, and andouille sausage are rolled in saltine cracker and breadcrumb batter and fried, served with dark gumbo roux sauce and topped with chicken-fried okra spears. The dish will be served with a small bottle of hot sauce and saltine crackers.

Deep Fried Shrimp Étouffée
Deep-fried dumpling filled with rice and shrimp is smothered in onion, celery, tomatoes, green peppers, and cheese; served with creole mustard or chipotle ranch.

Frozen Ranch Water
The Original Frozen Ranch Water will contain Topo Chico, lime, and a wine-based tequila that can be sold at the State Fair, with optional flavored toppers such as passion fruit, paloma, raspberry, and watermelon.

Hawaiian Luau
Sandwich consists of a soft Hawaiian bun with honey mustard slaw, pork, fried Spam, Hawaiian teriyaki sauce, and fried pineapple rings.

Lobster Corn Dog
Lobster version of State Fair classic has a breaded and fried lobster cake dipped in batter, served with remoulade.

Lucky Duck Dumplin'
Deep-fried pastry is filled with cream cheese, duck bacon, and corn. An order comes with three, plus a Thai chili glaze.

Pork Shots
Smoked sausage is wrapped with bacon which forms a tiny bowl, which holds mac & cheese. Sprinkled with a sweet, spicy BBQ rub.

Takis Locos
Rolled Takis Fuego chips are covered with melted cheese, savory refried beans, sour cream, pico de gallo, cilantro, and a serrano pepper.

Texas BBQ Brisket Banh Mi
Lightly toasted Vietnamese baguette is topped with brisket, BBQ sauce, cilantro, cucumber, pickled daikon radish & carrots, with honey siracha aioli, hoisin sauce, and jalapeño slices on the side.

Texas Chicken Fried Steak Flauta Basket
Cchicken fried steak fingers, shredded lettuce, tomato, and hamburger dill pickle chips are rolled in a flour tortilla and deep fried. Served with curly fries.

Texas Easter Eggs
Meats, spices, cheeses, peppers, and all things Texas are shaped into an egg, decorated with an Easter colored ranch sauce, breaded, deep fried, and served in a special Texas Easter Egg carton.

Texas Fried Surf and Turf
Filet mignon medallions are filled with chunks of langostino lobster and a slice of fresh jalapeño, then enclosed in a slice of bacon. It gets fried until the bacon gets crisp and the medallions are medium-well. Two to an order, served with tempura fried asparagus.

Twice-Fried Albondigas (Mexican Meatballs)
Spiced beef, rice, and chopped vegetables are rolled into a meatball, deep-fried battered and coated in bread crumbs, and fried again. Served with tomato sauce.

SWEET

Brisket Brittle
Like peanut brittle, but the peanuts are replaced with Texas brisket.

Deep Fried Pancakes
Like homemade individual bite-size pancakes, with choice of maple butter, blueberry sauce, or pecan butter syrup.

Deep Fried PB & Razbrûlée
Deep-fried peanut butter sandwich pocket is topped with vanilla creme and turbinado sugar, broiled to a hard-shell top, and served with mixed berries.

Deep Fried Peach Cobbler Soul Rolls
Peach Cobbler Soul Rolls are filled with peaches, rolled into an egg roll and deep-fried.

Deep Fried Ritz
Ritz cracker layered with strawberry-swirled cream cheese filling, dipped in batter, deep-fried, topped with chocolate glaze and Ritz cracker-powdered sugar crumble.

Deep Fried Toffee
Milk Chocolate Toffee Square is wrapped in a flakey biscuit and deep-fried.

Deep Fried Halloween
Fried pretzel is dipped in candy corn syrup, piped with orange and white buttercream icing, then stacked with M&M’s, Reese Pieces, Mini-Twix, Oreo cookie crumbles, and candy corn, to name a few, topped with marshmallow whip cream, Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, and Hershey’s chocolate syrup caramel sauce.

Fried Capirotada (Mexican Bread Pudding)
Bread is layered with shredded cheese sprinkled over a piloncillo (unrefined whole cane sugar) syrup with raisins, baked, then battered and fried, then crowned with whipped topping and dulce de leche.

Fried Toffee Coffee Crunch Cake
Chunks of cake donuts, English toffee morsels, and almonds are blended with a custard, set into ring molds, dipped in egg, panko & vanilla cookie crumbs, then fried. Served with mocha cream and topped with a miniature chocolate covered toffee bar.

Going Bananas
Banana is rolled in funnel cake batter and fried, then topped with whipped cream, chocolate and peanut butter sauces.

Southern Fried Lemon Ice Box Pie Balls
Pie ball wrapped in a pâte sucrée dough is infused with graham crackers, lemon zest, and brown sugar, battered and fried, then topped with cream and garnished with a lemon graham cracker crumble, lemon zest, and edible gold glitter.

Texas Pumpkin Poke Cake
Texas-shaped, decadent pumpkin cake with vanilla glaze, caramel, and whipped cream.

The Armadillo
Cookie Butter Ice Cream Sandwich features cookie butter semifreddo sandwiched between two deep fried Armadillo-shaped cookies made with a branding iron.

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The contest received 43 entries from by 26 concessionaires. All competitors must have at least one year of experience as a concessionaire at the State Fair of Texas to enter the competition.

A panel judges blindly, without knowing which concessionaire is behind each recipe. Judges base their choices on which food name, photo, and description looks and sounds the most appealing.

By mid-August, 10 finalists will be announced.

lists state-fair

News you can eat

Catch up with the new openings in this Dallas restaurant news

Stillwell's

New dishes at Stillwell's Steakhouse at the Hotel Swexan

This latest roundup of dining news around Dallas is a powerhouse, with some big openings, a closing, a re-opening, a relocation, and a coming-soon. There's also an array of new menus to check out, restaurants to visit, new dishes to try.

Here's what's happening in Dallas restaurant news:

Salt and Straw, the cult ice cream brand from Portland, Oregon, has opened its first location in Dallas at 2323 Henderson Ave. #107, in the same shopping center as Gemma restaurant, where it's scooping its trademark hyper-creative, often unexpected flavors. Cousins Kim and Tyler Malek founded S&S in 2011 as a pushcart and the concept has since grown to 59 locations with a huge presence in California and an expansion to the East Coast — from New England and New York to Florida. Flavors rotate with the season such as Jasmine Milk Tea Almond Stracciatella, Strawberry Tres Leches, Rhubarb Crumble with Toasted Anise, Saffron Milk with Wildflower Honey, and Coffee Chamomile Sherbet.

Maman, the French cafe chain from New York bringing its ritzy fare to Dallas, has opened a location in Lakewood at 6465 E. Mockingbird Ln. in Hillside Village, its second in the DFW area, following the original at the Plaza at Preston Center where it debuted in November 2025. They're open during daylight hours with espresso, tea, and pastries such as croissants, kouign maman, Bundt cakes, tea cakes, and cookies.

Sourdough & Co., a fast-casual chain based in Las Vegas known for sandwiches served on San Francisco-style sourdough bread baked in-house, is opening its first Dallas-area location in Frisco at 3311 Preston Rd. #2 in The Centre at Preston Ridge, taking over a space that's been home to a cookie company and a cookie dough company. They serve deli-style sandwiches such as the Italian with salami, pepperoni, mozzarella, balsamic, and olive oil, which can be ordered in a 4-inch size, 6-inch, or 8-inch, with price ranging from $10 to $14. They also do soups such as clam chowder served in a bread bowl. Originally founded in California under the name World of Sourdough, they went through a name change in 2024. The estimated opening date for Frisco is fall 2026.

Cosmic Cafe, the '90s vegetarian haunt, reopened at the beginning of May, after an unprecedented five-year closure. Bringing it back is Deepak Chalise, who cooked at the cafe in the '90s, and who is serving classics such as the Cosmic Stir-Fry of veggies and tofu in yogurt ginger sauce; and their famed Buddha's Delight with curried vegetables, samosa, dahl, rice, pappadam, and naan. In true Cosmic Cafe fashion, it's a bargain with everything priced under $15.

Bam's Vegan, a vegan restaurant known for its vegan comfort food such as pulled "pork" and mac & cheese, has closed its Dallas location at 1499 Regal Row. Owner Brandon "Bam" Waller said that he wants to focus more on family, faith, and creativity. "I’ve been in the restaurant business for 9 years now, and I will tell you it’s one of the TOUGHEST businesses to operate in for multiple reasons" but that he was grateful. He’ll still do pop-ups around the city from time to time but hopes to segue to special invite-only events and preorders.

K-Cup Kitchen, a mom-and-pop restaurant that specializes in Korean street food, has relocated to 232 Town Pl., Fairview, taking over a space that was once a Twisted Root. K-Cup started out at Revolving Kitchen, the shared kitchen concept, where owners Sandra and Michael Oh earned a following for their Korean comfort food served in bowls, including dishes like bulgogi, spicy pork, mandu dumplings, and rice bowls. The K stands for Korean, and the Cup refers to their signature "cup-bops" — rice bowls topped with meat like bulgogi or spicy pork, veggies, and sauce.

Irish spice bag with chicken, French fries, peppers, onionsYouTube

The Crafty Irishman Public House, the beloved Irish pub in downtown Dallas, has a unique new menu item that brings a true taste of Ireland: the Irish Spice Bag. This hugely popular Irish street food features a meal in a paper bag: fried chicken with sautéed peppers & onions, French fries, and a curry-style sauce. Owner Alan Kearney says they wanted to bring an authentic piece of Irish food culture that's unlike anything else. The Irish Spice Bags are $16 and are also available at the Crafty Irishman in Victory Park, as well as The Playwright Pub at One Arts Plaza, Patrick Kennedy's Irish Pub at One Main Place in downtown Dallas, Cannon's Corner Irish Pub in Oak Cliff, and Henry McCarty Irish Pub in Fort Worth (which has a reel showing how to eat it).

Electric Shuffle, the high-tech shuffleboard bar from London that opened in Deep Ellum in 2021, has a new fixe-prix weekend brunch for $50 which includes a bottle of bubbly, 90 minutes of shuffleboard play, and a menu with new dishes such as maple-glazed doughnuts, silver-dollar pancakes, avocado deviled eggs, and farmer’s salad with spring mix, apples, strawberries, and balsamic dressing — joining favorites like candied bacon, breakfast quesadillas, maple bacon boneless wings, truffle parmesan fries, and margherita pizza. New beverages include iced coffee with cold brew; breakfast cereal espresso martini with vanilla-infused vodka, espresso, coffee liqueur, and cereal milk; and spicy paloma with jalapeño tequila, grapefruit, and lime.

Centrale Italia, the Italian restaurant at Preston Hollow Village, has added new dishes including chicken parm, roasted beet and burrata salad, and rock shrimp scampi toast with Calabrian chili butter.

Hendy’s on Henderson, the restaurant-bar at 2401 Henderson Ave. has a new menu for spring with shareables, sandwiches, seafood, and customizable bowls devised by chef Peja Krstic and executive chef Fares Hussein, including crispy agnolotti, lobster roll, club sandwich, prosciutto Caprese sandwich, branzino, and poke bowls.

Stillwell’s Steakhouse at Hotel Swexan is rolling out “Dining Like the Duttons,” a limited-time tasting menu inspired by Paramount’s upcoming Yellowstone spin-off, Dutton Ranch. The exclusive dining experience arrives as scenes filmed at Stillwell’s and Hotel Swexan are set to appear in episodes three and four. It'll be available May 15-June 21 for $115 and includes deviled egg; skillet cornbread with cheddar and honey butter; chili with HWD beef, chilis, corn nuts, and Mornay; 6-oz filet with potatoes, spring onion, and bone marrow bordelaise; brick chicken with ’nduja, hominy, corn; and Texas sheet cake with candied pecans and bourbon caramel.

Radici Farmers Branch has a new dinner menu with items like Wagyu Denver steak with Italian salsa verde, pork ribs with Sicilian potato salad, and chicken sausage pasta with cassarecce, charred broccoli, and pistachio pesto.

North Italia has debuted a new seasonal menu featuring kale & goat cheese salad, steak panzanella, a seasonal chef’s board, house focaccia, and Heirloom tomato burrata. Seasonal cocktails include the Donatella and Don Giorgio.

Dock Local has a new grouper sandwich, featuring battered, grilled, or blackened grouper topped with spring mix, tomato, pickles, and lemon dill pickle tartar sauce, served on a toasted bun.

Eatzi’s Market & Bakery is bringing back spicy pork wings: tender, bone-in pork wings tossed in a spicy sweet chili sauce, hot and ready from the Grill every Thursday.

Dee’s Table at The Star in Frisco has added one of the hottest cocktail trends to the menu: Soft-Serve Margaritas in three seasonal flavors for $15 each: pineapple, strawberry, and pineapple-strawberry swirl.

openings