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    State Fair Fried Foods

    Speculative guide to the State Fair of Texas 2015 Big Tex Choice Awards

    Teresa Gubbins
    Aug 17, 2015 | 1:59 pm

    UPDATE: The eight finalists have been announced, and they sure are ritzy, with lobster, buffalo, and margaritas. Read about them here.

    ---

    Fried food fanatics, set your alarm for the crack of dawn on August 18, when the State Fair of Texas will announce the finalists for the Big Tex Choice Awards, its annual food contest wherein vendors compete against each other by creating unique, over-the-top snacks.

    This year's contest drew 51 entries, according to State Fair spokeswoman Karissa Condoianis.

    "Those were narrowed down to 30 based off of their name and description," Condoianis says. "Those 30 went to the State Fair of Texas panel for a blind taste test. The panel ranked them and battled it out over their favorites to get to the top eight."

    The eight will be announced on August 18. The competition takes place Sunday, August 30, at 2:30 pm in the Tower Building at Fair Park.

    If the 2015 awards follow recent State Fair winners, then fairgoers can whet their appetites for bite-sized packages that embrace the latest foodie favorites. In 2014, craft beer hit the fair, while trends included tacos and the hot condiment Sriracha sauce.

    Those are relatively tame compared to the awards' earlier years, noted for wacky concoctions such as 2009's fried butter; 2010's fried beer, a ravioli filled with liquid beer; and 2011's fried bubblegum, a gooey bubblegum-flavored marshmallow coated in a pink-tinted crust.

    Vendors submit recipes for two categories: Best Taste and Most Creative. The finalists present their creations to a panel of celebrity judges, who previously announced the winners at a ceremony on Labor Day. The fair transformed that ceremony — previously for media only — into a public event, where people could buy $100 tickets to watch the judging in person.

    The State Fair of Texas launched the Big Tex Awards in 2005 to revive an increasingly moribund event where the most notable food item was the signature Fletcher's corny dog.

    The timing was keen, coinciding with the rise of the foodie, embodied by bloggers such as Brad "The Adventures of Brad" Murano, whose photographs of his State Fair food tours in the mid-2000s paved the road for countless fried-food photo galleries since.

    Concessionaire Abel Gonzales helped bring national attention in 2006 with his inspired creation, fried Coke, consisting of Coke-flavored batter fried into a crunchy ball.

    Since 2012, contestants have dialed down the crazy in favor of conceptual offerings that focus on flavor and food trends. In 2013, the winner for Best Taste was Deep Fried Cuban Roll, a pastry filled with pork, ham, Swiss cheese, and pickles. In 2014, with craft beer at an all-time peak, the entries included a funnel cake-flavored ale.

    If foodie trends do again rule the field, then we can tell you exactly where this is going. We got this. Look forward to entries incorporating fried chicken, charcuterie, pizza, and something vegan. Put your money on it!

    The 2015 State Fair of Texas opens September 25.

    Big Tex Choice Awards loves fried food.

    Fried King Ranch casserole at State Fair of Texas
    Photo by Marc Lee
    Big Tex Choice Awards loves fried food.
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    Naan News

    Lively Indian fusion restaurant-club debuts in Irving with sharp team

    Teresa Gubbins
    Mar 31, 2026 | 5:18 pm
    InSo Las Colinas
    InSo Las Colinas
    Chicken skewer at InSo Las Colinas

    An Asian fusion restaurant that's way more than a restaurant has opened in Irving: Called InSo — short for Indus Social — it's a Southeast Asian fusion restaurant that transitions from upscale dining into a late-night lounge experience, now open at 3165 Regent Blvd., in what was most recently a Sickies Garage, and before that, Walk-On's, where it's serving Indian fusion food, cocktails, and entertainment.

    The full name — InSo at Las Colinas, Club, Kitchen, Bar — tells the whole story. The concept is designed to fill a gap in the area: Serving lunch and dinner then pivoting to high-energy nightlife, with live music, themed nights, and rotating entertainment.

    Food
    According to a representative, InSo draws its name from the Indus region, located in the northwest part of India, stretching from Persia through South Asia, and home to the earliest known urban culture of the Indian subcontinent.

    Their culinary approach draws inspiration from the regions of Indus and Southeast Asia, with influences fromTexas. Plates are designed with contrasts — aromatics against warmth, brightness against structure, rooted yet contemporary — defining InSo as a distinctive Southeast Asian fusion restaurant.

    The menu features some amazing dishes you definitely do not see everywhere. Appetizers include:

    • Hot Gristmill Corn Naan with butter chicken sauce, peanut sauce, jalapeno-honey butter
    • Chicken Tikka Boulevard Tacos with Texas chow-chow, cilantro yogurt, pomegranate, cotija cheese, warm corn tortillas
    • Broiled Spinach, Burrata Cheese and Artichokes with pepita breadcrumbs & naan chips
    • BBQ shrimp potstickers, with buttered toast points

    Entrees include:

    • Grilled Chicago Stockyards Filet Of Beef, with royal spinach, marble potato kebabs, & kashmir chile onion ring
    • Cashew And Sesame Crusted Salmon, with yuzu butter sauce, mustard green spoonbread, & charred broccolini
    • Swiss Chard, Potato, & Pea Tendril Crepes, with tatsoi and mizuna, jicama, corn, queso fresco, & ancho ranchero sauce
    • Wok Seared Broccolini Sandwich, served in a pasilla chili flatbread with green bean, shiitake mushroom, paneer cheese, & bean sprouts
    • Lamb Rack Biryani, with basmati rice, red pepper raita, & guajillo chile deviled eggs

    There's also a 50-oz Szechuan and Malabar Peppercorn Crusted Tomahawk Ribeye with green peppercorn-Mekong whisky sauce, fried eggs, and Royal spinach.

    Desserts include a tempting warm Naan Bread Pudding with Ron Zacapa rum, Tahitian vanilla, golden raisins, and cardamon cream.

    Appetizers start at $15. Entrees range from $17 for a falafel sandwich to $40 for the salmon. But they also offer a late-night and happy hour menu with items priced from $15 to $22.

    The team
    Executive Chef is Michael Morabito, who brings decades of culinary leadership under the mentorship of his father, who was a renowned hotel chef. He worked at Caesars Palace’s Palace Court in Las Vegas, The Mansion on Turtle Creek, and Colonial Country Club where he was executive chef.

    Manager Greg Minella brings a globally inspired, detail-driven approach, shaped by years living in Turkey, his Italian heritage, and early exposure to the food world through his family’s roots in New York’s historic Fulton Fish Market. His career spans acclaimed fine-dining destinations and private clubs, including Gershwin’s, Star Canyon, Aurora, Dragonfly at Hotel ZaZa, and Carte Blanche, where he helped earn the only Five-Star Forbes rating awarded to a freestanding restaurant in Texas.

    Assistant manager is Trisha Prellwitz and sous chef is Robert Pineda.

    The club
    The restaurant is a sibling to Goli Soda, a similar concept in McKinney which also boasts a lively after-dining scene. At InSo, that means bold cocktails and a heightened social energy with live bands and DJs spinning a wide variety of sounds: indie soul, deep house, Sufi electronica, and Texan funk.

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