What do Mexican-style street corn, Italian sausage and frozen cheesecake have in common?
They’re just some of the new foods at this year’s Florida State Fair, which runs through Feb. 16.
America is celebrating its 250th this year, and the fair is honoring the birthday with a red, white and blue theme and a bevy of multi-cultural options. Mexican-style street corn makes four appearances in the new food lineup, along with a cheesy arepa and chimichurri sauce over cheese curds.
With over 30 new food and drinks to sample this year, we’ve culled about a dozen that you might want to put on your radar, below.
On Friday, a group of us went to the fair to taste some of them ourselves. Our favorite bite of the day turned out to be a mozzarella stick coated in a cinnamon-sugar topping.
“I want to praise the CinnaMozza Corn Dog, our dark horse of the day,” said culture and nostalgia reporter Gabrielle Calise. “It was everything you’d want in a fair food, kind of ridiculous but also extremely snackable. It’s like if an Auntie Anne’s cinnamon pretzel had a baby with a basket of mozzarella sticks.”
Pro tip: Sometimes the best things at a place like the fair are the most tried-and-true. Our group couldn’t resist getting a bucket of hot, crispy fries from Fiske Fries midway through our jaunt, and though not novel or coated in candy or topped with meat, they were a total standout. One person went so far as to call them a “great palate cleanser” between dishes.
Read on for more fair food thoughts.
This ancient flatbread preparation gets an American update. Macaroni and cheese is mixed with barbecue pork and tucked inside a golden arepa. Location: Shockley’s Food Service.
“I liked the arepa and the juicy pulled pork inside was definitely its strongest asset,” said senior food and dining critic Helen Freund. “But I could have done without the bland mac and cheese and, overall, the dish felt a little too sweet to me. A little salt would have helped!”
Culture and nostalgia reporter Gabrielle Calise wanted to like the arepa, but “was put off before I even took a bite when grease leaked out of the paper dish and onto my pants.”
“The pork was smoky, sweet and juicy — perfect barbecue — but the mac and cheese kind of blended in with the arepa to create a carb-y mush,” she added.
Golden Wisconsin cheese curds get tossed in an Argentinian-style chimichurri sauce. The sauce is made with parsley, garlic, oregano and red wine vinegar. The acidity of the chimichurri over the creamy fat of the cheese curds could play well together. Location: Keys Koncessions.
Like a mozzarella stick but also a corn dog, this fried concoction gets rolled in butter and cinnamon sugar before being served. Location: GoldenKdog.
“Without a doubt, the CinnaMozza Corn Dog surprised us all,” said food and dining reporter Evan Rodriguez. “Sweet and savory, with a pleasant crunch, and it’s on a stick, which makes for an actual handheld. In hot pursuit of golden Wisconsin cheese curds topped with chimichurri sauce, we called an audible for the cheesy corn dog and were not disappointed.”
Calise added: “This is gooey without being messy, crunchy without feeling greasy and has an excellent sweet/salty balance between Cinnamon Toast Crunch outside and the cheese on the inside.”
It’s frozen cheesecake that’s dipped in cookie butter and then rolled in crushed Biscoff cookies. Is it a riff on this viral “cheesecake” trend? Location: Polar Bear Concessions.
Expect a “fair-style” Cuban sandwich with ham, pork, Swiss, mustard and fried pickle chips that is rolled and then deep fried. Yes, it omits salami, so we’ll let Tampeños be the judge on just how authentic it is. Location: Chester’s Gators and Taters.
We didn’t have high hopes for this one when it arrived, but were proven mostly wrong.
“The burrito was better than it looked, even if it wasn’t my favorite bite of the day,” Freund said. “I liked the crispy shell and each bite was really well balanced — you got equal parts crunch, gooey melted cheese and just enough tang from the pickles and mustard. The meat was a little bland but the other elements brought enough to the table that it worked.”
Food and dining editor Michelle Stark was pleasantly surprised, too, and thought the acid from the mustard and pickle went a way long toward making this a pretty craveable, if heavy, option.
The Dill Devil looks to be a picnic perfect mash-up. A whole dill pickle is halved and cored then filled with a cheese-based deviled filling, and sprinkled with red pepper flakes. Location: Tiki Tea – South Lake Road.
Rodriguez thought the Dill Devil was delightful.
“It had a sour crunch from the pickle, the creamy deviled egg filling contrasted nicely with the acidity, and the dry heat of the red pepper flakes was a welcome sensation after all the sugar and fat.”
Stark made a bold declaration after taking one bite: “I am going to eat this entire thing.”
A welcome relief from carbs, the perfectly seasoned pickle paired really well with the creamy filling, she said.
“Definitely my favorite dish of the day, something I’d eat again even outside of the fair.”
Fresh-squeezed Florida orange juice is blended with cane sugar and fruity cold brew tea. It gets topped with vanilla coconut milk ice cream and coconut flakes. Location: DeAnna’a Banana Pudding.
This viral chocolate flavor is still going strong. The funnel cake is drizzled with milk chocolate and pistachio cream, then topped with crispy kataifi, pistachio butter and crushed pistachios. Location: Popcorn Neal – Funnel Cake
Calise was one of the only members of our crew who enjoyed this one.
“I have a raging sweet tooth so I was a fan … especially the crispy bits of shredded phyllo dough in the pistachio cream that provided a crunchy finish,” she said. “The pistachio was really rich, but paired with hefty dollop of Hershey’s chocolate syrup, the whole thing had a nice highbrow/lowbrow contrast that I kind of loved. I was kind of gobsmacked when I found out this was $18.”
Freund liked the pistachio cream and phyllo crunch “but the chocolate syrup was overly sweet and the funnel cake itself was mostly spongey, lukewarm dough. Would have loved more hot, crispy bits.”
A clever deconstruction and riff on the classic apple pie à la mode. Granny Smith apple fries get coated in cinnamon sugar and then drizzled with Mike’s Hot Honey sauce. It is topped off with vanilla soft serve. Location: Apple Fries.
Not your traditional batter, this cornbread-Tajin funnel cake is topped with Mexican crema, corn kernels, Cotija cheese and then dusted with Tajin. Location: The Best Around – Funnel Cake SL.
Meat on a stick is what fair dreams are made of. Italian sausage is wrapped in homemade dough with marinated peppers and onions, baked, brushed with garlic butter and then dusted with Parmesan. It is served with marinara for dipping. Location: Mazzarella – South Lake Road.
The fair is held at the Florida State Fair Grounds, 4800 U.S. Highway 301 N., Tampa.
To better navigate the fair, there is a Florida State Fair app that can be downloaded from the Florida State Fair’s site.
