When I was a kid, we went to the county fair every year. It was the highlight of my summer. My parents or my friend’s parents would take us and we’d play the midway games and go to the 4-H demonstrations. There were baby goats, pigs—and pig racing—a petting zoo, and milking demonstrations.
And we’d eat. Cotton Candy, hot dogs, soda.
It was heaven for a kid turned loose with $20 in her pocket.
Yesterday we went to the L.A. County Fair. It was the first time in about 15 years that I’ve been to a fair–and it was the first time I went to the L.A. County Fair. I can’t believe how much fairs have changed over the years. They’ve always had the shopping pavillions with the up-and-coming Sham-Wow guys, jewelry cleaners, new windows and arts and crafts. But I don’t know if this is specific to the L.A. County Fair, or if it’s just par for the course now, but there was a section that was like a giant swap meet—cheap clothing and shoes, cell phone supplies and all sorts of randomness. It was kind of disappointing.
But really, the only reason to go to the fair is for the food. From 10 a.m. to midnight you can eat anything you want—in cholesterol-clogging, artery-busting, coronary-inducing quantities.
When we got there, I started with a BBQ beef sandwich and an ear of corn. This was probably the healthiest thing I ate all day. And that corn? Was perfect. It was fresh, crunchy and grilled just enough.
The corn on the cob rocked my world
When we finished our lunch, I spotted a stand with chocolate-covered bacon.
Photo by Elise Thompson (LAist.com)
It was basically thick pieces of bacon dipped in dark chocolate and served in Chinese take-out containers. I’m not a fan of dark chocolate, so I didn’t love it, but Bill thought it was weirdly good.
We heard a rumor that someone was serving deep-fried pizza. We didn’t find it, but we did find the deep-fried Oreos. I think I’m in love (and a little bit sick).
Doughnut-y, Oreo-ish goodness with a sprinkle of powdered sugar and drizzled with chocolate
And this place…
Chicken Charlies
Chicken Charlies will fry just about anything. They serve fried Avocados, fried White Castle burgers, fried frog legs and fried Twinkies.
I was more interested in a drink at this point.
daiquiri and a beer=$24
The daiquiri cleansed my palate so we went searching for more greasy goodness and found these…
Tasty Chips
These Tasty Chips are hand-cut, homemade potato chips with just the right amount of salt. They give you dipping sauces like ketchup, ranch or this jalepeno cheese sauce. After much sampling and tasting it was determined that for optimal flavor you should dip the chips in ketchup first, then the cheese sauce. Personally, I’m a purist and ate them plain.
By this point, I was feeling a little sick, so I bypassed these….
Caramel-y deliciousness
But I was thinking about having one of these.
Monster Sausage
These foot-long Italian sausages are served on a grilled bun, smothered in onions and peppers.
This place…
Juicy's cranks out a lot of BBQ
cranks out a whole lot of this…
Finger-lickin' good
cazy amounts of chicken, and turkey legs bigger than your head.
That place also serves this:
Okay, I've heard of chicken and waffles. But this?
A chicken sandwich served on a Krispy Kreme doughnut.
I was sorry I didn’t get a chance to tackle the dill pickles, eat the brick of french fries or eat a waffle cone full of ice cream, but you’d need to hit the fair every single day for a month to hit all of the food places.
And you should keep your cardiologist on speed dial.
I think I’m totally going back next year.
PS: These photos were all taken with my Blackberry. Not too shabby, hu?
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