The State Fair of Texas
By the State Fair of Texas, I mean the Mecca of Anything You’ve Ever Dreamt of in Fried Form.
I haven’t been in 6 years but since we’re now living in Texas again, it was worth the drive. It hasn’t changed much, or at all, besides the fried food offerings. Fried bubblegum, fried beer, fried moon pies, fried bacon, fried salsa, fried guacamole,.. you catch the drift.
I wanted to try as many interesting fried things as I could, but it seems like after a 3rd order and the $20 spent, there was a tinge of guilt falling over me.
1. Deep Fried Frozen Margarita
Let’s just say this gave me a stomachache the moment I swallowed it. I still don’t understand what made this a deep fried frozen margarita. It definitely wasn’t frozen but obviously just fried.
What was fried? I have no idea.
Would I recommend it? No.
2. Fried Salsa
This was delicious! Surprisingly delicious! They served it with a spoonful of queso. The outside was crusted with tortilla crumbs that created a nice crunchy texture on the outside. Once you bit in to it, the salsa oozed out. I’m tempted to recreate this at home, if I can muster up the willpower to fry something myself.
3. Chicken Fried Bacon
…a.k.a a heart attack waiting to happen. There was more batter than there was bacon inside of it and the oil was penetrating the paper try. It was salty and tasted like I was expecting. I wish I would have spent my 12 coupons elsewhere.
Salsa Roundup: El Chile Salsa a la Charra
Where: Whole Foods
Price: $6.99
Spice Level: None
Rating: 
Oh my joy! One of the first restaurants I tried in Austin on a visit here from SXSW was El Chile. I loved it! The free chips and salsa were delish and their prickly pear margaritas were addictive. Had I known then what I know now: they bottled and sold their own salsa.
I’ve mentioned before that I absolutely prefer local salsa over large names found at Target or Wal-Mart. El Chile is located on the east side of Austin with a sister taco stand, El Chilito, a few doors down. Their salsa is better than good, it’s amazing (and award-winning).
Enough about that.. let’s move into the salsa itself.
The consistency is close to liquid–there are no chunks of tomato or chunks of anything for that matter. You better be good at balancing because it can get messy since the salsa can just slide off your chip and all over your white shirt (speaking from experience). You can taste the simplicity yet the flavors are so bold and rich with a hint of smokiness.
What’s even better is that it’s composed of only 5 ingredients: roasted tomatoes, jalapenos, garlic, salt and apple cider vinegar. How they made those 5 ingredients taste like heaven? That’s beyond me.
Deep Fried Texas Salsa™ - This spicy medley of jalapenos, roasted garlic, onion, tomato, and pepper is rolled together, dipped in masa, and covered in crunchy tortilla chips. Into the fryer and served with warm, deliciously creamy queso.
Salsa Roundup: Native Texan Fire Roasted Salsa
Where: Central Market
Price: $5.99
Spice Level: Medium
Rating: 
Now here’s a mantra I can stand behind:
“Nothin’ but honest to goodness honest to goodnessness. That’s why Native Texan Brand Salsa is made with only the best of what Texas has to offer.”
Because of my affinity for local products, this salsa screamed at me from the shelf. I checked the consistency, because my favorite kind of salsa is the runny one. The kind of salsa that doesn’t even attempt to cling on to your chip. Check!
I grabbed the Fire Roasted jar, being in the mood for something smoky, a bag of Xochitl chips (thank goodness they had them) and went on my merry little way forgetting to even look at the other flavor profiles they had on the shelf.
Overall, it’s definitely one of the better salsas I’ve had in awhile. The consistency was perfect: not too runny and had just enough clumps of ingredients to dig up. The spice bite was just right and the smokiness wasn’t overbearing.
Once I run out, I’ll probably be driving back to pick up another jar.
Salsa Roundup: The Brooklyn Salsa Co.
Where: Whole Foods Market, Union Square
Price: $5.00
Spice Level: Hot
Rating: 
I love anything that comes from Brooklyn and I love it more when I see that they also love using locally grown ingredients. With that said, I couldn’t wait to pop open the top on this one and dive right in. I even read the label on the subway back home.
“The locally sourced, organic produce in Brooklyn Salsa has less than 40 food miles between farm and creation.”
The salsa has a delicious spicy kick to it and you can definitely tell it was made with grade A ingredients. Albeit, the spice level (understandably listed as hot) overpowered all of the other flavors–tomatos, mango, red bell pepper, onion, lime juice, cilantro, garlic, sea salt–including the salt on my chip.
However, the consistency is what really threw me off. When I rattled the jar, it felt like I was looking at the stir-fry sauce I had accidentally ruined last year when I put too much corn starch in it. The color was a bit dull and fell more towards a brown than an appetizing fresh-tomato red.
Overall, I really enjoyed the spiciness level and their promise of fresh ingredients, even if I only tasted the chili peppers. I personally did not care for the gelatinous texture and with that reason alone, I might opt out of trying their other styles.
Chips and Salsa
I live for chips and salsa. I could probably die eating chips and salsa. Over the years, I’ve tried so many different brands, I wouldn’t be able to recount which brands I’ve had and which of those I liked or disliked. Because of this, I decided to start documenting the ones I have tried recently and those I’ll be trying in the future.
Salsa is really all personal preference: chunky, vinegary, salty, peppery, mango-y, organic, spicy, chipotle-y. You could probably come up with any combination of these and find a brand that makes it. Afterall, there’s usually an entire aisle dedicated to chips and salsa which is, dare I say, the best aisle in the whole market.
Photo from Google Images
