The New York State Fair overwhelms you with food choices. With almost anything you can imagine being fried, expect a good deal of dough to be dished out, both from your wallet and onto your plate. The Daily Orange Pulp Staff decided to take on the fair food and picked a few items to eat and highlight. The food was picked solely on what stood out as different, though the staff at Santillo’s, “Step right up, we got what you need right here,” certainly tried to dissuade us otherwise.

From snacks to dinner to desserts, the fair has an absurd amount of food, so these five by no means represent the totality of options. They do, however, give a good representation of the oddity that is fair food.

 

Country Corner’s Pumpkin Spice Bacon on a Stick

A quick confession is necessary: I am in no way a fan of pumpkin-flavored foods, much less bacon, so this was probably my biggest mistake of the day. However, the bacon did not go uneaten and the issue seemed to be a matter of preference.

 

“Two years ago we were looking for something different just to get more business in here,” said Patrick Reeves, owner and manager of Country Corner. “It has been very popular.”

 

Shake It Up’s Hot Beef Sundae

A staple of the New York State Fair, the Hot Beef Sundae, is a must have. Delectably cooked beef sits atop of a bowl of mashed potatoes and is drizzled with beef gravy and shredded cheddar cheese. This is then all topped with a cherry tomato.

 

“We have a partnership with the New York State Beef Council and they approached us about eight years ago to sell this product that they’re selling all over New York,” said Michael Tadros, Shake it Up’s manager. “So part of the donation goes to the New York Beef Council.”

 

Big Kahuna’s Donut Burger

Ah yes, the real adventure of the day. A bacon cheeseburger topped with lettuce, tomato, pickle and onion served in between two glazed donuts. With a small crowd looking on, I took the first unsure bite and promptly declared, “Yeah it’s good.”

 

Eating the burger was definitely enjoyable but the next hour or so at the Fair was a bit of struggle to say the least. “It originally comes from down south,” said Billy Myers, Big Kahuna’s fry cook. “It’s actually called the Luther burger.”

If you’re an adventurous eater, the burger is worth a try.

 

Nancy’s Funnel Cake’s Cheesecake Chimichangas

 

Similar to a turnover, Nancy’s will deep fry cheesecake for you, douse it in powdered sugar and top it off with cherry syrup. The result is delicious and the “chimichangas” were a fitting end to a fried food-filled afternoon.

 

Also offered at Nancy’s are more traditional fried desserts such as Oreos, (if you can call that traditional) but the chimichangas would be my recommendation. They were amazing and something that I had never tasted before.

 

Bonus drink:

For all the 21-year-olds out there, stop by New York Distillery and Pub to try another staple of the Fair: A moonshine slushy. Pick one of many flavors to mix with your moonshine and sip on a refreshing cocktail slushy.

Published on September 3, 2015 at 2:29 am

Contact Joe: jpleonar@syr.edu