San Diego County Fair 2013
The San Diego County Fair is back!
Mr. K and I have gone almost every year. It’s become a tradition we really look forward to. Last year we had to miss it due to wedding madness.
I was really sad about having to miss it. Normally we wait a few weeks in to visit, but we found ourselves going opening day because I simply could not wait any longer.
Every year there is a different theme and this year’s theme is Game On. I loved the display at the front, especially with the Jenga and Donkey Kong.
Once inside, we were immediately engulfed with all the food stands. We were armed and ready with the food map showing vendors and the highlighted new fair foods.
Chicken Charlie
Chicken Charlie is arguably the most popular food vendor at the fair. They are known for bringing crazy new concoctions to the fair every year and they never seem to drop any of their creations, so the menu gets bigger and bigger. This year, their new items including fried cookie dough, krispy kreme sloppy joe sandwich, waffle dog, and deep fried bacon wrapped pickles.
The krispy kreme sloppy joe sandwich has been getting a lot of buzz but we couldn’t bring ourselves to try it because we were pretty sure we wouldn’t like it. Instead we tried the fried cookie dough and waffle dog.
Fried Cookie Dough
This was pretty much how I expected it would taste, like chocolate chip flavored fried dough. The cookie dough gets pretty melted inside and sort of blends into the fried dough. These were okay but not something I plan on repeating next year.
Waffle Dog
I loved the look of the waffle dog, but found the batter rather soft. Unlike the majority of Chicken Charlie’s items, the waffle is actually baked instead of fried and for once I wish it was fried since the waffle really lacked crispness.
Red Velvet Funnel Cake- Funnel Cake Express
This debuted last year and I had really wanted to try it. I had even asked my siblings to bring me one but they couldn’t find it. The red velvet funnel cake is topped with cream cheese icing, whipped cream and powdered sugar. I thought the funnel cake had a good red velvet flavor to it. Mr. K really loved this and polished off most of it.
One of the new items that Funnel Cake Express was supposed to be debuting this year was a Nutella funnel cake, but it was nowhere to be seen on opening day.
Bacon Truffle Fries- Bacon-A-Thon
This is a booth that keeps changing their name. At one point it was the Heart Attack Cafe. This year, they are doing a whole menu of bacon themed foods, including bacon root beer, potatoes fries cooked in bacon fat, and various bacon wrapped products.
We chose to try the bacon truffle fries. These were pretty good. You could taste the bacon throughout as a result of bacon bits scattered around and the fries being cooked in bacon fat. They were a tad on the soft side and I would have liked them a little crisper. You could definitely smell the aroma of truffle oil and there was a good amount of gouda cheese shredded on top.
Giant Western Sausage- Juicys
This is one we get every year. Out of all the sausage sandwiches sold at the fair, my favorite is from Juicy’s. It’s spicy, big, and topped with fresh grilled onions and peppers.
There had been a couple items I had on my list which sounded good, but didn’t look worth the money when we reached the stand like the cupcake tower, which is just layers of cake inside a cup.
Turkey Leg- Turkey Shack
These guys seem to change their name every year, but they really know their turkey. There’s a lot of stands that sell turkey legs but we found that this company makes the best ones (unfortunately they also charge more and it’s gone up every year). We always get this at the end of our visit because it’s so big and annoying to carry around and also because they will wrap it up and foil so you can take it to go. We like to eat a couple bites first, while the skin and outside is crisp before wrapping it back up in the foil for later.
The turkey legs here are moist and smokey, one of our favorite items at the fair.
While there, we also checked out some exhibits, including the Game Exhibit.
This included some history lessons, life sized versions of popular games, and arcade machines.
Here are some more food photos:
Previous Fair Recaps:
Nice summary with good photos; we went yesterday, but I had to ‘work’ and didn’t get to see or try everything…so we will be returning. It’s so nice to get there early when it’s overcast(and not too crowded).
Out of all the years we’ve visited, this time was the emptiest we’ve ever seen it. It was overcast, no lines to get in, plenty of parking.
Is it all year long? we’ll in San Diago in October will it still be there??
No, the Fair only comes a few weeks in the summer before traveling to other areas. It is only here through July 4 and then it goes to LA, OC, etc.
I seriously look forward to your Fair post every year ! I don’t know how you and Mr. K manage to try out so many different things. If I go this year, I want to try the Krispy Kreme sloppy joe and the Fried Butter. But I think I read the sloppy joe was like $7.50 and the fried butter was like $7.00. Gimme a break.
I was actually thinking we didn’t eat as much as usual. I felt like I was lacking on the food section preview. lol. I believe the sloppy joe was $7.95, yeah very expensive. Hmm, I don’t remember see the fried butter this year, but I might have just overlooked it.
I’m headed to the fair on Sunday – I’m excited to go! I’m surprised the waffle dog *isn’t* fried – they fry pretty much everything else there! I’m gonna pass on that krispy kreme sloppy joe, too – it just sounds.. gross. Not sure what other “new” thing I want to try yet, but I’m sure I’ll figure it out!
I know, I was surprised it was baked. heh. I’m envious you’ll be able to attend the bacon fair. I have father’s day things going on so I couldn’t do the bacon fair thing
Wow! I can’t believe I never went to the fair when I lived in SD! I missed all that yummy fried goodness:)
Aw, that’s too bad. Apparently San Diego’s is one of the biggest. I think it’s second biggest in CA next to LA.
Yay! We’re going next week and I already know what I want to try out! Your post (and Darlene’s) serves as our “preview”! That sloppy joe in a donut looks and sounds kind of gross. The red velvet funnel cake was good (we had it last year).
Hope you have fun! Yeah I don’t like the idea of the sloppy joe and plus it was super expensive. I mean if I really want to try it, I can go buy a glazed donut at krispy kreme, slice in half and fill it with sloppy joe. it’s not that hard.