I’m not sure I’ve ever been so prepared to eat.
As a lifelong North Texan, I grew up going to the State Fair of Texas. As a 20-year journalist, I make fair food in Fair Park a corner of my personality each fall, writing news and opinion stories about the winners. I’ve eaten hundreds of concessions items and I don’t regret one bite. It’s bizarre, digging into the stories behind stranger-than-fiction dishes like Fried Jell-O, Cotton Candy Bacon on a Stick, Fried Charcuterie Board and Fried Butter.
For the first time, I was invited to judge the Big Tex Choice Awards. I was born for this, right?Yes, but I was one of nearly 30 members of the media invited to taste all 15 finalists this year, so my vote wasn’t enough to change history. Still, it was a treat to take all those calories I’d ingested in over a decade and put my fried-food knowledge to good use
Article continues below this ad
In under three hours, I gorged on a basket of french fries covered in chicken wings and processed cheese. I slurped something called a Corn Flake Shappé, then put my pinky up while sipping a soft serve peach bellini topped with sparkling wine. I found myself describing a few of the savory dishes as “flabby.” One dessert was “squishy.” Many other items were eye-opening — spicy or sour or creamy in all the right ways, especially if I tried picturing myself at the fair, in the Texas heat.
After my fellow judges and I submitted our ballots, State Fair executives announced the winners — the new items that will likely receive the biggest attention at the festival that runs Sept. 25 through Oct. 18, 2026. The winners are four good dishes (and you should read my colleague Imelda García’s explanation of each one). But want to know what I really think?
As a whole, the judges whiffed on three of the four winners
If I were to show you my ballot, I’d pick the dishes below as the best options at the 2026 State Fair
Bonus: Two are $7 each, making them the lowest-priced concessions among the 15 finalists
Article continues below this ad
Flamin’ Crunch Pizza, $14: my favorite savory dish
Concessionaire Tom Grace won for his Burger Chop Tater Tacos, an inventive dish that swaps a tortilla for flattened cheddar cheese tater tots. It’s a great idea, but after staring long and hard at those compressed fried potatoes, I maintain that tater tots don’t want to be tortillas. Grace has a second Big Tex Choice Awards finalist, a gigantic slice of pizza topped with Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. It’s my savory winner by a mile.
Don’t eat this slice standing up. Sit down, grab 15 napkins and pick it up with both hands; the bubbly base of jalapeño cheddar queso and mozzarella and cheddar cheeses might slide off if you’re not on your best behavior. Each slice is topped with Buffalo ranch dressing, more spicy queso and enough Flamin’ Hot Cheetos to make your lips burn
The Flamin’ Crunch Pizza is silly, like the class clown everyone adores. It couldn’t be more perfect for the State Fair of Texas
Article continues below this ad
Fernie’s Frozen Espresso-tini Bar, $7: my best-tasting sweet dish
Chasing the espresso martini trend all the way to the State Fair could spell disaster, as these caffeinated cocktails are almost too popular to be great. But this savvy concessions family gave the espresso martini a smart twist. Christi Erpillo and her sister Johnna McKee concocted an adults-only coffee popsicle with a hint of Fernie’s Funnel Cake Cream. Aha: Their late mother brought funnel cakes to the fair in the 1980s, and they now sell fair-inspired booze year-round in retail stores. Wouldn’t you sneak it into a State Fair dessert if you could?
Each bite is icy cold, great for 95-degree State Fair weather. The more it melts, the more boozy heat you get from the Funnel Cake Cream liquor.
Sunset Soft Serve Rita, $16: my best-tasting drink
The State Fair added a “sipper” category in 2025, giving concessionaires a dedicated spot to enter inventive drinks in the annual contest. I’m not sure I love the change; so many of the fair’s drinks over the years have been cloyingly sweet or too boozy, making them hard to finish on an outdoor trek
Article continues below this ad
Sunset Soft Serve Rita changed my mind, as it was my single favorite taste of all 15 dishes. It’s the smartest combination of flavors, mixing strawberry and mango margarita with tangy swirls of chamoy, sharp and sour spice of Tajín and crunch of hot honey Tajín bits. I felt like a cartoon character in one of those sour candy commercials, eyes wide and mouth puckering as one sip roller-coastered from cold to limey to spicy and more
I wrote something ridiculous in my reporter’s notebook: “If you are an interesting person, you’ll want to drink this.”
Fletcher’s Chocolate Corny Dog, $7: my most creative dish
Since 1942, the Fletcher’s family has sold corny dogs at the State Fair of Texas. They know better than to mess with a hot dog dipped in family-recipe corny dog batter. “We have stayed in our lane so hard, it’s tough for us to even think about veering out of it,” said Beck Fletcher, who created the Chocolate Corny Dog.
Article continues below this ad
Get this, she didn’t tell family members about entering her chocolate creation into the Big Tex Choice Awards until after she did so, worried they’d tell her not to
It won “best taste – sweet” in the Big Tex Choice Awards, marking the first time the Fletcher’s family has won the State Fair’s famous contest. That’s worth celebrating, but it’s more suited for a “most creative” honor
First of all, it looks like a corny dog even though it’s dessert. A squiggle of yellow on top is vanilla icing dyed to look like mustard, and a ramekin of raspberry compote on the side is a stunt double for ketchup. Hiding inside the cornmeal batter is a layer of oozy fudge that borders on too sweet but is balanced by the salty, fried exterior
Fletcher bought enough fudge to sell 125,000 chocolate corny dogs in the 24-day fair, and she’s prepared to double the order. I say go, girl! I love to see an old company with a new surprise.
Article continues below this ad
The State Fair of Texas runs Sept. 25 through Oct. 18, 2026 in Dallas’ Fair Park
The Dallas Morning News will taste-test new and notable dishes again on opening day, Sept. 25, 2026.Look out for more State Fair news and reviews soon
