The OC Fair 2011

Its that time of year again folks!  The OC Fair is in town with each year bringing a new fried food to try.  This year I read about deep fried Koolaid and made it my mission to try it.  The best way to sample all the crazy bad for you foods at The OC Fair is to go with a group of people so you can buy a lot of different things and have a bite or two of each.  This gets you the best bang for your buck as the food isn't all that cheap considering what you're getting.

When we first arrived at the OC Fair we were like kids with severe ADD and didn't know where to start!   We knew someone working at a food vendor that made Mini Donuts and got a bucket full of them.  What a great way to start "dinner"!  These little guys were freshly made so they were hot, soft and slightly chewy.  They were fried to perfection and not greasy or too crispy the outside.  The cinnamon sugar added just the right amount of sweetness.

We saw some people walk by with Pizza on a Stick and we were in awe.  I'm such a sucker for food on a stick!  So of course we sought it out and got some.  Its not awesome just for the gimmick though, this pizza is made on a soft french bread and was actually pretty decent for fair food.

I love corn so of course we are surrounded by food vendors selling Grilled Corn on the Cob and you can smell it wafting all around you.  We wandered around looking for not just any BBQ food vendor that had corn, but for the corn vendor specifically.  Finally we found "The Original Char-Broiled Corn" vendor.  The corn was perfectly crisp and sweet.  If the corn is seasoned just right to your liking its sooo addicting!

I'm typically not a fan of Corn Dogs, but this one was about a foot and a half long, of course we had to try it.  It actually wasn't too bad!  The corn bread was moist, not too sweet, and fried just right.  The wiener wasn't anything special, but still better than in any other corn dog I've had before.

The Australian Battered Potatoes are so simple, yet tasty.  We got all of the dipping sauces (Cheese, ranch, sour cream ,and sweet chili) to mix and match, I highly recommend doing that.

New to the fair scene was Deep Fried Koolaid which I had been wanting to try since I first heard about it.  It doesn't look pretty, but it was actually really tasty!  It tastes like a Koolaid doughnut.  I have a very big sweet tooth and it was sweet and tasted just like Koolaid with a touch of doughy and oily goodness.  Note to parents:  If eaten sloppily by a kid it will stain their fingers and mouth pink.  We gave one to a kid at our table, I think his parents weren't too happy about it.

Apparently the Deep Fried Klondike bar was voted the best food item at The OC Fair for 2011.  I would have to disagree...  There was way too much dough and it was fried a little too much so it was really hard on the outside.  The ice cream was all melted and it ended up being a mass of dough with sweet milk and a little bit of chocolate on the inside.  Meh...

The Deep Fried Oreos are pretty darn sinful.  There's a lot less dough and once you get to the Oreo its warm and soft and gooey from all the oil its absorbed!  Artery clogging, but so worth it once a year!

I've had store bought prepackaged Chocolate Covered Bacon and was not a fan.  I was a bit skeptical of it at the fair, but was told that it was a lot better than the kind you can buy at a store.  It is!  Crispy bacon generously covered in chocolate and sprinkled with sea salt.  If you like the combination of sweet and salty (and love crispy bacon) this is the perfect treat.  The taste of bacon is actually quite subtle because the sprinkled sea salt helps to draw your taste away from the bacon. It comes in a take out box so you can take it home and keep it in the fridge for later.

Not pictured is the Lemonade.  Don't get lemonade from any food vendor.  Don't be fooled by the lemons in the tanks!  Its way too artificially sweet.  Seek out the fresh lemonade stands that squeeze the lemons right there and add water and sugar and sake it up.  Its way worth the extra fifty cents it costs compared to the premixed kind!

At the end of the night I was surprised to feel perfectly fine and not bloated or gross from eating way too much sweet and fried food.  I realized the trick is to space out the binge eating and to take breaks and walk around to look at demonstrations or play games. 

OC Food Snob Rating:

Fair Hours:

July 15-August 14

Wednesday - Friday: Noon - Midnight

Saturday - Sunday: 10 am – Midnight

Open Wednesday-Sunday.

Adult tickets are $11

For groups of 15 or more tickets are $9

The Annual OC Fair

88 Fair Drive 

Costa Mesa, CA 92626.

http://www.ocfair.com/2011/