FAIR FOOD: Whenever one of our major county fairs rolls around, as the Orange County Fair will do again Friday, July 13, the probing questions start. Nope, we're not talking about people inquiring whether the midway'll be back in all of its bulb-blinking glory -- it will be -- and we're not talking about music lovers asking if some major acts will show at the Pacific Amphitheatre -- they will. We're talking fair food. That tends to be what fair goers want to know about first in any given year: What in the world will be hitting the deep fryers this year? Past years have brought deep-fried Snickers bars and deep-fried Oreos and deep-fried olives and deep-fried Coca-Cola, true; but what of the 2012 OC Fair? In a word: bacon.
YEP, BACON: The brand-new Bacon-A-Fair will be in the house, or, er, the Costa Mesa-based fairgrounds, rather. And, yep, you can probably guess by the name that they won't be serving ice cream (well, we can't guarantee there won't be something sweet and bacon-y there, but we're just saying, the main ingredient is in the name). Bacon-wrapped turkey legs will be one hot dish -- you can see them pictured up top -- as will be the Smokey Portabello, which is a bacon-wrapped mushroom paired with smoked Gouda. There will also be beer-battered hot dogs in little bacon jackets. Bacon.
ALSO OF NOTE? There'll be a fair booth called The Big Rib that serves, wait for it, a big rib; that's the second picture. It's a two-pound beef rib and the bone? Seventeen inches. Truth in advertising, for sure. But if you still long for something sweet and deep-fried after all that meat, make for one of the fair's long-time booths, Chicken Charlie's. They're doing up a deep-fried peanut butter and jelly this year, which sounds pre-amazing and like it'll totally work. Brave fair eaters, are you ready? The fair's on from Friday, July 13 through Sunday, Aug. 12.
