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| My Largest Review ... Evansville Fall Festival, Evansville, INDIANA, USA |
Hey there What's Stocky Eating fans!! It's tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiime! Finally I unveil the beast that I can only describe as AWESOME! For a bit of history and some quick facts about the Fall Festival, here we go! Supposedly started back in 1921 this festival has meant great food and great prices, with a cause. Another lesser, but still known fact about the festival is that it is a fundraiser for most organizations and vendors. You'll have schools, zoos, charities, boy scout troops, churches, colleges, fraternities, fire departments and many others I'm leaving out. Some food carts/trailers you see have contracted out their food to local restaurants, like the local boy scouts usually use a local Asian restaurant.
Now on to the FUN PART !!! You'll see everything from Fried catfish and alligator to a brain sandwich ... Also even things like fried kool-aid to fried Oreos. Anyway, this festival is supposedly the 2nd largest street festival in the USA, second only to Mardi Gras. Making this the third time that I've attended this festival, I can truly appreciate the atmosphere, as there are food trailers as far as the eye can see. If you'd like to see more coverage and or learn more about the festival as a whole, visit
http://www.nutclub.org. There you can find a bunch of relevant information as well as a "
munchie map" to give you a taste of what I could have tried. There is just so much to see, do, eat, and drink!
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| Yes, Piggy Toes... |
So my first topic I'll get out of the way is the odd, strange, and to most people, unappetizing foods. First up is pictured above, pigs feet... I've never had, and have no intention in eating them. Yes I've seen them many many times on deli counters, but never have actually had a desire to want even a taste. Luckily there are other odd foods I have actually tried. Last year I had a chance to try a deep fried Oreo, not super strange, but probably among the BEST fried concoctions anyone has ever thought up.
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| Yeah, never going to get me on this one |
2 years ago, I had a chance to try a donut sandwich, which was just 'odd.' Mainly due to the sweetness of the donut bun. Again, not that it was bad, it's just that they were all pre-made and wrapped in foil, so they were soggy AND sweet... 2 not so good things, when combined. Also, I still had a nibble of a brain sandwich, pig brain. I will never, ever ever order this again, it's not that it's bad tasting... I'd say it was actually pretty good. However it's more like 'mind over matter'... yes pun intended. Lastly, the brain sandwiches are among the most expensive options, consistently, around $6 per sandwich. Enough about past experiences, let's get down to the foods I ate this year.
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| Sorry for the dark picture, but these are CHURRO CHIPS |
Well, whilst wading through a caravan full of food options, what did I pick first? Yeah dessert first!!! Churro Chips was my first order. I believe I paid around $3 maybe $3.50 for these chips. However, I really think they were a small bit over-priced. As these are just deep fried tortillas coated with cinnamon, sugar, and icing. They were served warm, and cooked up to order. My first bite was good, and admittedly, they tasted a bit 'stale', however, upon further investigation, they weren't. If you've ever deep fried soft tortilla's, they get a sort of 'stale' taste to them, but its crunchy still. Overall, I think they had a bit too much of the icing, and not enough of the dry spices. Again i'd say this is more preference based. As far as a 1-10 point scale, 8 out of 10, i'd recommend these, but not to everyone, since they were really sweet. However I balanced this sweetness with a nice thing of Apple Cider, which was excellent in it's own right.
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| Menu for My FAVORITE FRIED FOOD ... What is it?? Keep Reading! |
For my second item that I tried, I had full intentions of eating another. However, my second item, was subsequently my last of the festival. This isn't such a bad thing, because it's probably one of the, if not THE best confection I've ever had! Ok without further ado, I chose.............. The Fried Klondike Bar! Yep, one of the more infamously sweet, and fattening foods at the whole festival. Let me tell you, on both those points, it did not disappoint. However, I will say in full disclosure my intention was to get the Fried Kool-Aid, but it would have taken 20 minutes to change and heat up the oil, and then cook the balls. Being in the middle of hundreds or thousands of people, I didn't want to wait even that long. So as a second option I went with a much larger, much more fattening food. Well anyway, I waited about 1-2 minutes for this item I paid $4 for... which was a great deal. On to the food, I'll include a picture below, but now many if anybody could tell you what the food was just from the picture. The actual item was served to me in a basket, with a spoon, topped with powdered sugar. Let me tell you, it was not only big looking, it just FELT dense. Hesitant on what is proper protocol in eating one of these, the first 'cut' into the dessert I was sold. Immediately upon sinking my spoon in, the luscious Klondike Ice cream mixed with melted chocolate from the shell poured out. Well let me tell you, it was an explosion of flavor. After the first bite, I was HOOKED, seriously hooked, I found myself eating faster and faster, since you'd get a rush of cool from the melted ice cream, then a warm burst from the crunchy batter. Somewhere around my 6th or 7th bite, I discovered 2 little intricacies about eating something like this. Brace yourself, this is a bit sick, but followed immediately by something yummy. The first thing that happened was I noticed mixed in with all this ice cream and chocolate was a nice ring of oil, at first I just dismissed it, but then I decided to maybe pour some of it out. Turns out, I estimate, there was maybe 4-5 ounces OR more oil I drained into the can. That said, I also noticed near the center, the ice cream was still solid or at least semi-solid. Now the heat was on as I wanted to get to all the little solid pieces before they melted. The semi solid ice cream was a welcome relief to something that was primarily mush, or syrup. Anyway, I would guess I finished this in a matter of minutes, and a few people were spectating even commented, asking if they knew I had eaten it too fast. The caveat to this, or maybe the trade off, is that after I discarded the dish it came in, immediately I felt myself sloooooowwwwwwww down. Literally I immediately became sluggish and I was just ... blah ! Anyway, I knew I was on my way out so I said, that should work I guess, as my last dish of this year. That said, I still give this item a 9.9 out of 10, a near perfect score. So there you have it, my wild card item of the festival.
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| Here it is ... the mighty Fried Klondike Bar! |
In conclusion, this festival spans over several days, includes music, and a bunch of other little entertainment bits... But you know the real reason why Stocky likes to go? The FOOD! Yeah, I tell you what, I doubt you or anyone could feasibly do or eat everything in one year. Thankfully some of the more popular items come back year over year, but now I think that the 'fried food mold' has been completely broken, if not shattered! If you're anywhere near the Evansville Indiana area, and are a fan of unique and ultimately unhealthy fatty foods, why haven't you been to the festival? Again, you're supporting local charities, schools and the like, so you know it goes to a great place, and you get a bunch of food options! Anyway, my writing hands are a bit sore, and I hope you enjoy all that I put into this one, it's been fun to write! Please COMMENT and let me know how I'm doing. Plus I have a facebook page, search for a group - What's Stocky Eating? -
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| A typical menu, I liked this one because of the BBQ Pork Parfait ... Next year maybe??? |
Thanks and happy eats,
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