Fried charcuterie, peanut butter ‘paradise,’ horchata shake win big at State Fair of Texas

This year, I dare you: Order the winners of the State Fair of Texas’ Big Tex Choice Awards and turn them into a progressive dinner. A hearty one. It’s a lot of calories. Not a lot of vegetables. But it works: Start with a Cha-Cha Chata, a horchata milkshake awarded “most creative” by a panel of six judges. Then move into the fried charcuterie board. It’s the winner in 2022 for “best taste - savory” and was created by 22-year-old concessionaire Josey Mayes, whose family has been at the State Fair for 73 years.

End on dessert, a decadent, deep-fried dish called Peanut Butter Paradise named “best taste - sweet.” It comes from first-time Big Tex Choice Awards finalists Chris Easter and Nicole Sternes. It’s rare for newcomers to win. All three award-winning dishes will be served at the State Fair of Texas from Sept. 30 to Oct. 23, 2022. As judges tried each dish, “amazing” was the word of the day. That word was used more than a dozen times describing the five savory items and five sweet items they tried. Maricsa Trejo, co-owner of La Casita Bakeshop in Richardson and one of the judges, said the Cha-Cha Chata milkshake was one of her favorites. “First of all, I’m lactose intolerant, but I’m going to eat this whole thing,” she says. She makes horchata at La Casita but felt that the Garza family’s State Fair drink was better than hers. It’s a horchata and vanilla ice cream milkshake with a caramel and cinnamon rim. Each cup comes with a churro and a few deep-fried bites of arroz con leche, a dish the Garza family won a Big Tex Choice Award for “best taste - sweet” in 2018. ”It’s my whole childhood, in a cup,” Trejo says. She grew up going to the State Fair of Texas with her five sisters and even spent her 21st birthday at the fair. The Garzas have been winners or finalists four times at the Big Tex Choice Awards. Their most recent win was for 2019?s “most creative” dish, a fried mango and sorbet dessert cleverly called Fla’Mango Tango.