Having lived in Texas our entire lives, one of the activities we had yet to do was visit the State Fair of Texas in Dallas. The fair is held yearly at the historic Fair Park which has taken place every year since 1886 except for periods during World War I and World War II. Since we were in the area, we decided to drop by and see how much weight we could gain.
Filled with fried foods, carnival rides and games, the Texas State Fair has plenty to do to fill your entire day. The features of the event that appear to get the most press are the unusual foods, ranging from fried jell-o, deep fried pulled pork “funyun” dings and deep fried bacon burger dog sliders on a stick. One item that seemed to get a lot of attention the past few years is the smoky bacon margarita which won the most creative award in 2015.
We were curious to try the beverage and grabbed one almost immediately. The best part about the drink is the bacon itself which is smoky, fresh tasting and …. is bacon. Visually, it looks like someone dropped some bacon bits on neon green play-doh. Once you make it past the delicious bacon pieces, your taste buds are greeted with intense sweetness, artificial lime and absolutely no tequila flavor. The smokiness of the bacon stops at the bacon itself and is not infused in any way with the contents of the drink. Once you have gobbled up the droppings of bacon, you are left with a nice looking collector’s cup filled with a disappointing overly green frozen margarita-like substance.
While walking by one of the many carnival games, an employee stopped to ask what we thought about the drink. We shared our not so positive opinion and he echoed that was what he was hearing throughout the length of the fair. It seems this smoky bacon margarita is more a novelty rather than a culinary masterpiece. We recommend saving your coupons and spending them on something better like tossing rings over a Coke bottle for the opportunity to win a stuffed unicorn.