Delaware State Fair: Fried tacos, fried cheeseburger and gator lead food fun

The Delaware State Fair circuit is full of livestock, concerts, beer festivals and carnival games, but there's nothing quite like the experience of the food.

There's literally a television show dedicated to the pageantry of fair eats. The Delaware State Fair was featured on an episode of the Cooking Channel's "Carnival Eats" last year.

With fried tacos, fried burgers and shark on a stick, the 99th installment of the Delaware State Fair does not disappoint.

There's even a new concept introduced just three months ago in the United States that features cappuccino in a cone.

The News Journal sent photographer Jason Minto and me to the fair Saturday afternoon, and the rain and wind meant no waiting in line to eat all the fried and cheesy goodness.

Our experience, of course, is best consumed through the video on this page, but here's more on some of the places we ate and what we tried.

Jim's Deep Fried Tacos

Jim's is a New York-based operation that takes a taco and drops it in a fryer. What could go wrong?

We tried the beef taco. The batter on the outside made for a perfect crunch leading into a meaty, cheesy treat. 

The stand also has buffalo chicken tacos, pork and mac tacos and more.

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Chester's Gators and Tators

This state fair staple obviously specializes in gator, so we had some on top of mac and cheese and had a shark kebab on the side.

I fancy myself an eater and hadn't had gator or shark before hitting the fair. The gator, on top of a generous portion of mac and cheese, kind of had the consistency and taste of chicken. You've probably had some form of chicken on your mac and cheese before. So just pretend you're doing it again.

The shark kebab is served on a stick and coated in a "special sauce" that gives the bland white fish a needed boost. 

Afraid of shark or gator and still want to push the limits? Try the Mac Attack. It's a plate of loaded bacon mac and cheese with ribbon fries, sour cream, jalapeños and chives.

Chompers

This stand, from owner Thomas Barletta, is making its Delaware State Fair debut this year with a simple idea: Take an American classic, make it into a ball and drop it in fryer oil.

Barletta calls them crunchy balls of goodness.

Chompers serves two flavors. The bacon cheeseburger variety is a crunchy ball filled with bacon, ground beef and cheddar cheese served with a zesty ketchup dipping sauce. The chicken parm ball is filled with chicken, fresh basil and mozzarella and parmesan cheeses and served with marinara dipping sauce.

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Dragon Breath

No, fire doesn't come out of your mouth, but sometimes playing with liquid nitrogen can be fun ... when you get past the warning sign on the cash register that indicates the risks of consuming liquid nitrogen are unknown.

Whatever.

Dragon Breath uses liquid nitrogen to "cook" corn puffs and Oreos at cold temperatures. The result is cold sugar products – who hates that? – with a side of smoke.

Coffee in a Cone

The slogan for the new company is "The World's Most Instagrammable Coffee." I won't agree or disagree – latte art takes some skill – but the concept is cool.

One of the owners, Sean Bruckner, said he and a few partners brought it to the U.S. after learning about the popular treat in South Africa. The Delaware State Fair is the first of many stops this year for the company. Bruckner said he expects to sell about 10,000 to 12,000 cones this week.

Ice cream cones are coated in chocolate before being filled with cappuccino, coffee or hot chocolate. A solid bottom keeps the liquid in the cone, but the chocolate quickly melts, and the combination of whipped cream, caramel and chocolate makes for a warm, smooth, delicious sip through a straw that will keep you coming back for more.

Good thing there are free refills.

Contact reporter Jeff Neiburg at (302) 983-6772, jneiburg@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @Jeff_Neiburg.