Winners Of The 2024 Big Tex® Choice Awards Announced

Winners of the 2024 Big Tex® Choice Awards Announced

DALLAS – August 22, 2024 – The tastiest time of the year is here! The culmination of hard work, sweat, and oil in creating the most delicious Fair foods. The 20th Annual Big Tex® Choice Awards was one to remember. After tasting all ten foods and evaluating each time, the all-star judges tallied their scores and made decisions. Without further ado, the winners are: “Best Taste – Savory” goes to the Dominican Fritura Dog by Justin Martinez, “Best Taste – Sweet” goes to Rousso’s Cotton Candy Bacon on a Stick by Isaac Rousso, and Texas Sugar Rush Pickles, Heather Perkins takes home “Most Creative.”

Best Taste – Savory

Dominican Fritura Dog, Justin Martinez

This savory dish brings an explosion of flavor that starts with fritura cheese and Dominican salami. This dish took classic Fair food up a notch, in a double deep-fried with their famous corn dog batter! Split open and topped with garlic plantain chips, top-secret Dominican sauce, and cilantro, the Dominican Fritura Dog will bring you the best of salty and sweet with an explosion of Dominican flavor. “Hopefully, we’re opening another avenue for people at the State Fair to try something they don’t normally try. That’s what the State Fair is about,” said Justin Martinez, creator of the Dominican Fritura Dog.

Best Taste – Sweet

Rousso’s Cotton Candy Bacon on a Stick, Isaac Rousso

This masterful combination of sweet and savory flavors comes to life with the Cotton Candy Bacon on a Stick—a thick, 12-inch piece of bacon cooked to perfection with a cotton candy glaze on top. The bacon is spun inside a cotton candy machine and torched to caramelize the center and lock in that sweet flavor.

Most Creative

Texas Sugar Rush Pickles, Heather Perkins

They coat these cotton-candy-flavored pickle slices in three cereal varieties—Lucky Charms™, Froot Loops®, and Cap’n Crunch®—and then layer them with cotton candy, cotton candy sugar crystals, and powdered sugar before drizzled with strawberry sundae syrup. As if that wasn’t enough, these dressed-up pickles are served with a helping of vanilla ice cream, adding a perfectly cool touch to this crazy concoction!

Every year, the Big Tex Choice Awards judges face the challenging yet tasty task of selecting the winning Fair foods – the task at hand this year was not easy; the field was incredibly competitive. Despite not taking home one of the titles today, the other delicious 2024 finalists include:

The Drowning Taquitos by Tony & Terry Bednar, Hippie Chips by Rose &Tom Deschenes, Hot Chick-in-Pancake Poppers by Palmer & Amanda Fortune, Texas Fried Burnt End Bombs by Nick Bert, Nevins Nutty Bar-laska by Tami Nevins Mayes & Josey Mayes, Strawberry Pop-Tarts® Beignettfle by Justin Martinez, and Tropical Two-Step Punch by Binh Tran.

Brad Batson, Co-Founder of Karbach Brewing Company; Leslie Brenner, Food and Beverage Personality; Calvin Golden, Franchise Expert and Business Consultant; Donovan Lewis, 96.7SportsRadio/1310 The Ticket Host; Nikky Phinyawatana, Founder of Asian Mint Restaurant Group; and ChefNikky.com comprised this year’s panel of celebrity judges.