Andrew Galarneau: Revelations among new food at the Erie County Fair

The Fair-Ribbean Corn from Crafted Cob is a twist on corn on the cob that utilizes a Jamaican jerk aioli topped with coconut cream drizzle and mango salsa.

Most of the people waiting in line to enter the Erie County Fair already have firm notions about what they want to eat.

But there’s always room for one wild-card dish. What is a food fairway for, lined with once-in-a-summer eating opportunities, if not to take a flutter on a dark horse candidate? Especially since it might return a jackpot for the senses?

This summer, looking at the list of new dishes offered Aug. 9-20 by Erie County Fair vendors, here’s where I would bet my bankroll.

Fair-Ribbean Corn

The Crafted Cob people, responsible for the red, white and blue Bomb Cob sensation on last year’s fairway, took that success, said aw shucks, and developed another canny cob. This Jamaican cornstar gets Jamaican jerk aioli, fresh-cut mango salsa and a drizzle of coconut cream.

K Dogs (Korean

Corn Dogs)

These wacky Instagrammable hot dogs of the moment by Steve Ianni – link and mozzarella dipped in batter, fried, then coated in genre-bending coatings – have landed in Hamburg. Imagine a corn dog with an outrageous sense of style trying on costumes for a masquerade ball, like crushed Takis, fried potato cubes or Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.

Hawawshi

There’s no shortage of gyros and souvlaki on the main eating midways, but there’s only one Egyptian vendor: Venus. This year Venus brings a classic Cairo street dish to Hamburg: a seasoned ground beef and onion mixture baked inside pita bread. It’s served with adamantly garlicky mayonnaise, and a touch of Venus’ housemade hot sauce.

Capicola and provolone stuffed link

Mineo & Sapio’s wheelhouse is already standard fair food, but if your sausage sensors seek more than Italian sausage with peppers and onions, the royal sub beckons. The link, studded with cubes of capicola and provolone, can be purchased where Mineo & Sapio products are sold. At the fair, they’re gussied up with a five-cheese and peppers sauce modeled after their stuffed peppers and served on a Costanzo roll, of course.

Super Fruit Bowl At some point during my midway odyssey, my body will start demanding nutrients and a break from all the deep-fried beige. I’d head to Broken Bowl Concessions for fresh fruit, dragon fruit or acai, blueberries, strawberries, bananas and granola. Hold the Nutella, thanks, I’m trying to cut down.

New food at the Erie County Fair also includes refreshing drinks like Dragon Berry Boba Tea from Eastern Pearl that has fruit infused into green tea with boba pearls.

Dragon Berry Boba Tea

Refreshment will be necessary on the steamy asphalt, so I would turn to boba tea at Eastern Pearl. I thought it was just a children’s beverage until I dabbled. Boba are tapioca pears, sucked up through large-caliber straws for a bit of chew along with your thirst-quenching. Now there’s popping boba, each pearl filled with another flavor, like Freshen-up gum, but better.

Vegan Caramel Apple

in a Cup

Sometimes you must order a dish to see if it works. Could Moose Joose Slush’s sour apple slush, fresh apple slices, caramel drizzle, whipped cream and caramel apple candies really all get along? One volunteer here. For science.

Pumpkin Patch with a Twist

Circled on my scorecard for the “let yourself go” candidate is Polar Bear Homemade Ice Cream’s two-handed treat that starts with housemade pumpkin ice cream, made with New York State maple syrup, larded with marshmallows and graham crackers. A slab is cozied between two Krispy Kreme doughnuts, dunked into melted chocolate, then rolled in graham crackers. You only go this way once.

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Food editor

The 183rd Erie County Fair returns with its usual flurry of activities, attractions, competitions and vendors from Aug. 9-22 at the Hamburg Fa…