It was a hot dog inspired by celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse that took the coveted Best of the Best in this year’s OC Fair Concessionaires’ Cup Contest. The Bam Dog from Pink’s Hot Dogs was voted the best food item out of the 78 entries submitted in the annual contest held July 23.
All OC Fair food vendors were invited to submit items from their menus to be judged on taste, creativity and value. In the first round of judging, the entries are ranked by taste and the best are given a Gold, Silver or Bronze ranking. All the Gold-ranked items are then judged for creativity for the Special Award. Of the top creative food items, the ones deemed the best value for menu price are given the Outstanding Fair Food award. The best of that elite category receives the Best of the Best award.
In addition to the Bam Dog, the other Outstanding Fair Food award winners this year were Backyard BBQ’s new Pineapple Spinach Agua Fresca, Chuckwagon’s new Deep-Fried Apple Rings, Chicken Charlie’s new Totally Fried Peanut Butter Pickle and returning-standard Chicken Breast Sandwich, Pineapple Express’ Naked Shrimp Plate, Texas Donuts’ new Fireball Whiskey Caramel Donut and Grant’s Tasti Burgers’ Chile Relleno Burger (last year’s top item).
The Bam Dog, which first appeared at the 2014 OC Fair, is an all-beef hot dog topped with jalapenos, coleslaw, bacon, mustard, onions and cheese. Pink’s Hot Dogs is located in the Centennial Farm area of the 2015 OC Fair.
posted 7/29/15 by Andrea Gonzalez
