Last weekend saw two landmark food events: 1) The final weekend of the L.A. County Fair and 2) the third-annual L.A. Loves Alex’s Lemonade charity food fest. One had live goat milking demos and a knitting pavilion; the other saw celebrity chefs like Jonathan Waxman co-mingling wih the cast of HBO’s Girls. What both festivities had in common? An abundance of fried stuff. Yes, where last year we saw an plethora of seafood crudo at fancy food fests, this year we’re seeing giant portions of fried clams, chicken legs, beef cheeks, squash blossoms, and more. Take that, LDL!
We were lucky (and gross) enough to hit both happenings, and it was a toss up as to which clogged our arteries with crunchy, grease-soaked deliciousness more. Take a look and you be the judge.
Fair: Chicken Charlie's deep-fried cereal. Here, Fruitty Pebbles, of course.
Fair: An impressive sampling of Chicken Charlie's offerings. At center, fried frogs legs with, er, fries.
Fair: The original, the deep-fried twinkie. After all these years, still the best of the bunch.
Fair: And then there were fried oreos—with sprinkles, of course!
Alex's Lemonade: Fried beef cheek and sweetbreads croquette from San Fran's Lark and Licorous
Alex's Lemonade: Fried (and a little fuzzy, sorry—it was hot) chicken oysters served in oyster shells (get it?) from Michael Voltaggio at Ink.
Alex's Lemonade: Behold! The fried chicken leg from Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo at Animal. There was no way to eat this beast gracefully while standing up at a food fest, but we could have cared less. The heirloom carrot "macho" sauce only sweetened the deal. Bold move, dudes.
Alex's Lemonade: Incredible fried Ipswich clam sandwich on brioche from Michael Cimarusti's upcoming Connie & Ted's. The spicy slaw made it.