THINGS TO DO IN SAN DIEGO: DEL MAR BEER AND CIDER FEST

Get hoppy at Del Mar’s Fall Beer and Cider Fest that will be held at The Racetrack Saturday, November 28 starting at noon in the Seaside Concert area. This month, cheers to Bing Crosby Season by sampling a variety of 100 local and international craft brews including seasonal ales and ciders.

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San Diego brewers will set up camp and serve tastes of their signature craft brews – five seven-ounce frosty samples for $20. Come out, grab a beer or cider and catch some world-class Thoroughbred racing. The races begin at 12:30 p.m., gates open at 11:00 a.m. Entrance to Beer and Cider Fest area is free with admission.

Confirmed seasonal brews include:

-       Anderson Valley Wild Turkey Bourbon Barrel Aged Stout
-       Tieton Cider Cherry Cider
-       Mission Brewing Hard Root Beer
-       Uinta Brewing Company Oak Jacked Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Pumpkin Ale
-       Delirium Noel
-       St. Bernardus Christmas Ale
-       101 Cider House So Cal Scrumpy
-       County Cider Company- Waupoos Cider
-       Ballast Point Grapefruit Sculpin
-       Ballast Point Pumpkin Down
-       Dogfish Head Punkin
-       Port Brewing Santas Little Helper
-       Alpine Duet IPA
-       Nickel Beer Co. Pearfect Apple Pie Ale
-       Angry Orchard Crisp Apple
-       Magners Pear Cider
-       Washington Gold Hard Cider

Pair your beer or cider with gourmet food truck offerings. The event is free with racetrack admission of $6. Stay after the festival and races to catch a free concert by Sublime with Rome.

Fair Food To Remember (Or Not!)

May 31, 2015Local Wally1 Comment

THE FAIR IS COMING! HERE’S A RETRO ARTICLE FROM 2015 TO WHET YOUR APPETITE!

I'll admit it. I have been called a foodie, even a food snob. I just love food. It doesn't have to be expensive, it doesn't have to be weird, it just has to be good. And with that in mind I enter the San Diego Fair 2015, A Fair To Remember, to taste all the new things the fair has to offer this year.

The usual suspects are there. Tasti Chips, the ultimate just fried potato chip, still fresh and crispy. Australian Battered Potatoes, a tempura dipped potato slice dipped in nacho cheese sauce or ranch dressing, a decadent favorite. The excellent cinnamon rolls, the grilled corn on the cob booth, all there and all still serving up fair food that's comforting and doesn't disappoint. Stick with these old favorites and you don't leave with Midway Food Disappointment.

But you can't resist, can you? You have to try to newest, the weirdest, the fair food that everyone is talking about just so you can talk about it when you get back to the office. So let me guide you to the New Things to Eat at the San Diego Fair, 2015.

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Chicken Charlie Fries Again

Deep fried pickle with peanut butter inside

Chicken Charlies is an enigma to me. On one hand the produce one of the best things at the fair, the Maui Pineapple which is a full half pineapple stuffed with rice and teriyaki chicken, nearly restaurant quality. They make a decent chicken kebob with breast meat that is a solid healthy option.

And then they fry a Slimfast bar.

That's right, the shock food this year is a deep fried Slimfast bar that's surprisingly tasty, a bit like a deep fried brownie. That should be no real surprise as Slimfast tries to taste like real food so deep frying it makes it taste just like real fair food.

The Krispy Kreme burger returns in a triple decker and it's better than I remembered it from a couple of years ago when I gave it a huge thumbs down. I'm not sure why it was so bad before but so not bad now, but I sort of liked it. I'd eat it again. Maybe one more time.

But not the deep fried pickle stuffed with peanut butter, which was a disgusting mess and simply terrible. Some people seemed to really like it but I think it's more shock than anything. Think about it - do you normally put peanut butter on top of a dill pickle? Does that even sound good?

Bacon A Fair, Oh No, Seriously???

First let me start by saying I had high hopes for these 3 new items. Sigh. Bacon A Fair seriously strikes out three times in a row, first with the Wasabi Bomb which was a soggy, messy dough ball filled with wasabi sauce (cheese?) and wrapped in bacon. It sounds like it would work but the execution failed.

The chocolate covered pork rinds were just not pleasant, not tasty. Not bad, but nothing that makes you want more. Same with the Deep Fried Starbucks which was another soggy ball of dough with ground up coffee beans inside. Texturally it was just weird. I've read some Instagram posts from others who loved all three of these items but no one in my party liked these. Taste for yourself at your own risk!

From the Original Grilled Corn Booth

The guy on the left is the owner of the Original Corn Booth.  He's much bigger in person. — The guy on the left is the owner of the Original Corn Booth. He's much bigger in person.

Sweet Corn Ice Cream. Yes, it's ice cream that tastes like corn wrapped in a corn husk. Gimmick? Silly? Perhaps, but it's also one of the tastiest things at the fair this year. Foodies will agree, this is the sort of thing you would order at a cool hipster restaurant in North Park and gush all over. It's sophisticated, it's creamy, it's the sort of thing that you think wouldn't work but does. Big thumbs up!

Some people around me were less enthusiastic but you can't deep fry everything! Trust me, if you are a foodie you will love this ice cream. Find it at the original grilled corn booth, the one with the giant inflatable corn cob display.

Pinks Hotdogs from Hollywood

Pinks is the famous hotdog joint in Hollywood, the place where people stand in line for an hour to get a chili dog. I've done that, at midnight, so I was very happy to see them at the San Diego Fair. But can a hotdog compete with the crazy deep fried creations from the other food vendors?

Yes. In fact it kicks their butts. That's because Pinks uses ultra high quality dogs that pop when you bite them and tops them with creative, but quality, ingredients. The chili on the dog is so good you want a bowl of it and the sauerkraut and pastrami dog goes beyond the weird factor and into the wow. I know, getting a hot dog at the fair seems somewhat anticlimactic but not when it's a dog from Pinks.

Best Thing to Eat at the San Diego Fair, 2015 - The Gingerbread House

Just look for this guy.  You know this guy! — Just look for this guy. You know this guy!

What? A dessert wins for the Best Thing To Eat at the Fair, 2015? I don't even like desserts but this is twice in the past 5 years I've given Best of The Fair to the Gingerbread House. I had a delicious 7 layer S'More sundae, melted marshmallows with crispy graham crackers dusted on top, it was absolutely decadently delicious! It was simple, it was well executed, and the melted gooey marshmallow was a nice textural surprise. The Gingerbread House proves that you don't need a deep fryer to make great food at the fair.

I know it's not sexy like a deep fried sciracha pickle wrapped in bacon but in the end it's all about eating something that makes you smile, a treat that makes you want another bite, and that's exactly what the Gingerbread House does. You go ahead and order that deep fried whatever, you'll find me in my bliss spot at The Gingerbread House happily eating desserts.