Since the big one had his graduation ceremony today I pulled the little one out of school early and the boys and I went to the Del Mar Fair aka the San Diego County Fair. It's going to take me a few years to start calling it the San Diego County Fair and even then I'll still think of it as the Del Mar Fair. Kinda like Price Club vs Costco but that's another story. :)
Since we only had a few hours due to karate graduation we opted to spend today eating and trying some of the new foods. :) Since we had bought a unlimited admission ticket ($13 each when bought in bunches of 20 tickets or more) we plan on coming back quite a few more times so to devote one day eating was ok by me. :)
A traffic accident on the freeway caused a massive pileup so it took 45 minutes longer to get to the Fair than normal. As our time was limited I opted to spend the $10 to park in the parking lot vs using the free lot and shuttle. There were 5 lanes open to pay for parking however they all merged into 1 lane. Not efficient and as the days go on and the temperatures rise I can imagine the headaches and anger that will occur when everyone is trying to merge and get a spot.
I love the Del Mar Fair for the food and people watching. What people do in public always amaze me, you have to wonder do they realize they are in public? This guy, was flossing his teeth and not discreetly. He had a long piece of floss and was going to town. I wasn't quick enough with my camera to get a shot of him flossing so you'll have to settle for the aftershot. And one of the worse things, he works at the Fair!
We entered via the Arena Gate, the Northern most gate but close to the animals. Since we arrived right before the Pig Racing event, the boys wanted to stay, watch and have lunch.
The BBQ stand run by American Cowboy Grill was next to the Pig Racing so we opted to get our food there. The little one had a Kids Meal Deal of 2 pieces of Chicken Tenders, Fries and a soda.
This year the Fair has a contract with Pepsi so the drink options were limited to Pepsi, Diet Pepsi and Sierra Mist. The older one and I split a BBQ Tri Tip Sandwich.
The Kids Meal of Chicken Tenders was a great bargain for $6.50 ($5.98 with tax). The little one loved his tenders and he's a picky eater so that says quite a bit. They appeared to be all white meal and were a fairly decent size. The fries were flat potato wedges that were extremely tasty and plentiful - more than enough for the little one so the big one and I helped finish the fries.
As an added bonus, with every Kids Meal deal at the Fair you get a coupon entitling you to a free child hopper ticket with the purchase of an adult hopper ticket at Legoland.
The Tri Tip sandwich was exceptional and a good value for $9 (tax included). It was served on a 6 inch soft sub roll, filled and overflowing with thinnly sliced Tri Tip. I'm not a fan of BBQ but the sauce was quite tasty, athough a little heavier on the sugar/sweet than I would have liked. But the Tri Tip! So tender and melt in your mouth delicious! It was by far the best real food (non snack food) I've eaten in all the years I've been to the Del Mar Fair.
After the Pig Racing we headed towards the Plaza Stage where everyday at Noon Coco's Restaurant and Bakery sponsors a pie eating contest for the children. The contest is divided into age groups beginning with ages 6 - 7, 8 - 9, 10 - 11, and then 12 - 13 and 14 - 15. Instead of having to eat an entire pie, the children are given a slice of Chocolate Cream Pie. A much better alternative and one that is easy to eat quickly with less mess than Apple Pie.
Since we arrived a few minutes early we were able to watch the last 8 minutes of Dragon Knight's Saltinbanque. This was a wonderful show with music, costumes and acrobats.
Very entertaining for all ages. Extremely well performed.
The big one decided to enter the Pie Eating Contest. The little one initially wanted to but by the time the Dragon Knight's Saltinbanque show ended, 30 more children had arrived for the pie eating contest and he opted out.
For the big one's age group they decided to make it a little more challenging by requiring the kids to play a little musical chairs first. When the music stopped they had to sit down and eat whatever piece of pie was in front of them.
All in all he did pretty good, coming in 4th with 8 other kids (a total of 12 kids participated). They all seemed to finish up at the same time with the exception of the 1, 2 and 3rd place winners.
Our next stop was for a Deep Fried S'more from Chicken Charlies. The boys had been waiting for this for weeks. Priced at $6.47, it was a very expensive and indulgent treat. We opted to get one and share just in case it wasn't very good. We didn't have to worry about it not tasting good, what we did have to worry about was how little there was.
The Deep Fried Smore was about the length of a deck of cards and maybe about 3 inches thick. Hot and fresh with chocolate sauce drizzled on top the Deep Fried Smore was quite tasty but at $6.47 each, not a bargain.
I had expected a harder crust, more crunch graham cracker but the outside was soft and profiterole like. The inside was chocolate and marshmallow that resembled marshmallow creme vs melted marshmallows. Definitely would love to have another but it will have to wait for $2 Tuesdays and a much smaller portion.
On the way to get our Deep Fried Smore we ran into Anita and Quinn. Anita hadn't told Quinn that we were going to be there so she was surprised to see us. After spending lunch with them, they went off to do toddler things. :)
After our Deep Fried Smore it was time for "real" food again. Pats Concession a few stalls South of Chicken Charlies was selling pizza - a kids meal deal of 1 slice of cheese and a soda for $5.98. Adult price was 2 slices of cheese for $9.50. We got 3 kids meal deals. This was our worst food choice of the Fair.
The pizza was the worst pizza we've ever eaten. And for my boys who can eat pizza everyday and for every meal if I let them, to not want to eat their pizza tells you how bad it was. I was extremely disappointed and do not recommend the pizza.
I tried to find the healthy food options that was being touted by the Fair this year but no one at any of the information booths had any idea where it was located.
Although we didn't eat any Australian Battered Potatoes, the big one wanted to have his photo taken in the cutout.
After petting the cows and sheep, it was time for yet another snack. A pretzel stand is located right outside of the barn to the North of Chicken Charlies.
If you're looking for the best value and the best snack food, this is the place. We ordered a Cinnamon Sugar pretzel, cost was $6 ($5 for the pretzel and $1 for the cinnamon sugar topping).
They offer other toppings to choose from such as Parmesan, Jalepano, and Salt. They made our pretzel fresh so ours was hot, steaming hot. I had to wrap the paper plate around it to avoid burning my fingers. But that was a good thing. :)
The pretzel was so soft it was more like a pastry, very light, moist and delicious! I neglected to take a photo but the size of the pretzel was @ 12 x 6, yes it was a big, rectangle shaped pretzel.
We'll be hitting the pretzel stand again when we go back next time. These pretzels are a definite must eat!
We headed into Kiddieland where we ran into Anita and Quinn again. They made bracelets and then played in the kiddie area.
It was now time to eat again, time for Cinnamon Rolls. I stopped by Palapa Taco for a Carne Asada Taco. The Carne Asada Taco was tasty despite the meat being overdone. A nice healthy meal and only $4.75.
The boys got a Cinnamon Roll from the shop by Bing Crosby Hall. The little one was not impressed and didn't finish his but the big one enjoyed it. Having not tasted it I can't say whether or not it was good. It didn't look as moist as the Cinnamon Rolls from previous Fairs. But the price was less this year, only $3.47 or something without cream cheese icing/frosting and $4.50 with. Definitely pay the extra because the cinnamon roll is extremely dry without the icing/frosting.
At this point the little one had enough and asked to go home. We avoided the traffic and had a relaxing dinner before heading off to karate graduation.
