Last year, it was bestowed upon the fried Coke. This year, the fried latte. The “most creative” award at the State Fair of Texas’ annual fried food competition is clearly under the sway of a beverage-oriented trend. To discuss this phenomenon, as well as his hopes, health-related fears, and inspirations, we spoke with fried latte co-creator Jake Levy, Lake Highlands resident and co-owner of Desperado’s restaurant.
So, how was the fried latte born?
Our mother actually watches my brother’s kids in the mornings, and she always brings coffee over. Coffee’s just something we’ve grown up with. The smell. My brother and I had to come up with something innovative to fry for the contest, so we said, “Let’s do something latte.”
How does one “do something latte?”
You take a fluff pastry, deep-fried and rolled in cinnamon sugar, and you put cappuccino ice cream on top of that, maple syrup all over that, whipped cream, and then sprinkle some decaf instant coffee on top of that. Decaf’s important, because you know, it’s for the kids. It doesn’t get you nice and wired, but you get that coffee flavor.
What was your entry last year? Was it beverage-derived, too?
Yeah, last year was the deep fried Cosmopolitan. The theme of the State Fair last year was “Big Tex in the City,” so we equated that with “Sex in the City.” And they only buy shoes or drink Cosmos on that TV show, so we thought, let’s try fried Cosmopolitans. We took cheesecake and rolled it in a flour tortilla, came up with a cranberry glaze to put on top, powdered sugar, and a squeeze of lime. We deep-fried it, put it on a stick, and it was really good.
Are there a lot of drink-oriented fried foods in competition? It seems pretty prevalent.
Not really. I think it’s just coincidence. This year there were guacamole bites, deep-fried Frito chili pie, deep-fried peach cobbler, deep-fried banana pudding … Really, it’s anything you can think of putting in a fryer. We’re thinking of deep frying Lipitor, but those pills don’t taste so good. You know, Lipitor? That medicine that offsets the whole high cholesterol thing?
Worried about cholesterol?
Oh, very much so.
What’s your cholesterol count?
Last I checked, it was 179. But I exercise. I bike.
Is that the main health issue with fried food? Cholesterol?
Yeah, I guess so. High cholesterol, clogged arteries, all that … Plus, we gained a lot of weight making this recipe. My brother said he’d gained about 10 pounds. He ate like 300 fried lattes. You’re always tweaking the recipe, and you have to keep eating them to do that. It was just one after another after another.
Any ideas you’re working on for next year?
I have a couple, but as this competition goes on, it’s becoming important to be a lot more secretive. I thought I had a great idea last year, and submitted a deep fried banana pudding, but the State Fair told me there were five other deep fried banana puddings submitted. It’s hard to come up with a really creative idea, so we need to be a little sneaky about it. Keep it under wraps.
The State Fair of Texas runs Friday, Sept. 28, through Sunday, Oct. 21. Visit bigtex.com for information.
