Tampa restaurant review — Linda Shockley, Co-Owner of Shockley's Food Service dips a kosher pickle with a fruit roll-up in chocolate

I ventured out on my annual Florida State Fair food junket on opening day, but this year, Tampa Bay Times Events and Travel reporter Sharon Kennedy Wynne and Video Producer Aya Diab joined me this time. It’s great to tag team with these two. Sharon had tasted fair food before but is a little reticent. For Aya, fair food is a hard no. She prefers just to capture the day with her camera. Skeerdy cat!

BTW, fair food is not for the foodie faint of heart. Ingredients and dish descriptions are intentionally provocative. I mean, who eats fried Twinkies? If you walk a dietary straight line with no room for stretching your culinary worldview, or even if you overgeneralize that all fair food is gross, move along. This is not the food review for you. If you are an adventuresome foodie willing to expand and experience a journey into new taste combos, lookie here.

The fair food list is packed with nearly 25 choices. How would you choose?

We sample a cross-section of edgy fair food. There are nearly twenty-five featured funky fair fares this year, and picking the funkiest was tough. It seemed many dishes like pizzas and funnel cakes were a redux of years gone by, and I wanted something new.

We start with the one dish I wanted to try: Bacon Caramel & Peanut Butter Apple Fries. We wash it down with a Jolly Rancher Extreme Slush. Why not start with dessert? The fries are on a paper tray stacked full of thick-cut apple pieces (think thick-cut fries). They are lightly battered and dusted with cinnamon and sugar and then flash-fried. Next, they are sprinkled with powdered peanut butter and bacon bits and accented with a swirl of caramel sauce. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a dollop of whipped cream to take it over the top, and it’s a dish to be reckoned with. It is delicious. It reminds me of an old-fashioned apple crisp. The warm apple slices have a crispy outside and an al dente texture all with a cinnamon finish. The ice cream throws in a cold, sweet kicker, and the bacon brings a little smokey, salty goodness. It’s hard to stop eating it, but we have a day of food orgy ahead.

The Jolly Rancher Slush is just what it sounds like. It's an icy slushy tasting just like Jolly Rancher candy but with a treasure chest of sweets on top, including a fruit roll-up and a Blow Pop. It’s excessive, outrageous, and precisely what one would expect for a $15 slushy.

Next is the most anticipated dish, with a high degree of ick-factor (from Sharon) going in: the Chocolate Covered Kosher Pickle on a stick. It is available with a choice of three toppings: option one is coated in Pop Rocks candy, option two with Fruity Pebbles, and number three is rolled in Flaming Hot Cheetos. Since it seemed to get most of the pre-fair press, we pick the Pop Rocks. According to Linda Shockley, co-owner of Shockley’s Food Service, the pickles are a concoction dreamt up by her co-owner husband John. Here’s his thinking: Take a full-sized Kosher pickle and wrap it with a fruit roll-up, put it on a skewer, dip that in chocolate, and sprinkle the masterpiece with one of the toppings listed above. This isn’t the Shockley’s first funky fair food. In years gone by, they have offered up things like a Bacon Bomb Burger: a loaf of seasoned beef wrapped in bacon, smoked for three hours, then sliced and put on a bun.

Linda Shockley, Co-Owner of Shockley's Food Service, wraps a kosher pickle with a fruit roll-up before dipping it in chocolate and sprinkling it with Pop Rocks candy.

Sharon is apprehensive but dives right in. Then, my turn. As I bite in, the toughness of the pickle skin takes some effort to get through. The first thing to hit my tongue is the sweetness of the chocolate, followed by a rush of salt from the pickle, then a faint garlic flavor fills my nose. The combo is different, but it's really pretty good. Whooda thunk? I expected more pop from the Pop Rocks candy. It’s a salty-sweet bite with a hint of garlic, and a residual flavor is a fruit roll-up because the gummy goodie sticks to my teeth and keeps on giving.

Sharon Kennedy Wynne, event and travel reporter for the Tampa Bat Times, bites in to a Pop Rocks Pickle

Yep, it’s a full sized Kosher pickle, crunchy on the outside and wrapped in a fruit roll-up and coated with chocolate and Pop Rocks candy.

The Shockleys serve another featured fair vittle called the Honey Bunny Curd Burger. Just like it sounds. It’s a grilled Angus beef patty sandwiched between two standard issue honey buns, with two ounces of grilled to golden brown Wisconsin cheese curd, all with a lettuce and tomato topper (actually, they put it on the bottom.) They are taking their cues from the beloved Krispy Kreme Bacon Cheeseburger here, and it’s not as good. The honey buns are too bready and sticky. Fresh glazed donuts kind of melt as you eat them. Honey buns are thicker and chewier. While the cheese curd is a novel idea, it’s not very cheesy. It adds some butter flavor and a gooey texture, but I need that acidic cheddar kick to make the cheeseburger cut. Plus, the burger is overcooked. I get where they were going on this, but they didn’t get there.

Two Honey Buns, cheese curd (under the top) and an angus beef burger on the grill to make up a Honey Bunny Curd Burger

Our last stop is a more traditional delight with a trendy flair. The Barbie Funnel Cake created by Paulette’s Food Service is a fun wrap-up for this food binge. The delicious smell from this stand is enough to make my mouth water (though my belly is screaming “no more”). Swirls of dough are extruded into a stainless ring sitting in hot peanut oil, sizzling as it quickly browns and emits a wonderful vanilla smell. The warm golden disc then lands on a paper plate, is topped with a pink glaze, and dusted with both powdered and pink crystallized sugar (the Barbie factor), ready for eatin’. It’s a good funnel cake, but there’s really nothing to see here. It’s standard issue. However, add the Barbie name, and I bet Paulett’s sells a gazillion of them to young fairgoers.

Paulette Keene of Paulette’s Food Service keeps a watchful eye on the preparation of a Barbie Funnel Cake as a pink swirl of glaze is added

Barbie Funnel Cake served by Paulette’s Food Service is one of the culinary surprises ready for guests at the 2024 Florida State Fair

I don’t even want to think about any more food, though there are a dozen more I’d like to try. Fair food is expensive. Most plates mentioned here are between $10 and $20, so if you venture out, choose wisely. While there, enjoy the rest of the fair. There’s all kinds of entertainment, rides, and agriculture to take in. See my blog on lensontampabay.com for a full report. Have you got a favorite fair food this year? Scan the QR code on your Visitor’s Guide and vote. Enjoy! I need a nap.

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