Are you ready for the Corn-nana? It’s a banana — on a stick, naturally — dipped in chocolate and sweetened corn dog batter and deep-fried.
 

Also new at the South Carolina State Fair this year: Cherry Bombs, which are battered and deep-fried chocolate-covered cherries.

Still hungry? How about some chocolate-covered bacon? “They say it’s good,” says Tim Wilson, the director of facility operations and concessions for the fair. He doesn’t even sound dubious.

Every year, the state fair offers at least one new fried thing on a stick, some strange batter-dipped wonder or icing-decorated marvel. This year we’ve got three such items, all at one booth.

Besides the handful of new delicacies, the fair food lineup remains the same as in years past. Fiske Fries will be selling its addictive, malt vinegar-sprayed French fries. There will be foot-long corn dogs. Pizza. Turkey legs. Teriyaki chicken. Fried mushrooms. Sweet potato fries. Root beer floats. Those tiny doughnuts that cross a moat of boiling oil on their way to your mouth.

There are scores of food wagons and booths at the fair every year. A lot of these concessionaires live out of state, making their living traveling across the country from fair to fair. But some of them are local. Carolina Wings & Rib House will have a booth. Local businessman Cliff Daley, who ran Fran’s Restaurant in Forest Acres, will operate two corn dog wagons this year. A man from the Upstate runs two cotton candy concessions.

And the old LaBrasca’s Pizza wagon might have changed its name and ownership — it’s now the Leaning Tower of Pizza — but it’s still locally owned.

The State Fair opens Wednesday, Oct. 14, and runs through Sunday, Oct. 25.
Regular tickets are $8 during the fair. But there are all kinds of deals for the cash-strapped.
On opening day, admission is only $1.
On weekdays between 12 to 2 p.m., admission is free with a $5 cash deposit at the front gate — leave before 2, and you get your $5 back.

And of course, in addition to the food, there are rides. There’s livestock. There are baby ducks on a waterslide. There are jars upon jars of canned okra and green beans. There are prizewinning quilts.

But most of us are just in it for the food. Corn-nana, here I come.


Doc’s Gumbo Grille to Close

Doc’s Gumbo Grille will close at the end of October.
The Assembly Street eatery has served Cajun food and hosted live music for the last seven years.

Owner Doug Goolsby is deeply connected with Columbia’s food and music scenes, having had a hand in everything from the legendary late 1970s music venue Greenstreets to the more recent Sherlock Holmes Pub.

Reached last week, Goolsby was upset. “It sort of came about so suddenly,” he said. “The economy’s been kind of shaky. It’s hard for me to sustain.”

SCANA’s recent move deeply affected Goolsby’s business, he says. The utility company vacated the Palmetto Center on Main Street, sending 900 workers across the river to an office in Cayce.

“A lot of those people were customers of mine,” says Goolsby. “They were here three, four days a week. With things being depressed anyway and with those guys leaving ... . It’s a matter of borrowing more money to keep the thing going,” said Goolsby. He decided he’d done enough of that — it was time to get out.

Goolsby plans one last show, on Oct. 23, and one last open jam on Oct. 31. Check next week’s Free Times for show time and details.


Be the Yesterday’s Cowboy

Yesterday’s is auditioning a live human stand-in for the iconic cowboy in a bathtub who adorns their Five Points rooftop. Yes, really. For more information, visit yesterdayssc.com. 


Let us know what you think: Email food@free-times.com.