HOUSTON – Most athletes spend their whole year training and preparing for a championship. For foodies and rodeo vendors, they spend months crafting, creating and preparing for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.
On Thursday, HLSR hosted its 12th annual Gold Buckle Foodie Awards. Vendors from all food genres presented their best and most unique bites to a panel of media judges. From fried sweets to Flaming Hot Cheeto crusted entrees, each food was grouped into eight separate categories.
Related: Rodeo Houston food vendors get wild with Gold Buckle Foodie Awards
The categories included: Best Food-on-a-Stick, Best New Flavor, Best Value, Most Creative, Best Fried Food, Best Classic Fair Food, Best Specialty Food, and Best Dessert.
After ten rounds of sampling, there were 13 unique foods we found. Fair warning, you might get a food coma after reading this.
Ged Fried: Doughnut Chicken Sandwich
The Tot Spot & Mac Shack: Cowboy Mac
Flaming Hot Cheetos Pickle Nachos
Fried A Fair: Candy Bar Twinkie Taco
Texas Pride Grill: Pork Rind Supreme Nachos
The Original Minneapple Pie: Deep-Fried Cookie Dough Sundae
Swain’s Pizza on a Stick: Pastor Pizza
El Patio Restaurant: Fried Tres Leches
Biggy’s BBQ: Flamin’ Hot Cheetos Cheese Turkey Leg
Sweet Cheeks: Fried Poptart
Fried What!: Bacon-Wrapped Cinnamon Roll
Biggy’s BBQ: Big Daddy Cheetos cheese corn dog
Big Bubba’s Bad BBQ: Big Sticks (pork or chicken)