Deep-fried butter is so 2012, says the co-owner of Pickle Pete’s and Granny’s Food concessions, which will be open for business at the Fair at the PNE starting Aug. 17.
It’s the same with deep-fried Coca Cola, said San Antonio-based Joe Premont, who together with his wife Brenda started selling deep-fried goodness on the North American fair circuit three years ago after four decades working in the video game business.
“That was just a fad,” said Premont during a phone interview from Saskatoon where he and Brenda were preparing for the drive to Vancouver and the PNE. “This year it’s deep-fried dill pickles. We won best new product at the Calgary Stampede.”
Just in case pickles aren’t to your liking, the Premonts have more to offer. Also new this year is the deep-fried Philly cheesesteak as well as bacon threaded onto skewers before being popped into the deep fryer and served with chocolate dipping sauce. Classics still on the menu include deep-fried cheesecake, Oreos, Wagon Wheels, Twinkies, jalapeno poppers and green beans. Granny’s Foods and Pickles Pete’s concessions will be set up at each end of the Vancouver Rib Festival, back for its third year.
Langley-based Brian Jones will be at the PNE this summer serving up gourmet burgers offering unusual topping such as caramelized apples and maple syrup bacon served from one of his three family-run B&B concessions.
The granddaddy of them all, said Jones, is the Vortex Challenge, which he introduced this past weekend at the annual Squamish Valley Music Festival. That bad boy, explained Jones, starts with an eight-ounce beef patty topped with two fried eggs, four slices of cheese, five strips of bacon, lettuce and tomato. The entire concoction is placed between two grilled-cheese sandwiches.
B & B will also offer a choice of sliders including kangaroo, camel, crocodile, wild bore or venison.
Jones said they spent months researching burgers and using family and friends as a focus group. “That’s how we narrowed it down from 30 burgers to seven.”
There are dozens of food options for fair-goers this year including PNE perennial favourite “Those Little Donuts,” of which 2.4 million were sold in 2012. Also consumed last year were 26,000 racks of ribs, 502 two-foot-long “Double Dare Ya” hotdogs and, of course, the 20,000 pounds of fried onions served annually at Jimmy’s Lunch Stand.
Healthier fare can be found at the Lemon Grass Chicken concession where instead of being deep fried, food is cooked by convection and steam. The new Cheese Please will serve up grilled-cheese sandwiches including one stuffed with beef, lettuce, tomato and flash-fried pickles, while the vegetarian offering is heaped with roasted vegetables, pesto and smoked provolone cheese.
To find out more about what is on the menu this year, visit pne.ca.
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