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Tacoes have really proliferated into all sorts of different things, some of which are not "authentic" and still delicious.  Maybe the only common theme is the flour or corn "crust" on the outside?

By crust I meant tortilla, the outer shell or wrap.  It's basically a "wrap".   I don't know all the lingo.    

The place near me sells a "Baja burrito" which works for me though my neighbor claims that isn't a good place, it's a block away.  The other places involve driving.  Pretty often we make them at home however we want, usually with a leftover.  That works for me.

We now have three "south American" restaurants in walking distance.  They are more interesting I think, and pricier by a lot.

The "state fair food" really looks to me like the food options at the festivals they have across the street.  It's very popular judging from the lines.  And pricey, to me, and I prefer having somewhere to sit when I eat.  I've tried some of it and it's, well, mediocre, to me.  They bring in these large trailers equipped to cook, or large tent.  They offer all sorts of types.  It's kinda fun seeing the various types.  Often I'll see the same kind of outfit in 2-3 different places, so they are chains of a sort.

maybe not different state fairs, but from county fairs to the state fair and from food truck fridays to the county fairs and with multiple food trucks in multiple states such as https://onthehookfishandchips.com/

coming to a location near you in 15 states

Deep-fried grilled cheese wins top new food award at Iowa State Fair

The team behind the Iowa State Fair’s best new food begins work before most fairgoers are awake, preparing mac and cheese and other components by 6 a.m. each day.

The deep-fried bacon brisket mac-n-cheese grilled cheese, a gooey, crispy, dense bomb of flavor from What’s Your Cheez, won the Best New Food award at the state fair on Wednesday.

Joni Bell, the owner of What’s Your Cheez and the creator of the new dish, declined to take the credit for winning the award.

“It's not all about me," she said. "It's all our team here that makes this thing happen. There's a lot of work that goes into this."


Tony Guerrero, who runs The Rib Shack, a stand nearby that Bell also owns, begins by cooking up the mac and cheese at 6 a.m. The stand will go through as many as 160 pans in a day, Bell said. Then, the fresh baked bread from Urbandale’s Big Sky Bakery is brought in.

The sandwich is served with a raspberry chipotle sauce, which Bell said elevates the flavor.

The stand’s employees build sandwiches right away, and they go in the fryer at 9:30 a.m.. The vendor sold 14,000 sandwiches at $12 each as of Wednesday.



More than 8,000 people voted from three options to crown the winner, and 47% of votes were for the deep fried sandwich.


The other options were the “Iowa Twinkie” from Watcha Smokin’ BBQ & Brew — a bacon-wrapped stuffed jalapeno pepper — and the “Grinder Ball” — a blend of bacon balls and mozzarella cheese, wrapped in bacon.


This isn’t Bell’s first time taking the top prize at the Iowa State Fair. She won the same honor last year for “The Finisher,” a loaded baked potato sold at the Rib Shack. And she’s won the award two other times over her 12 years of cooking greasy favorites at the fair.

The Rib Shack has been selling a bacon brisket mac-n-cheese dish for years. The innovation this year was putting it on bread and tossing it in a deep fryer. The inspiration for that, Bell said, was “spaghetti sandwiches” she ate as a child.

“We had to eat that, because we were poor,” she said. “So we had spaghetti sandwiches on the farm.”

Yeah, a taco pizza would be pretty good I think.  I may have had one once, way back, probably at a pizza hut kind of place.

They are all just sandwiches to me.

How many items combine a kind of bread with other stuff?  A lot.  French onion soup is just a sandwich.  Beef Wellington?  Sandwich.

There is a large festival across the street today, I guess we're headed over shortly.  Maybe I'll snap a few photos of the food vendors.

Piedmont Park Arts Festival

We got to be friends with a fellow there last year who had a very nice jewelry booth.  We bought stuff, and this year he told us he didn't pass muster somehow and was rejected.