UNASSUMING SPOT #6

Orange County Fair (Costa Mesa)

Fried White Castle burgers, fried Oreos, chocolate covered bacon, fried s'mores... no this is not a fantasy sequence brought to you by your starving brain after a few days on the liquid diet. This plethora of all things fried and delicious is just another day at the Orange County Fair. Each direction one turns, you are bombarded by colorful booths advertising everything from fried frog legs to fried pizza to my personal fave... the smoked turkey leg. While most of you are vomiting a little bit in your mouths at the thought of soggy, fried, greasy fair food, it's important to note that the food is actually quite tasty and is cooked in front of you as it's flying so fast off of the shelf. As if the food wasn't all-consuming in itself, there is also entertainment provided, this years main attraction being the silly yet rather fantastic 3-D "Go Inside Weird Al's Brain" experience. My friends and I also adored cheering at the pig races (though I was a bit crushed my little guy, "Spider-ham" was M.I.A. this year - side note: no more chocolate covered bacon for me). Not for the weak of heart/stomach, some of our crew went on rides that spun you every which way possible while the rest of us (ahem, me) watched in awe, ice cream cone happily being consumed in the process. I must say the OC Fair has yet to let us down, 3rd year in a row... looking forward to what new dish they decide to dip in fried dough next summer!

Unassuming Food Enthusiasts Grade: A for taste; perhaps a C for calorie consumption guilt ;)