State Fare

State Fare

By Sarah Baird

Few people can lay claim to the notion that they were raised by Big Tex — the 55-foot-tall, Lone Star State-loving,barrel-chested animatronic cowboymascot who welcomes visitors to theState Fair of Texas each year with amighty “Howdy, folks!” — but GregParish of Gourmet Royale sure can.

“There’s a joke among the fair food families that we were raised by Big Tex because we spent so much time on the fairgrounds as kids,” Parish laughs. A second-generation fair food concessionaire, Parish and his tight-knit family have developed a roster of jaw-droppingly quirky, mouthwatering foods over the years that are ideal for munching while in motion between livestock shows, barrel racing and rides on the Tilt-A-Whirl. These always playful, often fried creations sometimes bring a few quizzical head scratches when customers first hear about them. Deepfried chicken and waffles on a stick?! But one bite, and it’s obvious that behind each idiosyncratic dish is a chef with the one-of-a-kind fair food mastery necessary to meet such a specific culinary niche.

Parish’s commitment to risk-taking and playfulness paid off last year when Gourmet Royale’s deep-fried seafood gumbo balls (yes, really) took home not one, but two, top prizes in the State Fair’s ultimate culinary showdown: the Big Tex Choice Awards.

The Big Tex Choice Awards — or simply “the contest,” as Parish calls it — challenges State Fair concessionaires to put forth their most finger-licking, wild-hair fair food ideas in a head-to-head competition judged by a panel of celebrity Texans. The gumbo balls not only took home the trophy for Best Dish (Savory) last year, but also walked away with bragging rights for being named Most Creative. It was only the second time in the contest’s 17-year history for a single dish to win more than one award.

But what exactly is a gumbo ball, and what makes them so remarkable? In our

conversation below, Parish gives a heartfelt reflection not only on the roux-rich magic behind the gumbo ball itself, but why the dish’s success is so sentimental for his family and their State Fair of Texas legacy.

Sarah Baird: How did you get started in the State Fair of Texas culinary world?

Greg Parish: I’m a second-generation concessionaire: My father, Robert, Jr., founded the business back in 1985 and we’ve been at the fair since that time. Growing up at the fair…it was very unique. I literally grew up out there working, being on the grounds, and soaking up everything along with all the different families that are part of the fair, as well. I would wander off and just get lost exploring and enjoying the people, the sights, the sounds, the smells — it’s an exciting experience. It also made for a good situation among my peers, because I was able to bring friends to the fair, and we could all wander around and have a good time.

SB: What were some of the specialty foods that your dad made when your family first started out?

GP: Oh man, it was so simple. We started out with popcorn and nachos and beer. It was very humble beginnings.

SB: And how did that grow into something as creative and unique as your prize-winning deepfried seafood gumbo balls?

GP: Pretty much up through the first part of the 1990s, we kept it really simple. But in 1996, my cousin went No. 1 in the [NFL]

draft, and we all went out to California for it. That’s where my father discovered chicken and waffles. When we got back, he was awarded an additional booth at the fair, and we started expanding the menu. Once we started adding items, we recognized the response from customers — people were very excited. When they started doing the Big Tex Choice Awards in 2005, we didn’t really get involved at first, but around 2010, we started to take interest in entering items into the contest. From there, I guess you could say it’s been trial and error. We’ve put something in every year. It’s mainly been my older sister and me because my father was fine with the classic menu that he had, but the kids have always been innovating and thinking of different ideas we could do to win the contest.

SB: Before gumbo balls, what were some of the other foods you entered in the contest?

GP: We entered a fried red velvet cupcake. We did a deep-fried chicken and waffle on a stick. We did a deep-fried shrimp-and-grits ball, and then we did a deep-fried spaghetti and meatball. From there, we did fried chicken nachos…and that’s a funny story. We had a banner that posted all of the food that we sold, and it read: beer, wine, margaritas, fried chicken, nachos. People would come up and be like, “I’d like to order the fried chicken nachos.” After numerous years of telling people, “We don’t do fried chicken nachos,” I was like, “Hey, Dad, why don’t we try to add that to the menu?” So, we added it, and we put it in the contest. It got a very, very good response.

In the years after that, we ventured off a little because we’re also confectioners: We do gourmet popcorn and candies. We did a bacon brittle that was popular, but with all of those entries, the closest we got to winning was the semi-finals. We finally made it to the finals when we did wineand-cheese popcorn, specifically a red wine — Pinot Noir — and cheese popcorn. Then we came back and were like, “Well, we did the deep-friend spaghetti and meatball; let’s do a deep-fried chicken Alfredo ball.” That made it to the finals and was very successful. But right after we did the Alfredo ball — that’s what we called it — the pandemic hit, so we had to take a break. Last year in 2021, we did the gumbo ball, and the overwhelming response from that was just incredible.

SB: Tell me a little bit about what goes into the gumbo ball. How do you make it, and why do you think it was so popular?

GP: I’m still trying to figure out why it’s so popular! I guess gumbo is just a very popular dish.

The gumbo ball is very simple. It’s about the size of a golf ball, and you get two of them with an order. I came up with the concept one day when I was at Pappadeaux, eating gumbo. I was just like, “Hey, this could be a good idea!” When I’m visualizing a concept, I can usually see it. And I just saw it. I thought, I can do the rice. I can make a rice ball and use the roux to be an adhesive for it, and then we can add four different types of meat to it. So, I made it.

It’s a rice ball filled with a roux to give it the seasoning and flavor, then we add the basic gumbo elements. Now in the roux, you do have the trinity — bell pepper, onion and celery — and also bay leaf and spices that go into it. Then we add in Gulf Coast shrimp, two types of crab meat — we do lump crab and blue crab — then andouille sausage and stewed chicken. I love crackers with my gumbo when I’m eating it, crackers and hot sauce. So, to top it off and make it really authentic, when I do the batter [for deep-frying] I combine bread crumbs with crushed saltine crackers. That means when you bite into it, first there’s a crunch, then you’re going to taste the roux; then you’re going to taste the rice; then you’re going to taste all the different types of meat and flavors.

I have a niece, and she’s like our good luck charm. She’s our secret weapon. She’s the one who had the idea to put the wine popcorn in the contest a few years back. We had been doing catering and concessions with it as a popcorn flavor, and to me, it’s normal — wine popcorn seems normal to me. But to everyone else, it’s like, “This is a very creative flavor!” So she told me to enter it because she thought it was very different and would win.

I ignored her at first and said, “Oh, you don’t know what you’re talking about!” But I thought about it a little, and I said, “You know what, we’re going

to go with your pick.” And we ended up winning, so then the next year I was like, “So, what else you got in mind?”

That’s the tradition now. I came up with the gumbo ball myself, and when I told her about it, she was like, “Stop. Don’t say nothing else. That’s what we’re going to go with.” And that’s what we did!

She had an idea for the presentation, though, that we should make it look more like a deconstructed gumbo by adding a cup of roux on the side for the people to dip the gumbo balls in and really get the effect of a gumbo. We went with it, and then we added crackers and hot sauce for aesthetics. We were just at the kitchen table one day talking, and that’s how we came up with it. It seems simple to us, but everyone is always like, “Wow!” when they try it.

We actually entered two items into the contest last year. We did the gumbo ball, and we did a lemon icebox pie ball. If I’m being honest with you, I was more focused on the pie ball than the gumbo ball. But once we entered the gumbo ball into the contest and everyone began to try it, I could see the enthusiasm. When we were at the contest finals and the celebrity judges got to try it, hearing their words and their reaction — it was just mind-blowing.

SB: What are the finals of the Big Tex Choice Awards like when you know you have a dish that’s a real contender?

GP: The crazy part about it is that we won two awards for the gumbo balls. We won Most Creative and Best Tasting (Savory). I wasn’t expecting it. It was awards time, and they were like, “And the winner is...then there was a drum roll

and all that…for Best Tasting (Savory): the deep-fried seafood gumbo balls!” We thought we should win that category, so I was satisfied. I accepted the award and went back to my seat. I was cool. But then they were like, “For Most Creative…the deep-fried seafood gumbo balls!” And everyone was like, “Dang! Oh my God!”

We were blown away, and to make it even more sentimental, my mother had just passed away right before the contest started. My mother was a master chef, and one of her last recipes was working with me on the gumbo ball. She was bedridden, but she was my taste tester. She’d say, “Well, add this, take that out — do this, do that.” And the day we were going to do the photo shoot [for the contest] she passed away. Winning the contest — and to really win how we won — was a great way to honor her legacy as well.