Best Rodeo Food

Best Rodeo food: Sweet treats dominate awards as scorpion pizza causes freakout — again

The room got a little dusty during the ceremony honoring the winners of the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo's annual Gold Buckle Foodie Awards. Upon being awarded her third first-place trophy, Custom Confections owner Kimberly Revis teared up as she hugged and kissed her husband Anthony.

It's was a surprisingly poignant moment at the annual event that brings together more than 40 print, broadcast, and online journalists to determine the best food sold on the Rodeo grounds in eight categories. Judges range from venerable favorites like TV and radio host Cleverley Stone to newcomers like 18-year old Savannah Keyes, who's covering the Rodeo for Radio Disney.

Winning brings rewards. Beyond media exposure, attendees who eat every winning dish earn an "I ate all eight" T-shirt. Even people who only eat four get a specially-branded koozie. Considering someone can knock one three at once by going to Custom Confections and ordering the fried brownie ball, the Emma (a chocolate brownie sundae), and the Ultimate (an ice cream cookie sandwich), that shouldn't be too hard to do.

Other winners included Holmes Smokehouse for a bacon chili cheeseburger, Stubby's Cinnamon Rolls (a perennial winner in the breakfast category), Paradise Burgers (for a brownie/cookie hybrid), and Berryhill Baja Grill, which upset the favorites in the ultra-competitive Food on a Stick category.

Just like last year, the appearance of scorpion pizza from Swain's Pizza on a Stick brought a flood of cameras and a selective freakout. Credit Channel 39's Maggie Flecknoe and Hot 95.7 host Sarah Pepper for taking the plunge.

Here's the full list of winners:

Best Breakfast Food
1st: Stubby’s Cinnamon Rolls: Cinnamon Roll with icing
2nd: Stubby’s: Big Stone
3rd: Burton Sausage: Kitchen Sink Taco

Best Value
1st: Stubby’s Cinnamon Rolls: Original Cinnamon Roll
2nd: Ranch House Meats: BBQ plate
3rd: Stubby’s: Loaded Baked Potato

Best Food-on-a-Stick
1st: Berryhill Baja Grill: Shrimp Diablo Kabob
2nd: Saltgrass Steak House: Steak Kabob
3rd: R Fair Fix: Cookie Clough

Classic Fair Food
1st: Holmes Smokehouse: Bacon Chili Cheeseburger
2nd: Biggy’s BBQ: Big Daddy Corndog
3rd: Saltgrass Steak House: Pork Stuffed Potato

Most Creative Food
1st: Custom Confections: The Ultimate
2nd: Taco Me Crazy: Pulled Pork Mexican Bowl
3rd: Fried What: Bacon Wrapped Oreo

Best Fried Food
1st: Custom Confections: Fried Brownie Ball with ice cream
2nd: Aunt Edmoe’s Cookies: Fried Cookie Dough-on-a-Stick
3rd: Berryhill Baja Grill: Original Fish Taco

Best New Flavor
1st: Paradise Burgers: The Brookie
2nd: Sills Funnel Cakes: Fried S’mores
3rd: Taco Me Crazy: Brisket Tacos

Best Dessert
1st: Custom Confections: The Emma
2nd: Fried A Fair: Deep Fried Butter
3rd: Granny’s Cheesecake & More: Cheesecake with strawberries and caramel

Two of Custom Confections's winning dishes.

Rodeo gold buckle 2016 Custom Confections

Photo by Eric Sandler

Two of Custom Confections's winning dishes.

rodeo news-you-can-eat

truffle masters recap

Street corn shines at Houston's truffle-powered chef competition

Photo by Daniel Ortiz

Marcus Benedict, Daniella Johner, and chef Luis Roger of MAD and BCN.

One of Houston’s top Mexican restaurants took the top prize at this year’s Truffle Masters competition. Victoria Elizondo, chef-owner of Cochinita & Co., bested 24 other Houston chefs with Elotitos, corn brushed with chiltepin aioli, dusted with seven chile spice, and finished with shaved truffles and Parmesan.

“The team killed it last night,” Elizondo wrote on Instagram. “We won 1st place at @thetrufflemasters all while having fun and cooking with love! Food doesn’t need to be fancy, it just needs to be made with corazón!”

The attention couldn’t have come at a better time. As CultureMap reported last month, Cochinita & Co. is currently in the process of opening a second location in Lindale Park. Customers can invest in the project via the NuMarket platform in exchange for credits at the restaurant.

Second prize went to Camaraderie in the Heights for its black sesame and black truffle gelato, while Cocody, a French restaurant in River Oaks, took third place for its truffle-shaped Lollys Persillade Escargot Cromesquis, essentially an escargot lollypop with with black truffle and quail egg in the middle.

Montrose sushi restaurant Soto won People’s Choice with its Engawa fin muscle with truffle balsamic unagi sauce, kizami, and chocolate black truffle masago arare. Aniket Bhingare, a bartender at Michelin-starred restaurant Musaafer, won the cocktail competition with his Pour Me a Slice, made with truffle and herb-infused and a clarified mix of roma tomatoes, fresh basil, oregano, basil, and truffle oil.

Other standout dishes included a Yukon Gold potato with truffle brown butter from Michelin-recognized sushi restaurant Hidden Omakase, truffle s’mores from Israeli-inspired steakhouse Doris Metropolitan, beef tartare and truffle ice cream from fine dining sushi restaurant Katami, and Credence’s truffle duck sausage with plums and truffles. Maximo, a Mexican restaurant in West U., maximized (sorry) its truffle usage with a Cachetada de Barbacoa Taco, made with nixtamalized truffle tortilla, truffle-braised barbacoa, and sottocenere al tartufo cheese with black garlic-habanero salsa

More than 350 attended the sold-out affair, which took place at the Astorian events space in Sawyer Yards. The judging panel include both media members (such as this author) and hospitality pros. A portion of proceeds will be donated to the KNOWAutism Foundation.

Photo by Daniel Ortiz

Marcus Benedict, Daniella Johner, and chef Luis Roger of MAD and BCN.