Testing tasty treats at Grape Festival
We arrived at the Lodi Grape Festival just after it opened at 4 p.m. Thursday afternoon. I was so hungry. I had been waiting all day to try all the interesting and tasty foods the festival had to offer. I was joined by my two coworkers John Bays and Chrystle Rose Roth who were also excited to take on this food adventure. Bea Ahbeck, our photographer, was also there to document this experience.
Once we made our way into the festival, I asked John and Chrystle to go to a few booths and pick a few interesting and unique dishes for us to try. We split up and went our separate ways to find dishes. As I walked around the festival, I looked at the menus at all the booths to see what kind of foods they offered.
The menu items at the Funnel Cake Express really caught my eye. It was perfect for someone like me with a sweet tooth. It included a variety of different funnel cakes along with several deep-fried selections such as Snickers, Oreos, MilkyWays and Twinkies. As I was reading the menu, I was greeted by AAryn Duran, who worked in the booth. We had a little chat, and I asked her what their best sellers were. She told me the deep-fried Oreos were good but the strawberry cheesecake funnel cake and the strawberry funnel cake were the crowd favorites.
However, I had my heart set on the deep-fried Oreos. I had always wanted to try them, and I was sure it would be a favorite amongst the group. I order the Oreos, and then I stood off to the side as they cooked them up fresh just for me. When I received the Oreos, they were really warm and covered in lots of chocolate and powdered sugar. I couldn’t wait to try them.
After I selected my dish, I met back up with the group to see what treats they had picked out for us to try. Chrystle had gotten two dishes from this booth called the Teppanyaki 2 Go, and while she was there she spoke with Mike Mabutas and Denise Sterni who worked at the booth. They told her that this was their second year at the festival, and that so far their steak and chicken combo was their best seller. She ended up ordering the steak and chicken combo which included kimchi garlic fried rice and salad. She also brought back a shrimp combo with garlic rice.
John ordered a duros and a mangonada from the Rancho San Miguel booth. While at the booth he had a chance to speak with Erika Santana who told him that the best sellers at the booth were their duros, tacos and burritos.
Once we got all the food on the table and Bea got all the pictures she needed, we began digging in and, of course, the deep-fried Oreos were the first dish I tried.
For some reason, I thought I was going to be able to eat the Oreos with a fork, but it was a little difficult. I ended up just picking up one of the Oreos with my hands. As I bit into the Oreo, all the warm cream filling gushed into my mouth followed by the sweet chocolatey deep fried deliciousness. It was definitely sugar overload, but very tasty. I knew I couldn’t eat more than one at a time without at least having some water to wash it down with.
Chrystle and John also found the deep-fried Oreos to be tasty.
“The Oreos were amazing and really surprising,” John said.
“Those were a brilliant idea; thank you for picking those out,” Chrystle said.
Next, I tried the two combos from Teppanyaki 2 Go. First I tried the chicken and steak combo with the kimchi rice. It was delicious and was bursting with flavor. I had to have several bites. The only thing I didn’t like was that they put eggs in the rice. I’m not really a big fan of eggs, but I managed to eat around them. I don’t eat seafood, so I didn’t try the shrimp, but I did taste the garlic fried rice, and it was pretty tasty. John and Chrystle didn’t have the shrimp either because they were both allergic. However, they were thoroughly impressed with the steak and chicken combo with the kimchi fried rice.
“The garlic kimchi fried rice is just fantastic ‘cause it’s really not spicy. It’s just super flavorful,” Chrystle said.
“The steak is really nice too. It’s really tender. It’s not too fatty or too chewy,” John added.
They also felt the salad dressing that came with the salad was good too.
“It’s simplistic, but it has a real good flavor,” Chrystle said.
“It’s really mild, and it doesn’t overpower at all,” John said.
After indulging in the
Teppanyaki combos, I decided to try the duros, a Mexican snack made of puffed wheat. John had sprinkled them with a little Valentina hot sauce and lime juice, and they had gotten a little soggy by the time I had a chance to try them. So I didn’t really enjoy them. However, I’m sure they would have been better if I had tried them when he first got them.
“They’re better when they’re fresh,” John said.
Even though they weren’t my favorite, Chrystle seemed to enjoy them.
“I’m not one for hot sauce, but with the lime, that’s actually really good. It cuts through the spicy. I actually like those, they’re pretty good,” she said.
The final dish was the mangonada which was composed of mango sorbet, mango chunks, chamoy, tajin powder and a tamarindo stick. I had never tried anything like that before. It was certainly an interesting and unique dish, but it just wasn’t for me. However, the mango chunks in it were refreshing.
“It’s sweet, tangy and spicy,” John said.
“It’s almost like a savory dessert. It has substance to it,” Chrystle added.
Once we ate all the tasty treats. We gathered our belongings and made our way back to the car with our bellies full. Overall, I felt all the foods we tried were pretty good, and they exceeded my normal expectations for fair food.
Be sure to keep these dishes and booths in mind when you visit the Lodi Grape Festival this weekend. For more information about the festival visit