When the State Fair of Texas returned in full swing this year, we knew we had to revive our State Fair food bracket, pitting the classics versus newcomers. Each week, voters whittled down the contenders. And, now, we’ve got our 2021 winner: Fernie’s Fried Toffee Coffee Crunch Cake. 

It was a hotly contested battle against perhaps the most beloved State Fair staple, Fletcher’s Corny Dog. Alas, the public has spoken and it’s a sweet treat that reigns supreme this year.

The Armadillo, we’ve very seriously reported, took the winning spot for Best Sweet at this year’s Big Tex Choice Awards. But Alice Laussade, our State Fair food correspondent, declares that, in her extremely professional opinion, Fernie’s [Fried] Toffee Coffee Crunch Cake should have won. No shade to the butter cookie ice cream sandwich shaped like an armadillo, but “Oh God, it’s so good… It’s not too sweet, a bit of unexpected crunch on the outside. I’d have it with coffee every morning if a coffee shop served it. And it’s brought to us by the same family who brought funnel cakes to the fair in the first place.”

Christi Erpillo knows fair fare. She grew up doing this. See, Erpillo of Winter Family Concessions (official LinkedIn title: Chief Frying Officer) helps run one of the most decorated food stands in State Fair history. Her concession stand, which has been a fair institution for over 50 years, is credited with bringing the eternally classic funnel cake to the fair in the ’80s for crying out loud.

Erpillo has been doing this for a good while, and still she was excited for another win among many. “We thought it was that good, but the fact that somebody beat Fletcher’s in anything, we’re so thrilled about it. I’m thrilled to death,” Erpillo told SideDish as she was walking between concession stands Friday afternoon.

One of the most storied venues in Texas is being saved from the wrecking ball. New ownership is announcing its big plans: not just a space for live music, but a community center, a hub for local artists and musicians. The city of Dallas is saying it will pony up $500,000 for restoration. The press is gushing about all of it. After years in a state of ignominious repair, the Longhorn Ballroom—where Bob Wills led the house band, where Jack Ruby once held the lease, where the Sex Pistols shared a marquee with Merle Haggard, where countless country and western and blues and soul and rock acts played shows that the people who were there will never forget—is back.

That was all happening in 2017, and if anyone knew that those plans weren’t going to work out, they were saying it quietly and out of earshot of any giddy media member. Within a couple years, the owners would default on their loans. The Ballroom would go back on the market to be sold out of bankruptcy. Lawyers would get involved. Demolition would again look all too possible.

You could be forgiven for experiencing some deja vu when the Dallas Morning News first reported a couple weeks ago on the latest plan to resurrect the Longhorn. The difference this time is Edwin Cabaniss, who is now under contract to buy the venue. Cabaniss has done this sort of thing before, rescuing and restoring the Kessler Theater in Oak Cliff and the Heights Theater in Houston. 

To catch you up: HB 3979 is the new Texas law that attempts to protect racists from getting their feelings hurt. Sorry, I’m showing my bias. I am biased against nonsense. Read the thing for yourself if you want to. Anyway, the law led an administrator in Carroll ISD to tell teachers there that if they had any books about the Holocaust in their classrooms, they also should have a book presenting an “opposing” view. The folks at NBC News broke this story yesterday.

Today the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum sent a note from Mary Pat Higgins, their president and CEO, and Mark Zilbermann, their board chair, that shows their own bias against nonsense. They are appalled by what’s going on in Southlake. Here’s the full text:

It’s funny sometimes how things work out. Bill Sanderson didn’t set out to profile Louise Rowe. Bill had come across a handwritten history of the Longhorn Ballroom that Dewey Groom had given him back in 1977. As Bill put it, the pages were sitting in his “piling system.” Groom owned a record label and was a recording artist. He also owned and ran the Longhorn. So Bill got the idea to track down some of the folks who’d played the iconic joint and put together an oral history. Which is how he found Rowe, who he pretty quickly decided deserved her own treatment. She’s 89 now and lives in Hurst. How she got discovered as a teenager by Bob Wills and became one of the few Texas Playboys ever to wear a dress — well, I agreed with Bill’s assessment. His story appears in the October issue of D Magazine, and it went online today.

Mike Piellucci won’t let me contribute stuff to StrongSide. He also won’t bet me on the USC v. ND game, even if I give the dumb Trojans 11.5 points. So this is my only sports outlet, here on FrontBurner. Y’all need to know that Woodrow won the Fracas in East Dallas (which was actually played in southeast Dallas, at Forester Field). The News has some pics of the game here. You’re welcome.

Texas Abortion Restrictions Remain in Effect. The legal challenge that briefly blocked Senate Bill 8 from being enacted is in the rear view mirror. Perhaps the most conservative of all the federal appeals courts allowed the ban on abortion after six weeks of gestation to continue until the courts take up the U.S. Department of Justice’s official challenge to the state law. The state’s decision has caused women to pour into neighboring states like Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Kansas seeking abortions.

Meanwhile, Legislators Dilute Tarrant, Dallas County Districts. The redistricting process is targeting the 33rd and 6th congressional districts, largely suburban areas that have seen a flood of Latino and Asian residents. Those districts had long been Republican strongholds, but have recently won favor with Democrats. Now, the Texas Tribune reports, they’re taking these areas with growing percentages of people of color and “grafting them onto massive districts dominated by White voters.” That means the districts, which currently encompass the suburban areas east of Fort Worth and just east of Dallas, respectively, would glom onto the rural counties north and south of them, more than halving the influence of likely Democratic voters.

Dallas Cop Shoots at Man, Suspended for 45 Days. Officer Branson Grisham rounded a corner and then fired his weapon at a 59-year-old man who was standing still with his hands up. The cop missed, but his body camera captured the act. No weapon was found on the man, proving that he was not a threat to the officer. Police Chief Eddie Garcia said he had “serious concerns” with the incident and placed the officer on administrative leave. Now Grisham will be sidelined without pay for 45 days; the incident has been forwarded to a grand jury.

Cold Front Is Here, Fall To Come. You’re going to wake up to temperatures in the low 70s that will drop into the 60s behind a northern wind. Expect those temperatures to hold through the afternoon and evening. Saturday morning will begin in the 50s with surrounding areas in the 40s; expect the afternoon to stay around the 70s. Same deal on Sunday. Enjoy the weather—Fake Fall is dead.