Oktoberfest food booths sold a lot of familiar fairground stuff, as well as some German dishes like potato pancakes, sausage wraps and German tacos (sausage slices, sauerkraut and mustard on a flour tortilla). But my favorite item was big one-pound russet potato cut with a spiral cutter and deep-fried into an enormous potato chip.
Food vendors were charging five dollars for the giant potato chip. That’s kind of expensive, but it’s hard to beat the flavor of hot, freshly fried potato chips dusted with salt. And what could possibly taste better with a cold beer?
I stopped and watched the potato-cooking process at a very impressive-looking concession stand operated by a guy named Nasser Alawar. He used to have a place in Galveston called Gyro Connection, he told me. But Ike destroyed the business and he didn’t have any insurance. Nasser said he is trying to make a living now cooking on the road at fairs and celebrations.
I wished him the best. He sure was selling a lot of potatoes. – Robb Walsh
This article appears in Oct 16-22, 2008.
