Salinas takes a bag of Doritos®, cuts off the top, crushes the Doritos up, adds seasoned meat, jalapeños, lettuce, onion, tomato, grated cheese, sour cream and salsa. He says that at the stand it'll be "a build-your-own taco" situation. You tell them what you want, then he mixes it all up in the bag and you walk away with your taco salad. I mean Dorito-Frito pie. I mean your "Walking Taco." Which isn't fried. I'm so confused.
Don't get me wrong. It's probably delicious. It's just not a taco.
Salinas was a finalist in the first year of the Big Tex Choice Awards in 2005 with deep-fried coconut-coated pineapple rings. Sound familiar? That's probably because this year, Abel Gonzales Jr. is a finalist with his pineapple upside down cake. Which is pineapple rings dipped in cake batter and fried. We'll see if Gonzales (aka Mr. Fried Butter, Fried Coke, Fried Cookie Dough and Fried PB&J) can win with an idea Salinas couldn't turn into a title.
If the Walking Taco (salad) isn't your bag, Salinas also offers up roasted ears of corn at his booth. Says it's his best seller. "We sell 50,000 to 60,000 a year over those 24 days, depending on what the weather's like."
Looking for something sweeter? "This year, we're bringing another new item out too," Salinas says. "It's caramel corn on the cob." You heard that right. Caramel corn. In the shape of an ear of corn. On a stick. How the holy hell did that not make it into the Big Tex Choice Awards finals?
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