Look at what’s on this thing before you decide whether you’re the kind of person who orders it.
A beef patty, ground in house. A chicken fried mashed potato cake sitting on top of it, which is exactly what it sounds like and better than it has any right to be. Bacon. A fried onion ring, whole, riding the middle. And chorizo gravy over all of it, running down into whatever it can find.
That’s the BIG TEX, and it comes back to Rodeo Goat on September 24. Every piece of it is a fair food in its own right. Somebody walked a midway, took notes, and figured out how to stack the whole thing between two buns.
The run ends October 18, which is the day the State Fair closes. It starts the day before the fair opens. That’s the joke, and they’ve been telling it for years.
Here’s the part that makes it fun. Rodeo Goat runs Battle of the Burgers, two specials head to head, and every order counts as a vote. BIG TEX has never lost. Not once.
This year’s challenger is the Honey Bacon Blue, and it’s a real one. Blue cheese butter stuffed inside the patty, so it melts through the meat instead of sliding off the top. Honey bacon bits. Crispy fried kale doing the crunch work that the onion ring handles on the other burger. Curry mayo on a brioche bun.
It’s the smarter build. It’s also going up against a burger with gravy on it, and gravy has a constituency. You settle it by ordering, which is the whole point.
Then there’s dessert, and they named it Pumpkin Spice Goat Balls, so you already know what you’re in for. Cheesecake, deep fried, rolled in pumpkin spice, served with mascarpone for dipping. Fair food indoors, in air conditioning, brought to your table by somebody who wants you to enjoy it.
Shannon Wynne opened the first Rodeo Goat in Fort Worth in 2012 with a taxidermied goat over the bar and burgers named after local characters. The beef comes from 44 Farms in Cameron. Everything is ground on site. The rest of the menu holds up too, loaded cheese fries, hand-spun shakes, craft beer and frozen cocktails, but nobody’s reading this for the fries.
Ten locations across Dallas-Fort Worth and one in Houston. Open 11 to 10 Sunday through Thursday, 11 to 11 Friday and Saturday.
Pick your spot: Addison, Arlington, Casa Linda, Dallas Design District, Fort Worth, Frisco, Plano, Rockwall, Cypress Waters and Denton. Menus and everything else at RodeoGoat.com.
Twenty-five days. One undefeated burger. Go cast your vote.
