Blue

Rolled in panko and fried to a crisp, Reuben fixings make a splurge-worthy snack at the Roast Beast.

Through Sunday, the Niagara County Fair offers opportunities rare for Lockport: a chance to ride ponies, meet kangaroos, camels, and even an armadillo.

Then eat.

WNY Empanadas uses Niagara County fruit in season. This peach-blueberry galette, in buttery pastry, has a layer of almond underneath the fruit.

Standards abound, from salt potatoes at the snack bar to ribbon fries, fried dough and sausage hoagies on the midway. Newfangled treats include bubble waffles at Candy Explosion and Easter Pearl’s fried avocado and curry goat at Audley’s Caribbean Food.

Here’s a few rare treats that made me feel better than fair.

Grab a galette or savory empanada from WNY Empanadas to munch as you walk around the fair deciding what's for dinner.

WNY Empanadas

Stop here early. Baked pastries with a buttery crust and fillings from sweet to savory make an empanada or galette an excellent one-handed treat to enjoy while trying to figure out how to spend the rest of your food budget. Otto Garcia and David Brown use Niagara County fruit in their peach-blueberry-almond and cherry-pistachio galettes ($7.50) to savory, like the Cuban ($7.50) of roast pork, ham, Swiss cheese, dill pickle and mustard.

Roasted Niagara County poblano chiles, squash, corn, queso fresco and sour cream ($6).

The Roast Beast

Getting deep-fried delights right in the middle of a field is no small thing. The Roast Beast fries up Beast Balls ($6.50), panko-coated golf balls of mac and cheese, Reuben, stuffed Hungarian pepper and more. That means it takes a few minutes, but the crispiness and cheese-pull from the mac and cheese version makes it worth the wait. Also commendable: a Cuban sandwich ($9.50) that did its postgraduate studies in a sandwich press, for a properly crispy exterior.

Pressed to a crisp, the Roast Beast's Cuban sandwich of roast pork, ham, Swiss cheese, dill pickle and mustard is worth waiting for.

Veggie Van

If you want milkshakes, go to the 4-H stand. If you want to close out your caloric splurge with a dose of fresh-from-the-orchard Niagara County cherries, peaches, apricots, apples and more, the Veggie Van will sell you your choice by the piece, or a snack bag of sweet cherries for $1.

Newroyal Orchard cherries are among the Niagara County fruit and vegetables at the Veggie Van.

The fair runs through Sunday at 4487 Lake Ave., Lockport. Admission is $10; food starts around noon.

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