Abel Gonzales

Abel Gonzales Jr. (born November 1969), also known as Fried Jesus, is an "extreme fryer" and the five-time winner of Big Tex Choice Awards, an annual contest at the Texas State Fair, and the inventor of several deep fried items including Fried Coke, deep-fried butter and deep-fried turkey ribs. He has also been a judge on the television show Deep Fry Masters.

Early life

The son of a Tex-Mex restaurateur, Gonzales was born in Dallas, Texas, in November 1969. and graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School where he was later inducted into their hall of fame in 2014.

In 2017, Gonzales opened a Dallas restaurant called Republic Ranch which featured "a blending of Mexican food and barbecue". It featured tacos with fillings such as ribeye and pulled pork as well as fried chicken and brisket.

State Fair of Texas Since 2004, Gonzales has been entering into the Big Tex Choice Award contest, a contest for the most creative deep fried food, and has been a finalist every year except for 2014. He has won the contest five times in categories such as "best taste" and "most creative" with multiple deep fried inventions. In 2004, he won with the fried peanut butter and jelly sandwich, in 2005 with Fried Coke, in 2006 with fried cookie dough, in 2008 with deep-fried butter, and in 2011 with Fried Jambalaya. and deep fried pineapple rings.