Downtown Syracuse restaurants to take over Tully’s vacated spot at NYS Fair

Oh My Darling at the State Fair

A dish of Chicken and Waffles will be one of the items served at the Oh My Darling / Luna Loca food stand that makes its debut this year at the New York State Fair. (Food styling and photo courtesy Leigh Ann Benz).

At this year’s New York State Fair, you can choose a dish of chicken and waffles instead of chicken tenders.

The owners of the downtown Syracuse restaurants Oh My Darling and the newly opened Luna Loca, are taking over the busy location that has been home to the Tully’s Good Times stand between the Horticulture Building and the Midway.

They teased the announcement with a photo of a piled-high dish of chicken and waffles on the Oh My Darling Facebook page. Tully’s is best known as the purveyor of its Tully’s Chicken Tenders.

“So excited to announce that we will be doing the State Fair this year!,” the Oh My Darling post said. “Located at the entrance of the Midway next to the iconic Pizza Fritte stand! ... Can’t wait! Ready for CHICKEN & WAFFLES?!! @nystatefair.”

The restaurants owned by Ryan and Leigh Ann Benz are the first high-profile new vendors to announce plans to come to the 2021 fair, after a string of well-known and long-time stands pulled out. Those opting out this year include Tully’s, the Gianelli Sausage/Dinosaur Bar-B-Que stand, Haddock’s Paddock and the oldest stand at the Fair, Baker’s Chicken Coop.

In all, roughly 65 of the 500-plus vendors are opting out this year. Some, like Tully’s, say they will be back for the next fair, while others, like Baker’s Chicken, are gone forever.

Many of those skipping this year’s fair are citing issues in finding enough staff for their stands, and others have lingering concerns about the pandemic.

So far, 21 of the usual 215 or so food/drink vendors have dropped out, while about 40 of the just-under 300 merchandise and information booths won’t returns this year. That’s roughly 10% in each case, above the standard 5% turnover seen in a typical year, fair officials have said.

Fair officials have also said they have been working to finalize contracts with about 10 or so new food vendors.

Oh My Darling opened three years ago at 321 S. Salina St. with an “American comfort food” menu. (It also houses The Fitz cocktail bar and Clementine’s grab-and-go lunch counter). Luna Loca opened this summer at 304 E. Onondaga St., in the spot that had been The Mission. It serves a “California Tax Mex” menu.

The stand at the State Fair will be cobranded as both Oh My Darling and Luna Loca, Ryan Benz said today. It will have a limited menu of seven items, slightly more oriented to Oh My Darling’s cuisine, he said. There will be dishes like Mexican Street Corn from the Luna Loca side.

“This is really an opportunity to showcase our restaurants to a larger audience,” Benz said. “Especially with Luna Loca, it’s so new that this is a chance to give it some branding and exposure.”

The stand will likely employ about 50 people during the fair, with half coming from the existing restaurants. Benz hopes to lure others with an offer of $16-an-hour starting wages and pooled tips. Since the Facebook announcement, they’ve already heard from about a dozen candidates. Interested candidates can contact info@darlingsyr.com.

“That’s encouraging,” Benz said. “We’re really happy to be part of the Fair and showing people what we can do.”

This year’s state fair, the first to extend its run to 18 days, starts Friday, Aug. 20, and ends on Labor Day, Sept. 6.

More on NYS Fair vendors

Who’s skipping the NYS Fair? See list of 65 vendors opting out for 2021

It was the oldest food stand at the New York State Fair. It won’t be back

Don Cazentre writes for NYup.com, syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Reach him at dcazentre@nyup.com, or follow him at NYup.com, on Twitter or Facebook.

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