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Berry Me in Matcha

Berry Me in Matcha

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State Fair of Texas, 2026 Big Tex Choice Awards: Most Creative

Stephen El Gidi used to get judged on hundredths of a second.

Now he gets judged on cheesecake.

He says he likes it better this way.

What This Thing Actually Is

Start with a New York style cheesecake. Dip the whole thing in silky Belgian white chocolate.

Roll it in crushed matcha cookies for a dose of earthy crunch. Drizzle it again with white chocolate and sweet strawberry jam.

Finish with a fresh strawberry slice on top.

A cheesecake that got dressed up twice: once in chocolate, once in matcha, and somehow neither outfit clashes.

It won Most Creative for 2026.

The Part That’s Actually Funny

El Gidi swam the 100 meter butterfly at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. That’s a career built on shaving fractions of a second off a stroke while everyone in the building watches and a scoreboard decides if you were good enough.

He’s now the president of Drizzle Cheesecakes, a shop that opened in Irving in January 2025 specializing in cheesecakes on a stick. He sells them at Six Flags and at the Fair, and he’s said flatly what he thinks of Big Tex judging.

“It’s a straight up competition. And I love that.”

That’s an Olympian talking about a cheesecake contest with the same tone he probably used before a race.

Most people who leave elite sports look for something slower. He found the one Texas contest built to feel exactly the same.

Why Texas Keeps Doing This

Everything is bigger in Texas, and apparently that includes the stakes fairgoers didn’t know a dessert could carry.

Most people would call winning an Olympic level competitive streak a wrap. Texas handed one guy a panel of judges and a fried food contest, and he treated it like a final heat.

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