She may be known for her fried collard greens or other deep fried dishes she serves up at the State Fair of Texas, but Chef Cassy Jones creates many traditional Southern dishes with a modern twist for East Texans throughout the year.

Jones, who is now a resident of the Cedar Creek Lake area, is an award-winning chef who is currently one of the featured personalities on the hit A&E television show Deep Fried Dynasty, which follows some of the food vendors at the State Fair of Texas. She has also been featured on Guy’s Grocery Games and The Cooking Channel’s Carnival Eats.

Chef Cassy was on the Kelly Clarkson Show last month where guest Jeff Foxworthy described her food as so good that if you put it on the top of your head, your tongue would beat your brains to get to it.

Her fried collard green recipe is partly what helped Jones skip the State Fair of Texas waitlist and propelled her to a location on the Midway in 2013. She pre-cooks her greens on the stove, mixes in a little cream cheese, places the mixture in a wonton wrapper, fries it and serves it with Louisiana hot sauce. Her deep fried alligator egg placed her in the finals for the Big Tex Choice Awards in 2015.

Outside of the fried food attention that Chef Cassy receives, she runs a successful catering company and is also a private chef for some celebrity clientele, including former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Amari Cooper and Seattle Seahawks player, Tyler Lockett.

Chef Cassy hasn’t always been known as such. She actually changed careers at the age of 40 after having a conversation with her daughter, Whitney, about her goals and how she always wanted to be a chef.

Cassy’s oldest child has cerebral palsy and that prompted her to start a school for her child and others who needed special care, which she ran for almost 15 years before attending culinary school.

Although she has been cooking in the kitchen since 10 with her mother and grandmother, who is from Eustace, she hadn’t planned on doing much more than catering until she cooked for the City of Cedar Hill, where a woman asked her if she ever thought about entering a fried food contest at the fair. The rest is history, they say.

Chef Cassy said she and her husband love living in the area, where they describe the air as smelling better and where the people are friendlier. She said she enjoys creating new dishes or taking an old classic dish and serving it up in a unique way. Since every catering event is different, Chef Cassy collaborates with her clients to create a special menu and setting.

Currently Chef Cassy Jones can be found at the Food Truck Park in Mabank, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday creating dishes like crawfish queso fries, turkey legs, alligator poppers, and her famous deep fried collard greens. You can also catch her on A&E at 9 p.m. Tuesdays and follow her at www.facebook.com/ChefCassysCatering.