People! The 2017 Minnesota State Fair is so big. So very, very big. It's bigger than ever—there are 35 official new foods—and in fact, a lot more new foods than that, if you look. There are at least a dozen new beers—including varieties with both fresh cucumber and pickled. We made this beast! We made it together.
I remember when the new foods were mainly a little sideshow. Now every single person at the Fair seems to be clutching their new foods list. I talked to a few vendors who said that they can't even sell foods that are not "new" anymore. Weird!! But I can't think too much more about this right now, I'm dehydrated and need to get out the news: I ate so much! And I am rendering my strict and final verdicts on the new foods at the Fair, of which I tried nearly all.
Top 5:
Minnesota State Fair 2017 Farmers Union Cold Press and Pastries
5. Maple Cream Nitro Cold Press Coffee at Farmers Union Coffee Shop
If you want the most purely delicious new food at the Fair this year, it's got to be this simple nitrogen-pushed cold press. It's sweetened with local maple syrup and lightened with organic cream from the Farmer's Union booth—creamy, elegant, pure. I know a lot of people want their State Fair foods to be nuts, but honestly, out of everything I tried this year, this cold press is the one I'm most likely to spend my own money on again. Pure and good. I liked but didn't love the very sticky-sweet chili and bacon donut, and the kernza sweet corn eclair the Birchwood also has at the Farmer's Union—the eclair was a little too earthy and dense for me. Try it for yourself though.
4. Thai Rolled Ice Cream at Rainbow Ice Cream
Who's in the mood for a fun gimmick? I hope it's you! Ribbon ice cream is what happens when you pour standard ice cream base on a super-cold griddle, it freezes flat, and then you scrape it into a ribbon. While this is not more delicious than ice cream of the standard sort, it's fun to watch, and you're not going to find it everyday everywhere, so I recommend it. Pro tip: Ask for it without the "whip." The spray-can whipped cream has a chemical aftertaste and is not delicious.
State Fair 2017 Bacon Fluffernutter
3. Bacon Fluffernutter at Sandwich Shop
Honeybuns on the outside, salty bacon, and salty peanut butter with marshmallow fluff on the inside—crush it all in a panini press. I sort of love this thing. Salty, sweet, extreme, silly—it's everything you want in a Fair food, and well balanced.
Minnesota State Fair 2017 Hot Indian Smoresas
2. Hot Indian S'moresas
Amol Dixit, owner of Hot Indian Foods, has been at the State Fair for the first half of the run for the last few years running, and he has really come to some deep and profound understandings of how to win this thing. This year he's taken a thin samosa wrapper, stuffed it with chocolate and marshmallow, deep fried it, and paired it with a nice cardamon-rich Chai dipping sauce. It hits every note a fancy dessert should—surprising and full of flavor. It also hits every note a Fair food should, namely it's portable and accessible. I love it.
Minnesota State Fair 2017 Hamline church meatballs
1. Hamline Church Dining Hall Wild Rice Meatballs
Since 1897, the Hamline Dining Hall has been at the State Fair, supporting its church and embodying everything good and pure about the Fair. Or at least that's how I feel about it right now. The dining room is really a throwback to old-school, small-town Minnesota, and its new offering of wild rice meatballs is terrific. I love the cream gravy, the mellow wild rice flavors, the paper cup of lingonberries, and I even love the pile of corn on the red-pattern plate. If you want to find the true essence of the Fair, go to the Hamline Church Dining Hall! My top pick of the year.
Now, my worst 3:
1. Dorito Corn at Texas Steak Out is a sloppy mess. Yuck.
2. The Green Mill's Pizzarito taste like you had pizza fixings but no crust, so you rolled it all up in a tortilla. Which is fine, but I can play "I forgot to go to the store" at home.
3. I didn't care for the Bowl O' Dough at the Blue Moon Diner, but I'm not a cookie dough person—if you're a cookie dough lover, check it out and get back to me.
