Is it wrong to say my favorite New Food at the Minnesota State Fair is not really a food? The Soft Serve Royal Raspberry Beer at West End Brews is my absolute favorite thing here—creative, delicious, tastes like beer and sorbet. It’s the perfect new fair food. $11, it’s 4.8% ABV, for adults only, and I adored it.
Photos by Jason DeRusha
Lots of good stuff: too many sweet things for my taste! This is the year of dessert. Hot honey was everywhere. That too-thick fried ravioli-style breading was everywhere too—like last year’s fried ranch. But the good stuff is really good. We didn’t get to everything, so if there are foods you want me to try, post them in the comments! Or send me a note at Jason@JasonDeRusha.com! Thanks for reading—and thanks for the crew for helping me out. Our Editor Alesha Taylor, Style Editor Emma Enebak, and Mary Subialka, Editor of Real Food and Drinks magazines. Along with my friends Tracy Perlman, Billie Shoen, and Danny Bredahl (those two have been with me since 2016!).
Blue Ribbon (Excellent—I would get again with my family!)
Somali Street Fries, Midtown Global Market’s Oasis Grill & Hoyo Sambusa, $15. This was glorious—the Somali spiced beef cubes were so flavorful on this poutine-like treat. Veggies, cheese, drizzled with a fab white garlic sauce and green jalapeño sauce.
Fawaffle, Baba’s, $11. Vegan falafel batter pressed into a waffle (fa-waffle) topped with hummus, cherry tomatoes, green shatta sauce, mint, and this tahini butter which gave such great textures, great flavors, and it’s a huge portion for the money. The waffle is cut into four pieces and I would 10/10 have again.
Flauta Dippers, El Burrito Mercado, $15. Just plain delicious: deep-fried tortilla rolled into a cigar shape and stuffed with juicy chicken. Three flautas in a cup filled with green salsa—for the dipping. Served hot and flavorful and one of our tasters said this was the best thing he had at the fair.
Hula Kalua Pork, RC’s BBQ, $14. There’s a magic to barbecue—cook it too long, it falls apart. Too short, it’s not tender. This was perfect—three pork collar pieces, huge flavor. I wish the banana leaf in the bottom of the serving boat was a little larger for photo purposes, but the banana chips gave me Hawaiian vibes and the Japanese quick pickles added some soy and vinegar. I loved it.
Ube Butter Banana French Toast Lumpia, Lumpia City: This surprised me! A dessert lumpia is a fabulous fair food—the crunchy egg roll shell stuffed with purple ube butter, french toast, and banana. It had wonderful textures and bright flavor and made me smile. A win.
Shrimp & Pork Toast, Union Hmong Kitchen, $15. Perfection from Chef Yia Vang, who took a favorite dish from Vinai and put it on a stick at the fair. So good!
Hot Honey Jalapeño Popper Donut, Fluffy’s, $10. Shocked me. When you look at it, you think the white coating is frosting. You’ll see big chunks of bacon and slices of jalepeno, and a big mess of hot honey. And then you take a bite, and get that it’s cream cheese, and this is like a jalapeño popper. Now I know what you’re thinking—Jason, it’s called Jalapeño Popper Donut. But my friend picked it up, I forgot what it was called, and so I just tried it, and liked it. Maybe you will too.
Pot O’ Gold Dumplings, O’Gara’s: This gave me knish energy. They were a little too dense for some of our tasters but I found them perfect. Cheesy garlic mashed potatoes in a small flaky dumpling from Saturday Dumpling Co. The cheese-to-garlic-to-potato ratio was perfect for me, although you may want a beer to wash down the garlic. The Top The Tater dip was joyful as well.
Whipped Feta, Dino’s, $12: Who loves ya, baby!? I’ve been a critic of Dino’s new foods almost every year, but credit where it’s due, this whipped feta with green sauce was fabulous. Fried pita to scoop it up. My only issue was the slightly over charred wild rice on top—too crunchy, too burnt, but chalk that up to day one issues and this would go down with a nice beer so easily. Maybe a little salty, but it’s whipped feta. It’s salty.
Sweet Squeakers, Blue Barn, $14.75: Funnel cake batter around cheese curds with a delicious lemony whipped cream. It’s dessert cheese curds, it tasted a little like mini donuts, very nice. One of those that the more I thought about it, the more I liked it.
Red Ribbon (Very good! Worth your money!)
Cannoli Nachos, Mancini’s, $11: The cannoli-flavored gelato made this a winner for me: sweet yet light, just so Fair friendly. Small cannoli chips for dipping—they were the weak spot of this dish. Not crispy enough. Simple, easy, tasty.
Sambusa Minis, Hoyo at Midtown Global Market, $12: Lentil or beef, the idea of putting these sambusas in a small cone for sharing was brilliant. I like the flavor of the lentil better—these are good sambusas.
Caprese Cheese Curds, LuLu’s, $12: Something fresh and lively! The tomato bruschetta was fresh and bright, and the mozzarella curds sorta worked in here. They get soggy quickly, so you have to eat this fast or not be mad that your curd isn’t crispy. Big sharable bowl.
Pizza Cheese Curd Taco, Richie’s Cheese Curd Tacos, $18. I am not a fan of the cheese curd taco—the fried flour tortilla shell stuffed with curds. So, this is not for me. And yet, our tasters who love a pizza vibe and love the fried-on-fried situation loved this. I wish I could get one for $9.
Bacon Cheese Curd Taters, Greater Tater, $10: Four large tater tots with multiple dipping sauces, including Top The Tater. Large tater tots get a little too mashed potato for me, instead of shredded potato, but if you love them, these are an excellent version.
Grandma Doreen’s Dessert Dog, West End Creamery, $14.75: Our group was split on this, but I really enjoyed the vibe of the coffee cake as a sandwich with the great vanilla ice cream from Minnesota Dairy Lab in the middle. The cinnamon toast crunch / marshmallow snack crumbles on top was a nice touch. Maybe a little more boring than expected? Coffee cake wasn’t flavorful enough.
Afro Bean Pops, Afro Deli, $8. I really enjoyed the savory version of the dish Afro Deli did last year at the fair—these are like black-eyed pea hushpuppies. Good flavor, nice crispy outside. It comes with a red chili sauce, but I would go with the green spicy sauce or the Cajun-style pink sauce.
Deep-Fried Tofuego Bites, Snack House in the Coliseum, $8. This is a great value. The tofu bite was good on its own, I almost missed the solid salad/slaw beneath it. Took 10 minutes for them to make my order though, hopefully they get that worked out.
Tandoori Chicken Quesaratha, Holy Land, $15: I found this to have great flavor but it was way too dense for me, the chicken texture wasn’t my favorite. The paratha bread in quesadilla form was fabulous. It’s a toss-up, you may like or may not. Huge portion.
Participation Ribbon (You may like this, I didn’t)
Deep Fried S’mores, LuLu’s, $12: Outer shell was too thick and the chocolate cream cheese on the middle was a no for me.
Land of 10,000 Cakes Marble Sundae, Bridgeman’s, $14. Good flavors here but in a tall drink glass with a flimsy spoon, it was hard to eat. Nadia Cakes’ cupcakes are good, but are you going to eat this whole thing to get to the chocolate one on the bottom?
Timber Twists, Giggles’ Campfire Grill, $13: Sausage piped into a manicotti shell and wrapped in bacon—there wasn’t enough flavor on any of these components and the bacon unrolled as I bit it.
Uncrustaburger, Coasters, $14. This was the germ of a good idea—deep-frying an Uncrustable was actually delicious. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich deep-fried as a top bun, and a bottom bun, with a bland burger, unmelted cheese, and lettuce in the middle? “Just a mess.”
Fried Pimento, Shanghai Henry’s, $12. Pimento cheese was nice and melty, but the melty cheese was also rather runny. “It’s a bend-forward snack,” Subialka noted. Pepper jelly dip was nice, but there are better fried cheese things out at the Fair. I don’t love this thick breading vessel for the cheese either.
Cloud Cruffle, Spinning Wylde, $12: Why take the best part of a croissant and ruin it by smashing it in a waffle iron? No flaky, no crispy, no thank you. Sad because the lemon meringue cotton candy was extraordinary in the yuzu flavor.
Things I Still Want to Try
Bison Meatball Sandwich, Farmer’s Union
Cinna-Sugar Crust Tidbits, Sara’s Tipsy Pies
Chicken Fried Bacon Fries, Soul Bowl
