The Best Fair In The US - Part 1 The Food

 St. Paul, MN

The Minnesota State Fair

On Thursday we went to the opening day of the Minnesota State Fair.  We hear that the crowds are thick and parking is limited so we set our alarms and got up early.  We were on the road by 6:15 and arrived at the parking lot at around 6:30.  As we waited in line to park we watched the line to get through security get longer and longer.  The doors don't even open until 7am and there were already crowds of people there.  We were glad we got there early.

As we pulled up to the attendant giving directions, they directed us to a different parking lot.  We drove around the back of the fair and found our spot.  When we got out of the car we were directed to a different entrance with no one waiting in line.  We breezed through security and were let into the fair at 6:35am, way before many other people.  This was a really nice surprise. 

We were very happy to be able to enter the fair before most others.  We took the extra time to take some photos.

Nothing was open yet but we were in!  All this room for activities!

This photo was taken at 6:56am.  There was already a line at our chosen breakfast spot.

The Minnesota State Fair is all about the food for us.  We had picked out a few things that we wanted to eat, most of them being on a stick, and had a loose plan for day.  Our breakfast was at Hamline Church.  We wanted to split a Hamloaf Breakfast Sandwich.

Hamline opened right at 7am.  By the time we got our food the line was out the door and getting long.

This was why we were here.  The Holey Hamloaf Sandwich.  It doesn't look like much and it isn't on a stick but it was delicious!

"If you love our hamloaf, try our church" is a pretty great slogan.

The guys in front of us had their photo taken for the newspaper.  Donna checked this morning and they didn't make it in.

With our first stop done, we were feeling good about getting through the things we wanted to see.  In my mind, we were already ahead of schedule.  There was still more eating so we decided to walk around and explore.

We used this great app to help us navigate the giant fairground and all it has to offer. 

It was still early and the DFL booth wasn't open.  It was hopping later in the day.

We happened by another food item on our list pretty much right away.

Giant Egg Roll on a stick!  We were told it was going to be a 2 minute wait for them to come out of the fryer.

When they handed us the egg roll they said, "you get the first egg roll of this year's state fair".  I asked if I could get a t-shirt and he said, "come back next year and I will have one for you."

We both really liked the egg roll.  It was surprisingly good.  Donna had read about it in the paper.

I have only been to one other state fair so I am not the most experienced visitor, but my assumption with fairs is that most of the vendors and rides are provided by companies bringing in trailers and setting up for the time the fair is open and then packing up and heading to the next fair or festival.  This is the case with some of the vendors here, but there are also permanent stands on the fairgrounds that have the same vendors there year after year as well as built in rides that are only open during the fair.  Our main focus for food today was on these permanent vendors.  

Our next stop was The Food Building, a building with permanent vendors.  It was kind of like a food court but cooler.

There was an army of workers at The Mouth Trap and they had a huge area roped off for a queue that will fill up later.  We didn't get cheese curds but they seem very popular.

We got the lefse.  When in Minnesota right?

It was good but not as good as we would have wanted.  The lefse wasn't warm so it just kind of tasted like a tortilla.

So we went to the Herbaceous Butcher, a vegan butcher.  Sounds weird but they make some good stuff.

We got one of the most delicious sesame buns we have ever had.  It was filled with a vegan cheeseburger filling.  Now I want to go to their actual restaurant.  

Minnesota is known for its Nice, not its Spice, so "Oh God It's Hot" is probably a good slogan for this Caribbean place we didn't try.

We did some walking around and saw some stuff I will post about in Part 2, but soon we were hankering for more snacks. 

$1 Milk!

Donna got regular milk and I got Chocolate Milk.  It was delicious and such a deal.  You can't get much for a dollar anymore.  We could have paid $3 for all you can drink milk elsewhere but the jokes on them, 1 cup is all we can drink!

Our next food stop was in the Agriculture Building.  We went to see the crop art, content for a different post, but first we got Honey Ice Cream from Bee MN Nice and a flight of beer from the Brewers Guild.

They had 4 or 5 different 4 beer flights you could choose from.  This is the flight we chose.

They were all fine beers.  Nothing special, but good.

Our next stop was at Union Hmong Kitchen.  The Twin Cities area has a huge Hmong population and a Hmong celebrity chef.  Chef Vang has a few restaurants in the area and a great show called Relish on PBS.

The line was long but not near as long as it can get, we are told.

We got a Grilled Sticky Rice Stick with pickled mushrooms.  It was, in our opinion, the best thing we ate all day.

Our next food of the day was back in the Food Building.  We wanted to get some Minnesota Walleye.  Walleye is a very popular fish in Minnesota.

The fish was mixed with potatoes and maybe onion to make balls that tasted great.  

Our last food of the day was also at the Food Building.  I couldn't go to a state fair without getting the quintessential fair food, a corndog!  And I couldn't just get any corndog when in the part of the country, so I had to get a Corn Brat. 

"Shut up stomach!  You're getting more grease!"

The Corn Brat was fantastic and greasy.  I don't think my stomach could handle anymore grease today.  

Well that is a lot of fair so I will break this event into 2 or 3 posts.  Check back next time for a report on the fair rides and other stuff we did.  It was a great day and I am sure what they say is true, The Minnesota State Fair is the best fair in the US.

That's it for today.  If you missed, The Biggest Cave in Minnesota, check it out.