State Fair second visit - 8.27.14

We had to make a second visit to the fair because there are a lot of new foods this year and we only sampled a few things on our first trip. So much to do!

This is the breakfast taco from Lulu's Public House. This was pretty good; not amazing. A freshly made tortilla would have helped put it over the top, but this was definitely pre-made. It contained eggs, chorizo and some onions and peppers.

Lulu's gorilla bread. It was very bready, sweet and gooey, but there was supposed to be cream cheese and I did not detect any in my serving.

Big fat bacon on a stick. It's maple glazed and amazing. 

Random alpaca picture. I have no good explanation. We met up with Tonya and Jimmy for awhile too. We looked at horses with them and their kids for awhile. 

Next, I tried a corn dog. As you may recall I had a pronto pup on Friday, and I wanted to compare the two items. The corm dog has cornmeal in the batter and it gives it a nice added crunch. I thought I preferred the pronto pup to the corm dog, but now I'm not so sure.

Next, we had the Minneapple pie with cinnamon ice cream. Still quite good. They also have pumpkin pie this year too.

We stopped back to the Minnesota Brewers booth for a beer flight. John had the hoppier flight.

John got french fries from the World's Greatest French Fries booth. Actually, we both preferred the fries from the Fresh French Fries booth. These did not taste very fresh at all, nor very hot.

Roasted sweet corn. Still delicious! 

Next, we went over to the West End and discovered they ran out of the Grain Belt Blu beer. I think they had just ran out right before we got there too. Such a bummer! Guess it was more popular than they anticipated. I hope it is back next year though. 

Strawberry rhubarb pop from Johnnypop. 

 Next we had the Indeed Day Tripper Onion Rings at Ballpark Cafe. They were really greasy, but the batter was very light and crisp. The sauce was a spicy mustard and it was certainly hot.

Mini donut beer. Sort of light and sweet, not sure I liked it. 

Korean pork collar from Famous Dave's. The meat was pretty fatty, but it was really tender. The sauce did not have a lot of flavor though.

GB Leighton. Free show, who can resist. He seems to be going more country though. 

Sweet Martha's cookies. Very good when fresh, not so much when cold. 

We also did the Historical Society walking tour and got some state fair postcards. I think we also watched the extreme stunt dogs on tour, which was rather boring except for one dog at the end, that was really good.

According to my fitbit I walked 12 miles in one day at the fair, 27,019 steps. It is taking us several days to recover from this marathon day!

State Fair 2014 - 8.22.14

It is time once again for the Minnesota State Fair. It's almost better than Christmas if you ask me. So much to see and do. So many interesting people to watch. So many new foods! This is a recap of our first visit. We'll be going again later this week for a second all day visit. This was just a quick stop last Friday after work, so not a lot of food has been sampled yet.

 new entrance from transit center

Here is the super awesome, brand new frozen blueberry foam and blueberry Grain Belt (on left) and Schell's Oktoberfest on right. This is my 2014 pick for best new fair item.  Anyway, it is very fresh and light and the foam does help it stay cold longer. Very good if you like a shandy style beer. The foam was not as good with the Oktoberfest beer.

 John's favorite, the Turkey to Go turkey sandwich. Delicious! It was very juicy and flavorful. He says it does not need any additional sauces or toppings, though they are available if you want them. 

My favorite, a Pronto Pup from the Pronto Pups stand. The batter is thin, but crisp, with a touch of sweetness.

 French fries from the Fresh French Fries stand. A bit greasy, but very crisp with good potato flavor.

We made a quick stop at the Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild area and each got a flight of beers. I went with a lighter flight and John tried the hoppy flight.

This has to be one of the most popular venues at the fair the last few years. It is always busy. We really like it because we can try beer from breweries we have not had a chance to visit yet.

The much discussed Flat Earth Cygnus Porter S'mores beer from Giggles Campfire Grill is on the right. John liked it a lot; it was not too sweet, like a porter with hints of chocolate, graham cracker and marshmallow. I had Leinenkugel's lemon berry shandy. Also very good, if you are into shandy beer.

Here are the pretzel cheese curds from O'Gara's. They are gooey cheese curds coated with crushed pretzels. They were very, very, salty, but I enjoyed the crunch from the crisp pretzel crust. I don't think I would order them again though. Regular cheese curds are better.

We also took a ride on the Space Tower at the fair. It was dark out and we could see the lights of both Minneapolis and St Paul, but the photos did not turn out at all. We need to ride at dusk instead maybe. We learned from the operator that it opened at the fair in 1965.

We also stopped at the Minnesota State Lottery booth and got fabulous complimentary gifts with purchase of a t-shirt and a tote bag. We did not have any big wins; I had two $1 wins and John won $5 on a $5 ticket. Sadly, that is better than I usually do on most scratch off lottery tickets!

Here's a photo from the best new place to sit and enjoy your blueberry beer at the fair; the rooftop patio at Lulu's Public House. It has a nice view, cooling fans and TVs to watch any sporting events you just can't miss. Also a grab spot to watch the daily fireworks.

So far, this seems like the year of the beer. Who knew the State Fair would be the destination of choice to sample so many special edition beers from local breweries? I mean, just a few years ago, only 3.2% beer was available and nothing else! 

We are looking forward to one more visit to the fair later this week! I'll try to get the post done by the end of this week. We have a lot of new foods on the list to try.