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Where to find State Fair food favorites after Labor Day
Many vendors once offered an only-at-the-fair experience. That is changing.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
September 7, 2024 at 4:23PM
On a stick, in a basket or on a plate, the food at the Minnesota State Fair is so memorable that many crave it all year.
Some of the Great Minnesota Get-Together’s biggest sellers are only available on the fairgrounds during those 12 glorious days, however. Kevin Hawkins of New Hope has never understood why, especially since some vendors pull in more than $1 million in fair sales.
“I think about all the people who go to the fair to enjoy these delicacies,” Hawkins said. “It’s incomprehensible that the foods that draw large crowds to the fair suddenly become unavailable when the fair is over.”
Hawkins asked Curious Minnesota, the Strib’s reader-generated reporting project, to find out why many local vendors don’t sell fair favorites year-round. We reached out to several popular stands and received different answers. Some want to preserve the novelty, while others sell foods that are seasonal by nature — they just wouldn’t taste right in the middle of winter.
But it turns out that a growing number of others have expanded sales outside the fairgrounds, popping up in food trucks, restaurants or supermarket freezers.
Tim “Giggles” Weiss, president and owner of Giggles’ Campfire Grill, is known for his walleye fries and cakes, available only during the fair. He sees them as novelty items. “I like to keep it unique to the fair,” he said. “I’ve been in the brick-and-mortar business, restaurant business, and I just have chosen not to sell them.”
The Minnesota Farmers Union stand — which frequently gets rave reviews for its offerings, including this year’s rhubarb crumble — does have a year-round spot, Farmers Kitchen and Bar, in downtown Minneapolis. The dishes that draw crowds at the fair don’t always land on the regular menu, though.
Gary Wertish, president of the union, said they take fair sales numbers and ingredients’ seasonality into account when coming up with menus for the brick-and-mortar spot. Not all dishes can be successfully executed year-round, but fairgoers will recognize some familiar items, including the maple cream nitro cold press and pork schnitzel sandwich.
Just days after the fair closed, Soul Bowl owners Gerard and Brittney Klass added their breakout new fair food, Crab Boil Wings, to the dining and delivery menus at their Graze food hall restaurant. (The dish originated at their Klassics Kitchen + Cocktails restaurant on S. 2nd Street, and is still on the appetizer menu.)
There’s more. Que Viet serves up egg rolls and Vietnamese coffee, and Sara’s Tipsy Pies are featured at Sara Hayden’s Stillwater bakery. Dino’s Mediterranean Fresh, Mancini’s, French Meadow, Baba’s Hummus House, Herbivorous Butcher, Manny’s Tortas, Union Hmong Kitchen, Indigenous Food Lab, Momo Dosa and Holy Land are all among those with Twin Cities area restaurants outside of the fairgrounds, although the menu offerings may differ.
Many vendors maintain a year-round presence outside brick-and-mortar restaurants. Supermarket freezers are stocked with Nordic Waffles, Thelma’s ice cream sandwiches and Sweet Martha’s cookie dough. Others park their food trucks at area breweries, festivals and markets, including Scenic 61 from Duluth’s New Scenic Cafe and Paella Depot, which earned one of this year’s coveted new vendor spots.
Enough vendors make fleeting appearances that fans track fair food online.
When a Minneapolis resident asked in a Reddit post for help satisfying cravings in the middle of winter last year, fellow fair foodies pointed to a popular resource: The Fair Food Finder Facebook Group, which is more than 175,000 members strong.
Fans who missed out on pickle pizza from Rick’s Pizza because of the hour-plus lines were directed to similar versions at QC Pizza in Mahtomedi or one of Slice Brothers’ four Twin Cities locations. And speaking of pickles, Pickle Dog, which sells pickles on a stick covered in cream cheese and wrapped with pastrami, can be found at a few other events besides the fair, such as music festivals. Going even bigger feels like too difficult an undertaking, said owner Gary Benson.
“I don’t know where else I’d sell them,” Benson said. “I wish ... you know, some big food celebrity would call me and say, we want to put you on, selling your product.”
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