Notes From Date Night: The Minnesota State Fair

My husband and I have been married for over 20 years and one thing that has remained constant is our love for the food scene in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Every week we make it a priority to enjoy a date night at a different local restaurant. 

This week, we took our date night to the Great Minnesota Get-Together 2-days in a row. Here’s a rundown of what we ate and drank and what my favorite foods were.

Day 1

Every year I have to get a corn dog, it’s my tradition. I’m not picky about where we buy one, but for the last couple of years it’s been at the corn dog stand outside of O’Gara’s. It hits the spot every time and holds me over until next year when I do it again.

Another thing I have to buy every year is Schell's BLU beer. I remember when they first launched it and it was such a huge hit that I have to go back every year and relive the nostalgia of drinking that first BLU with the frozen foam on top. YUM!

Our favorite new food were the Afro Poppers from the Afro Deli in the Food building. These were unique and delicious. We’ll definitely be checking out one of their restaurant locations to sample more of the menu.

Other Items We Liked on Day 1:

-Hazy Blueberry from Sociable Cider Werks
-Rosé and White Wine flights from Minnesota Wine Country
-Blazing Greek bites from Dino’s Gyros
-Grilled Purple Sticky Rice with Pickled Mushrooms & Galabao with Kua Txob at Hmong Kitchen
-That donut from Peachey’s. It was worth the 45 minute wait in line.

Day 2

We began our Day 2 adventure in the West End, which is my favorite part of the fair. It still feels so new and modern and there’s always a lot of options to choose from in this area. 

My favorite new food on Day 2 was the deep fried ranch from LuLu’s. I can’t believe it either, but it was a tasty treat.

Other Items We Liked on Day 2:

-Peanut Butter Bacon Cakes and the Blueberry Basil Lemonade from The Blue Barn
-Australian Battered Potatoes – Make sure to add the Chicken Salt
-The Pickle Dog
-Wingonberry Chicken Wings at The Hangar
-Bang Bang Chicken from LuLu’s

By the way that I felt at the end of the day, I thought we ate a lot more than that. We made a good dent in our list of things to try. Foods I wish we would have tried, but ran out of time:
-Patata Frita Focacciawich from West End Creamery
-Chile Mango Whip at Tasti Whip
-Quesabirria Taquitos from El Burrito Mercado

That’s a wrap for State Fair Date night. Until next year!