Mallards – Inver Grove Heights, MN

I love going to a restaurant that changes my made-up incorrect perception of a place – Mallards did just that. I’m not sure what I expected, honestly. It was somewhere between Oceanaire and Applebee’s – but no one could give me a good description of the atmosphere, nor the food, so I thought I’d better check it out.

D.Rough and I were out on an adventure and decided since it was on the way home, we should pay Mallard’s a visit. There was a short 20-30 minute wait, since it was a Saturday night. Thankfully, it gave us some time to take in the whole atmosphere I mentioned before and then also, there a pull tabs, so D got to win us some money – which then she used to buy more pull tabs which were NOT winners. The inside of the place is much nicer than Applebee’s and is really well-lit inside. Sort of a nautical theme without being like a pretentious yacht club (my apologies to those yacht clubs who aren’t pretentious). A good mix of dress here, from jeans and sports jerseys to suits and ties. The restaurant is split into a bar area and a dining area, with the regular sports TVs in the bar area and plenty of service in the dining area. I thought I’d point it out, since some restaurants are struggling on staffing – this place didn’t seem to be suffering and al the staff were knocking it out of the park on the service side of things. 

 

We got seated near the bar, so we had a good angle on everything. We had a lovely server and she gave us a handwritten beer/tap list and a cocktail menu. A really great cocktail menu, especially in the “boat drink” department. Tough to decide, so we went with the Island Punch and a Mai Tai. The Island Punch was coconut rum, banana liqueur, and pineapple juice. A little heavy on the banana liqueur, but I was good with it since it wasn’t too overpowering. I'd get it again, for sure – I just like to give people a heads up. The Mai Tai was a really solid showing and even came in a mermaid tiki mug, which gets it bonus points. 

 

The menu is really impressive. Lots of different choices to peruse and in some cases, made it a challenge to nail down. We decided to get a little adventurous and order the Seafood Campechana for an appetizer. This is a Mexican-style dip, with seasoned shrimp, crab, avocado and pico, served with housemade tortilla chips. This ended up being one of the best decisions of the night – top-notch appetizer. It made us want a 5-gallon bucket of the stuff, but it gave us plenty to – as an appetizer should – get us in the mood to eat more stuff. We really liked this a lot. 

 

D is a lobster roll fan from way back, and this is one of the things that Mallards is known for, so that was an easy decision. She was really pleased with this, also. This roll is served cold (but on a toasted warm roll/bun) with mayo and some melted butter – also fries. Butter is a welcome addition to any plate, and D was happy to use it up. The lobster was good and the roll, also good. We’ve had some lobster rolls on the coast that were life-changing, but this one stands up for a Midwest showing. Definitely worth getting again. And, the fries were seasoned and double-fried, so we’re both a fan of those. 

It took me a bit to decide on my dinner – too many things I wanted to try. But I finally went with the Baramundi Rodrigo – seared sea bass with a citrus and cilantro pesto and that was on a healthy bed of coconut lime risotto. The sea bass was much better than I expected, and I’m sure it is because I’ve had some weird versions of this. But, that citrus pesto was awesome and it was perfectly cooked. But, the star of the night for the whole order was the coconut lime risotto. This was almost like a lime curry and light and fluffy. If they offered this as a side, I’d get this with absolutely everything. One of the best risottos I’ve ever had. 

 

Overall, we were really glad we went here. I think both of us were really pleasantly surprised at the service and the quality of the food, and also the choices on the menu (and cocktail menu). One thing D and I both agreed on was that now that we’ve had success with these dishes, it makes us feel more comfortable with some of the other adventurous things on the menu. Time to get crazy! It’s really close to our house, so now that we know how good it is, we may end up being regular visitors to this gem. There are four locations in the metro, so I’m sure you live close to one – go check them out. 

 

Mallards

5681 Blaine Ave.

Inver Grove Heights, MN 55076

www.mallardsmn.com

 

Travail Basement Bar – Robbinsdale, MN

D.Rough and I continued celebrating my birthday week with a visit to Travail’s newest offering – an upscale basement lounge experience with upscale food and very crafty cocktails. I understand it’s a challenge to get reservations here, and that they have three different “time slots” available, so if you’re interested, get on the website and reserve your spot! Totally worth it.

Like Travail’s other establishments, it’s sort of European-style seating – you WILL be seated at a table with other diners. I like to let people know this so they aren’t alarmed. It’s as fun as you make it – you may end up best friends at the end of the night or you might exchange a few questions about the food or drinks that the other people ordered – you get to decide. Pro Tip: Show up early for your reservation and you may get to decide where you sit, before the space gets filled and you’re stuck with whatever is left open.

The hostess, servers, bar tenders, and food delivery folks are all professionals. They want you to have a good time and enjoy yourself, and they are very gracious and helpful.

We started with a few cocktails, which is really what this place is known for. If you look around the rooms, they have most of the cocktails presented in little nooks, and deconstructed so you can see the ingredients. Bottles of booze and also some of the flavors you’ll be tasting – very interesting concept. Classy and informative (something I’ve never been accused of being). D.Rough got the house tiki-style drink – the Many Faced God (vodka, macadamia nut liqueur, pineapple, coconut, and damiania). I got the Ronaldo Burgundy (Bacardi heritage white rum, pomegranate, pineapple hibiscus milk punch). I'll apologize in advance for the photo quality - the dim lighting wasn't doing my camera any favors - but you'll get the general idea.

D.Rough’s tiki drink was REALLY good. Not too much macadamia and the pineapple and coconut were magical. Fantastic. 

My rum-forward drink was also incredible. It came with a smoky bubble on top AND in a bat-painted tea cup (on a bat painted saucer). A little bit fruity and plenty of rum flavor – I loved this drink!

We ordered a couple of food items to tide us over for the night. The Broadway Burger, the poutine, Salt & Peppa Shrimp, and the lobster egg. The kitchen sends out the folks who prepare this stuff and they explain what’s in some of the dishes and answer any questions – very top-notch.

The lobster egg is a soft boiled egg with lobster, truffles, brown butter, and tarragon, all served in an egg cup. Beautiful presentation and it tasted great too. It’s nice when you can recognize the flavors of each of the ingredient and none of them are overpowering. This is a well-put-together dish.

The Salt & Peppa Shrimp are deep-fried shrimp with garlic butter and jalapeno slices. A relatively simple dish but the garlic butter and jalapeno elevated it a lot. I considered ordering a second round of these, they were that good.

The poutine was fantastic – perfectly fried fries and a rich gravy that clearly was not an afterthought. There weren’t curds, but the gruyere foam was a fun change that I approve highly of. Great job!

The Broadway Burger was not just a restaurant burger. It had a lot of pickled things going on and some mustard situations, but it was a VERY juicy burger. Not sloppy, just really moist and juicy. I loved this thing.

I needed another cocktail and the Travail Basement Bar is not short on them. In fact, they’ve got a few different kind of drinks. They’ve got some small cocktails, for if you’re feeling like you just want a little bit or if you’re toasting someone (very fun idea). And, they’ve got a handful of fancy non-alcoholic drinks, as well. I politely asked the server if they could just add a bunch of rum to the pina colada-style non-alcoholic drink they had on the menu – The Bird C.R.E.A.M.  He assured me it wouldn’t be a problem at all to do so. And since he was already there, I also ordered the Potato Pavé – a thick stack of super-thinly-sliced potato covered with gruyere and cheddar sauce and serrano ham.

The drink was as good as I had hoped it would be – I actually liked it more than the Many Faced God, but only because it was rum, not vodka, and not nutty, otherwise, they were pretty similar. Delicious! And the Potato Pavé was fantastic. Cut-able with a fork and lots of cheese flavor. I’m glad I got to try this one.

Additionally, since my wife’s family is Italian and literally do not believe something is a celebration until there’s cake, we ordered a slice of chocolate cake. Not just any cake – a serious cake, with chocolate mousse layers and a chocolate ganache outer layer. It even comes with a bit of edible gold foil on top – see? Super classy! And, amazingly moist and tasty.

Overall, zero things to complain about at this new restaurant. The staff are all very “interchangeable” and everyone can help you with any request you have. They’re all there to make sure you enjoy yourselves and return to the basement. We even joked with our server that in the basement, everyone looks tan! We will definitely return here and enjoy some additional menu items. We understand this will be an ever-changing menu, so we’re excited to see what new cocktails and food items are available the next time we go there!

www.travailkitchen.com/basementbar

Lindey’s Prime Steak House – St. Paul (or Arden Hills), MN

If you’re in the Twin Cities and want that old school steak house feel, you really should give Lindey’s a shot. It’s been around a really long time and, from the looks of things, it hasn’t changed much since it opened (with the exception of them adding in a fire sprinkler system, once safety was invented around the 1980’s). It’s got that old wood paneling on the walls and ceiling and it just feels north-woods-homey inside.

They keep things simple at Lindey’s. The menu is probably the most simple I’ve seen. There are four items on it. Three steaks and one grilled shrimp dish. The server brings over a large sign that’s on a post and sets it next to your table to help you decide. Do you want steak, steak, steak, or shrimp? With each meal ordered, you get a salad with homemade dressing, unlimited garlic bread, what they refer to as “greaseless hashbrown” – smashed red potatoes, and pickled watermelon rind. Oh wait, there IS another menu item – sautéed (in 2 pounds of butter) button mushrooms for the entire table. Which our table DID order.

 

Guess what I ordered? A steak. Lindey’s Special Sirloin. I read on a sign in the lobby that if you want to order your steak medium or medium rare, you should pay the one dollar extra and get the special steak. I have no idea what the difference would be, but I went for it, so I like a pink steak. I also go t an Old Fashioned, since it seemed like the right atmosphere. The Old Fashioned is VFW-level ratios of 90% booze, so be ready for that. And it was delicious. Not too sweet, not too much bitters, just right.

 

The steak is served table side and cut in front of you. So, it comes in one giant, baby-sized slab, and then they cut it into four pieces – each person gets two large pieces. Like, two 8-12 ounce pieces. Extremely generous portions put on your molten hot plate to ensure your steak stays warm. Also, I’m sure the entire steak is coated in butter, which is always a plus. Regardless, the steak is extremely delicious. The char on the outside is outstanding and the meat doesn’t have any gristle at all. It’s an amazingly good steak.

 

The greaseless hashbrowns are cooked red potatoes that are smashed and then covered with some amazingly salty seasoning that makes you unable to stop eating them. The nice thing is that if you run out, they bring you more. They’re quite impressive.

 

The garlic bread is cut into many small pieces. Plenty of butter and garlic salt on them. Delicious (and fight-inducing).

 

The button mushroom have also been sautéed in multiple pounds of butter (sense a theme here?) and are great. There’s a huge mound of them, so they truly are for the whole table. You can put them on your steak or just pop them in your mouth. There’s no wrong way.

 

They also have a sort of palate cleanser – watermelon rind that has been pickled. I’m not sure the origin story of this particular thing, but I’ve never had it before. I think overall, the table was split half and half on who liked this thing. It’s got a pickled beet texture and some of the brine associated with that. So if you like pickled beets, which my mother-in-law and I definitely do, you’re really going to like this sweet treat.

 

After the meal, they do have some different cheesecake options from Muddy Paws Cheesecake Shop. We got the turtle cheesecake and were pretty happy with that. I’ve been meaning to make it to Muddy Paw’s store, but I haven’t yet.

 

We ended up taking home four to-go containers with steak, mashed potatoes, garlic bread, and mushrooms home. There was enough steak left over that we made steak fajitas the next day, and still had a huge chunk of steak left over for the following day. It’s an impressive amount of food, honestly. Now that we’ve actually be inside the place and know how good it is, we definitely will be back. It isn’t talked about widely, but if you’ve been there, you know what I’m talking about.

 

Also, of note, during the lunch hours, they have a few other things on the menu, like a hamburger. Hahaha. I think that’s the only addition, but you can also order that if you really need to during dinner. It just amuses me that THAT is the additional item they do at lunch. Probably so people don’t fall asleep at work by eating 32 ounces of steak during the workday. Just go here. Please. And you can thank me later for telling you about it.

 

www.theplaceforsteak.com

112 Eatery – Minneapolis, MN

D.Rough and I were headed to a semi-professional wrestling event downtown, so we thought we’d grab a bite to eat ahead of time. 112 Eatery had been on our list for a while and I had stumbled across an article naming them one of the best burgers in the Twin Cities. We thought we’d check it out and see what else they had to offer.

112 Eatery is a little bit upscale, but not snooty-upscale. There were people in jeans there and people were enjoying sitting at the bar having appetizers and cocktails. (I, for example, was wearing a black band t-shirt and jeans, and didn't feel like I was being judged or anything.) It’s a multi-story building, but you still check in with the hostess on the first floor for a table.

Once seated, we got a plate of olives and some candied nuts to tide us over while perusing the menu. The menu is very manageable and doesn’t have TOO many things on , like some places. It’s got the right amount on it. Some small plates, some salads, a handful of side dishes, some entrees, and some desserts. It’s very manageable. (They also serve food up until close – midnight through the week and 1am on weekends – bonus!)

We knew we were going to get the 112 Burger, but we also needed some other fun things. We got some cauliflower fritters, some tagliatelle with foie gras meatballs. And, since we ended something green, we got the duck and radicchio salad. And a couple of drinks to unwind after the long work day.

They brought us a REALLY nice basket of bread to snack on before our food came out. A nice baguette and one of the best focaccias I’ve ever had. Sooo buttery and tasty. We should have asked for more, but we knew we were going to eat a lot, as it was. Next time!

The duck and radicchio salad came out first and they had split it into two small plates for us. We laughed because we ordered the salad for something green, and the cabbage was purple. Ha! But this salad was top-notch. The egg on top (possibly a duck egg?) was perfectly hard boiled and there were little pieces of duck throughout the salad. It was also drizzled with some gingery sauce which we loved. Seriously, this is an awesome way to start this meal.

They brought us the cauliflower fritters next. D.Rough is convinced they roasted the cauliflower first with some seasonings and then lightly batter and fry the florets. It didn’t matter It was amazing. They covered the whole plate with some parmesan and parsley and we absolutely fought over this dish. This, frankly was my favorite part of the meal – I’ve been on a cauliflower kick recently, so I’m a little biased.

The tagliatelle was good. Not amazing, but good. 112 Eatery recently got written up for its foie gras meatballs, so I had some high hopes for it, but I just felt they were good. Not mind blowing. I love foie gras, so it wasn’t that. I just thought everything would have a little more pop than it did. I wouldn’t complain at all about the tagliatelle, but it wasn’t my favorite thing on the table this evening. The generous layer of cheese covering this thing DID help, however!

The 112 Burger was pretty impressive. It’s an incredibly well seasoned burger patty served on an English muffin and has brie cheese on it. It got all melty and delicious as it warmed on the burger patty. Very few places take special care of the meet they put into a cheeseburger, but this place does. It’s definitely got butter IN the meat, but some simple seasonings made it stand out more than a simple appetizer burger. The whole thing is simple, but incredibly well done (I mean well executed, since we ordered ours medium rare). No wonder people rave about this burger. It comes with a small ramekin of pickles and ginger, but you honestly don’t need any additional flavors. The thing speaks for itself.

A fantastic meal, served by really nice (if not a little reserved) staff. We were happy with everything they brought to our table. We will happily head back to 112 Eatery again, especially since D.Rough and I were just discussing which places were open late downtown. Now that we know they serve food until 1am, we’ve got a new favorite late-night destination!

Top 5 things about 112 Eatery
1. Cauliflower fritters
2. 112 Burger
3. Right-sized menu (with awesome selections)
4. Duck and radicchio salad
5. Open until midnight during the week and 1am on weekends!

Bottom 5 things

1. Nothing was technically BAD, but I was slightly disappointed with the foie gras meatballs

2. The hostess stand is past the bar on the first floor and then you are advised to go up the elevator – just a little odd
3. The parking ramp I parked in closed at 8pm Friday until the following Monday. D.Rough made a few calls and got the security desk to let me into the parking ramp the following day. Bitter.
4. I’m bummed we didn’t ask for more of the bread basket

5. Nothing else negative happened, I promise!!!

www.112eatery.com

Funky Desi Indian Restaurant and Lounge – Moline, IL

D.Rough were in Illinois visiting my family for Thanksgiving and thought we’d try out a new Indian restaurant in downtown Moline. I remember this place being some sort of dance club or banquet hall back in the day, so I was curious what it would look like inside. Plus the name includes “Restaurant and Lounge”, so my curiosity was piqued.

The inside is a weird cross between a nice Indian-decorated restaurant, a neon-lit dance club, and a sports bar (sooo many TVs above the bar). I’m not sure what the designer was going for here, but they’ve covered many bases here – I’m not sure that’s a good thing. But this also allows for plenty of seating – booths along the walls, tables in the dance floor area, and a nice private large dinner table for large groups in the front. It isn’t gaudy, it’s just confusing inside.

We went and checked the buffet out and it looked really good, so we both went with that plan. There were plenty of things up there, as well. Too many to name, and I’d butcher the names of the things if I tried. Veggie pakora, butter chicken, tandoori chicken, matter paneer, and a bunch of other things. I loaded up my first plate and when we got back to the table, the server lady had brought a nice basket of naan bread.

The food was above average, compared to many Indian buffets I’ve eaten at. The paneer was quite good and there was also a noodle dish that I didn’t catch the name of (I’ve never seen noodles at an Indian place, so this one stuck in my head), but it was very delicious. It wasn’t very spicy, but had good flavor. I wish the vegetable pakora hadnt’ been in a covered chafing dish, since that makes it soggy (not that it stopped me from eating about ten of them). The butter chicken was also above average. Overall, a pretty good showing from this restaurant.

I even had to go back up for a second round…. No one is surprised by this, I’m sure.

I generally try not to call people out on customer service unless it’s bad, but there was a younger server there with plugs in his ears (behind the bar a lot, so he may have been a bartender) who crossed a lot of lines with customers. I know HE felt he was being sociable and fun, but he did a few questionable things, including asking two Indian gentlemen why they weren’t drinking after he had tried to push some cocktails on them at lunch. “Is it for religious reasons?” – he ACTUALLY asked these guys this and then wouldn’t let it go. These guys were not regulars or anything, there was no camaraderie here, just invasiveness. Then, he badmouthed our server to the table behind them, saying she didn’t know how to do things and that was why she was screwing up. It was all a bit more than he should have been saying. It wasn’t funny, it was inappropriate and made people feel uncomfortable. Maybe we should have said something at the time. I wasn’t in the mood to be confrontational. If the food wasn’t so good, I may have, just to vent, but I was enjoying my lunch.

Aside from the too-many-televisions-showing-sports and “that” guy, the food was decent and fresh and plentiful. And from the looks of the DJ equipment, speakers, and spinning neon light-y things, I’m guessing it turns into an equally weird dance club at around 8 or 9, when the cocktail happy hours start.

Top 5 things about Funky Desi
1. Butter chicken

2. Matter paneer

3. Our server girl was extremely nice and very competent should not have been bad-mouthed
4. The buffet area was really classy and clean
5. The unnamed noodle dish

Bottom 5 things
1. Invasive and inappropriate server/bartender
2. Odd combinations of environments
3. Too many televisions for a non-sports-bar
4. Covered chafing dishes make battered food soggy
5. Some of the booths were taken up with DJ equipment, which we thought was odd…

www.funkydesi.com

2011 Minnesota State Fair - St. Paul, MN

Here's a (not-so-)quick recap of my time at the Minnesota State Fair this year. I try not to go too overboard with the reviews, so if you need more details, just leave a comment. And yes, I do tend to go overboard on the food and drinks at the State Fair every year - just a warning...


I started the week by figuring out what places I wanted to try, as well as their locations, just to make things a little easier for me. The website for the State Fair has an awesome Food Finder application (which can also be downloaded) that really helped find some unique items this year. I was on my own for the morning, so I'd do most of my eating then and then D.Rough and I would head out as a team and see what else I hadn't eaten.
Here's what the State Fair looks like at 9am, just in case you're wondering. Yeah, it's a little busy, but the lines and crowds are still manageable. That will change soon.

I started with a Breakfast Lollypop from Axel's - Southeast corner of the food building - on the outside of the building. It's basically a sausage patty battered and deep fried and has some maple syrup on it for sweetness. This thing had good meat flavor, but the grease was amazingly overpowering, especially first thing. Thankfully, I washed it down with the first of many 1919 Root Beers - the best root beer at the State Fair.

It was time for a Breakfast Stromboli from American Stromboli in the Food Building. It's chopped up hard-boiled eggs, shredded cheese and a slice of american cheese, and your choice of ham or sausage wrapped in a pizza crust and baked. I got to watch them make the strombolis while I was standing in line, so it's nice to see them make the things here. This pastry was just about perfect for breakfast, especially since they let you order just a half a stromboli so you still have room for other foods. Very good flavor and not greasy, so it left plenty of room for gorging.

Here, we see a VERY uptight guy smoking a cigarette. He sat like this for at least three cigarettes. Very formal smoker, I guess. I sadly, didn't get a photo of the Menonite missionary woman drinking out of a Camelpack - so hilarious.

I headed to the International Bazaar to find some stuffed grape leaves from Holy Land Deli. I'm a huge fan of Holy Land since I started going to the Midtown Global Market years ago. They always have delicious food. I asked what the grape leaves were stuffed with and the guy at the counter couldn't remember. I ordered them anyway. I was a little bummed they were served cold, but mostly because it made the rice in side a little gummy and unappetizing. NOT my favorite thing at the fair, despite being on a stick.

I went back to the food building to get a Puff Daddy on a Stick (I know, he's only going by Diddy these days, but whatever) from Sausage Sisters and Me. It's a thai sausage link wrapped in a puff pastry dough and comes with some thai peanut dipping sauce. I brought some of this back to D.Rough to sample and she really liked it. The sausage had really good flavor and actually might have been better without the dipping sauce. The pastry was really light and flaky, so this thing is worth a look/taste.

Oh wait, and another 1919 Root Beer.

I headed down the block to Andre's Watermelon to get come chocolate covered watermelon on a stick, but then when I saw he had pineapple, I changed my mind to that. Everyone has a favorite fruit - mine just happens to be chocolate-covered pineapple. It's a little sloppy to eat, but it's delicious.
To make up for the missing watermelon in my diet, I got a watermelon lemonade from Andre, as well. Excellent choice - it was fantastic.
Since moving to Minnesota, I've discovered that Hot Dago is not a racial slur, but rather a tasty Italian sandwich. Luigi's has a Hot Dago on a stick that I needed to try, so I headed there and picked on up. It's basically a breadstick followed by a meatball (repeat) and then cover the whole thing with mozzarella and then bake it all. Served with hot peppers and a marinara sauce for dipping. Holy crap this thing was amazing. One of the best things at the fair in my opinion. Absolutely delicious.
I washed this bad boy down with a Kiwi Strawberry Crystal Light (watching my figure, you know).
As an added bonus, right across the street from Luigi's is Big Fat Bacon on a stick. I loved this place last year. It's very simple - it's a really thick-cut piece of bacon is deep fried and it's put on a stick. Then, you have the option of putting on this orange-chipotle glaze on it (if you want). I'd recommend it, since it's really an amazing combination. I'm not as impressed with the piece of bacon I had this year, over last year's, but it was still pretty darn good. It's simple and filling, and the glaze is really a unique flavor. Worth it.
I headed back to find D.Rough, but not before stopping by 1919 one more time for a root beer float. So freaking good.
This is how I roll (after going to visit the fire prevention area...
With D.Rough in tow, we headed to Mouth Trap to buy the best curds at the State Fair (according to D.Rough's tastebuds). I have to admit, these things are some of the best curds I've ever had. A little bit salty, but so worth it - once these things cool down. They're like molten lava right out of the fryer. Top notch.
Then, we went to watch the robot competition/demonstration at the Education Building. High school students build robots to complete certain tasks and then try to score the most points to win the competition. They have to do things like place inflatable rings on a wall, stack the same inflatable rings in a pile, and jettison smaller mini-robots to do their bidding (seriously).
I think we were standing a little too close, since D.Rough got a little nervous when the robots rolled over to us and began stacking rings less than 6 inches from us. Yikes.
We wanted to check out some more entertainment, so we headed over to the Flippenout Extreme Trampoline show (Trash will be thrilled we did that). It was a million degrees out, so we grabbed a Lemonade Shake-up.
On the way, we stopped by the large plot of land where they basically have a huge karaoke area with like 30-40 microphones set up for people to sing into. On the giant LED screen, they show all the words to like 50 super popular songs. I know this sounds really white trash, but it's really fun and people are REALLY into it. So each song gets like 200 people singing along. It's great fun!!! We busted out some Lady Gaga while we were there.

We watched the extreme trampoline guys jump really high in the air - I mean REALLY high. They're Olympic hopefuls for the 2012 Olympics. And yes, there IS a trampoline event in the Olympics.

We leave the trampoline show and headed to the animal/pet barn. I love this place, but I don't think D.Rough has spent a lot of time in here. I had to explain a little bit about what's going on (animal surgery center, dog breeders area, etc). We popped by to pet some of the puppies, which are mostly cute. We were also amazed at how creative (aka insane) people get about their dog treats.

And now you see how crowded the State Fair gets during the afternoon. It's pretty serious.
We also saw a sad banana taking a rest since it was a thousand degrees out.
D.Rough is a big fan of the deep fried pickles from the Preferred Pickle (over west of the grandstand). They have cajun flavor, original, and ones with cream cheese in them. They're pretty good, even though I'm not a huge fan of pickles. But, let's be honest, if you deep fried anything, I'd probably eat it. These are pretty good, though she did eat more of these than I did.
It was dessert time and we had been hearing about this sweet corn ice cream over at Blue Moon Dine In Theater. It was unique enough we thought we'd better try it. They have three different toppings you can put on it, but we went with the obvious choice - Honey Butter Bacon. This sounds odd, but I can assure you, it was amazing. Great ice cream flavor with the buttery taste of corn - it even included bits of roasted corn kernels in it. Brilliant. The sauce was much runnier than I expected, but had a great flavor. It's sweet, but not sickeningly so - and the bacon pieces were quite wonderful in there. We got to eat our dessert in the theater behind the restaurant, where they were showing Minnesota-produced films on the big screen. It's a quaint little place with old bench seats out of vans to provide the seating. Super fun.

We went to the arena to check out the tail end of the cattle show. (get it? Tail end? Nevermind.) Then we watched the first couple rounds of the equestrian competition with the horses jumping the obstacles and such. Pretty fun, to be honest. Plus, how often do you get to yell all crazy for horses (unless you're a rodeo person, of course). Maybe chest paint is in order one of these days...

It was dessert time again (for me), so I headed to Moe and Joe's Coffee (near the water rapids ride) to get a Yankee Apple Pie Chocolate Sandwich. I know it sounds horrific, but it honestly was one of the best things I had all day. I'm not a huge pie fan, mainly because I don't really like the crust. However, if you put an apple pie on a couple slices of buttery toasted bread, I'm going to love it. Which I did. The chocolate spread on the bread isn't very strong, but adds some unique sweetness. Just get this thing. It's great.
And, of course, I needed another (large, this time) 1919 root beer.
I needed to have something healthy, since most of what I had today wouldn't be approved by my doctor. I found the Vegie Fries booth and grabbed a Veg Wedge. It's a bunch of chopped-up vegetables folded into a won ton skin and deep fried. See, I told you it was healthy. hahahaha. And it was pretty good. there was a lot of shell, compared to the amount of vegetables, but it was still good. This thing was almost identical to the egg-roll-on-a-stick that I was about to get, so I didn't even bother getting it. Sad, but true.

The night was winding down for us, so we decided to have a wind-down snack of our own - Garlic Fries from the Ball Park Cafe... followed up with a beer for some people and a bottle of water for me. The fries are obviously garlic-y with the amount of garlic they throw on the top of these things. They were actually quite good. I will say, the amount of garlic pales in comparison to the amount of garlic they put on the fries at the Seattle Mariner's stadium, but they were still really quite good.

I thought we were going to get out of the fair at this point, but we got sidelined by the fireworks.
And then by the cotton candy...
Time to hit the express bus home!

Overall, the entire day was wonderful. Great food and tons of people watching, and a blast with my lady. Nothing to complain about at all. And to be honest, I didn't even feel full, let alone sick. I probably could have done a few more things, but I kept it civil this year. I was surprised at the lack of really horrific foods this year, but maybe next year will be better. I'm already looking forward to it!!

Top 5 things about the Minnesota State Fair
1. Yankee Apple Pie Chocolate Sndwich
2. Hot Dago on a Stick
3. Sweet Corn Ice Cream with Honey Butter Bacon Topping
4. Mouth Trap Cheese Curds
5. 1919 Root Beer (especially in float form)

Bottom 5 things
1. Stuffed Grape Leaves
2. Breakfast Lollypops
3. Lack of more horrific foods than in previous years
4. Lack of more cute puppies in the animal barn than previous years
5. I totally missed the lumberjack show!!!

www.mnstatefair.org