2024! A year unlike any other for the State Fair. A year where stories, myths, meanings and legends are born.
For example, what does “deep fried ranch” mean? Everyone's been talking about that all summer. “How do you fry ranch dressing?” Is it really sludgy and watery like in the picture? That seems so… wild. Is it true? Is it possible? Would I give it a try?
And near the Miracle of Birth Center, there was a giant Spanish paella pan the size of a kiddie pool. Seriously? 4,492 miles from the paella capital of Spain, Valencia. Is that even possible? Are we brave enough? Shall we eat Spanish food right next to the stroller rental area?
What is a state fair, anyway? Well, it's the home of some totally wholesome, totally crazy moments that will be talked about all winter long and forever after.
I mean, why else would we have the annual ritual of admiring a portrait we made out of 1,000 glued-down lentils and peas? Why else would we plan an entire event around dressing a llama in overalls? Why else would we put pink paper pig ears on our toddler and take a selfie in front of a 1,450-pound boar to text to our old roommate? Why else would we put our toddler to sleep on a blanket in the shade next to a bucket of cookies so big they look like peanuts, then show the picture to our great-aunt Gladys at Christmas, and re-enact the scene when our child turns 24? Why else would we do these things, apart from the stories that grew out of harmless stunts?
Stories are good. They're how we connect with each other and they make a boring evening interesting.
And looking at the audience this year, I couldn't help but think that this was the year of stunt food, story food. Overall, I didn't try any new foods this year that were so delicious as dishes that I thought, “Everyone, get together and try this!” But I did try a lot of new foods that I could recommend, especially because they made for good stories.
5. Who is an award-winning restaurant critic who picked a tie for third place for fifth? Add that to your story potential. You know what year 2024 was. It was the year this restaurant critic was doomed. Anyway, to be honest, I loved each of these in exactly the same way for different reasons.
Chang's Hot Cheeto Korean Corn Dogs
Korean corn dogs have been popping up all over Minneapolis for the past few years, especially in Dinkytown and on the back counters of Dragon Star Foods in St. Paul. But seeing one at the home of Pronto Pup and the corn dog, the State Fair, feels different. The new Chang's sells a block of mozzarella and a hot dog that's skewered, breaded, deep-fried, and smothered in hot Cheetos crumbs. It's objectively ridiculous and messy. Get your teenager to hold it up high, take a photo covered in Cheetos, and talk for the rest of your life about the craziest corn dog of your life.
Lulu's Public House Fried Ranch Dressing
Bad news: It's basically cream cheese wontons with ranch dressing and a super tasty hot honey dipping sauce with a twist from Crybaby Craigs. Good news: When you take it straight out of the fryer, it's a little mushy when you split it open, so it makes for a good photo, and once you order it, you can keep telling people you had fried ranch dressing for the rest of your life. If people ask you how it was, my advice is to refuse to talk about it. Say something like, “I'd have to kill you if I talked about this.” Like this. That way you keep it a mystery! 2024, the year of fried ranch. Ha!
Blue Barn's Bacon Cake
This is a perfect idea for the state fair: take some delicious bacon that's already cooked, spread some pancake batter on the outside of the bacon, cook it, and now you have bacon with a few millimeters of pancake batter on the outside, and serve it with a dollop of peanut butter whipped cream and grape jelly.
Say this to every brunch for the rest of your life: “Once upon a time, at the state fair, for some reason they served bacon covered in pancake batter. Next time you're snowed in, try and recreate that. Keep doing this for the rest of your life.”
4. Marco's Garden at Brim
This is for gluten-free eaters, vegans, vegetarians, healthy eaters and summer tomato lovers alike. New this year at Brim is a gluten-free panini bread, pressed and warmed, topped with your choice of whipped ricotta and honey (for vegetarians) or whipped tofu (for vegans), a dollop of slightly sweet rhubarb jam that adds a touch of tartness and sweetness, much like tomato sauce does to pizza, and summer tomatoes slathered in the perfect Svihel Farm olive oil dressing.
Your story: Of course I ate the healthiest, gluten-free, most elegant food in the world at the State Fair. Strange that you'd be surprised?
3. Esquites and Quesabirria Taquitos at El Burrito Mercado
El Burrito Mercado has been an icon of the Twin Cities restaurant scene for generations, so it was hard to imagine a Mexican grocery store and restaurant hosting a fair. But sister and brother Milissa and Tomas Silva decided to sell exactly three items, and all of them were fantastic. The esquites ($8) are corn-like, pure, tangy, rich and wonderful, with a cup cut from the cob of corn, the lemony herb epazote, house-made spices, a touch of crema and cotija cheese. I've had many esquites that were worse, stickier, gummy, slathered in sauce and bland and mushy, but this one is simply fantastic in every way. I also liked the quesabirria taquitos ($16), which are rolled in a special super-thin tortilla that doesn't get hard when fried. It's stuffed with rich beef cooked in birria and finished with a super bright tomatillo-avocado salsa. It's everything you could want in a restaurant meal served in a paper boat: bright and rich, fresh and vibrant, and when you ask if it's spicy, the entire staff behind the counter rings cowbells and chants “It's not spicy” in unison, which is objectively laughable, especially in the wake of the recent spate of news about vice presidential candidate Tim Walz's so-called “white man tacos.”
Your story: At a time when the whole country was talking about “white man tacos,” I watched an iconic Twin Cities restaurant condense its essence into three dishes that somehow functioned as the perfect, humorous rebuke: And they had a delicious watermelon drink, too!
2. Soul Bowl's Crab Boiled Wings
2024, the year soul food really comes to the State Fair! When I found out that Chef Gerald Klass of Soul Bowl, Camden Social, and Cream Cafe would be serving “Crab Boil Chicken Wings” this year, my first thought was, “What? And what?” When I found out they were $20, I thought, “I don't want to pay $20 for any food at the State Fair.” But even though I was pretty full, I struggled to order them and got some great news: something new is coming to the State Fair. A tray weighing several pounds, six big, meaty chicken wings, a pile of fries, a few ears of corn, a generous dollop of crab boil seasoning on the bottom of the tray, and hot sauce squirted all over the wings for a messy, yet huge, hearty, true soul food dinner. A lot of food. A lot of flavor. If you want to grab a table at Ball Park Cafe, have a few beers with your buddies, and enjoy a serious dinner to end the night, this is my top pick.
Your story: The State Fair is more than just butterheads and all-you-can-drink milk. The State Fair is also a story of real soul food. So real, so real you need two hands to carry it. Really!
Paella at the Paella Depot
Remember Kitchen Window, the Uptown kitchen supply store and cooking school where you could buy or rent a full set of tools to make paella? And remember when Kitchen Window owner Doug Huemoeller closed his Twin Cities icon in 2021? That's right, he's back!
Just outside the Miracle of Birth Center with baby animals, Huemoller and his family operate four giant paella pans to make authentic, smoky, spicy paella. The rice is purposely browned in the pan for a wonderful charred flavor in every grain. Thin, smoky chorizo, meaty, charred chicken, runny eggs. The best paella in the state, anywhere. We're serious about this!
When I learned that paella was one of the new offerings at the fair in 2024, I thought, “Nonsense.” I've won six James Beard Awards for food and restaurant insight, and I couldn't have been more wrong. The best paella in Minnesota right now is located across from the all-you-can-drink milk stand, just around the corner from the giant Turkey To Go booth.
Your Story: Many people think the Minnesota State Fair is a great place to be, but in fact, fine dining critics say it serves the best authentic Spanish paella in Minnesota.
A lot of strange things happen in life, I’ve noticed. Here’s the news from the 2024 Minnesota State Fair.
