2018 MN State Fair New Foods Preview Part 3

HUMP DAY!

We're in the middle of the list today, letters M through R (if you didn't realize they're listed alphabetically, you do now.  YOU'RE WELCOME.)

You can click here for part 1, and part 2.

Let's get to it!

Messy Giuseppe

A blend of seasoned ground beef and Italian pork sausage smothered in marinara, sprinkled with parmesan cheese and served on crusty Italian bread.

At Mancini's al Fresco

Sarah

No. I don’t want this. Besides Mexican food, Sarah doesn’t like red sauce. And I’m pissed that the State Fair is making me eat so many things that I don’t like this year.

I mean, it sounds fine. I bet Anne and Pat will like it all right. But I know I will try a bite and say “Yep. That’s marinara sauce” and then be fucking done with it.

And of course it has to be “smothered” in marinara. Why can’t it just be drizzled with it?

Anne

Yep. Gimme That. Right In Ma Mouf.

I am not sure we’ve ever eaten with this vendor before. I hope they represent.

(update- they made the Bomba Sammich last year- it was fine).

Patrick

Aaaah yeah, now this is what I’m talking about.  There is nothing I don’t like about this.  This just sounds like something delicious I want to chow down on.  I think Mancini’s has been hit or miss for food items (and usually it looks good and falls a little flat, which has me a *little* worried about making this my most excited item), but I feel like they’ve got all the right punches to make this sandwich a knockout.  I guess the bread could be soggy or stale and that would eff things up, but I hope they really pull through on this one.

Moroccan Sausage Bowl

Coarse ground beef and lamb sausage seasoned with herbs, sweet spices and a hint of red pepper, cooked with carrots, turnips and chick peas, and topped with sautéed onions and a green olive.

At Sausage by Cynthia

Sarah

Son of a bitch it took me three tries to spell Moroccan right. And yet I get Giuseppe on the first try. (okay, it was the first try on the title of the previous entry but the second try here. I’m a giant mess (and actually, spell check has just informed me that I, in fact, did not spell Giuseppe right on the first time ever, except for in this sentence, right now.))

So, I think the photo on this is a little underwhelming. Something about the colors, maybe. BUT. All that said, this looks good. I mean, get rid of those crotch peppers and then we’ve got a deal! Okay, I guess I’m also not sure about the chick peas. I think I’ll most likely end up pushing those to the side of the plate, but everything else on this sounds great! So color me excited about this one!

Anne

Not one whole green olive! How are we going to split that three ways?

Yeah this looks and sounds good. I’m not a HUGE chick pea fan, but I’m interested to try them again in a different way.

What is Sausage by Cynthia? Because we already have pretty good sausage on offer at Sausage Sisters so…

Patrick

This was aaaalmost my most excited for item.  I passed on it for that pic because of the chick peas.  Not crazy about chick peas.  Honestly though, I think I can work through that, because this looks amazing.  Love the meat and vegetables, and the green olives.  Sounds like my kind of crazy ethnic food that I love giving a try.  I seem to use crazy a lot in these reviews, like I have no middle ground for food preference.  I’m either crazy about something, or not crazy about it.  Guess I have to live to the extremes!

Nordic Waffles

Fresh-made waffle wraps in seven varieties: All-Day Breakfast (egg, bacon & cheddar); Berries & Cream (raspberry & strawberry mixture with vanilla cream); Cinna-Sugar Butter (cinnamon, sugar & butter); Slammin’ Salmon On-A-Stick (Norwegian smoked salmon with cream cheese & green onions); S’More (marshmallow crème, crumbled graham crackers & Nutella); Turkey Chipotle Club (turkey, bacon & mixed greens with Sriracha mayo sauce); and Vegetarian Viking (black bean veggie burger, cheddar cheese, mixed greens & chipotle sauce).

At Nordic Waffles

Sarah

Jesus it’s like they’re taking parenthetical lessons from me.

I get irritated when a “new food” is actually like seven new foods. Like, come on. Just pick one you want to focus on for your debut and push that as the front runner. Because now the three of us are going to have to decide which one of these we’re gonna want to try. And I bet it will come down to the All-Day Breakfast, Berries & Cream, or S’More. *Sighs for fifteen minutes*

But I think this is a clever new shop and I hope these waffles turn out great so then I’ll want to make the effort to try the other ones I’m interested in.

Anne

Ok hold on here- I don’t think it’s fair to cram 7 new foods into 1 new food offering.  Like- this is a new vendor, you don’t get to just list everything you make- IT’S ALL NEW.

But other than that I’m pretty exciterested to try these, especially the brekkie one, and the sweet ones. I don’t want fish on a stick so stay away salmon!

Patrick

Shut up, how am I going to try all of these Nordic waffles?  There are so many of them, how does one choose?  Maybe we’ll each need to get one to form a clear opinion on this new food creation.  If I had to pick three to give a go, I’d probably pick All-Day Breakfast, Cinna-Sugar Butter, and S’More, with maybe Turkey Chipotle Club waiting on the bench.  I’m pretty stoked to try these, they sound really good, and I like waffles so seeing them as a sandwich conveyance is pretty exciting.

Pepperoni Chips with Roasted Red Pepper Queso

Thinly sliced fried pepperoni chips served with a warm roasted red pepper cheese sauce.

At Lulu's Public House

Sarah

Hahaha! Lulu’s is such a HACK! Literally Packie makes Pepperoni chips as a side for dinners, sometimes. It takes him, like, what? 2 minutes to make them? YOU CAN MAKE THEM IN A MICROWAVE, GUYS. And here’s Lulu serving them up as something special. Next year on Lulu’s menu: hard boiled eggs.

Seriously. I would say these will be fine, yet nothing special, but it’s Lulu’s and they often are super overpriced for food that is not great so there’s a chance even these will be a flop.

I am a bit excited about the cheese sauce, though.

C’mon, Lulu’s. Surprise me for a change.

Anne

Ok, these are probably gonna be real good. How do I know that? BECAUSE WE MAKE THEM AT HOME!

C’mon Lulu’s, what’d you do, draw inspiration from Pinterest? At least this year they’ll probably have a pretty good new food, because I really want to like Lulu’s but they usually only put out C or maaaaybe B level food.

Patrick

Alright LuLu, if I recall correctly (and I do, I cheated and looked up last year’s reviews) you and I had a real falling out last year.  You had two chances to wow me and you kind of tripped when you were carrying them to my table and dumped them on my head.  I told you I was done wit you.  That you were in the same doghouse as Blue Barn.  You’re back again, and you look like you’re playing things cool, not trying to really stand out, and only putting out a single new item this year (which I can appreciate).  So…I’m gonna give you one last shot.  Don’t fuck it up.  

Pepperoni Chips.  I’d first like to say I can make these in a microwave at home and they are great, so you’re not really trying very hard, but maybe that’s a good thing for you.  Fried pepperoni chips are my jam, and whether you actually fried these or just nuked them like I do, it’ll be hard not to nail this.  That roasted red pepper cheese sauce you got with them?  Ok, I can dig that.  Sounds pretty good.  Just don’t you play me Lulu.  Don’t you do it, or you’ll be getting the same treatment as Blue Barf further down this list.  I believe you can change, girl.

Rainbow Cloud Roll

Three scoops of ice cream sprinkled with fruity cereal and wrapped in a pillow of cotton candy. Hand-rolled on-site. Ice cream choices include Superman, vanilla, strawberry and chocolate.

At Rainbow Ice Cream

Sarah

Holy shit look at this!!! Oh man, will this be amazing or terrible? WHO CAN SAY? THIS is the kind of fun fair foods I look forward to. The confections that are weird and strange and you know you’ll either be blown away by this magical treat or saddened that it turned out to be a devil’s trap all along.

NOT TODAY, SATAN.

This is butts. Just straight up good butts.

Will the cotton candy just melt with the ice cream? What kind of flavor will we get? (my vote will be for chocolate) Will it give us ice cream headaches? We’ll find out in a few months!

Anne

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! YAAAAAAASSSSSS! NOW WE’RE TALKING!

This looks absolutely INSANE and is exactly what I’m expecting from new MNSF foods!  WTF is Superman Ice Cream? I assume it’s the red and blue ice cream in the pic?

Fucking fantastic.

Patrick

LMAO!  What?  What is this?  This is like kid crack.  Something a kid would like go crazy over, but anyone with real developed tastes would be like “that shit gonna taste insane”, and not necessarily in a good way.  That rainbow ice cream looks fun and kooky.  It’s like the suicide soft drink of ice creams.  It sounds cool and fun, but ultimately you’re just muddying everything with too many flavors.  I don’t know, maybe like the chocolate or vanilla, or even the strawberry might look more appetizing.  I’ll jump in this ball pit of sweetness, but I feel like I’m going to get frustrated when I can’t flounder my way out of it.

Check us out tomorrow for part 4!