ST. PAUL -- The Minnesota State Fair wraps up on Labor Day, but there is still time to head down to take in the fun and taste some of the new fair food items this year. The Great Minnesota Get Together has 33 official new foods and eight new food vendors for 2025. Add in the almost 1,600 foods at close to 300 concessions throughout the fair, and how can anyone expect to try them all? I headed down to the Fair on Friday and took in 10 of the new food items. Below are pictures of what my wife and I had and our thoughts. You still have almost three days to get down to St. Paul and try them for yourself.
Everything we had was good, but in the end, Lumpia City's pizza lumpia won out. Traditional Filipino fried spring rolls filled with pizza goodness. Think a Geno's Pizza roll, but better, pizza in a delicious light/crispy shell. The 15 minutes or so spent in line were well worth it. They also have a Ube Butter Banana French Toast version. $12 for two.
A close second to the lumpia, why has somebody not made this delectable treat sooner? The cone-shaped pastry is described as "if a donut and a churro had a baby," lives up to its name. Pick your "spread" to go on the inside, caramel or Nutella, then load in some vanilla ice cream and top with your choice of Oreo cookies, rainbow sprinkles, or frosted flakes. We chose caramel for the spread and Oreo for the topping. One was plenty to share. The only downside was that a lot of the caramel fell out of the bottom into the holder. $15 but worth every penny.
The line for Richie's Cheese Curd Tacos was fairly long but moved pretty fast, and it was another item worth the wait. They had four different kinds: Boxchecker (Chicken and Bacon), Dill Pickle, Original (Brat), and Pizza, the day we went. You got two for $14 and could mix. We chose the Boxchecker and Dill Pickle. Both were really good, and to my surprise, the Dill Pickle (that my wife wanted to try) was the best. Cream cheese and dill, along with the curds, sooo tasty. $14 for two.
We decided to go to the state fair this year, largely to try these giant tater kegs/tots filled with different things. They had four kinds: Bacon and Cheddar (most popular), Bacon Jalapeno, Cheese Bomb, and Reuben (we were there in the afternoon, so the breakfast version was not being offered). The line was pretty long, but they had an express line for the Bacon Cheddar version only. We took the express line. Pretty good, the cheese was nice and melty inside, and combined with the Top Tator dip like a crispy baked potato in your hand. $10 for four, unfortunately, you couldn't mix flavors, and they didn't offer a sampler tray.
A beignet is a deep-fried pastry dough topped with powdered sugar. Like a little pillow of donutty goodness. Light, fluffy, and tasty. They also had some flavored coffees and iced tea. I got an iced tea with a shot of cherry-vanilla added. The beignets were great and served up fast. The wait for the iced tea was the only negative here; it took longer to get than the beignets, but it was pretty good if you like tea. $6 for two.
The best value of everything we had, you got a small bucket of donuts for only $8. Rich, warm, fresh, and chocolatey, they were great! So rich, we had a hard time finishing the pail. Go early and get these before you fill up on anything else.
I wasn't sure what to expect here, but I wanted to try. A really nice, refreshing tea with just enough dill to give it a little extra flavor. The seasoned salt around the rim adds to the flavor. I was rotating the glass around to make sure I got some on every sip. $7 for a glass, and they have other flavors too; raspberry was pretty popular.
Beef bacon, double breaded in tempura batter, deep-fried, and served with 24k Gold BBQ and Cashville Hot dipping sauces. Another winner, tasty with or without the sauce. I really enjoyed the 24k Gold BBQ. The Cashville Hot wasn't too bad when you first tasted it, but you could feel the heat when you swallowed. $12 for a small, $20 for a large. The small was good for two people to share.
Seasoned ground beef and Gouda cheese on a tortilla with caramelized onions, lettuce, pickles, and custom burger sauce. Overall, pretty good. The sauce stole the show; it was great. The downside was that either they forgot the Gouda cheese on ours, or you just couldn't taste it. $12 for one.
Seasoned shredded chicken stuffed in a corn tortilla and fried, and served with a mild tomatillo salsa. My wife enjoyed these more than me and they are pretty good; they just didn't make my top of the foods we tried. You need to have the salsa, or they are a little dry. $$15 for three.
My one wish for all the foods we tried was for there to be a sampler platter, so to speak, so you could try all the flavors. Only Richie's Cheese Curd Tacos let you mix to try different ones. There were a lot of times we didn't get to try that we wanted to because we ran out of time. If you go to the fair over the next two and a half days, I would recommend looking at the fair map ahead of time and having a plan for what you want to sample for food and do for activities, so you don't end up backtracking all over the grounds. The park and ride from the University of Minnesota worked well, with only about a 10-minute bus ride because of the dedicated bus lane.