Fairly Unbalanced

As one of the larger franchised vendors on at the Minnesota State Fair, Green Mill often gets overlooked in favor of some of the quirkier, one-off operations that dot the Fairgrounds. Their mission seems to be to sell a lot of slices of basic pizza to kids that visit their location alongside the Family Fair area on Machinery Hill, sponsoring the children’s entertainment stage within Baldwin Park. With that said, they also seem to be trying to reinvent their pizza offerings with the addition of new food items regularly, including these deep dish pizzas, scaled way way down.

None of the ingredients here are designed to startle the eater — pizza dough covered in garlic butter, stuffed with pepperoni, mozzarella, and sauce. Just the basics, what you see is what you get. The only intriguing aspect is their bite-size scale and almost cup-like form factor. One person accompanying us as we tried them likened them in both taste and shape to a Bagel Bite, a comparison we thought was apt. We found the dough to be a little too well-done, though it remained soft and chewy in the middle, and the marinara sauce too sharp and acidic, in line with our previous opinion of Green Mill’s pizza sauce. There was a significant amount of pepperoni stuffed inside and arranged on top almost in a floret shape, but no fancy design could save this from being anything more than mediocre.

Thankfully, they were among the more affordable things we’ve eaten at this year’s Fair at $7 for two mini pizzas, and we suspect they will sell quite a few of these to the youngest Fairgoers who can sometimes be pickier eaters among some of the Fair’s wilder ingredients. For everyone else other than pizza fanatics, we think you can make far more interesting choices at the Fair.

Ratings (0-5):

• Taste: 2
• Appearance: 2
• Novelty: 0
• Value: 4

Overall Score: 8 out of 20 (Better Luck Next Year)

In our mind, we had mostly written off Kora’s Cookie Dough after their auspicious 2019 debut, where we panned both the Cookie Dough On-A-Stick and the Deep-Fried Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough as being cloyingly sweet and utilizing low-quality ingredients. However, everyone deserves a second chance, and developing great Fair food can sometimes be a trial and error process. Plus, we do love Oreos, so when we saw this new item themed around the classic sandwich cookie, we couldn’t help but be intrigued.

Its actual relation to the Oreo is dubious — instead, this is frozen, safe-to-eat brownie dough rolled in Oreo crumbles and sprinkles, skewered on a stick of course. It’s something akin to a cake pop on steroids, a couple bites of chocolate bomb that we thankfully thought was much better than the chocolate chip version we had three years prior. Where the chocolate chip dough was far too sweet and gritty on our teeth, this had a much more pleasant taste and texture, with the richness of the brownie batter coming through and satisfying our momentary craving for something sweet to end our evening. We couldn’t handle much more than the amount we were served, but thankfully they have their portion sizes perfected. The Oreo crumble lacked any of the creme filling and was a miniscule connection to the world’s most famous cookie, but we appreciated its presence all the same; the chocolate-on-chocolate didn’t add much other than a more interesting appearance. It does appear as though it might be warmed, but it did come straight out of a freezer, so there was some disconnect between what you might expect and what is served, but we got past that minor detail pretty quickly as we enjoyed our bites as we left the Fairgrounds for the evening.

One major flaw that persists at this stand — this tiny snack-sized dessert was $8, a gargantuan price for what little you get. Again, we think the portion size is about perfect and any more would’ve detracted from our opinion, but that price is out of line compared to most dessert items nearby and will ensure this was a one-time-only experience, even though it did change our opinion on this stand on the whole. We’re definitely glad to finally have a positive experience from Kora’s however, and we hope future items continue to show improvement.

Ratings (0-5):

• Taste: 3
• Appearance: 4
• Novelty: 3
• Value: 1

Overall Score: 11 out of 20 (Fairly Fresh)

By now, we’ve extolled the virtues of Baba’s extraordinary hummus enough that you should be convinced to go give it a try on your next Minnesota State Fair visit if you haven’t already. Yes, it’s a trek to get up to their Machinery Hill location, but it’s worth every step — it’s a true attraction for the Fairgrounds’ North End. In addition to the brilliant buffalo chicken hummus bowl, Baba’s has introduced their first dessert hummus new in 2022 as well. It was evident that the decision to add a dessert hummus was one they put quite some thought into based on what they said recently on their Instagram page: “We see ‘sweet hummus’ as an evolution of our creamy, chickpea savory dip. It might not be the authentic, original hummus from the Middle East that we know and love, but what dessert hummus has done is bring more recognition to Middle Eastern food. This is the very reason why we launched Baba’s- to bring more recognition, approachability and accessibility to Palestinian, Arab, Middle Eastern food.”

Frankly, we feel this is more thought than what is put into most new Fair food offerings, and we love their elevated approach to their menu. Their care and intelligence comes through in the food too — nothing this good happens by accident. As a result, their Coco-Nuts dessert hummus works well, with the hazelnut chocolate version of their ultra-smooth hummus every bit as tasty as the more traditional style. The chocolate flavor is not cheap or artificial, and the mixed-in ingredients — chocolate chips, hazelnuts, and shredded coconut — boost each bite where they are included. Our only complaint, which has held true for all the hummus bowls we’ve been served regardless of which menu item it has been, is the add-ins could be a little more plentiful; it’s inevitable that by the end of the bowl, you’re down to just hummus on a spoon and the final bites are a fraction of what the beginning experience. This was particularly evident when we promptly ran out of the banana slices served with the dessert hummus, perfectly ripe and a wonderful addition to all that chocolate, but a fleeting treat once they were quickly all gone. The same can be said about their unbelievable pita puffs, reworked here by sprinkling them with powdered sugar, transforming them into almost doughnut-like fluffy perfection, excellent for scooping up as much hummus as possible and a total delight while they last. Just a couple more on the skewer would go a long, long way.

This was our fifth hummus bowl variety of the now ten on offer at Baba’s, and we must say it was our least favorite of the five, but that is not meant to belittle this offering whatsoever; the other four have just been so out of this world good that it’s tough to stack up, and we think their regular hummus is pretty much perfect in every way. It should also be noted, the Coco-Nuts Hummus Bowl is vegan and dairy-free, and we couldn’t think of very many dessert options on the Fairgrounds that meet those specifications, making this probably the best option for anyone holding those dietary restrictions but looking to get a sweets fix at the Fair. $12 might be more than some are willing to pay for dessert at the Fair, more expensive than most desserts, but this is easily shareable and in our view worth every penny. We’re so glad that Baba’s thought outside the box and weren’t afraid to look at their hummus in a new way, and we cannot wait to see what this leads to in the future for one of our new favorite Fair vendors.

Ratings (0-5):

• Taste: 4
• Appearance: 5
• Novelty: 5
• Value: 3

Overall Score: 17 out of 20 (Blue Ribbon Best)

There is a shortlist of upper echelon Minnesota State Fair foods that will forever be iconic, the classics that nearly everyone mentions when listing off their favorite items to get: Sweet Martha’s cookies, a corn dog or Pronto Pup depending on where you fall on that debate, and cheese curds. What’s not to love about deep-fried breaded cheese? But what if you dared to add to them, include them in an unexpected way, and try to invent a whole new cuisine? New vendor Richie’s Cheese Curd Tacos has dared to stretch the boundaries of what the Fair’s most beloved appetizer can be.

Two types of taco are on offer from their bright and shiny location near the Poultry Barn: the Original, made with diced bratwurst and Baja sauce, and the Box Checker, containing diced chicken, bacon, and of course ranch — it is the Midwest after all. Both versions are served in a fried flour tortilla shell and provided with lettuce. They’re served two to an order for $12, and the OG Box provides one of each.

Let’s start with the positives, which was that the cheese curds were spot-on, arranged essentially in a row along the taco’s middle just over the protein, such so that no bite was without cheese. We appreciated this attention to detail, and the cheese curds were every bit as tasty as the ones garnering lengthy lines at Mouth Trap in the Food Building. In fact, after experiencing some illness from eating a boat of cheese curds in the past, we enjoyed having a more limited portion here and avoiding any gastrointestinal issues. Aside from the cheese curds, we found very little to like in either taco. The bratwurst had good flavor but was a non-traditional choice for a taco; surely ground beef would pair just as well if not better with cheese curds. At least the bratwurst was better than the diced chicken, which we found repulsive, almost mealy and unflattering. Each tortilla shell was fried to the point that they were shatteringly crisp and oily, disgusting to handle and to ingest. Both the Baja sauce and ranch helped add some variety, but with the only other topping being heaps of lettuce, we felt underwhelmed and thought other traditional taco toppings like tomatoes or onion would have helped freshen things up and make these tacos seem more like what they should be rather than a poorly thought-out attempt.

We did find the portions to be filling, so if you really want to give these a try you will be getting adequate value as far as filling your stomach. In fact, we found them greasy and unappealing enough that we didn’t really want to eat anything else beyond this point — a rough way to go about appetite control at the Fair, but effective. If we were to opt for these again, we’d definitely only get the bratwurst original variety, but these are not going to enter our list of foods we have to get without some significant changes.

Ratings (0-5):

• Taste: 1
• Appearance: 0
• Novelty: 3
• Value: 2

Overall Score: 6 out of 20 (Better Luck Next Year)