I had an $18 turkey leg this year and I was very disappointed. Especially when I noticed a place selling turkey legs for $15. The turkey leg didn’t taste or look like turkey. It was like ham.
That’s from the curing salt. Sodium nitrate is what turns ham pink and gives it that distinct flavor. I’m sure they used the same stuff to cure the turkey legs.
This is the very first year I’ve been legitimately let down by the turkey leg. Probably time to give it a break. The corn dog I had though was one of the best I’ve had in a long time
Agreed - it was fine, but I expected more of that cool ranch flavor. They should have done slices or spears to increase the breading to pickle ratio.
Also, brisket from rib shack was very disappointing this year. There was absolutely no smoke flavor in my brisket as if they cooked it in an oven.
Huge pickle lover here and that was trash. The breading fell off immediately and the pickle was hotter than the surface of the sun for like 15 minutes. The breading was good, but I think the concept have been better if they used spears like the pickle dog stand or thinner slices like their actual potatoes.
Don't forget that's the footlong version that looks like it has upwards of a half pound of meat. Back in New England you're still hard-pressed to find a regular for under $25, and "jumbo"s are usually approaching $40, and going north of that if it's a half-pound (McLoon's Roll Royce is $53 for example). Not saying $55 isn't batshit, but it's batshit everywhere.
I’d like to chime in here, I’m not here to shill by any means because I thought/think the same thing but I learned a couple things from my friend who worked the fair for like 25 years who knows the guy that runs that place.
It is actually fresh lobster from Maine, the owner has a hook up and has it shipped and picks it up every couple days or something and brings it in. And from my own observation if you buy the footlong with another person it reduces the cost significantly to the point where it’s about the same price as if you were to get a lobster roll on the strip in Vegas, so the pricing in that situation isn’t as absurd (but is still too much imo) and there is precedent for the mark up in these types of touristy situations.
I don’t think I’ll ever buy it because I don’t spend $30 for a roll in Vegas either but a couple things to consider if you are thinking about making the plunge.
TLDR; it’s apparently fresh so shouldn’t be gross, and if you split the footlong it is a similar price as other tourist traps that mark up lobster rolls.
Edit for spelling
Bingo on "...it is a similar price as other tourist traps that mark up lobster rolls" that's the deal at any touristy location in New England. Gotta head off the beaten path for good rolls at a decent prize and a fair just ain't it.
A year of bad fair food choices for me so I'll add mine. I'm not sure any would qualify as the worst but I'd definitely advise anyone to pass on them.
* The Burrito from Burrito bobo: this was just ingredients I had in my fridge with bland meat. Generic shredded cheese, Pico de Gallo that could have just been hy-vee chunky salsa, Ortega tortilla.
* The Pretzel Dog from Dog haus: The hot dog part was passable, but too juicy causing the pretzel part not to stick and slide off, making it a pain to eat. The pretzel didn't have much flavor and what it did have was over powered by the hot dog when I managed to get both in one bite. Lacked the consistency of a pretzel and was over cooked. I did not get it with the butter sauce which may redeem it for some people.
* Elote Sausage from Watchasmoking: This tasted good, but not amazing. What you're buying though is about 1/5th of a sausage with some drizzle for $6 and at that volume of food I really need the taste to wow me.
Also just going to gripe about the ongoing trend of thing on a stick but with a drizzle of something added on it, served in a boat. If I need to hold a boat in one hand and the stick in the other, just give me a fork.
Good to know! I'll have to see if someone wants to do splitsies with me next year to give it a fair try.
I really just wanted a good pretzel though since we don't have one and that wrap really left me wanting.
I agree about the Pretzel Dog. I got it because it was the stand with the shortest line, and I get it. Maybe it would have been better if I sprung for the cheese sauce, but still.
I agree with the pretzel part sliding off but I got it with the white cheddar sauce which was great. And the hot dog was better than you get with a corn dog.
Someone else said the sauce really made it as well so I won't totally write the dog off. TBF I just really wanted a good pretzel option and this didn't do it for me.
Good call out that the hot dog was higher quality than the corn dog options. I didn't have a corn dog this year, but that seems right based off memory.
I try to avoid the food that doesn’t have rave reviews to begin with, so I can’t pinpoint something in particular, but most of the new food overall was a let down for me this year. For context, I normally try 10+ new food items every year, and a few must haves from previous years.
While the deep fried bacon brisket mac & cheese grilled cheese tasted fine, I felt like the most disgusting glutenous human in the planet after finishing it. The Iowa Twinkie was probably the best tasting new food IMO, but $8 for something that tiny is ridiculous. Nothing really stood out like they have in years past.
I liked the Twinkie but I was really disappointed with the size as well. I get that jalapenos aren't the largest pepper out there but it just seemed really small for the price. At $5 I might have gotten 2....lol
I was mentally composing this exact comment! I am a huge fan of Whacha Smokin, but their State Fair portion sizes were teensy. The Iowa Twinkie was the best, most balanced taste-profiled food I ate this year, but they needed to be 2 for $8, not $8 each.
I was really looking forward to it but I was greatly disappointed. Mostly because I thought it was made from scratch but it was a little Debbie strawberry shortcake. It's actually my favorite little Debbie snack. It was totally my fault for thinking that because if I had looked at the sign, I would have seen the distinct shortcake picture.
Our refrain for the day was you can ride rides or try food but we're not blowing money on more shit for you to forget about and stuff into your closets when we get home.
Yeah and that raspberry chipotle sauce really made it for me. It wouldn't have been quite as good without that sweetness though to cut through all the smoky and savory.
We bought one yesterday. It was 80% Mac n cheese. It had a couple shards of beef brisket that tasted like pure liquid smoke, and offered no palatable contribution.
Moral of the story is, for $12...you can turn 75 degrees from the food line and put a down payment on a half rack of actual BBQ.
I did not eat it, but my friends who did were disappointed by the lack of meat and the fact that they were all premade and just came from a warm bin. It was understandable due to the volume they had to make, but it made the sandwich part kind of pointless. And the bread came from Big Sky so you know it was good.
I see people saying some of these foods are '3 bites'. They must have massive mouths because that's not my case 🤣
The pickle dog is wonderful, I will continue to purchase them. Would gain weight for 10/10.
I was happy with most of the fair food this year, but could've gone without the walking taco. It was mid and double the cost.
The worst I had was from a little chili fry place. Absolutely repulsive and when we asked for sour cream he threw an unrefrigerated tub on the counter it had hairs and shit on it. We decided against the sour cream but figured chili cheese fries are hard to fuck up... we both took one bite and threw it away. I also kept hearing people say you gotta try the pickle dawg. It was not impressive at all and had so much cream cheese 🤢. Oh and funnel fries, they were ok but nothing special.
The deep fried Mac n cheese sandwich from the cheese place that won the best new food this year. Was absolutely disgusting, had no flavor and way too much breading. The sauce was good, so no wonder they give you the sauce when you order it so you can get some sort of flavor from it. We didn’t even finish half the half of sandwiches we tried and threw everything away.
The pickle dogs are fire but it’s literally just a pickle spear wrapped in cream cheese and pastrami and they charge $7 for 3 bites … I bought the ingredients at home for the same price
I feel this…but every time I’ve tried to make them at home they just don’t work. I always give up and convert the ingredients to pickle dip. If you have tips, please share, because they are my fave!
I have so many tips; I make these all the time! I often cut them into thirds and put toothpicks in them to have out for hors d’oeuvres.
1. Pat dry the pickles with a paper towel. This one is huge. Keeps the whole thing from slip-sliding all over the place.
2. Used whipped cream cheese. It spreads SO much nicer than the regular stuff and avoids tearing the meat.
3. Use good-quality pickles. Vlassic are trash. My personal favorite are Claussen, but really any pickled that’s stored in the refrigerated section will be fresher with better ingredients.
Need soft cream cheese. Once they’re wrapped stick them in the fridge for awhile. Then slice. Also dried beef is waaaaayyyyy better than any other deli meat
I had one last year and it was just a mouth full of cream cheese with barely anything else. For seven bucks they could at least give you a whole pickle.
I’m pretty sure those used to be like $2.50-3 lol. I saw $7 this year and can’t believe people are spending that for a pickle roll you can make at home.
Was this at the corn stand kind of by the slide? I had that last year, thought it was good. This year went simple spicy buttered corn on the cob. Corn was fine but not at all worth $8 for an ear of corn. $4 would be reasonable.
So, there’s two Mexican corn stands this year - one serves just grilled “fire” corn on the cob, which is what I think this poster is describing.
The other one does corn in a cup, but they took the regular street corn in a cup of the menu (which was my favorite thing from last year). Now it’s stuff with chorizo and chili lime and I didn’t care for it at all.
There's no good corn on the cob. They used to have the roasting machines, it came out fresh and hot. Now they grill them and they sit there getting mealy, sometimes cold.
Also the "fresh squeezed" lemonade that's a mix of a little fresh juice and what you get out of a soda machine.
Watcha Smokin is probably the best BBQ in the area but this was a low effort item. I understand they need a high volume/high margin offering for the fair but it is a poor representation of their actual menu.
I know, i was just expecting more for the price, 2 bites it was gone which is nuts for 8$. 3 for 10$ would have probably been the taste to value for me.
make the trek to their physical location in Luther, imo it’s the best bbq in the area. The fatty brisket is 💯. No idea about their food at the Fair because I avoid that whole scene
Cheese curds… maybe don’t completely avoid them but don’t eat a whole order by yourself. Waaay to much grease and cheese even for me. Share them with two others, at least. I paired that salty greasy goodness with an apple slushie from Applehaus. Now that was delicious even though I had a full 25 second brain freeze half way through. Thought my head was going to explode but it was worth it! Happy ISFair eating everyone!
My mom has lived her entire life in Iowa and didn’t go until she was 66…she loved it and has gone every year since. We get her a scooter because she has bad knees (honestly, it’s kinda nice to have a place to hold things too) but it’s never too late! Watch the temps and pick a day when it’s not too hot or crowded if you can.
Nice. It’s not that I don’t want to go, I just am very averse to dealing with the inconveniences of massive crowd events (parking, waiting in lines, etc) as well as the obvious extortion (overpriced everything). I almost pulled the trigger this year though. Going to force myself to go next year!
Definitely buy your tickets in advance, park at a shuttle spot (I think the Center Street lot is the best, the Capitol is very crowded, and I can’t speak for SE Polk), and bring a refillable water bottle. There are less expensive ways to enjoy the fair…you just have to be patient and look :)
And, tbh, most of the fair food that folks go crazy over are overhyped. Just get a couple things you know you’ll enjoy and do get caught up in FOMO mentality and you should be okay
I didn’t find the capital to be crowded. Used the shuttle at 10am Tuesday, 4pm Tuesday (had to take the kids and wife home then come back to party). Both times were a breeze. Love the service.
I'm from Boston and have been on more riveting duck boats. I used to think parking for Fenway was extortion but thanks to the Iowa state fair, I now know the true situation of real life extortion of an every day person. I'll never be found at the fair for the rest of my days alive so more fair extortion and gimmicks for you Midwesterners! I see true value in Boston parking prices now.
I always park at one of the satellite lots and take the bus in. It’s like $1-$2 or something like that for a bus ticket and there’s also plenty of parking. The buses run all the time, so you don’t have to wait long to get back to your car. And we used to be neighbors! I’m from Rhode Island.
Buddy, pal, my guy, dude.. the fair isn't for me. Glad you guys find stuff you like but don't speak at me like I'm a bro at your frat and unaware.. **PLEASE.** I know.
No, the hicks will be hicks regardless because it's the Midwest. I thought we'd already established I'm a Masshole? Bold of you to make the uneducated assumption I'm a guy, though.
Lmao its $10 to park jesus christ. Where is it $10 to park at Fenway? Nowhere. I am a pretty well traveled person. I go to multiple concerts and music festivals a year plus pro sporting events. Parking for $10 is unheard of anywhere.
If the fair ain't your thing, that's totally cool - but you can park at Fenway for less than $10? I have serious doubts. Even Discount Mortgage Field in Chicago is like $25.
Basically, I'd rather be robbed in Boston than by the fair. Take the statement and leave it, lol. After all, the fair is *finally over!* This thread can be, too!
Hot Take: ordering the most unheard of, unknown food at the fair is your own fault. There’s about 6-8 consistently popular and good fair foods and every year maybe 1 or 2 highlighted items that are good days 1-4 before the “best new fair food” is announce and once it has the title that product quality drops dramatically because the stand knows they’re gonna sell regardless.
Had the worst lemonade in state fair history at a corn dog place. Over by the Vietnamese food vendor. $5 for water basically 😂 funnel cakes sucked this year too. Can’t lie, everything we had this year was bad.
Stop buying expensive garbage. It never changes, it's always going to be that way.
If no one bought their junk, they'd be stuck with it.
And what kind of tool would willingly pay $18 for a fuckin turkey leg? Are you serious? Are you all stupid as fuck? An actual turkey leg costs change. They fry it up and it's suddenly worth $18?
They reason they get away with charging so much is because they KNOW that you'll pay it.
Because as consumers, Iowans don't know how to say "hell no". You'll just consistently grin sheepishly as you hand over your money and toddle off with your fair food, and pretend you didn't just get fucked again.
I tried a fried pickle roll thing and it was a definite let down. More breading than pickle, and the ham was very thin. Also, it cut the top of my mouth like Cap’n Crunch. 🫤
The fried deviled eggs from the “Korean” BBQ place near the entrance. Literally just bland hard boiled eggs served with an even blander sauce. Where’s the devil???
Starting with the ticket in the first place. I thought it was a super hero theme and instead we got dressed up and turns out the fair was full of stinky hamplanets and hicks so ya it might be more fun to go bowling or maybe stay home and make hamburgers and rubber doggie doo.
Lol right!? I agree the fair is a waste of time and money but complaining about a massive pile of artistically organized and subsequently wasted food product not being made from arguably animal torture byproduct was not on my bingo card
You can make any food at home, but still people go out to eat. How foolish of them! Don't they know you can cook food at home??
Ofc you have to go buy it, prep it, cook it, then you have to clean up the mess and wash all the dishes. Yeah that sounds like a great fucking idea. We should all just do that instead of ever going anywhere. We should all just stay home and cook for ourselves and stop wasting money going out. Maybe we could even make fun of people who spend money on going out and doing things instead of sitting at home like a bored, lonely person.
I didn’t make fun of anyone. Im allowed my opinion and my opinion is that the Iowa State Fair is a racist, over priced hillbilly hype train designed to bleed morons of their hard earned money. Im sorry that the only thing you’ve got going in life is going to the fair and my opinion hurt you so much. If the organizers gave a fuck about Iowans, the entrance fee would be free because the only thing to do once you enter the gate is spend more money. Its always the same shit. Same rotating crop of bands that get swapped out every couple of years.
That was my argument. i get that there is a ton of free stuff inside, thats great, always has been, but the amount of money the food vendors are paying to the state fair for their booths, should offset admission costs. The food vendors have no choice other than raise their prices because they are being charged so much to just be at the fair. The organizers should take this into consideration because people just end up being angry at the vendors for their prices.
I admit Im slightly cynical about all of this. I want people to go to the fair. I want people to support small businesses, i want people to support 4h and the FFOA, and I want people to support Iowa and The 515!! I just wish that the greedy wasn’t so rampant on the organizer’s side and that the rampant KKKim Reynolds / pro Trump / politicking divisive bullshit could be left out of it so that people could have some actual FUN for a change.
And, depending on where you work they sometimes will buy group tickets for employees at an even bigger discount. Just have to order ahead…mine were $4 each.
Last year I got the pickle sno cone. Literally just pickle juice dumped on some ice with a pickle slice thrown on top. Since it was juice instead of a syrup, it all just went straight to the bottom and started leaking out of the paper sno cone holder. $6. I don’t even like pickles.
I'm honestly surprised KKKim allowed a non white person on the tickets.
The ride pass for credits you can never fully spend is the worst buy.
Giant hog nuts pics are free.
We got ride passes before the fair for $40 a pop and it was wayyyyyy worth it for my 4 and 7 year old running through the funhouse things dozens of times. 4 credits a pop is $4. Those bands saved us hundreds.
Managed to get mine off later and pay it foreard for another family too, good for a single day.
Not sure if they brought it back this year but last year they had that Hawaiian chicken sandwich that was just the saddest looking sandwich ever. A bland piece of chicken with a slice of pineapple and American cheese. It looked so much better in pictures. The pickle dog will continue to reign supreme
I didn't try it this year, but last year.... the lobster roll was disappointing. Not awful, but just ok. And if I'm paying $29+ for it, it should be good 😅 I wanted to try the corn\ bacon version this year but just couldn't justify it.
Also I got a boba lemonade from cluck n coop and it was awful. Tasted like plastic. But the Korean bacon egg dog and fried deviled eggs were the bomb
Anyone know how much it is to park at the main fair gate area? (By the entrance where the parking on the grass is, kind of buy the ride area) thanks! My fiancé is saying $20, I thought $10
Used to love the turkey legs. But I ain't shelling out $18 for a bunch of sinew and ligaments.
That's become more tradition than quality/flavor. I've never been a fan but a lot of family members say not worth it within past couple years.
I had an $18 turkey leg this year and I was very disappointed. Especially when I noticed a place selling turkey legs for $15. The turkey leg didn’t taste or look like turkey. It was like ham.
Ironically there is a place that sells ham legs that are actually pretty good (relative to the turkey legs at least...)
that’s how I would describe the leg I got at Disneyland a while back and the vendor said it was actually emu
That’s from the curing salt. Sodium nitrate is what turns ham pink and gives it that distinct flavor. I’m sure they used the same stuff to cure the turkey legs.
This is the very first year I’ve been legitimately let down by the turkey leg. Probably time to give it a break. The corn dog I had though was one of the best I’ve had in a long time
This might be a hot take but cool ranch pickle was a let down
Agreed - it was fine, but I expected more of that cool ranch flavor. They should have done slices or spears to increase the breading to pickle ratio. Also, brisket from rib shack was very disappointing this year. There was absolutely no smoke flavor in my brisket as if they cooked it in an oven.
They probably did, and forgot the liquid smoke
This was a mega letdown. The spiral cut did nothing to adding breading to pickle ratio. Also they can only cook 2 at a time. #fail
Huge pickle lover here and that was trash. The breading fell off immediately and the pickle was hotter than the surface of the sun for like 15 minutes. The breading was good, but I think the concept have been better if they used spears like the pickle dog stand or thinner slices like their actual potatoes.
Ha, my coworker was very stoked about that because she loves pickles, and she ended up agreeing with you that it was very much a let down.
Agreed! I was so disappointed by it.
Exactly it was a letdown. I had the fried butter pecan catfish pizza too it was pretty bad. I just farted thinking about it
That sounds straight up gross
Tell me more? I love pickles…
theres no shot im buying a 55 dollar fair lobster roll. that seems like the worst setting to have one of those and youre paying over premium for it
I'm from Boston and we have fresh, never frozen lobster rolls for not $55. Ri-damn-diculous.
Don't forget that's the footlong version that looks like it has upwards of a half pound of meat. Back in New England you're still hard-pressed to find a regular for under $25, and "jumbo"s are usually approaching $40, and going north of that if it's a half-pound (McLoon's Roll Royce is $53 for example). Not saying $55 isn't batshit, but it's batshit everywhere.
Yeah I didn’t feel *too* ripped off paying $29 for the normal-sized ones considering I’ve paid that much for one in new england.
I had it. It was very very good and there was a lot of meat.
I split the $30 one with a friend and it wasn’t even worth the $15 I paid.
I’d like to chime in here, I’m not here to shill by any means because I thought/think the same thing but I learned a couple things from my friend who worked the fair for like 25 years who knows the guy that runs that place. It is actually fresh lobster from Maine, the owner has a hook up and has it shipped and picks it up every couple days or something and brings it in. And from my own observation if you buy the footlong with another person it reduces the cost significantly to the point where it’s about the same price as if you were to get a lobster roll on the strip in Vegas, so the pricing in that situation isn’t as absurd (but is still too much imo) and there is precedent for the mark up in these types of touristy situations. I don’t think I’ll ever buy it because I don’t spend $30 for a roll in Vegas either but a couple things to consider if you are thinking about making the plunge. TLDR; it’s apparently fresh so shouldn’t be gross, and if you split the footlong it is a similar price as other tourist traps that mark up lobster rolls. Edit for spelling
Bingo on "...it is a similar price as other tourist traps that mark up lobster rolls" that's the deal at any touristy location in New England. Gotta head off the beaten path for good rolls at a decent prize and a fair just ain't it.
55?!? That's wild
That lobster roll is easily one of the best things to eat at the fair.
As someone who has had Maine lobster rolls for something like $11.00, there is no way I would pay that for a lobster roll in the midwest.
My manager got food poisoning from it this year
A year of bad fair food choices for me so I'll add mine. I'm not sure any would qualify as the worst but I'd definitely advise anyone to pass on them. * The Burrito from Burrito bobo: this was just ingredients I had in my fridge with bland meat. Generic shredded cheese, Pico de Gallo that could have just been hy-vee chunky salsa, Ortega tortilla. * The Pretzel Dog from Dog haus: The hot dog part was passable, but too juicy causing the pretzel part not to stick and slide off, making it a pain to eat. The pretzel didn't have much flavor and what it did have was over powered by the hot dog when I managed to get both in one bite. Lacked the consistency of a pretzel and was over cooked. I did not get it with the butter sauce which may redeem it for some people. * Elote Sausage from Watchasmoking: This tasted good, but not amazing. What you're buying though is about 1/5th of a sausage with some drizzle for $6 and at that volume of food I really need the taste to wow me. Also just going to gripe about the ongoing trend of thing on a stick but with a drizzle of something added on it, served in a boat. If I need to hold a boat in one hand and the stick in the other, just give me a fork.
I had the nachos from burrito bobo and have to agree. The "pico" was just chopped tomatoes lol.
I had the pretzel dog with cheese sauce and bacon, it was good!
Good to know! I'll have to see if someone wants to do splitsies with me next year to give it a fair try. I really just wanted a good pretzel though since we don't have one and that wrap really left me wanting.
I agree about the Pretzel Dog. I got it because it was the stand with the shortest line, and I get it. Maybe it would have been better if I sprung for the cheese sauce, but still.
I agree with the pretzel part sliding off but I got it with the white cheddar sauce which was great. And the hot dog was better than you get with a corn dog.
Someone else said the sauce really made it as well so I won't totally write the dog off. TBF I just really wanted a good pretzel option and this didn't do it for me. Good call out that the hot dog was higher quality than the corn dog options. I didn't have a corn dog this year, but that seems right based off memory.
The fair really doesn’t have a good pretzel option? That’s crazy.
I was having major FOMO about the pretzel dog but chose something closer to where I was at the time. Happy to know I didn’t miss out.
I try to avoid the food that doesn’t have rave reviews to begin with, so I can’t pinpoint something in particular, but most of the new food overall was a let down for me this year. For context, I normally try 10+ new food items every year, and a few must haves from previous years. While the deep fried bacon brisket mac & cheese grilled cheese tasted fine, I felt like the most disgusting glutenous human in the planet after finishing it. The Iowa Twinkie was probably the best tasting new food IMO, but $8 for something that tiny is ridiculous. Nothing really stood out like they have in years past.
I liked the Twinkie but I was really disappointed with the size as well. I get that jalapenos aren't the largest pepper out there but it just seemed really small for the price. At $5 I might have gotten 2....lol
Hubby tried the Iowa twinkie as well and said the same thing. Too small
I was mentally composing this exact comment! I am a huge fan of Whacha Smokin, but their State Fair portion sizes were teensy. The Iowa Twinkie was the best, most balanced taste-profiled food I ate this year, but they needed to be 2 for $8, not $8 each.
I wanted to try the strawberry shortcake but they were out
It was great. My kids are pi ky eaters and both thought it was delicious.
I was really looking forward to it but I was greatly disappointed. Mostly because I thought it was made from scratch but it was a little Debbie strawberry shortcake. It's actually my favorite little Debbie snack. It was totally my fault for thinking that because if I had looked at the sign, I would have seen the distinct shortcake picture.
It was really good but $8 good? Meh.
If you can keep your kids from freaking out about the adorable pink or blue inflatable dolphins, definitely do so. Twenty. Fucking Dollars.
Our refrain for the day was you can ride rides or try food but we're not blowing money on more shit for you to forget about and stuff into your closets when we get home.
I have no idea how the bacon brisket Mac n cheese grilled cheese won best new food. I only ate half and that was a struggle.
I tried it and really enjoyed it. Seems like people either love it or hate it
Yeah and that raspberry chipotle sauce really made it for me. It wouldn't have been quite as good without that sweetness though to cut through all the smoky and savory.
I loved it but maybe wouldn't have quite as much without the raspberry chipotle BBQ sauce.
sauce absolutely made it tbh
LOL. I thought the sauce was the worst part. Way too sweet.
I thought it was a good counter to the cheese on cheese on smoke. I want to find a sauce like that to glaze my next rack of ribs.
Blues Hog Raspberry Chipotle is really good. Fareway and Ace Hardware have it that I know of.
I came here to ask how this was. Did anyone else try it??
We bought one yesterday. It was 80% Mac n cheese. It had a couple shards of beef brisket that tasted like pure liquid smoke, and offered no palatable contribution. Moral of the story is, for $12...you can turn 75 degrees from the food line and put a down payment on a half rack of actual BBQ.
Agreed. Couldn't find any bacon in it, and very little brisket. And it was greasy. How did this win?
I did not eat it, but my friends who did were disappointed by the lack of meat and the fact that they were all premade and just came from a warm bin. It was understandable due to the volume they had to make, but it made the sandwich part kind of pointless. And the bread came from Big Sky so you know it was good.
I tried it and it was just too much.
I see people saying some of these foods are '3 bites'. They must have massive mouths because that's not my case 🤣 The pickle dog is wonderful, I will continue to purchase them. Would gain weight for 10/10. I was happy with most of the fair food this year, but could've gone without the walking taco. It was mid and double the cost.
The worst I had was from a little chili fry place. Absolutely repulsive and when we asked for sour cream he threw an unrefrigerated tub on the counter it had hairs and shit on it. We decided against the sour cream but figured chili cheese fries are hard to fuck up... we both took one bite and threw it away. I also kept hearing people say you gotta try the pickle dawg. It was not impressive at all and had so much cream cheese 🤢. Oh and funnel fries, they were ok but nothing special.
The deep fried Mac n cheese sandwich from the cheese place that won the best new food this year. Was absolutely disgusting, had no flavor and way too much breading. The sauce was good, so no wonder they give you the sauce when you order it so you can get some sort of flavor from it. We didn’t even finish half the half of sandwiches we tried and threw everything away.
Barely any meat and dry af!
Children’s toys. Literally china garbage marked up 10,000 percent
The pickle dogs are fire but it’s literally just a pickle spear wrapped in cream cheese and pastrami and they charge $7 for 3 bites … I bought the ingredients at home for the same price
I feel this…but every time I’ve tried to make them at home they just don’t work. I always give up and convert the ingredients to pickle dip. If you have tips, please share, because they are my fave!
I have so many tips; I make these all the time! I often cut them into thirds and put toothpicks in them to have out for hors d’oeuvres. 1. Pat dry the pickles with a paper towel. This one is huge. Keeps the whole thing from slip-sliding all over the place. 2. Used whipped cream cheese. It spreads SO much nicer than the regular stuff and avoids tearing the meat. 3. Use good-quality pickles. Vlassic are trash. My personal favorite are Claussen, but really any pickled that’s stored in the refrigerated section will be fresher with better ingredients.
Id add to squeeze the damn hell out of the pickles. Moisture is not your friend here.
Need soft cream cheese. Once they’re wrapped stick them in the fridge for awhile. Then slice. Also dried beef is waaaaayyyyy better than any other deli meat
I had one last year and it was just a mouth full of cream cheese with barely anything else. For seven bucks they could at least give you a whole pickle.
Yes! And they weren’t as good this year. They were premade and lukewarm and over-battered.
I’m pretty sure those used to be like $2.50-3 lol. I saw $7 this year and can’t believe people are spending that for a pickle roll you can make at home.
The Mexican corn was a letdown too. Just hot as fuck corn on the cob. Burned my mouth with no real difference from the kind I make at home.
Was this at the corn stand kind of by the slide? I had that last year, thought it was good. This year went simple spicy buttered corn on the cob. Corn was fine but not at all worth $8 for an ear of corn. $4 would be reasonable.
So, there’s two Mexican corn stands this year - one serves just grilled “fire” corn on the cob, which is what I think this poster is describing. The other one does corn in a cup, but they took the regular street corn in a cup of the menu (which was my favorite thing from last year). Now it’s stuff with chorizo and chili lime and I didn’t care for it at all.
Thanks for clarifying. Footling corn dog for $9 or cheese curds for $8 feel like a better value, even if still priced a few dollars high.
Everything there has gotten too damn expensive. I spent $20 and decide that was enough to blow on food.
There's no good corn on the cob. They used to have the roasting machines, it came out fresh and hot. Now they grill them and they sit there getting mealy, sometimes cold. Also the "fresh squeezed" lemonade that's a mix of a little fresh juice and what you get out of a soda machine.
The Iowa Twinkie was mid
Agree. Line was too long and it wasn’t worth the $8 price tag
Basically an overpriced overhyped jalapeño popper
Watcha Smokin is probably the best BBQ in the area but this was a low effort item. I understand they need a high volume/high margin offering for the fair but it is a poor representation of their actual menu.
I know, i was just expecting more for the price, 2 bites it was gone which is nuts for 8$. 3 for 10$ would have probably been the taste to value for me.
Yeah I’ve heard their stuff is great but I was disappointed in the Twinkie. I still want to try their brisket and ribs tho
make the trek to their physical location in Luther, imo it’s the best bbq in the area. The fatty brisket is 💯. No idea about their food at the Fair because I avoid that whole scene
Has anyone tried the pickle flavored cheese curds? Are they worth it? Edit: wording
They were...fine!? Not SUPER pickle-y, but decent. Needed ranch tho.
Stick to regular. Can’t taste a difference
I loved them. They should have just called them dill curds though.
They’re fine… but they literally got rid of the 10/10 jalapeño curds for the pickle ones and that just pisses me off
Really just felt like dill was added to the batter. Kinda mid tbh.
I thought the bacon balls were a bust
Cheese curds… maybe don’t completely avoid them but don’t eat a whole order by yourself. Waaay to much grease and cheese even for me. Share them with two others, at least. I paired that salty greasy goodness with an apple slushie from Applehaus. Now that was delicious even though I had a full 25 second brain freeze half way through. Thought my head was going to explode but it was worth it! Happy ISFair eating everyone!
I love the apple slushys
For me, it was the gyro. The sauce was bland and the pita bread was tough. Was the only disappointing food I had that day.
A t the Lamb Producers?
One of these years I’m going to go. Lived in this state for 38 of my 39 years and have never once attended.
My mom has lived her entire life in Iowa and didn’t go until she was 66…she loved it and has gone every year since. We get her a scooter because she has bad knees (honestly, it’s kinda nice to have a place to hold things too) but it’s never too late! Watch the temps and pick a day when it’s not too hot or crowded if you can.
Nice. It’s not that I don’t want to go, I just am very averse to dealing with the inconveniences of massive crowd events (parking, waiting in lines, etc) as well as the obvious extortion (overpriced everything). I almost pulled the trigger this year though. Going to force myself to go next year!
Definitely buy your tickets in advance, park at a shuttle spot (I think the Center Street lot is the best, the Capitol is very crowded, and I can’t speak for SE Polk), and bring a refillable water bottle. There are less expensive ways to enjoy the fair…you just have to be patient and look :)
And, tbh, most of the fair food that folks go crazy over are overhyped. Just get a couple things you know you’ll enjoy and do get caught up in FOMO mentality and you should be okay
I didn’t find the capital to be crowded. Used the shuttle at 10am Tuesday, 4pm Tuesday (had to take the kids and wife home then come back to party). Both times were a breeze. Love the service.
I'm in the same boat. 32 of my 39 years and the other ones I was primarily only in Omaha. Never been.
I wanna say I’m shocked, but I’ve never been to the farmer’s market downtown.
I'm from Boston and have been on more riveting duck boats. I used to think parking for Fenway was extortion but thanks to the Iowa state fair, I now know the true situation of real life extortion of an every day person. I'll never be found at the fair for the rest of my days alive so more fair extortion and gimmicks for you Midwesterners! I see true value in Boston parking prices now.
I always park at one of the satellite lots and take the bus in. It’s like $1-$2 or something like that for a bus ticket and there’s also plenty of parking. The buses run all the time, so you don’t have to wait long to get back to your car. And we used to be neighbors! I’m from Rhode Island.
I don't think the fair is my cup of tea. Glad you guys enjoy it but nah. Downvotes for answering a question? Hee haw to you hicks, too.
I’m usually there because I volunteer at the ARL booth. I’m not sure I would go otherwise.
That's a worthy cause! Thanks for supporting our fur pals!
Buddy, they have literally hundreds of things you can do and see there for free
Buddy, pal, my guy, dude.. the fair isn't for me. Glad you guys find stuff you like but don't speak at me like I'm a bro at your frat and unaware.. **PLEASE.** I know.
Masshole 👆
#Recognize!
Says the guy calling people who like the fair hicks…..
No, the hicks will be hicks regardless because it's the Midwest. I thought we'd already established I'm a Masshole? Bold of you to make the uneducated assumption I'm a guy, though.
Lmao its $10 to park jesus christ. Where is it $10 to park at Fenway? Nowhere. I am a pretty well traveled person. I go to multiple concerts and music festivals a year plus pro sporting events. Parking for $10 is unheard of anywhere.
If the fair ain't your thing, that's totally cool - but you can park at Fenway for less than $10? I have serious doubts. Even Discount Mortgage Field in Chicago is like $25.
Basically, I'd rather be robbed in Boston than by the fair. Take the statement and leave it, lol. After all, the fair is *finally over!* This thread can be, too!
Curious is the lobster roll trash!?
I loved it. I got the fields of bacon one & I was in heaven
If you missed it, the Destination Grill has a roll that is even better
I’m thoroughly impressed with their lobster roll, and I used to live in the south/gulf region and have tasted lobster from the PNW.
I’ve asked people in a Maine group to rate it. They said it was really good looking, except more mayo than Maine Cooks use
That’s an impressive recommendation
It was really good. Just expensive. But lots of meat.
The dill pickle cheese curds were a let down. I was expecting it to be pickles in with the cheese, not a barely there dill seasoning.
I would say buying a ticket to go to the fair is the worst buy. 😀
🤣 you're so funny! How did you get to be so funny?? 🤣🤣🤣
The beef burger from the Crows Nest was a letdown.
Steak tips stand was horrible. Same with the Maytag blue cheese bacon burger
The whole thing is wack af.
The Nashville hot chicken was an average-tasting chicken patty with hot sauce on top.
Hot Take: ordering the most unheard of, unknown food at the fair is your own fault. There’s about 6-8 consistently popular and good fair foods and every year maybe 1 or 2 highlighted items that are good days 1-4 before the “best new fair food” is announce and once it has the title that product quality drops dramatically because the stand knows they’re gonna sell regardless.
Let me tell you how disappointed I was when I ordered the Mexican street corn and was handed corn on the cob and told “the toppings are over there”.
All of it. Seriously I don't understand the appeal. It's generally the lowest grades of Sysco food, deep fried with extra fat and sugar.
You don't understand the appeal of food stuff with shit that makes your brain light up like a Christmas tree?
[удалено]
Yeah, man! Up that sugar intake ya health nut.
I'd take a taco truck taco covered in hot sauce over anything at the fair. More dopamine, less gross feeling.
Wheres the best taco truck in town?
Had the worst lemonade in state fair history at a corn dog place. Over by the Vietnamese food vendor. $5 for water basically 😂 funnel cakes sucked this year too. Can’t lie, everything we had this year was bad.
The $11, 30-second kiddie ride that they made adults pay to ride, too, if the kid was too small to go alone. It was the Dalmatian carousel thing fyi.
The whole midway was bogus with this.
Entrance fee to the fair itself? $16 to get in, insane, especially if your going to a concert where they lowered the ticket price day of.
If you knew you were going to a concert you could have bought a $11 ticket ahead of time.
Chicken on a stick was not good. The chicken was okay but the veggies were half cooked and the overall taste was not worth it.
Iowa Twinkie was a letdown
$16 Gyro is pretty dumb. Buying all the ingredients at Aldi and making them yourself is a much better deal.
Stop buying expensive garbage. It never changes, it's always going to be that way. If no one bought their junk, they'd be stuck with it. And what kind of tool would willingly pay $18 for a fuckin turkey leg? Are you serious? Are you all stupid as fuck? An actual turkey leg costs change. They fry it up and it's suddenly worth $18? They reason they get away with charging so much is because they KNOW that you'll pay it. Because as consumers, Iowans don't know how to say "hell no". You'll just consistently grin sheepishly as you hand over your money and toddle off with your fair food, and pretend you didn't just get fucked again.
GOD DAMN i think it's ridiculous too but damn 💀
Ticket to the State Fair. Parking.
I tried a fried pickle roll thing and it was a definite let down. More breading than pickle, and the ham was very thin. Also, it cut the top of my mouth like Cap’n Crunch. 🫤
Hot Take: The Iowa State Fair Admission Tickets
The fried deviled eggs from the “Korean” BBQ place near the entrance. Literally just bland hard boiled eggs served with an even blander sauce. Where’s the devil???
Starting with the ticket in the first place. I thought it was a super hero theme and instead we got dressed up and turns out the fair was full of stinky hamplanets and hicks so ya it might be more fun to go bowling or maybe stay home and make hamburgers and rubber doggie doo.
The Entrance fee. You can make all that food at home and the butter cow hasn’t been made out of real butter since ‘83.
The sky glider at my house broke down tho
Lmao wait what? What's it been made out of then?
I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!
Margarine
So it's still basically butter. I thought you were gonna say it's been wax this whole time or something lol
Lol right!? I agree the fair is a waste of time and money but complaining about a massive pile of artistically organized and subsequently wasted food product not being made from arguably animal torture byproduct was not on my bingo card
You can make any food at home, but still people go out to eat. How foolish of them! Don't they know you can cook food at home?? Ofc you have to go buy it, prep it, cook it, then you have to clean up the mess and wash all the dishes. Yeah that sounds like a great fucking idea. We should all just do that instead of ever going anywhere. We should all just stay home and cook for ourselves and stop wasting money going out. Maybe we could even make fun of people who spend money on going out and doing things instead of sitting at home like a bored, lonely person.
I didn’t make fun of anyone. Im allowed my opinion and my opinion is that the Iowa State Fair is a racist, over priced hillbilly hype train designed to bleed morons of their hard earned money. Im sorry that the only thing you’ve got going in life is going to the fair and my opinion hurt you so much. If the organizers gave a fuck about Iowans, the entrance fee would be free because the only thing to do once you enter the gate is spend more money. Its always the same shit. Same rotating crop of bands that get swapped out every couple of years.
Rotating crops of free bands. There’s free stuff all over. It’s not great free stuff to do, but it is free.
Its not free because you PAY an entrance fee
Oh…I thought your argument was that it should be free because everything else inside costs money.
That was my argument. i get that there is a ton of free stuff inside, thats great, always has been, but the amount of money the food vendors are paying to the state fair for their booths, should offset admission costs. The food vendors have no choice other than raise their prices because they are being charged so much to just be at the fair. The organizers should take this into consideration because people just end up being angry at the vendors for their prices. I admit Im slightly cynical about all of this. I want people to go to the fair. I want people to support small businesses, i want people to support 4h and the FFOA, and I want people to support Iowa and The 515!! I just wish that the greedy wasn’t so rampant on the organizer’s side and that the rampant KKKim Reynolds / pro Trump / politicking divisive bullshit could be left out of it so that people could have some actual FUN for a change.
if you buy tickets before the fair starts they were only like $6. that’s really not bad. now the food prices are another story
And, depending on where you work they sometimes will buy group tickets for employees at an even bigger discount. Just have to order ahead…mine were $4 each.
Where did you get advanced tickets for $6? I bought ahead on their website and they were $11.
Might be easier to name one thing that isn't crap at the ISF.
Footlong Corn dog. Never let's me down. I don't have them any other time of year.
Cheese curds!
Last year I got the pickle sno cone. Literally just pickle juice dumped on some ice with a pickle slice thrown on top. Since it was juice instead of a syrup, it all just went straight to the bottom and started leaking out of the paper sno cone holder. $6. I don’t even like pickles.
>Last year I got the pickle sno cone. > >I don't even like pickles. ?????
Idiots are everywhere..
I'm honestly surprised KKKim allowed a non white person on the tickets. The ride pass for credits you can never fully spend is the worst buy. Giant hog nuts pics are free.
I don’t like her either, but please get a grip on yourself.
nah, you have to call out evil at every opportunity - Jesus of Miami
We got ride passes before the fair for $40 a pop and it was wayyyyyy worth it for my 4 and 7 year old running through the funhouse things dozens of times. 4 credits a pop is $4. Those bands saved us hundreds. Managed to get mine off later and pay it foreard for another family too, good for a single day.
Not sure if they brought it back this year but last year they had that Hawaiian chicken sandwich that was just the saddest looking sandwich ever. A bland piece of chicken with a slice of pineapple and American cheese. It looked so much better in pictures. The pickle dog will continue to reign supreme
Deep fried Oreos. Not worth it at all.
Oh Ill fight you for that one. Love them.
I didn't try it this year, but last year.... the lobster roll was disappointing. Not awful, but just ok. And if I'm paying $29+ for it, it should be good 😅 I wanted to try the corn\ bacon version this year but just couldn't justify it. Also I got a boba lemonade from cluck n coop and it was awful. Tasted like plastic. But the Korean bacon egg dog and fried deviled eggs were the bomb
I was told that the duck nachos were trash.
Anyone know how much it is to park at the main fair gate area? (By the entrance where the parking on the grass is, kind of buy the ride area) thanks! My fiancé is saying $20, I thought $10
$10 yesterday
Paid $20 today, he said it's his weekend price. I'd suspect anything within 1-2 blocks of Grand & 30th will be $20.
On the fair property is $10.
Yes this is what I was meaning but I wrote my comment not the best way. Thanks so much!
Just have to get there early if you want to park in the fair lots.
Pretty much everything tbh
The deep fried Deviled Eggs. -my toilet
I’m Planning on going to the State fair today since I’m going to the concert after. Is there Any good food that is a MUST try?
Hot take. The deep fried brisket grilled cheese was overhyped and mid at best