"Mad About the Fair" - SD Fair 2016: The Food

You saw The Sights...

Let's cut to the chase and get to the Food we tried at the SD Fair this year...

Lucky for us, we used these coupons that a fair employee handed us as we walked in. Some of the coupons looked pretty good while others we were not interested in (due to the type of food).

Our first stop was Tasti Chips, recommended by Cathy of mmm-yoso as well as one of the fair employees.

Using the coupon, we saved $3 off an order of Tasti Chips, thinly cut and fried fresh to order potatoes. The cheese topping was the only choice and it was basically "free" with the coupon because normally toppings cost extra.

While Bert was waiting for our chips order, I walked over to Roxy's nearby for our other food item that morning. I like to be efficient like that. We don't mess around. We've had their garlic battered mushrooms before as well as their artichoke sandwich (a nice healthy choice actually). This time, I ordered the garlic battered artichokes which came on a stick and served on a boat filled with ranch dressing.



Both our chips and the artichokes were fried well. It was early enough in the day for the oil to be fresh and also nice enough that it wasn't overly greasy.  I ended up using a fork to separate the artichokes from the stick. Something about directly biting foods on a stick makes me feel barbaric, ha ha.

We wanted to try the Paddock Trio that Cathy and her Mister had, two sliders and a beer for only $10. The Tavern was not ready for business even though their doors were open and it was aready 11:30 am. We were told to come back in 45 minutes, which we did and they still weren't ready...


In between waiting for the Paddock Tavern to get their stuff together, we tried the (overpriced) lobster tacos. There were samples of their food laid out on the front table so fairgoers could decide how to throw their money away. We felt like suckers.  Anyhow, at $12 for two tacos with only two lobster chunks underneath all that cabbage, each lobster piece was $3 each. Not really worth it.


At least our fair tickets were free.

We walked through the shopping area and tried to dodge the vendors and decided to GTFO there before heading back to the Paddock Tavern again.


Bert placed our order (two sliders, one corned beef and the other, roast beef) and chose the Heineken as our beer (the other choice was Coors lite, so...no to that). The sliders were in buns (not warmed) while the meat itself was warm. The corned beef chunks were thick but one of them was kind of fatty. I did like the flavor of the corned beef better but enjoyed the roast beef more since the meat was less fatty. The cold beer was also quite refreshing to have. We were glad to have tried something different this year and something that seemed much more "worth it" than those fkg lobster tacos.


Cheers!

The other coupon we used from that hot pink flyer was for this place, Olde Tyme Ice Cream.


We weren't too sure about cheesecake on a stick but after seeing the pictures on the sign and also figuring out the savings. Normally both the cheesecake on a stick AND the ice cream bar would cost $12. Our total was $6.99.  Not bad I say.


So here you have it...The BEST dessert deal on that coupon page in my opinion. The ice cream bar (vanilla ice cream; I didn't realize I could have chosen chocolate) was dipped in chocolate and I chose peanuts.  For the cheesecake on a stick, it too was also dipped in chocolate. Bert chose the toffee almond coating so we could have two different taste sensations.  The cheescake was definitely an indulgence and it was worth every calorie.


The ice cream's downfall was that it melted while the cheesecake did not. I felt more "rushed" when eating the ice cream bar. The cheesecake was firm and had that nice graham cracker crust. The toffee almonds had a lovely crunch which we both enjoyed.

Later that afternoon, we got the small bag of kettle corn ($5) to snack on...

which we washed down with a Strawberry slush (also $5).



We also enjoyed some fruit that we brought from home (not pictured, red grapes and blueberries). We also had fruit packed for the kids (TC and her two other friends) so they could have something healthy as well.

Speaking of TC, this was a photo of the Teriyaki chicken in a pineapple she sent me from
her fair visit a few weeks ago (she is trained well, heh heh). She said it cost $13 and came with rice, sweet and sour sauce, cut up teriyaki chicken with cubed pineapple underneath.

She also sent me this photo of the pin she got for eating a dried beetle (this feature at the AgriFair was new this year). Yum.

She was the only one who at the bug which she said was the texture was "like dried peanut skin but hairy". It was crunchy and didn't really have any flavor. She did not like that the legs got stuck in her back teeth. Hmmm. That must have been "fun" trying to get that out of your mouth. Well, now she has this button she can put on her backpack for all to see, ha ha.

For this fair visit, she sent me this photo of the blooming onion that she and her friends shared. The dip in the middle was ranch dressing.

Our last stop of the day was here:


After several years of getting the funnel cake, we feel that the plain one with powdered sugar is the best. Red velvet we tried a few years ago and it wasn't that great. I couldn't imagine this slathered with all this jam and chocolate or peanut butter all over it.

Ironically, the one other healthy item we planned to bring, which was salad from home, we forgot it. So other than the fruit, everything "healthy" kind of went out the door, but hey. Well, it's the fair right! You have to live a little. Other than the popcorn, lemonade and funnel cake, everything else we tried this year was new.  I know we didn't try any really "wild or crazy" fried concoction, but we were quite happy with our choices (the sliders and beer plus the dipped ice cream bar and cheesecake slice) this year.

Previous SD Fair Food posts:
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010 (when the full plate of Australian battered potatoes was only $7.50, wut!)

Until next year's fair!