Wisconsin State Fair is home to the cream puff, food on-a-stick and new exotic concoctions that various vendors craft together for fair goers to experience and explore their adventurous side. From Bug tacos, to loaded german pretzels, deep fried portabella fries, to apple crunch cheesecake quesadillas, and much much more, there is something for everyone! Here are 10 of over 60 new foods at the Wisconsin State Fair.
1. Cinnamon Toast Crunch French Toast Sticks - $7.50
This was a great option for the first thing in the morning. At Goonies Fish and Beer Shack you wouldn’t think you could get a breakfast delicacy like this – but you can! And it’s their first year offering a breakfast option.
The six French toast sticks are deep fried after being filled with cream cheese and bacon and rolled in Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal and served with a side of syrup. The cream cheese inside was hot and gooey and delicious. I enjoyed the Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal on my lips after every bite. You must dip it in the syrup. The crunch from deep frying goes away after dipping the French toast stick in the syrup and together, it makes for a breakfast you’ll want over and over again. The bacon was quite subtle, almost hard to miss, but when you did get a taste of bacon, the combination of salt and sweet was superb.
2. Boss Hog Sandwich - $9
This could be considered perhaps a brunch option due to the fried egg atop a grilled bratwurst and cheese. The hoagie bun was soft and easy to handle and held everything together just fine. Margie didn’t like how the brat didn’t snap like most should but Neil and I thought the grind of the sausage and it’s seasonings made for a great brat. Came with a slice of cheese, but because these are made to order, the hot brat and fried egg quickly made the cheese melt, which was nice. The fried egg was fully cooked with a crispy edge, not runny at all, so it wasn’t sloppy. The egg and brat went surprisingly well together. I might just cut up some left over brats and put them in my scrambled eggs next time. You can find this brunch get-up at Roberts.
3. Sfingi - $5
Pistol Petes, a new vendor this year to the fair, was offering Sfingi, an palm sized Italian donut. We chose the cinnamon sugar option, and had all four sauces, white chocolate, dark chocolate, caramel and raspberry. Comes with five donuts, which are stuffed and topped with what seemed like a vanilla flavored cannoli cream. The cream was on the thicker side, but I appreciated that because it didn’t run out of the donut the first time you bite into it. Between the cream and the abundant amount of cinnamon sugar, this smaller sized donut was quite rich and filling.
I’m happy we got the cinnamon sugar, but if you do, be warned – you will need a lot, I mean, a lot of napkins for the sugar that is just too much to lick off your fingers.
4. Blazing Deep Fried Olives - $8.50
These olives were meant to be blazing because of the jalapenos stuffed inside them. However, there was no spice what-so-ever to these. They use pitted Queen Green Olives, which are a hefty size, I must say. The first bite was quite salty, so was the second. But the cream cheese that was stuffed inside offset the saltiness a little and was a great pair. If you like olives and want to keep with the fair’s tradition of food on-a-stick, come this way.
5. Snake Soup - $12
First of all, I want to say I have never tried snake in any sort of way – and now, it seems like I still haven’t. The soup smelled like French onion, but was veggie based and had some rice. But where was the snake? I might have gotten a little shred here and there, but nothing prominent for sure. It tasted plain, not much herbs or spices at all, if any.
For Twelve dollars, between the lack of flavor and snake itself and the amount you get (even though I wouldn’t have wanted any more), this is not worth it. If you’re looking to go exotic and/or adventurous, I would suggest trying the Grasshopper Slushie on-a-stick.
6. Queso-Fundido Dog - $7.50
This was the best bang for your buck deal that we came across today. A thick all beef hot dog covered in queso blanco, bacon bits, chorizo, pico de gallo, jalapenos and tortilla strips. Between the queso, chorizo and jalapenos, the heat was all there and the combination was great. I also loved the crunch from the tortilla strips. The hot dog was delicious in itself as well, a good flavor and was quite big.
Altogether, this mountain of a dog was way past well worth the seven dollars and fifty cents, especially for people who like hot dogs and a bit of spice in their life.
7. Chick-N-Stix Sampler - $12
This was a great combination of sweet and savory due to the variety of sauces Sprecher Landing crafted. There are 6 chunks of white meat chicken, breaded and either grilled or fried, with a little sauce ladled over them. The PXP Island was a sweet tropical one with pineapple and mango sauce topped with macadamia nuts, toasted coconut and banana chips. Then there was the Poco Loco with that great hint of lime, due to the Sprecher Golden Ale Chili Lime sauce, which was topped with roasted corn, ghost pepper and snicker doodle crumble. The Wisconsin Triple was on the side of savory with a kick, tossed in a buffalo sauce with Wisconsin Gorganzola and Wisconsin raw honey. The three others are Generation Peanut, which is similar to a thai peanut flavor, the Hoptastic, which to Neil’s mother seemed a little “hoppy”, and finally the Root Beer BBQ, which by the way, you can most certainly smell and taste the root beer in this sauce. Check out the Sprecher Landing for these sweet and savory pieces of chicken.
8. Puco Locadilla On-A-Stick - $12
Also at the Sprecher Landing was a Sporkies Finalist, the Puco Locadilla on-a-stick. The tortilla was soft and seasoned one of the tips. Once off the stick, it was easy to wrap the tortilla around the chicken and eat it like a taco. The buffalo seasoning on the tortilla was a great minutiae addition of heat as well. To off seat the heat, the cilantro and lime were quite refreshing. There was a conspicuous absence of the crumbled snicker doodle though – which was OK by me. The chicken in this dish was grilled unlike the breaded chick-n-stix. The chicken was juicy and had a hint of lime flavor as well – delicious.
9. Buffalo Cheese Curd and Chicken Tacos - $7 or 2 for $10
Another Sporkies finalist and new food at the Wisconsin State Fair is the Buffalo cheese curd and chicken taco, everything deep friend, including the tortilla but minus the blue cheese slaw it was topped with.
The shell was crispy and flaky but still held everything together – until the end. The shell was also a little greasy, but not overly. We had to let it sit for a little while because it was served piping hot. The white meat chicken’s texture was spot on and was seasoned very nicely. The cheese curds didn’t have much of a buffalo flavor so I would recommend adding buffalo sauce (which they provide as self-serve condiments) to your taco if that’s the flavor you're going for. As for the coleslaw, it’s a must have in every bite! It’s coolness offsets the taco’s temperature when you’re first served the meal. Also, it had a refreshing flavor, but lacked the blue cheese, for sure.
10. Chicago Dog Nachos
The chips were homemade potato chips that tasted so great that no seasoning was required The hot dog was sliced thick and had a great flavor, but the relish was the predominant flavor. Overall, this dish confused the brain whether you were eating a Chicago hot dog or nachos.
Written By: Amanda Landowski; Tasted By: Amanda Landowski and Neil Panosian