Just Around the Corner

The day after attending the Minnesota State Fair it was time for us to head home to Las Vegas. However, we had one more stop to make. The Dari-ette Drive-In is another of our “Must Go” places when we come to Minnesota. Now I believe that the Dari-ette is one of the few places that I had been to first and then saw on TV and I have to tell you a quick story about seeing it on TV.

The Dari-ette has been a favorite of Joan’s for as long as she can remember. It is literally a five minute walk from the house that she grew up in and that her father still lives in. Well, one night we were watching Food Network and an ad for Alton Brown’s “Feasting on Asphalt 2: The River Run” came on. In this installment of “Feasting on Asphalt” Alton was riding his motorcycle up the Mississippi River and sampling all of the local road food. Well I said to Joan, “Maybe when he gets to St. Paul, he’ll go to the Dari-ette.” Her very quick response was, “He’s not going to go to the Dair-ette,” as if to say “Who would ever want to see the Dari-ette on TV?” Well, it wasn’t 10 seconds later that the latest episode of “Diners, Drive Ins and Dives” came on. Guy Fieri was in the Twin Cities and the last place he visited was none other than the Dari-ette. Joan’s shocked reaction was, “

No Freakin’ WAY

!”

So, on our last afternoon in town, we met Joan’s friend Kim and her three boys at Joan’s father’s place for lunch. Everyone drove over to the Dari-ette except Joan and I who walked the easy five minutes up the street and around the corner, stopping for a quick hello to Joan’s godparents on the way.

When we got there, it was time to eat. The Dari-ette does your standard Dairy Queen type ice cream and such, but they do something that you don’t see at your average ice cream place, killer Italian food. Since this was Tuesday, their special that day was “Buy any Pizza Burger and get a Root Beer Freeze free.” Sounds good to me, sign me up:

The burger was very good and the pizza sauce and mozzarella cheese added a great flavor to the meat that was done perfectly. The Root Beer Freeze was a slushy root beer shake. Great root beer taste which I love mixed with ice cream which, well how could you not love. After I finished off the burger, I needed just a little something more, and after seeing the segment on Triple D, I knew what I wanted:

The meatballs at the Dari-ette are just wonderful. If you saw the Triple D segment, you’ll know that they use a secret meat blend and then deep fry the meatballs. They then cover them with their wonderful sauce that, as owner Angela Fida told to Guy Fieri, has the secret ingredient of “love.” She makes the sauce herself and will only, from time to time, let other employees stir. In fact, we had the opportunity to talk with Angela for a few minutes after we ate. Joan’s friend Kim worked with her when they were both back in high school and they caught up for a few minutes. Then Angela had to get back to, what else, making sauce.

Before we left, I had to grab one more item. Now I know I already had the root beer freeze with my burger, but I needed the one thing I seem to always get at the Dari-ette, their fresh banana shake.

Like all shakes, this one was ice cream and milk but then mixed in there were wonderful chunks of fresh banana which gave the shake a wonderful natural banana flavor and not an artificial overpowering banana flavor. This has to be my favorite item on the ice cream side of the menu.

I know I recommend most of the places that we go, but really, if you’re in St. Paul, stop by the Dari-ette and get some of the best Italian food to ever come out of a Drive In. Now remember that they are closed in the winter, so you’ll have to visit them in the spring, summer or fall. I did take one more picture that I have to share with you just as a little extra enticement. Here's their menu (zoom in and you can see all the items for yourself):

Next up, back home and dinner with some friends at what has become my favorite restaurant in Las Vegas.

Until next time,

Mike

The Particulars

Restaurant: Dari-ette Drive-In

Location:

1440 Minnehaha Avenue East, Saint Paul, MN 55106

Website: None that I could find. But you can follow them on Facebook

Date of Visit: August 30, 2011

Time of Visit: 1:00pm, Lunch

Has It Been on TV?: The Dair-ette has been featured on Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” as you saw above.

The Great Minnesota Get Together, Part 3

Here is the third and final part of my review of our trip to the Minnesota State Fair. In part one I told you about our Pronto Pup, cheese curds and mini donuts. In part two we had some great frozen custard, a hotdish on a stick and some big fat bacon. That’s six food items down and we have three more to go. Here they are.

After some more strolling around, Joan spotted the following stand:

We needed to stop here. Joan was going to get some crepes and I wasn’t going to get anything. Well I spotted the chocolate and banana crepes as we hit the order counter so I added one of those to our order. The crepes were not too heavy and the chocolate and banana mixing together was just what I needed (OK I guess I didn’t NEED it, but it was just what I wanted at that moment). Here’s what they gave us:

After the crepes, we took another extended food break. After a good bit of wandering around, it was time for “dinner.” I put that in quotes because in a day of continual food consumption, who’s to say exactly when “dinner” is and when it’s just another unnamed snack/meal. Anyway, this we’ll call dinner. Now remember the fact that at the Minnesota State Fair, they put EVERYTHING on sticks. Since the beginning of the fair, I noticed a coupon in our coupon book that I HAD to try, the Steak Dinner on a Stick. Now this name was to conform to the “everything on a stick” mantra; what I actually got was more of a shish-ka-bob. It was chunks of sirloin alternating with vegetables and potatoes and topped with a dinner roll. I didn’t get a picture of the stand, but here’s what I got in my basket:



After a long day at the fair, walking all over the place and eating a lot of great food, we needed one more thing to top the whole day off. One final coupon in our coupon book caught our eye, the hot apple dumpling. We walked down one street and around a corner and here’s what we saw:

We ordered one Hot Apple Dumpling covered with ice cream. Here’s what we got (notice the two spoons):

What we had was a pillow of pastry filled with a hot apple filling and covered with a cinnamon sauce. The ice cream was then added on top and as it began to melt, it mixed with the apple and cinnamon sauce and gave it a great vanilla taste. Overall it was the perfect end to a long day at the fair.

So that’s the end of our culinary adventures at the Minnesota State Fair. If you find yourself in the Twin Cities area in the eleven days before Labor Day, take a day to check it out. There are so many shows, activities and of course food vendors to check out that it will be well worth your while.

Next up is our last food stop of our Minnesota trip which just happens to be right around the corner from Joan’s childhood home.

Until next time,

Mike

The Particulars

Minnesota State Fair

Location:

1265 North Snelling Avenue N, St. Paul, MN

Website: www.mnstatefair.org

Date of Visit: August 29, 2011

Time of Visit: All Day Long

Has It Been on TV?: Probably on local TV News broadcasts.

The Great Minnesota Get Together, Part 2

Last time I told you about the first three places that we visited at the Minnesota State Fair, the Pronto Pup stand, the cheese curds and one of the mini donut vendors. Now I will move on to our next three stops.

We had already had a deep fried hot dog, deep fried cheese and deep fried dough, so it was time for something NOT deep fried. It was a fairly warm day so Joan and I decided to split a cup of Sadie’s Homemade Ice Cream. Here’s the stand that we stopped at:

Even though the name of the place says ice cream, if you look carefully in the top left of this picture, you will see the words “Frozen Custard” there. We received a large, super creamy and smooth cup of vanilla frozen custard:

Now, I’ve mentioned frozen custard before and again this stuff was very good, but still not up to par with my favorite place in Milwaukee (a review of that will be coming soon). This was the perfect cool treat in the middle of the day and got us going again.

It was a while before we needed any more to eat. Then again when you’re at the fair, the fact that you actually NEED food has little to do with when you actually eat. Earlier in the day we saw a concert by the 34^th Infantry “Red Bull” Band and I was introduced to a Minnesota term that I was not familiar with. The band played an original piece composed by one of the band members entitled “The Hot Dish Mambo.” I had never heard the term “hotdish.” Not to say I had never eaten them before, in Ohio we just called them casseroles. The reason I mention this is because as we were strolling around we saw this interesting stand:

Now one of the things you should remember about the Minnesota State Fair (and really to a great extent, any fair) is that they put as many foods on sticks as they can. It’s a point of pride in Minnesota to put EVERYTHING on a stick. In fact, as we paid the parking attendant he said to us, “Thank you, enjoy your foods on sticks.” So, how in the heck do you put a casserole (or hotdish) on a stick? Well we had to order one and find out. Here’s what they gave us:

What you have there is alternating meatballs and tater tots (the meat and starch from the hotdish) on a stick. They are then battered and deep fried (of course, it’s the law). Then it is served with a side of cream of mushroom soup with hamburger mixed in. That’s the sauce from the hotdish. In all, it was not outstanding but acceptable and very creative. This was probably the most creative thing that I ate all day and it tied in great with the “Hot Dish Mambo” that we heard earlier in the day.

I will finish this installment with one of the simplest and most delicious things I ate all day. We were strolling down the street when I saw a sign in the distance. Now Joan says that once I saw this sign I was “gone.” She couldn’t talk to me, she couldn’t get my attention, I was completely transfixed on the booth. What could pull me in so completely? This sign:

What could be better than bacon? I’ll tell you what, big, fat bacon. They sold you just what it sounds like, a big fat piece of bacon on a stick. Do you want to see what they gave me? Do you? I know you do, because everyone loves bacon. Here it is:

This was wonderfully delicious peppered bacon on a stick. It is very, very simple but so worth picking up. Probably the best tasting thing I ate all day. Now I said that everyone loves bacon. Well not everyone. This last picture for the day is for Joan’s friend Shannon who said the day before at the cabin that she really wasn’t into the bacon so much. Well this is what the workers at the “Big Fat Bacon” stand were wearing:

If you can’t read the small print it says “either you love bacon or you’re wrong.” So, sorry Shannon, I guess that’s the proof that you’re wrong.

Next up will be part three of our trip to the Minnesota State Fair.

Until next time,

Mike

The Particulars

Minnesota State Fair

Location:

1265 North Snelling Avenue N, St. Paul, MN

Website: www.mnstatefair.org

Date of Visit: August 29, 2011

Time of Visit: All Day Long

Has It Been on TV?: Probably on local TV News broadcasts.

The Great Minnesota Get Together, Part 1

The day after our trip to the cabin and our unexpected but welcome dinner at Panino’s, it was time for one of the main reasons we traveled to Minnesota, the Minnesota State Fair. Now, if you’ve been to the fair, or any state or county fair for that matter, you know that one of the main reasons you go is for the food. There are hundreds of options and while we couldn’t get to all of them, I have nine different places that we visited and I’ll have to break them up into 3 posts. My co-worker Sue, who grew up in St. Paul and actually went to high school right around the corner from Joan’s childhood home, was disappointed because we didn’t get to the Sweet Martha’s Cookie Jar, but here’s the first three of the great options that we did hit.

Now, if you remember I said that Davanni’s sells their famous hot hoagies and as much as Joan says there is a difference, a hoagie, a sub, a grinder, a hero are all the same. I also told you to stay tuned for one that I tease Joan with by saying it is the same, but is most definitely NOT. That would be a Corn Dog vs. a Pronto Pup.  Even though they may look the same, they are very different. Most likely you know what a corn dog is. Take a hot dog, batter it in a cornmeal batter and deep fry it. If you don’t like corn dogs because of the corn meal batter, go to the fair and try a Pronto Pup. It is battered and deep fried like a corn dog but with a lighter wheat flour batter, not corn meal. You still get the crispy batter without the corn taste. Here’s where we got it and this is what I got:

This is always Joan’s first stop at the fair and it was our first stop this time. We’re off and running. That’s one delicious food stop down, many more to go. We headed down the street a little ways and came across another Minnesota State Fair staple, cheese curds. For those of you not familiar with cheese curds, they are little nuggets of cheese deep fried (of course). We got our cheese curds from The Mouth Trap. Here’s the stand and here’s what we got:

To wrap up this first segment of our trip to the fair, here’s one more bit of deep fried goodness, mini donuts. These are sold several different places throughout the fair, but we got ours at Tom Thumb Donuts. These are just as they sound, little donuts that they fry, cover with sugar and put in a big bag for you. We got our bag, sat on a bench and munched them all down before we knew what happened. Here’s the stand and the bag of donuts they gave us:

After our bag of donuts, we took a ride on Ye Old Mill which is the oldest ride at the fair. It is a classic “Tunnel of Love” boat ride and is, for the most part, the same ride that opened 98 years ago.

Next up will be part two of our trip to the Minnesota State Fair.

Until next time,

Mike

The Particulars

Minnesota State Fair

Location:

1265 North Snelling Avenue N, St. Paul, MN

Website: http://www.mnstatefair.org/

Date of Visit: August 29, 2011

Time of Visit: All Day Long

Has It Been on TV?: Probably on local TV News broadcasts.