Trying 68 dishes in one day is a tall order, leaving little room for a second bite — or a second chance. The Star Tribune Taste team must quickly evaluate each new dish at the State Fair in order to get our rankings to you as quickly as possible. Unfortunately for vendors, that means we don’t have the time to apply the same rigorous evaluation standards as we do when we rate a restaurant by tasting it again. Until now.
Giving traders a chance to get over the first day’s nerves, we came back on Tuesday to re-evaluate some of our lowest-rated new dishes, picking three fan favorites that visitors seemed to like better than we did at first. Here’s the latest score.
(Joy Summers/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
French Meadow, Carnes Av. between Nelson and Underwood Sts., $14
We wrote: Breaded mushrooms are a staple on many restaurant menus. This shouldn’t have been a problem for the State Fair. The problem started somewhere between trying to pass them off as tentacled creatures and over-frying them until they became a withered, dehydrated thing that was once mushrooms.
Original ranking: Not our favorite.
Update: Could it be that they forgot the mushrooms on day one? Back then, we had a basket of over-fried breadcrumbed bits. But today, we had chewy, tentacle-like oyster mushroom pieces that gave the dish a whole new character. Something like a cross between fried cauliflower and, yes, actual calamari, coated in a slightly crispy and flavorful batter, today’s version had us eating even more bites. The creamy chipotle dipping sauce also went much better with it. While it’s a solid new dish, the price is still a sticking point, and we can’t overlook many people’s deep dislike for mushrooms.
New ranking: It’s OK…for some.
(Sharyn Jackson/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Dino’s Gyros, Carnes Av. between Nelson and Underwood Sts., $8
