I only made 3 trips to the Iowa State Fair in 2025. One with the O’Gorshes. Another one with Tall and Meaty. Then a final one on the last day of the Fair with Teresa and Valerie to pick up my pictures from the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon.
On this day I tried the final finalist for Best New Fair Food. It was a trio of ham ball from Whatcha Smokin’. It was without a doubt, the worst of the three. It was without a doubt, one of the worst things I’ve ever had at the State Fair. I’m not sure how it was a finalist. I’m going to guess when they made it in a small batch for the judges, it was good. But when the scaled it up for a mass audience, it didn’t work. Cause it was truly, truly awful.
Here are the pictures:
There they are. In all their atrociousness.
I was committed to finishing it. There were stories about the partially eating ham balls filling up the garbage cans of the State Fair.
Honey Mustard with Cornbread Crumbles.
Chery Soda with Maraschino Cherries
Vanilla Glaze Dusted with Powdered Sugar
At least they were somewhat photogenic.
I finished them. A tremendous accomplishment. So then I needed to find some good tasting food.
Dustin (from Tall & Meaty) had recommended the Grinder from Hagar’s Hoagies.
As you know, I’ve been searching and failing to find a replacement for Jennie’s Grinders for years now.
Look at the goodness!
Is it Jennie’s Grinder? No. But it was by far the closest substitute and I will definitely be going back for it next year.
It’s a lamb but it is also a “goat”.
A last meal of the trip was these nachos from the Rib Shack.
It was a little underwhelming. The brisket was great. The chips. Not so much.
That is it for State Fair Trips. But I’m already salivating thinking about all the tasty foods I’m going to take down at the Iowa State Fair this year. I’ve already shared all the food adventures from the Ireland trip that immediately followed the State Fair. Next Sunday’s food adventure will be the food I took down at Madrid’s Labor Day Festival.