date: 8/29/10
location: minneapolis
grade: b/b-

i thought there'd be a few more food carts/booths, from what the web site implied (like akshay-patram's indian food). instead it was foxy falafel, sun street bread (they had some individual items besides loaves) and of course, chef shack. it would've been more interesting with a larger variety of items to choose from, though at least the booths/carts or what have you that there were had a bit of variety.

the best thing we ate all day was the 'rock this road' ice cream from chef shack ($5)... and not just because it was a broiling day. it had the right amount of bits in it and wasn't overly sweet like ice creams can be. ice cream, the late breakfast of champions.

those who tried the bacon/sweet onion biscuit ($3) from sun street bread were impressed at how moist it was and it had good flavor. they smelled really really good too.

and keeping on the carb theme... the spiced indian donuts at chef shack ($5)... i still can't help thinking that while i love the spices, i like the actual minidonuts at the state fair better. there was an argument made you can't compare these to state fair things as food at the state fair is a once a year sort of thing. i'm going to disagree. the state fair ones are more melt-in-your mouth light and fluffy. these seemed heavier- we wondered if they use whole grain flour, or the maybe the spices made it seem so, or perhaps these were a bit overdone. they do taste more like 'breakfast' than an indulgence though.

foxy falafel did something smart- besides their solid regular falafel ($6) you can get a mini-sandwich for $1.50- props to a lower price point. is it the best falafel ever? nope, but it's quite good everyone would get it again. also smart- the $1 off a smoothie if you ride a bike to power the blender is a pretty awesome concept. their cucumber/mint water ($1) was also good, but it served in a compostable not-quite heat resistant cup that was turning into free-from sculpture, which seems like it could be problematic.

but though it was tons better than the blueberry kombucha ($3) someone had (not sure if it was from foxy falafel or the coffee place next to it). it tasted like weak-tealike water, not blueberries. avoid that.

not quite as big of a fail was the the fried fish sandwich (herring) from chef shack ($10), but we had higher expectations for it so it was the most disappointing thing we got. it would've been decent at half the price but we thought $10 was too much for what you get- not a lot of fish (fried), the baguette it was on made it difficult to eat (it fell apart, pretty much, trying to chew or tear the bread- the bread was only easy to eat after everything soaked into it, but by then you couldn't use it for a sandwich bread). it cabbage and sauce and such on it, but those added more texture than flavor. it needed a hit of salt to bring out the flavors, so the pickles we added helped a bit but we were not impressed at all. and it wasn't worth the time we had to wait for it either.

anyway, it was an interesting experiement, try this. not sure if i'd rush back to do the same again until later in the fall, when it's not so broiling/roasting like it was today- i got a sunburn in what was mostly the shade wearing a hat and spf 70, which cuts down on my enjoyment a bit. i think we would've tried a few more things if it weren't so hot out, also.