I was sitting at home last night thinking about all the places at The Fair I still haven’t made it to this year and all the videos I still want to make. And then a different question popped into my head:
If I had a friend visiting from out of town who had never been to The Fair before, where would I take them to eat?
Not necessarily the newest places. Not necessarily the craziest foods. But the places and foods that, to me, are part of the experience of going to the New York State Fair.
Here’s my list:
Villa Pizza Frite
I don’t know exactly how many years they’ve been operating at The Fair, but it’s been a long time. I can remember being 16 and going to the fair with friends from high school, getting dropped off by our parents and walking around at night before the start of the school year. I have distinct memories of standing in that vast intersection near The Midway and the Villa Pizza Frite booth, music blaring and that smell of fried dough and sugar. It’s a rite of passage to go to The Fair and get at least one rope of Pizza Frite. It’s hard to beat a night at The Fair as summer comes to a close and the temperatures start to cool down, with a bag of hot Pizza Frite in hand.
Sausage Sandwich
This one’s more of a go-with-whatever-you-feel-like in terms of where you get your sausage sandwich. But I always go to Basilio’s at The Fair. They’re celebrating their 69th year and you can find them down on Restaurant Row. I go there every year because it’s just tradition. For $14, you get a sausage sandwich with peppers and onions. Is it a little more expensive than it should be? Yeah, maybe by a couple bucks. But it’s also nostalgia, and it’s hard to beat that aroma of sausage, peppers, and onions wafting through the air as you walk around The Fair.
Pickle Barrel Sirloin Tips
The Pickle Barrel has various stands around The Fair. This one’s kind of interesting because it’s not really a New York thing and it’s not a Syracuse thing — it’s just a Fair thing. For years, I feel like this was one of the only normal foods you could get at The Fair. Sure, you could get a hot dog or a hamburger, but an actual meal — something you’d order at a restaurant or make at home — was harder to come by. While they’ve got a variety of stands around The Fair, I always go to that main one about a third of the way back near the Ashley Lynn Winery booth. For $16, you get a regular-sized serving of mashed potatoes with steak tips, mushrooms, and onions. Again, probably a little too much money for what you get, but very delicious. I get it at least twice during every single fair. After you’ve spent as many days as I have at The Fair eating all the fried food, it’s nice to have something normal. And it helps that it’s so delicious.
Peachey’s Donuts
It’s not something that’s from Central New York or even New York State, but man oh man, are they delicious. I don’t know how many years they’ve been coming to The Fair now, but every year they seem to get bigger and bigger. This year they’ve almost doubled their operation, so the lines aren’t as long. It’s a little tough to wrap your head around paying $5 for one donut, but it sure is delicious. It almost melts when you look at it — it’s so delicate, like a light, delicious cloud. You put it in your mouth and it’s all over from there. Once you take a bite, the thought of paying $5 for a single donut vanishes. You’re left standing there with this delicious, sweet donut in your hand, wishing you’d bought 12 more.
The Baked Potato
Newly operated by the folks over at Tully’s, the baked potato booth inside the Horticulture Building is a must-visit. You can get one baked potato for $1, or you can get four salt potatoes and a bathtub of butter for $1. I lean more toward the salt potato route because it just feels like being connected to the history of Syracuse and its culinary scene. And yes, the lines can get pretty long, but they move quickly, and this year the crew from Tully’s has been doing an outstanding job of being efficient. What’s even better is that the potatoes are coming from a local farm in Western New York.
A Wine Slushy
While there are many spots to choose from, I always mine from Ashley Lynn. Again, I don’t know how many years they’ve been coming to The Fair, but they’ve definitely grown over the years, now clocking in at four stands. I’m not an overly big fan of the wine slushy, but it sure seems like a staple to me. You can go a little crazy and get some of their boozy milkshakes if you’re so inclined, but a classic wine slushy sure does hit the spot on a hot day at The Fair.
A Beer
The Tully’s Draft House is my go-to watering hole at The Fair. Years ago, when I worked for Metro Mattress at their stand at The Fair, we would all meet up for a beer or two at the Tully’s Draft House before heading home for the night. There’s just something about sitting under those lights outside at the picnic tables, watching everybody walk toward the front gate and head home while you relax with a cold beer. They play the music loud, and it seems like one of the main gathering spots for a beer. I enjoy stopping by and grabbing a cold can a few times during the day when I’m at The Fair.
So, there you have it – those are my spots. But let me ask you: If you were to bring a friend from out of town to the New York State Fair for the first time ever, where would you go?
