Minnesota Farmers Union Coffee Shop Places on "Best Fair Foods" L

ST. PAUL (WJON News) - Staff at the Minnesota Farmers Union Coffee Shop is ready for this year’s Minnesota State Fair.

Get our free mobile app

The shop, located on Dan Patch Avenue, is proud to debut four new foods at the fair:

A Fried Green Tomato sandwich. Available in BLT or vegetarian, it features a crust from Whole Grain Milling in Welcome, Mustard mayo from Lost Capital Foods in Falcon Heights, and a bun from The Good Bread Bakery in Minneapolis.
Farmer’s Berry Crumble,
Minnesota Sweet Corn Danish,
Rosemary Lemonade.

Minnesota Farmer’s Union President Gary Wertish says the Fried Green Tomato sandwich made the Official 2023 New Fair Foods List.

Chris Coates is our Executive Chef at our Farmers Kitchen in Downtown Minneapolis. He came up with a fried green tomato sandwich. That's the new food that we're bringing out at the fair this year, and we got on the new fair foods list. It's a lot of competition, there's a committee that reviews them all and I think 34 new foods got it. So that's why we're honored to have that.

The Minnesota Farmers Union Coffee Shop highlights locally sourced foods through the Minnesota Cooks program.

The milk served at the coffee shop this year is sourced from Stony Creek Dairy, a family-run dairy in Melrose.

The Pork Schnitzel sandwich from the Minnesota Farmers Union Coffee Shop. Submitted Photo.

Wertish says they’re planning to build on the success of last year’s surprise hit – the Pork Schnitzel Sandwich. They sold over 15,000 sandwiches at last year’s fair, sourcing the pork loin from Hidden Stream Farm in Elgin, Pastures A Plenty Farm in Kerkhoven, and Compart Family Farms in Nicollet.

The shop will be open from 6:45 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. every day of the fair.