Taste of MN?

We had the chance to experience the Taste of Minnesota at Harriett Island in St Paul today. Rich, Sheryl and Jake joined Chris and I on our journey. There where several unexpected surprises waiting for us. First, the ticket office at the main entrance was CASH only! What year is it...1995? They referred us to a nearby ATM to get the needed green. Second, the admission was $30 American! As we reasoned, this is still a pretty good deal considering the chance to sample lots of unique area cuisine for free. Surprise #3, The food is NOT free. Not only that you need to buy tickets in increments of 8 for $5. Tickets! What is this a grade school fair? Surprise #4 the selection of "cuisine" was more county fair quality than the best the Twin City's dinning scene has to offer. Fried Cheese curd, fried pickle on a stick, corn dogs...the disappointing list goes on and on. And to add insult to indigestion the stuff was all way over priced.

As we walked around trying to find the best way to spend the $25 worth of food tickets (non refundable by the way), the other thing that struck us was the thin crowd of people in attendance. Perhaps they all got the memo that this event was not a very good deal. After an hour of wandering, we came up with the best comprimise of overprice with lack of taste and originality. Chris and I ended up sharing a large and greasy Blooming Onion and a sample portion of Crab cakes. Not the culinary extravaganza we were expecting! So from a "Taste" perspective, Taste of MN was a HUGE bust! That is until Sammy Saved the Day!

One of the things that was appealing to Rich was the music lineup. Sammy Hagar was the headliner in a line up that included Lou Gramm (lead singer of Foreigner) and John Waite. Since Rich has been a lifelong Hagar fan, knowing Sammy was going to be on at 8:30 kept us from bailing on the event many times during the evening. Once the Red Rocker came on stage the familiar songs of our 20's and 30's transported us to a time when cost of admission, food and beer didn't matter. After his 90 minute set, we all left the park happy and feeling like we got our monies worth. At least from an entertainment perspective. So from all of us, Thank You Sammy for saving the day!