The Hangar’s New Selection Offers Fairgoers a Variety of Delicious Novelties

The Island Hopper, a new state fair food available at the Hangar

I always joke that the fair brings the hottest weather, but this year’s opening was ridiculous. It was hot. Hot as in your grandpa continually muttering, “We live in Minnesota, for cripes’ sake,” because this type of hot should live in the swamps of Florida, not in the Upper Midwest.

Experienced fairgoers usually map their route and what they’re eating beforehand, so I offer this fact for your consideration: the Hangar, at Underwood Street and Murphy Avenue, sources all its meat from Minnesota farms. This is important because a lot of fair food is sourced from the Restaurant Depot, a multimillion-dollar wholesale food supplier—sorry to disappoint, but it’s true. So, if you see something at the Hangar that tickles your fancy, make sure to head on over. There’s also shade, good seating, and live music.

The Beer

The Hangar has many different beers from a variety of microbreweries, and the first three below are new to try. These rest are not new but also not readily available in stores, so don’t miss out and try them while you can. Flights are available.

Three new beer flavors are available at the Hangar. From left to right: Mankato Pineapple Sour Beergarita, Excelsior Brewing C-Plane Citrus Blonde, Mankato Strawberry Short Cake’d Up

Mankato Pineapple Sour Beergarita: Pineapple sours are usually on the sweeter side, and so is this beer, which goes down easy with a trace of tart. They call it a “Beergarita” because they line the cup’s rim with salt. Salt doesn’t stick to plastic like it does to glass, so all you get is a salty accent. I think that’s for the best, actually. I liked it with the pineapple.

Excelsior Brewing C-Plane Citrus Blonde: An extremely mild, low-bitterness beer with a dash of citrus. Light beers are nice to drink in summer; this one is no exception. It evokes a shandy without being a shandy.

Mankato Strawberry Short Cake’d Up: The gimmicky beer. It tastes like a strawberry shortcake hopped into a beer cask for a swim. But you know what? I loved this beer! It’s sweet. It’s creamy. It’s fun. I recommend it.

Lupulin Brewing Cherry Limeade Blonde: The beer for the person who doesn’t like beer. If I squinted, I could detect some beer essence, but the flavor is mostly what the name suggests—cherry and limeade. It’s very easy to drink.

Lupulin Brewing Tropical Fun Pants: I assume they named this beer Fun Pants because there are a lot of different fruits shoved into it. I detected some mango, but mostly this beer can’t decide what flavor it wants to be.

Minneapolis Cider Mango Habanero: This is the only gluten-free/cider option. Habanero can be off-putting, so how spicy is this beer? Honestly, not very. It goes down sweet and leaves a little kick behind. I found it inoffensive.

The Food

The Island Hopper

The Island Hopper: You can’t go wrong with charbroiled, melt-in-your-mouth teriyaki chicken, pineapple chunks, and rice. Plus, it comes in half a pineapple. Just the overzealous preparation I’d expect from the fair—or from the anime Food Wars.

Sausage Waffle Dog on a Stick: Classic fair food, but delicious all the same. The breakfast sausage is well seasoned, the waffle is not sweet (which means it’s perfect for syrup dipping), and none of the flavors dominate the others.

Bacon Wrapped Pork Belly

Bacon Wrapped Pork Belly: Chewy pork belly wrapped in crispy pork belly. If the photo above looks like a lot, that’s because it is. The thing is massive. One slice was enough for me, so I can’t imagine finishing the entire stick. I also felt like it needed something more, like a mustard aioli to dip it in.

Slider Flight: The Slider Flight comprises a mini cheeseburger, a mini pulled pork sandwich, and a mini brisket sandwich. You can also get these sandwiches as main entrees. There’s no such thing as a bad brisket or pulled pork sandwich, and both of the Hangar’s are yummy. The cheeseburger is fine—don’t waste your time ordering a full one.

Wingwalker Sweet Flight

Wingwalker Sweet Flight: Mini donuts are a fair staple, and these come with three generous sauces to dip your donuts into—Minnesota lingonberry jam, chocolate custard, and Bavarian cream. I didn’t get to try the chocolate custard, but the Bavarian cream was heavenly and mixed well with the jam. I devoured our donuts and were thrilled to receive seconds.

The Tailspin: Sadly, I didn’t get to try this new menu option, but I must mention it. This dish has BBQ sauce, fried onions, coleslaw, pulled pork, elote, and Oaxaca cheese all served over a hash-brown waffle. I would like to eat it, and you may also want to.

The Hangar also has turkey legs, waffle fries, roasted corn, and—if you have littles—kids’ meals. Kids can get a burger, nuggets, or a hot dog, and the meal includes fruit or fries and soda or milk. Kids can feel like an afterthought in a sea of weird food, so it’s nice to have standard options somewhere.

Is the Hangar a spot where you usually grab food, or have you never been there before? Let us know in the comments, and tell us what foods you’re excited to try at the fair this year!