The smell of fried food is pretty much everywhere at the Puyallup Fair, but some fried things just smell better – especially when that fried thing is a fleischkuechle.

Fleischkuechle has a funny name. It’s a flattened meat pie stuffed with a filling so tasty, you know it’s going to be Defcon Level Unhealthy. Try not to think about that as you order three. It’s a dish with farflung European origins – Russian and German. It’s pronounced flish-KOOSH-lay or flish-KEESH-lay, depending on your European address.

Served out of a truck located just outside the fairgrounds, the business …

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The scone, elephant ear and funnel cake are the trifecta of classic fair desserts, but the Puyallup Fair introduced three new sweet treats this year – fried apples with caramel sauce, a waffle cone filled with sweet potato fries and something called the “apple wallup.” We gave them a try.

TNT Diner Facebook follower Kim Ochs asked a great question about Puyallup Fair food: “Sue, several friends of mine have commented that the food vendors that are outside the fairgrounds seem much more fairly priced than inside the grounds, thoughts?”

I noticed the same thing and wondered if a better deal really was just that. Click “more” to read about a few vendors I sampled this week. Read more »

For 17 years, sisters-in-law Pat Jorgensen and Pat Tuthill sold fried meat and fruit pies outside the Puyallup fairgrounds on Fairview Drive.

You’d remember it if you ever walked by their meat pie truck. The waft of fried meat was unmistakable … Oh, wait. Nevermind. The entire Puyallup Fair smells like fried meat. Discerning that particular scent of fried meat might be tough, but once you bite into a fleischkuechle fried pie, you don’t forget the flavor. Read more »

If there are two things Ben Hilberg knows about fair food, it’s grease and portability. His Puyallup Fair food booths, Totally Fried and Food on a Stick, generated food buzz last year thanks to a menu full of kitschy eats.

Case in point: A fried chicken patty with Krispy Kreme doughnuts as buns. Yes, you read that correctly. Hilberg served fried chicken doughnut sandwiches at the Puyallup Fair last year. And people ate them.

Both booths will return to this year’s fair, which opens today and continues through Sept. 26, with food that’s exaggerated on the caloric scale. Pair his fried eats with an Earthquake burger and you better make sure you eat a week of vegetables to detox. Read more »