TNT Diner » Puyallup Fair food

A fair tradition: Fried meat pies

Sue Kidd — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 07:01:31 +0000

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 …

Sweet treats: Feasting on Puyallup Fair desserts

Sue Kidd — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 00:59:45 +0000

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.

Eating outside the Puyallup Fair, worth the savings?

Sue Kidd — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 02:43:56 +0000

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.

Just outside the fairgrounds are a few clusters of vendors. One is near the intersection where Ninth meets Meridian. The other is on the opposite end of that street, at Fairview …

Fried meat pies are back at the Puyallup Fair. And they beat deep-fried butter by a looooong shot.

Sue Kidd — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 01:27:35 +0000

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.

It’s a German-Russian dish that’s a flat, fried turnover filled with a round of seasoned ground beef. It’s almost like …

Leave your diet at home: Deep-fried eats are what’s on the menu at the Puyallup Fair

Sue Kidd — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 12:06:23 +0000

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. …