A new arena name, a mix of fresh-faced and veteran players and early talks of playoff contention. Now there’s one more reason to keep hockey fans on their toes.
As the Minnesota Wild get ready to face off against the Columbus Blue Jackets in this year’s season home opener, the culinary team at Grand Casino Arena rolled out 40 new foods. And once again, the new foods leaned into State Fair favorites as the staff took the extra step of collaborating with popular food purveyors such as Greater Tater and O’Gara’s to make it happen.
“We’re bringing in these deals and making sure we can get these products and making sure they’re in stock,” said executive chef Matt Rosson. “It’s a really fun process. We’re all about the local partnerships.”
We tasted our way through this season’s new offerings, fair-inspired and beyond, to bring you our top five picks to try when at a game this season. Now, let’s play hockey.
State Fair-inspired foods
Three words: Deep. Fried. Ranch. There’s an entire lineup of State Fair foods that the arena has adopted for the season. They include LuLu’s Public House’s famous deep-fried ranch bites, the first time this truly original spin on Minnesota’s favorite condiment is being sold in another venue. (A cream cheese-ranch concoction is wrapped in a wonton shell, breaded and fried till crispy and served with hot honey.) And that’s not all. New foods include the 2025 breakout of the fair, Tater Kegs, and O’Gara’s own shepherd’s hand pie in a flaky puff pastry, doused in brown gravy. There’s also a new hand-dipped Pronto Pup and cheese curds dusted in multiple seasonings. It’s a whimsical way to keep the deep-fried summer vibes going all fall and beyond.
Deep-fried ranch $12.99, shepherd’s pie $7.99, Pronto Pup $10.99; State Fare booth, Section 117
Tater Kegs and cheese curds trio, both $12, Michelob Golden Light Tap House, Section 119
J&R’s Dough Shop
Edible cookie dough (meaning it contains no raw flour or raw egg) is a sweet treat, scoopable like ice cream but thick as Nutella on a spoon. There are two new flavors: the Thin Mint-inspired chocolate mint with chopped up Andes candies; and one inspired by a Minnesota potluck favorite, Scotcheroos. The latter is a peanut butter dough with rice cereal for crunch, studded with chocolate and butterscotch chips. If you could spoon-feed yourself a funeral bar, this would be it.
