Bump!
We have still been meat marketing, and since I'm not working and spending lots of time at the cabin, F&D remains my most common stop. Everything there is good, and I think I'll stop on my way home for one of their little boneless half hams. (But no more detours to the 32 Degree Freeze for the tallest $2.00 soft serve twist cone anywhere; they close for the season on Monday. Outstanding soft serve, btw. Not as good as Connie's Creamy Cones in St. Paul, or the Deep Freeze in New London, which heysy best in state award.)
I've never stopped at the place in Eveleth, do should stop on Tuesday.
Zups in Cook burned down and hasn't been rebuilt yet, and Babbitt is too much of a detour
I discovered the hard salami and the smoked hot Italian sausage strips in Gilbert, so that's another regular, especially since it's barely off the beaten path. These are both outstanding treats.
A couple of years ago, we went to Zumbrota for a funeral and stopped at the Wanamingo Meat Locker and had what I believe to be the best meat sticks in the state. Warning that this is a meat locker. They have an upright glassed fridge thing (ala convenience store for beverages), and some packages of meat sticks shared space with pop, a couple if hams, and maybe a couple of other things.
Then, this past spring, we drove out to Delano to see the new flood wall and stopped at their meat market, Rieder's, and their meat sticks were on a par with Wanamingo's. Sadly, the Peppermint Twist wasn't yet open for the season, so no soft serve.
Finally, @Smithy, have you had any smoked fish from Russ Kendall's lately? The two recent takes (within the last year) weren't nearly as good as we remember.
