Last night, MincyBits and I ventured out to the Porter County Fair in Valparaiso, IN (stretching the "Chicagoland" definition, I know)
Moving here nearly 2 years ago from Seattle, she's still not accustomed to some of the more extravagant examples of Midwestern food. She tells her family that it wasn't until weeks after she moved here and ate the "Chili Cheese Roast Beef" at Zel's Roast Beef in Hammond that she truely knew she was in the Midwest. And so understandably, she was a bit shocked to see a 5 inch tall, tightly packed stack of fries being served.

She was even more surprised when I ordered one. With cheese sauce and bacon.

Now, bless her heart, she did make it about half-way through the stack with me.
Here's a
picture of the point where she called it quits.
And here's the point where I gave up. Notice the gobs of cheese floating in the pool of grease. I'm surprised that I'm alive and typing this today.
Another interesting food they had there, that we sadly didn't try, was Pizza on a Stick. which is pretty much what it sounds like.

And of course, we capped the evening off with a trusty old funnel cake. Which MincyBits likes to devour much as a Zombie eats it's prey's brains.

I know this is too far for most Chicago residents to drive, but it was too... interesting not to share with all of you.
Of course, the reason I like the Porter County Fair isn't the food...
It's the Llamas.