Randy’s Diner Too, Fargo, North Dakota

Continuing our progress on doing 10k walks in all 50 state capitals, Nancy and I hit the road from St. Paul to Bismarck. We hit Fargo around lunch time, so we pulled into the Visitors Center for some intelligence on local restaurants. Actually, we mainly stopped to see the wood chipper used in the film Fargo.

You really have no choice. You absolutely have to pose for a picture. The wood chipper is so popular that there’s another one set up outside so that tourists can get a picture even when the office is closed.

That achieved, we realized our secondary goal of finding a local place to eat. In Fargo, it’s Randy’s University Diner. We started off and arrived at Randy’s Diner Too instead of the original. My GPS is occasionally highjacked by minions of Satan and misdirects me away from original restaurants. It did that to me at Fincher’s and Leo and Susie’s Famous Green Top. Randy’s had just opened a second location, so recently that they weren’t yet serving dinner. I didn’t even need to think to chose eggs and corned beef hash.

It came with hash browns and your choice of toast or Cinnamon Streusel Cake. Cake as a breakfast starch seemed unorthodox, but then so am I. I chose the Cinnamon Streusel Cake.

Excellent choice. It arrived almost immediately, and it was delicious, as Nancy will attest. It was a big hunk of cake, so Nancy gave it a try. Meanwhile, Nancy had ordered the Garden Skillet with a side of fresh fruit.

The eggs and hash browns were first rate. See the crust on the hash browns, and the little flecks on the eggs? The person working the flat top knows how to cook. But the corned beef … maybe I did need to think. Is Fargo known for corning and cooking beef locally? It made me think of Becky’s Diner in Portland, Maine, where they offer both homemade corned beef hash ($8) and canned corned beef hash ($7). I should have gone with bacon or sausage. The eggs and hash browns made the meal. And don’t forget the streusel. Streusel in Fargo is like wine in Napa.

Nancy’s skillet was scrambled eggs and all sort of vegetables, and she asked them to hold the Hollandaise sauce. That message got lost, but she ate around the sauce and enjoyed her breakfast. I put that down to a newly opened place. The fruit was not as fresh as it might be. You actually can see that in the pineapple.

I think that if I were to return to Fargo, I’d seek out the original Randy’s University Diner. That streusel is a come-back. You should try it, too. Just avoid the corned beef hash and the fruit.

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