An ode to the Saz's Sampler Platter, a Milwaukee summer festival icon

Mozzarella marinara, sour cream and chive fries, and Leinie’s-battered cheese curds: Name a more iconic trio. I’ll wait.

Late each spring, the cravings hit. It’s as though my biological clock is timed to Milwaukee’s festival season, ticking down to the first time I walk through the gates at Henry Maier Festival Park. I fool myself every year: I’ll just take a little stroll around to see what’s new. Scope things out. See where my hunger takes me.

I stroll, I scope and I get hungry. Eventually, all festival paths lead back to Saz’s Sampler Platter.

I can't be the only one who naturally gravitates toward Saz's, drawn there by the force of the crispy, cheesy plate of indulgence. Even at cultural festivals that bring in specialty ethnic foods like Polish pierogi, German rollbraten or Irish corned beef hash, you'll still find hordes of hungry folks huddled around the Saz's stand, balancing their platters to the tune of three live polka bands in the distance. What makes it all so irresistible?

Oh, those squishy, squeaky golden curds! Oh, those crispy sour cream and chive fries! Oh, those wonton-wrapped, deep-fried mozzarella sticks! The smattering of sweet red marinara! The tangy sour cream and chive sauce!

They're all mounded and mingled on an oval-shaped cardboard plate in varying shades of brown, punctuated by a dollop of racy red marinara at the center. A cup of white sauce teeters on the edge, ever in danger of hurtling over the side should a festival-goer accidentally bump your shoulder. Do your best to preserve it. It’s there for the curds, they say, but my advice is to dunk every morsel into that sauce. Savor it. Let it saturate each bite.

It’s best practice to eat the platter quickly while it’s still steaming from the fryer, lest you linger long enough for things to cool and the cheese to solidify, creating more chew than goo. We’ve all been there. We know its shortcomings. But in whatever form, it’s comfort.

The platter is always there for me. From PrideFest to Summerfest, from State Fair to Harvest Fair, I can count on it whenever I suddenly become aware that I’ve enjoyed more suds than sustenance that day. Or if I’ve made my rounds and indecision strikes the same time the stomach rumbles do. Is there better festival fare? For sure. But none is more iconic than those three deep-fried wonders with their duo of sauces in tow.

They can complement your cream puff. They can elevate your Miller Lite. They pair well with REO Speedwagon ... or an REO Speedwagon cover band. They go great with almost any festival experience — just save it for after the Giant Slide.

At the expense of deflating my romanticism, you can, technically, purchase the platter year-round at Saz’s State House, 5539 W. State St., or, gulp, even have it delivered to your home via DoorDash (the audacity!). If you do, it’s called the Festival Combo, a knowing nod to its ubiquity at Milwaukee’s favorite fests.

It can do the trick in a pinch, but it won’t be the same. There’s something about standing in line with at least a dozen other Saz’s stans eager to scarf one down that makes the combination of sticks, curds and fries taste so much better, so much more comforting, so sublimely like summer in Milwaukee.

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