Holy Cow there were a LOT of folks up in Eagle River this past weekend for Cranberry Fest, there were so many people that restaurants in St Germain, Arbor Vitae & Woodruff were handling spillover, waits were in excess of 2 hours at some places.
Glad to see the north getting some business !! Let's hope for a good winter, they are long overdue.
Ate at Island Cafe in Minocqua again, we showed up at 9 on Sunday, right after we sat down, there was a good 20 minute wait for a table. Mrs Sweet Willie & I had the same items we dined on before: Crawfish Étouffée over biscuits w/two sunny side up eggs, Mrs Sweet Willie had the corned beef hash with poached eggs. Again, quite delicious.
Had dinner at Blue Bayou on Saturday evening. We had a very early reservation (5pm) as we wanted to make the 45 minute drive while light out in order to take in the glorious fall colors. Early bird gets the duck in the case as one is supposed to order their cajun roast duck 24 hours in advanced. Turns out they had 2 orders (of 1/2 duck) which our table & the other 5pm reservation gladly ordered. Duck was amazingly moist & full flavored, not really cajun in my opinion, more like some heavy spicing but no heat. I had walleye w/two shrimp on top, pan fried & dusted w/spices. I have to admit the entree looked like something from Red Lobster but both the shrimp & fish were cooked perfect, I really enjoyed this dish. Each person that orders a dinner entree receives: small dish of shrimp pate (good, not great by any means), soup (either gumbo which is terrific, or soup of the day which in this case was sweet potato & duck, simply a delicious soup!!), also a server wheels up a mini salad bar for each diner to choose their toppings for their salad. The house dressing is a mayo/mustard 'cajun' dressing (not really much cajun to it) but it was tasty none the less. Fresh baked bread is served along with what they call their cajun salsa, which is quite good.
We hadn't been to Blue Bayou in quite awhile as after Chef Walter passed away, we felt the entrees went downhill, after our experience this past Saturday, I'd say Blue Bayou is back.
Blue Bayou
288 U.S. Highway 51
Manitowish Waters, WI 54545
Phone: (715) 543-2537
http://www.bluebayouinn.comSayner is lacking in breakfast choices but they do have a new TINY restaurant that opened on Labor Day weekend called Junction Cafe, they have 3 tables, four seats each. Thankfully as we pulled up, a table had just let out. So the Mrs & I sat down. A couple minutes later a single diner walked in and was waiting for a table so we invited him to join us as we had two extra seats at our table. Turns out he is a local business owner who has a business on our lake, always a good thing to know the locals & local business.
I had a breakfast BLT, which consisted of 3 thick slices of bacon on wheat toast, w/lettuce, sunny side up egg, & tomato dressing. The latter I was a bit leery about but the acid of the dressing worked great with the egg & bacon. A delicious breakfast sandwich and all for less than $5. Mrs Sweet Willie had scrambled eggs w/a huge sausage patty. Scrambled eggs as they wouldn't (or couldn't) poach. She mentioned sausage was just ok. I for sure will be back for another sandwich.
Junction Cafe
2879 State Highway 155
Sayner, WI 54560
Phone: (715) 542-2228
(closed Mondays)
A new place opened in St Germain this spring called Knockers (great name
) but we always try every place near our cabin so we had to try this place even though the name told us to steer clear and the fact that it is in a strip mall (strip mall food in urban areas we all know can be terrific, I've always found strip mall food in rural areas are almost always a no go). We went in just as the Packers game was starting, we were 2 of 4 people in a 60 seat restaurant, clearly the locals go elsewhere when a game is on. We ordered a pizza & picther special for $15. Pizza was typical northwoods meh, too much medicore cheese, not enough sauce, crust is blah. While I wanted to check off Knockers as a place we didn't need to go to ever again, I caught sight of the sandwich/soup special of the day (a BLT on croissant & chili), maybe it was that I was still chilled from taking out the pier but that combo did look darn good.
Knockers Bar
438 Hwy 70,
St Germain, WI 54558
Phone: (715) 477-0594
On a side note, for folks who are visiting the northwoods and are interested in the local artist scene, I urge you to look into the Northwoods Art Tour
http://www.northwoodsarttour.com There are two tours per year, a summer tour & a fall tour.
We sadly only visited one artist The Natural Edge
http://www.naturaledge.bizland.com who produces some fantastic wood/metal work.
FIANLLY we were able to try the smoked prime rib at Bad Bones BBQ in Minocqua, delicious, great smoke ring. It is a special that he runs once in awhile, for 2 years we haven't been in the area when he's smoked prime rib, finally got the chance to enjoy.
Bad Bones BBQ
Minocqua WI
http://www.grabyourpork.comAnyone been to The Plantation Supper Club
http://www.plantationsupperclub.com (corner of 51 & 70 East) recently? I'm curious as this place must have had near 80 cars in their lots on Saturday night. I'm guessing the spillover effect but still, that is a lot of folks going.
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