jimswside wrote:Me and the family are going to be in Madison for a night between Lake Geneva & The Dells...
brandon_w wrote:The apple fritters that they serve at The Old Fashioned are from Green Bush Bakery on Regent Street.
Vital Information wrote:Wimperoo, I saw you and your wife Sunday at Old Fashioned! We were inside, near the window. I noticed some people taking food pics...my daughter was especially impressed with the breakfast burger, and now...voila...all makes sense!
We really enjoyed our breakfast Sunday, best of all, the $1 7 oz taps. I wish they'd open a branch in the Chicago area.
jimswside wrote:good tips, thanks folks,
Smoky's is another spot I printed the menu for.
tatterdemalion wrote:I knew better than to darken the door of Ella's Deli at all, but a couple of days after an enjoyable meal at Jake's in Milwaukee, I figured I should experience Ella's at its absolute worst.
Santander wrote:Masochist. But they have trains!
/Mike G rule invoked
stevez wrote:Da Beef wrote:The Stamm House (Middleton)- This place was my favorite spot to dine at in Madison. The feeling and atmosphere of this place during a Friday fish fry was awesome. We tried to make it a monthly ritual to eat here before going out. Great fish fry, amazing onion rings and many cold spotted cow, does it get any better in Wisconsin? Im not sure it does.
I recently ate at The Stamm House and found the food very underwhelming. The fish was greasy and the batter had no taste. Not only that, but I was the only customer for much of my dinner until another couple came in. Maybe I hit it on a bad night, or maybe it's a place that's past its prime. It certainly is a cool looking place, but I was so disappointed in the food that I didn't even save the pictures I took.
at the Chicago Reader, Mike Sula wrote:Nearly two years ago Chicago lost two of its best pastry chefs when Tim and Elizabeth Dahl quit their positions—at Blackbird and Boka, respectively—had a kid, and headed north for Madison to open their own place. Capitol Square in Tim's hometown—site of a recent restaurant boomlet—is also the scene of their return to the restaurant world, a "Mediterranean" but largely Italian-leaning casual spot that couldn't be more different from the relatively rarefied environments they left behind.
at the Chicago Reader, Mike Sula wrote:Returning to his savory roots, Tim is executing a menu that wouldn't look at all out of place back here in Chicago in the context of our own recent superabundance of affordable regional Italian. In Madison it's more sui generis, and well placed to adapt itself to the incredible diversity of meat, cheese, and vegetable producers in southern Wisconsin. It's too early in the growing season to get a clear picture of how that will look in full flower, but on my visit he was serving chicken agnolotti with the season's first ramps and Viola-grown oyster mushrooms, a risotto with house-made salumi, and a butter lettuce salad with candied olives, radishes, and a crumbled blue cheese from nearby Seymour.
at the Chicago Reader, Mike Sula wrote:Every time Garin Fons dreams up a new piece of meat to cure, stuff, or process—say, nduja or goat bacon or pistachio- studded mortadella—he sends the ingredient list and the processing notes to Wisconsin state meat inspectors and waits for the go- ahead. If they don't like something about one of these formulations—say, too many nitrates in the recipe, or a fermentation period that's too long—they reject it.
"Then we can send them some kind of academic paper or some kind of proof that we think this is a safe step," says Jonny Hunter, 32, Fons's confederate in Madison's Underground Food Collective. "We've had to do that a lot, because the inspectors have never seen anything like this before. We're doing it on a smaller scale, and we're complicated."
cilantro wrote:Nostrano is as wonderful as Sula says and Mickies Dairy Bar is as wonderful as everyone says.
cilantro wrote:The squash curry at Vientiane Palace was good, but the larb, though nicely offally, was underspiced, underdressed, and just tasted tired. Combine that with the poor rice and somewhat dismal atmosphere, and I think I'll be sticking to Lao Laan-Xang from now on.
thaiobsessed wrote:For entrees/large plates, we shared the harissa paparadelle with lamb ragu, preserved lemon and mint (outstanding) and the braised short rib with cavolo nero (surprisingly, the cavolo nero was the star of that plate--best kale-like preparation I've ever had). The short rib itself was solid but didn't blow me away.
With a restaurant and a charcuterie CSA, Madison's Underground Food Collective is underground no longer...at the Chicago Reader, Mike Sula wrote:Every time Garin Fons dreams up a new piece of meat to cure, stuff, or process—say, nduja or goat bacon or pistachio- studded mortadella—he sends the ingredient list and the processing notes to Wisconsin state meat inspectors and waits for the go- ahead. If they don't like something about one of these formulations—say, too many nitrates in the recipe, or a fermentation period that's too long—they reject it.
"Then we can send them some kind of academic paper or some kind of proof that we think this is a safe step," says Jonny Hunter, 32, Fons's confederate in Madison's Underground Food Collective. "We've had to do that a lot, because the inspectors have never seen anything like this before. We're doing it on a smaller scale, and we're complicated."
=R=
Pete wrote:With a restaurant and a charcuterie CSA, Madison's Underground Food Collective is underground no longer...at the Chicago Reader, Mike Sula wrote:Every time Garin Fons dreams up a new piece of meat to cure, stuff, or process—say, nduja or goat bacon or pistachio- studded mortadella—he sends the ingredient list and the processing notes to Wisconsin state meat inspectors and waits for the go- ahead. If they don't like something about one of these formulations—say, too many nitrates in the recipe, or a fermentation period that's too long—they reject it.
"Then we can send them some kind of academic paper or some kind of proof that we think this is a safe step," says Jonny Hunter, 32, Fons's confederate in Madison's Underground Food Collective. "We've had to do that a lot, because the inspectors have never seen anything like this before. We're doing it on a smaller scale, and we're complicated."
=R=
Ugh. This place is to be avoided. They opened to muted acclaim and it's been nothing but downhill since then. Service that's indifferent at best mixed with portions that leave patrons in disbelief and quality that's oftentimes "meh". It's just a bad deal, all around.
I was excited for this place to open (over a year ago), but my impression of it just gets worse with repeated visits. (And of course, comparing notes with friends has yet to have anyone else share a differing opinion.)
stevez wrote:We're going up to Madison this weekend for a quick getaway. It looks like the Farmers Market and dinner at Nostrano is in the cards. I'll report back.