budrichard wrote:Sorry but the website will not attach photos, just gives me a blank screen?

Sorry. A known problem that we're working on.

Thanks, for your patience.

=R=
for the Moderators

Sap Sap teamed with Chef Tory Miller for a Pop-UP at the Coffee House in Burlington yesterday.
Korean fried chicken
Korean Mac N Cheese with Kimchee
Pickled Farm Veggies
Great crispy Chicken with a nice gochujang based sauce.
The Mac N Cheese, outstanding, better than any Banchan I have had.
Order and pay ahead on-line, pickup at the time you request.
Alex continues to do winners!!!
-Richard

Sap Sap continues it’s winning ways with the purchase of the long defunct Totero’s in Racine.
Sap Sap also offers it’s take on a Lao beer, Thum Phuk.
For now, food and beer available at various Pop Up’s.
The quality of the food has not varied from it’s initial stellar quality.
Sap Sap has become a bi-weekly routine in our household.-Richard https://www.sapsapeats.com/

I’ve been following the SapSap story on social media for a long time but have yet to actually partake in their food. I just root for them from afar and am excited for their success. I hope to actually taste (&drink!) their offerings sometime soon.

Sap Sap is now open for Take Out This Thurs, Fri, Sat at their new location.
https://www.clover.com/online-ordering/ ... an-racine/
Chicken Banh Mi and BBQ Chicken Fried Rice and Mamma’s Egg Rolls are coming home Saturday for us.
The Skirt Steak is to die for but we are having Outer Skirt I purchased from Fresh Farms for Father’s Day.
When they open for dine in, I have the first table reserved.
Sap Sap
2343 MEAD STREET, RACINE WI
(262) 456-0556
-Richard

Update:
Friday Carry Out
My son proclaimed the BBQ Chicken Fried Rice, THE BEST EVER!!!!
Mamma’s EGG Rolls were spot on crispy crackly goodness and the Chicken Bahn Mi, off the charts excellent as usual!!!
Beers sales will wait a few weeks until a Liquor License is procured.
The new venue is small inside but a bar is under construction and dining in should be worth the wait.

Thumbs up for SapSap (or Sap-Sap but not Sap Sap) from me. Important to note it's just two blocks from Wells Brothers, so the 1-2 punch I did yesterday couldn't have been easier. Because of the aforementioned Wells Brothers and some other heavy eating in 26 hours in WI, I kept the order small but the sausage and accompanying sauce were fantastic.

Listed on the website as pork sausage, lemongrass, makrut lime, and birds-eye chile. I'm assuming everything listed but the pork was in the fiery, acidic, herbaceous dipping sauce, but there was also some very nice seasoning in the meat as well. I also tried the Lao jerky (lemon grass, brown sugar and soy), which was served hot. I didn't actually eat it until the next day when it was cooled off. As far as a beef jerky snack goes, it was very, very good. Probably wouldn't order it as part of a meal though.

We stopped by SapSap the first week they were officially open in the new space and had skirt steak, sausage, sticky rice, a fried chicken sandwich, chicken wings, and egg rolls. The egg rolls were just fine, but everything else was really excellent. And we finished up the mean with a fish sauce salted caramel brownie they through in since we had to wait a few minutes for our order.

Everyone was as nice as can be - they're still clearly working out a few kinks but things seem to be moving along swimmingly and we look forward to coming back once they're fully open!

Bratwurst or ‘Brats’ as it’s known in Wisconsin.
Specifically Johnsonville Brats.
PicknSave advertized Johnsonville Brats with Hatch chiles but the local stores never got any!
So last Sunday we went to, where else, there really is a Johnsonville, for Brats after the races at Road America last Sunday. On Cnty J , just east of 57 and a few miles west of I-43.
The factory store is located across the Highway from the manufacturing area, and Brats with Hatch chiles were available. Sheboygan hard rolls also were in the store.
Johnsonville Brats are indeed served at Road America and Lambeau Field.
Brats are unique to Wisconsin and there are a few dozen small butcher shops in the State producing Brats in myriad varieties these days.
The Hatch chile variety have a very mild Hatch taste.
So far my favorite is still Usinger’s!
My favorite used to be European Homemade Sausage but that is now permenently closed.
Indeed it was so popular that after the first closing Frank re-opened due to the clamor.
Brats may look similar to fresh Polsih but the subtle spicing separates a Brat from a Polish.
In Chicago fresh Polish is a commodity and is usually at a low price. Indeed, Andy’s Deli has their manufacturing Plant in Wisconsin.
Brat are largely unknown and not readily available outside Wisconsin. I used to send a box from Usingers to my Dad at Christmas time as Usingers sends a whole semi full of orders to Florida each year to reduce shipping costs.
-Richard

budrichard wrote:Bratwurst or ‘Brats’ as it’s known in Wisconsin.

Love brats, grew up with brats. Labor Day was a two brat meal day. Lunch at The Brat Stop, coming back from a wedding in Lake Geneva, and dinner fresh brats cooked on charcoal from the Brat Stop.

Home cooked regular brat was tasty, Cajun a few notches above. Speaking of the Brat Stop, I've been going for decades, since I was a wee lad, always loved the place. Typically sat at the bar as then your order would be made over charcoal instead of gas grill.

We were with a niece and nephew and I highly suggested the Brat Stop on the way back to Chicago. Labor Day busy, though great service, short wait and fun atmosphere. Sadly on the plate was dry, over cooked brat and beginning to stale roll. Plus I had to ask for extra onions as they gave about .5ounce highly minced with the sandwich.

Take home brats were great. I hope the restaurant meal was an anomaly.

As an aside, when did Lake Geneva become Key West of the Midwest. Tourists bopping into standstill traffic on scooters, drunks, hordes of over powered motor boats clogging the water.

Regards,
Gary "all change is for the worse" Wiv

G Wiv wrote:As an aside, when did Lake Geneva become Key West of the Midwest.

I think last summer, when the sort of people who like this sort of thing couldn't fly to the usual locations. And Wisconsin had far fewer Covid-related restrictions last summer than Illinois did.
Of course, Lake Geneva historically was no stranger to sleaze - remember the Playboy Club?

As an aside, when did Lake Geneva become Key West of the Midwest. Tourists bopping into standstill traffic on scooters, drunks, hordes of over powered motor boats clogging the water.

My former neighbors love Lake Geneva.

Years ago, the husband gave his wife a Suburban for Mother's Day. She was thrilled. For himself, he bought a large powerboat with the expectations of this Suburban pulling it. She did not know about the boat until it arrived.

They spent a summer on Lake Michigan's cold and rough waters. Each adventure concluding with hauling the boat home requiring a 90-degree turn to its location. To accomplish this, there was a lot of yelling and uncomfortable near misses.

Friends suggested bringing their boat for a weekend in Lake Geneva. They loved the calm waters. Immediately bought a weekend home there, started construction for a new house in Barrington along route 12, and sold their home in Highland Park. Now they had a straight shot to Lake Geneva.

I don't think they are alone in their reaction to Lake Geneva. I recall going with my Grandparents and it seemed a bit strained by tourists back in the 60s and 70s.

Regards,
Cathy2

There were three ski hills around Lake Geneva in the 1960's. Mount Fuji offered a flat and straight hill. Majestic was a chicken farm with a hill of sand; the sand provided the ski hill. The Playboy Club was 211 vertical feet.

My mother took her bridge club to the Playboy Club for a lunch. She was the youngest person in the group and most were in their 70's. There were no Bunnies present during the day but, they were seated in the Playmate Lounge, surrounded by playmate centerfolds. The chef at that time was a close friend tells me that the special was "large stuffed breast divan".

In those days we would buy wonderful sausage and smoked meat like smoked ribeye from Herman's Sausage Shop in Bohner's Lake. My children learned all about great sausage from Herman and Elizabeth Ahler. They were very generous with their time and it was always a pleasure to spend time with them.

G Wiv wrote:As an aside, when did Lake Geneva become Key West of the Midwest. Tourists bopping into standstill traffic on scooters, drunks, hordes of over powered motor boats clogging the water.

It's been that way for more than 30 years: my in-laws rent a cabin at the far end of the lake every summer. It used to be more noveau riche snobbery -- higher end stores -- but it's still got art galleries and a few boutiques that cater to the 1%ers that own the big boats. Rt 50 backs up from the center of town to US 12 on weekends, and has as long as I've been married.
In my opinion, it's been all downhill since The Dungeon (a gaming store, at one point just about the only place to get D&D-related stuff) closed -- Kilwin's fudge is there now. The loss of the video/pinball arcade is another rung on the descent ladder (almost 20 years, I think). There's some decent food in the area, but stay off the main drag: Popeye's is OK, but not worth the wait or the prices.

JoelF wrote:Popeye's is OK, but not worth the wait or the prices.

So are prices at the Lake Geneva Popeye's higher than the one in North Chicago, for example? And if so, just in summer?

tjr wrote:

JoelF wrote:Popeye's is OK, but not worth the wait or the prices.

So are prices at the Lake Geneva Popeye's higher than the one in North Chicago, for example? And if so, just in summer?

Not the fast food chicken chain. Popeye's in Lake Geneva is an unrelated lakefront restaurant where the location is more of a draw than the food.

=R=

We booked an overpriced room, Harbor Shores, right on the lake for two nights. It had a tiny balcony with tables and chairs more suitable to a child's tea party than adults in Wisconsin. The room, did I mention it was overpriced, had two beds, two well worn chairs with slight grease spots and a rickety table, no desk, crappy shower, cheap tissue/toilet paper. We did have a fridge and TV (never turned on). I will say the room was kept clean.

Our tiny balcony, which had a wonderful view of the lake, was on the top floor right over the hotel entrance, cig/pot smoke wafted up at all hours, as well as noise. To add insult to injury we thought the rehearsal dinner/wedding was within walking distance of the hotel, turns out all the festivities were in Burlington, about 15-miles from the hotel.

Burlington turned out to be a neat little city, the rehearsal reception was in a repurposed factory now coffee shop, bakery, event space with hyper friendly people. The wedding itself was held in a wonderful nature camp, urban refuge, Rustic Falls, and filled with joy, music and made on the spot high-end chef type food. Including 5-lbs of foraged, from Oregon, morels on bruschetta. Which one of the attendees brought as a wedding gift.

Speaking of food, we ate at Culver's twice as that was the only restaurant open after ten pm. We tried to have brunch in town on Labor day, Ha, lines everywhere out the door, ended up at the Brat Stop, as mentioned up-thread.

In sum, wedding wonderful, hotel overpriced mediocrity, city tourist trap.

Mention of Burlington reminded me of an LTH thread: FRED'S: HOME OF THE WORLD'S BEST BURGERS (BURLINGTON, WI)

I noticed that the website link in that old thread is no longer valid. Here's a new link. Glad to see Fred's is still up and running. Not open after 10 pm, though.

Fred's Burgers
596 N Pine St
Burlington, WI 53105
Phone: 262-763-8370
website