Michael M

Thanks for the tip; I'm not sure if I even know Sophia's, but I'll definitely check it out!

Recently got back from my once-a-year visit to Mad City. Food highlights and opinions: Dinner #1 at L'Etoile. We haven't been back to this locally-sourced, Chez Panisse-style restaurant for a few years, and were glad we returned. A bit taken aback by the $20-30 entrees, it was a wonderful meal with one glaring exception. Food was centerred around what was in the market at the time, including a juicy locally farmed Trout prepared perfectly. Items were intensely flavored, well-prepared, bread was good. They even run a cafe/bakery on Saturday mornings that makes rather good croissants. My only problem is that the decor is stuck in the 70's - dark wood, copper pipes, chairs that would seem appropriate in a middle school library. Still, we'd return. Dinner #2 was at Harvest, next door. Slightly lower prices, similar seasonal menu, excellent food, though slightly less superb than their neighbor, nice contemporary decor. Besides their food being quite nice instead of outstanding, their staff seem far less educated on the food and wine. Of the 4 times we've been there, only 2 of the servers could answer questions about the menu. Highlights there included a cream of garlic soup with a plop of caramelized onions scented with rosemary and vanilla. The night we were at L'Etoile they had a sold out Garlic Menu event, which sounded very interesting! Breakfast at Marigold Cafe, which we've been to now twice. It rated a mention in one of the food mags recently, but we were underwhelmed again. Eggs and potatoes fried in that fake-butter-flavored oil, nice salads, mediocre baked goods. Endless decent coffee, however. We liked Sunporch much better, which has a central location as well as their Whitney Way spot, though didn't go to either on this trip. Other breakfast(s): Cafe Mariah...yuck. We thought we remembered something about this that piqued our interest last year, something about the owner loving food, going to school, opening this place. But the food was terrible. Or healthy, maybe. Scones sans butter flavor (or perhaps butter?), left uneaten. Unseasoned, bland omelet, bland potates fried or baked without any oil or salt, mostly left uneaten. Walked across the street to Monty's Blue Plate Diner and had a better set of omelettes and muffin. Not fantastic, but better. Beyond Sunporch (and it's been 2 years), we haven't really fallen in love with a breakfast place here. Smaller bites: Himal Chuli on State serves good, inexpensive Himalayan food, much better than its neighbor, another Himalayan spot that starts with Ch..? HC has interesting dumplings and a really great whole wheat and butter pita-like bread. The Farmers Market is sensational, one of the best in the country, and an all morning affair. Quaffing the decent selection of beers on the U of W terrace while watching the sun set is also a great tradition. Finally, Barriques Wine Cave is a great little wine bar/store. They have a wall of $10-or-under wines, some of them great finds. And you get get about 12 wines by the glass, from about $3-7. Such a find for a Chicagoan. Supposedly their Fitchburg location is large, and includes cheeses, oils and salami. There's one on Monroe and a 3rd in Middleton. They say Madison has more restaurants per capita than something or another, but that's because so many of them are mediocre, IMHO. These were a few repeat winners.

It's the season and I'm tired of using the hand held one. Any ideas? Thanks.

1) Though I posted this in the general food thread, I might get a different view here: what is being measured when someone says gelato is X% butterfat? The butterfat as a percentage of the total volume of the gelato by weight? Volume? 2) I'm trying to get the smooth, gooey texture in my fruit (non-dairy) gelati. I've tried cornstarch as a thickener, but they're not there yet. Egg whites, gelatine and simply a higher sugar content are other options. Ideas here? 3) In Italy, many of the gelati, dairy or fruit/nut only, had a shiny sheen to it, though I did notice that the better products had less of this. What is it? This was true in northern as well as middle Italy, where their gelato styles are a bit different. Thanks!

Great place to live to be in the middle of things, sara. If you like L'etoile, try Harvest next door; much more updated decor, nicely done food, good service, though we did have a humorously inept waiter once. Magnolia (Cafe?...or something similar) is a newer breakfast/lunch place we really liked on one of the zillion roads that shoot off the capitol circle - highly recommended. We enjoyed Sa Bai Thong Restaurant (Thai) on University, but were more excited by Lao Laan Xang, a Loation place on Williamson. Food is similar to Thai. Also worth visiting is Bandung Indonesian on Williamson St., as well as Himal Chuli on State. I've never been impressed by Madison's higher-level eateries outside of L'etoile and Harvest, but then I never eat much beyond the downtown area.

Sara, I agree with gmi3804 about Lake Park Bistro (great views of the lake and a great Sunday brunch as well) and Coquette's, the latter being my personal favorite, as well as being within walking distance of Summerfest if you're an urban walker. The Bartolotta family that owns LPB also runs the Tuscan-inspired Ristorant Bartolotta. About 10 minutes from downtown, this would also be a great choice. For more casual fare, Cempazuchi on Brady St. serves good Mexican, and Trocadero is a great bar/restaurant, both within 5 minutes of the Summerfest grounds. Enjoy Madison, there are some great eats up there as well; ask me if you'd like to know more. NewYorkTexan, I've never been to Summerfest, so I can't comment. However, Milwaukee is a small enough "big" town that you can drive from downtown where Summerfest is held to the far reaches of the city within 10 or so minutes north and west, 15-20 south, so everything is easily within reach. And Ron, I don't dislike frozen custard per se. Just theirs.

I made the trip up from Chicago for another weekend in Milwaukee (city motto: "Spring Here Guarenteed To Be Alaskan") and, given the dearth of Brew City posts, thought I'd give my karmic payback. After processing my anger at having to experience >50 degree weather in June, I enjoyed the trip, which includes these food-oriented reports for your perusal: Coast Restaurant. With beautiful views of the lake of Calatrava's stunning addition to the art museum, we had to try this place. Decor was a safe-suburban-businessman's view of comfortably stylish - nice curves to the ceiling, 80's-by-way-of-60's upholstery, brushed nickel silver rope railings that would be in the Wickes Contempo Series, all very stylish without being, you know, Too Hip. The interesting additional of the live piano player humming along to the likes of "Memories" and other Tasteful Background Tunes gave us pause, but it was subtle. We actually liked the Latin inspired canned music better that they played when he was on break. Service was friendly and exceptional, apologizing when returning a smudged wine glass, noting that I'd removed the too-cold wine from its bucket and inquiring about its temperature, etc. The food focuses somewhat artificially on concepts of "coasts", seafood items or things it could call, for instance, "Californian" or "New England." And although nothing was bad, all the food needed More. More garlic, or onion, or spice, or salt. It was too tame, safe, a bit bland. Fried calamari and crawfish were fine, but the dipping sauce too sweet with not much red pepper. Salads lacking an inspired dressing, though with excellent greens. Seared ahi tuna was fairly flat in flavor, though I'm a terrible judge of raw fish. The salmon had a nice sauce, but nothing special. A fairly nice wine list, great service, but there are better choices. One bottle of wine, one salad, 2 apps, 1 entree, $100. Roots Restaurant. A very interesting, fun space in the gentrifying Brewers Hill area, this place is literally perched on top of this hill with great views of downtown. Owned and operated by a young chef with apparently some $$ from somewhere, the rooms would fit right into the west loop area of Chicago - lots and lots of artistic metalwork, carved cherry, nice attention to visual detail. There is a formal restaurant upstairs with a balcony, a more casual cafe/bar downstairs with its own great outdoor sitting area (including some pricey teak furniture). I would definitely enjoy this place in the summer. This place skewed younger, say mid 20's to early 40's, whereas Coast bumped the curve up 5 or so years. Good service, decent wine list. Bread from local Sunflour Bakery, with asiago sourdough bread and poppy seed loaf, served with herbed olive oil. Food was better than Coast, and I return here, but I wasn't blown away by either the pureness of the craft (as I have been at the eminently recommendable Coquette's Cafe) or by its culinary leaps (Sanfords, to name one). Asparagus soup was overwhelmed by sage and thyme in the stock, so that it could have been broccoli for all I knew, though given the temps, appropriate. Grilled shrimp texturally succulent, but lacking great shrimpiness or flavor additions (brine, garlic, other possibilities). Blanking out on the other app and entree, but dessert was flourless chococake-cum-chipotle with...stay with me here...caladine caramel sauce (caladines the same mini limes the waitress plopped into our water along with cuke slices), cilantro creme and...shoot, some other funny item. Nothing bad, just a bit busy. Cilantro creme? Hmm. One bottle of vino, 2 apps, 1 soup, 1 entree, 1 dessert, $85. Will return, if at least for the views. How does this city do it where Chicago can't? Alterra Coffee has 2 superior coffee shops with their own roasted coffee, superb locally made pastries and 2 way cool spaces. Intelligentsia is our closest, and though I am a regular customer, their space (and outsourced edibles) just don't compete. Nor does Peet's. Then there is Outpost, a cooperative grocery store, and Beans & Barley, a sleek modern cafe-cum-deli/bakery-cum-grocer. Both have a superb, well-focused selection of excellent wines under $20 selected by some passionate owners. I've gotten turned on to some great Algerian selections at both places, an can select unknown bottles there with the certainty that they will at least be interesting. Now please, it's just my opinion, but I just don't get people's fascination with (the frozen custard at) Culvers, Kopps or Lixx. K's is the best in terms of dairy flavor, but all of it is way too fluffy and liquid-mercury smooth. And sweet. I don't hate overrun, per se, and smoothifiers have their place in the Great Ice Creams Of The World (cornstarch, eggs, egg whites), it just feels like I'm eating sweet liquid plastic. This is after multiple tries. Please don't hate me. There are plenty of other food stores and eateries I could recommend, but we didn't visit them this time. Hope this adds to someone else's enjoyment.

Where exactly are you among the west burbs? That may be helpful as a start. Vanille Patisserie is an excellent French patisserie, but it's on Clybourn just north of Webster. It's good enough to be a destination place, but far from being west. If you go, go early enough to get their croissants. Lutz and Rolf's also have their strong points, but they aren't that far west, either. Lutz is on Montrose near Western, Rolf's on Touhy near Lincoln. Another one to try in the city is Bittersweet, on Belmont just west of Sheffield, though again, not west at all. I've heard very good things about a Euro style bakery called Ambrosia, at 710 W. Northwest Hwy, in Barrington. That's fairly west, but I've also never been there.

Craig, the place you're referring to is Mo's Market. There's a Mo's steakhouse, and across the street, a Mo's Irish Pub and a Mo's (wine) Market. Blil, it's at 717 W. Plankinton near the river. Also, Blil, for other wine interest in your city (I'm a Chicagoan, but a frequent visitor), look into: Sommelier's Palatte in Shorewood (Oakland just north of Capitol, west side of street) Coquette's Cafe - good mid-range restaurant with nice wine list Sanford's - great high-end restaurant with a great wine list ...um, there's a small but interesting wine store on Jackson, I think, and Ogden or somewhere just west of downtown. Sorry, no name is coming to mind. Also, I remember there being a Wine Brats chapter somewhere there. Never been there, but have heard great wine things about a new restaurant called Roots, which I'll be visiting soon.

My original topic certainly sparked the kind of conversation I was hoping for, if not all of it on the subject I'd hoped. Still... NeroW, I like the La Vis Chardonnay a lot for the price ($10-15). Not as mineral as a Chablis, nor as dry, but light, apple-pear and a bit of cream; I'd guess unoaked as that's the style there (NE Italy). Those saying they rarely drink wine w/o food - that's where I was headed. I know many approach wine as a food item, or at least as a food-paired item. I've just lately realized I don't feel that way. In regard to restaurant mark-ups, I, too have a hard time paying for a bottle I know I can get retail for less. But I also don't mind paying for a bottle that I'm not familiar with and which can be described to me - I feel I get my $'s worth that way.

More and more lately I've found that during the week I'll often go for the bottle of wine that I can drink by itself (not the whole bottle!). As I've crept past my 20's, I find that in I eat less in the evenings during the week, and want something light - a simple soup, an easy, vegetable-oriented dish of some sort, etc. So I've found myself also purchasing wines that I drink by themselves. So, here's what my partner and I end up doing: starting with a wine, snacking on some olives, cheese, salami maybe. Then I'll stop drinking, have dinner (especially if the wine doesn't match the small dinner dish), then go back to the wine. It's almost like I have a two-tiered system - wines to match with food, and what's now become the larger portion - wines that I don't even want food with at all. I don't care about what they'll match. Recent examples (that I'd also recommend, all around $15, more info if requested): Koura Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2002 Spadina Nero d'Avola 2001 Barco Reale di Carmignano 2002 Apollonia Salice Salentino 2000 Cortello Vinho Tinto 2001 Fuedo Monai Salice Salentino 2000 La Vis Chardonnay 2001 (unoaked, from Trentino) I've exerienced wines or foods that are better with the other, but since 5/7 days of my life are like this, I'm starting to care less about matching. I understand that's part of the new world style, but do you see what I mean? Am I a lazy drinker? Any others like this?

Frozen custard is ice cream made with dairy + eggs, cooked so that the pre-frozen product is thickened. The terms "ice cream" and "gelato" can be confusing since in differents locales, they can refer to dairy+flavorings only, dairy/eggs/flavorings or, in the case of gelato, it can also mean a dairyless fruit concoction, or a dairyless fruit concoction with egg whites. (Whew!) In the case of the midwestern "frozen custard" (St. Louis, Milwaukee, et al.), eggs are included, thus the final product is richer and thicker. If you haven't gone to Milwaukee yet, I'd also recommend: Beans & Barley...for breakfast; an earthy-crunchy place in a stunning, open contemporary building. The glass-enclosed atmosphere is great in the a.m. Lake Park Bistro...for Sunday Brunch; old building in the middle of the park that overlooks Lake Michigan; beautiful views, good bkfst. foods, also serves French-leaning dinners, but have never had. You can stroll around the park before or after. Coquette's Cafe for dinner; renovated warehouse building, great food for unbelievable prices (by Chicago standards), French bistro-esque. Trocadero for breakfast, lunch or dinner is a cafe/bar/restaurant with nice outdoor seating, some nice wines by the glass, decent food, relaxed atmosphere.

I have been planning on going to Naha this month for an anniversary dinner, but reading this and seeing the prices has me torn. For those here who visited - is it around the same price as Tru? If you've been to both, which would you go back to first?