ladydisdain

My husband and I will be spending two nights in Madison in July (a Sunday night and Monday night) and I'm looking for some restaurant recommendations. I've read the whole thread, but it goes back pretty far and I know sometimes quality slips and places close. We are not hugely into the finest of fine dining and are more interested in good ethnic foods, fantastic breakfast, a really good burger, etc. We're also interested in knowing if there's anywhere in town to get a good cupcake or good baked goods, period, keeping in mind that we will not be in town on Farmer's Market day (unless I'm misinformed). Oh - and Greg's a Milwaukee native, and is interested in seeking out whatever the best local frozen custard is so we can compare. Thanks!

My husband and I had our annual anniversary dinner at Duling-Kurtz in Exton last night (we were married there four years ago). This is probably the sixth time we've eaten there, including our wedding, and four out of the six times I have eaten the lobster crepes, including last night. I believe they have a new chef - I'm pretty sure I read that somewhere. The crepes were definitely different from the last time I had them. While they were still chock full of excellent lobster and crab, the sauce wasn't as tasty, wasn't as creamy, and wasn't as plentiful, which was very disappointing. The crepes were also arranged in a triangle on the plate, in the middle of which was heaped white rice. ??? Not some special kind of rice (which would have still been weird, frankly - crepes and rice?), but white rice. Sucking up a great deal of my not-so-plentiful sauce. It was completely bizarre. My husband had the filet, which he's had once before, and he said the potatoes were bland and the sauces lacked oomph. We have never, in six visits, had one complaint about this place. It was still a good meal - I had a fantastic shrimp cocktail, he had terrific onion soup, and we finished with the chocolate lava cake and the opera torte, which were both delicious - but the entrees weren't as good as they used to be, and it was disappointing. What was also disappointing was that they seem to have expanded the offerings, especially in the appetizer area, yet with two exceptions (duck foie gras and vegetarian spring rolls) every single appetizer is seafood. They have a veal tenderloin dish on the menu which comes in a mushroom sauce; last night they had a veal special which also came in a mushroom sauce. If you are allergic to mushrooms or don't like shellfish (both of which describe my otherwise adventurous husband), you are very, very limited at D-K. He loves veal yet both options were out. Poor guy - the waiter started by saying "we have a veal chop, covered in mozzarella cheese..." and Greg got very excited until he finished with "...served in an oyster-mushroom sauce." They never seem to use their specials to expand on their offerings. Their special appetizer was shellfish-based; their other two entree specials were both seafood offerings. They have plenty of seafood on the menu already. I wish if they were going to expand their menu they'd actually expand it. The service was excellent as always, friendly without being overly so, attentive without hovering, and the popovers, of course, were fantastic.

If you look at the Flying Monkey gallery, she has a pizza brioche pictured. That's probably about as close to a pizza cupcake as you could get, and I agree that might be right up there on the perfect food list. Maybe she'll start offering them and we can find out.

For my first eGullet post, I thought some pictures from my recent first visit to Flying Monkey might be apropos. (I hope I get the pictures right.) This visit was on May 29th and was quickly followed up by a second visit yesterday. First, the case, with my now much emptier pink wallet visible on the counter: There's a second smaller case to the right of this one. Here's a picture of my favorite of the seven or so cupcake flavors I've tried so far - the vanilla cake with coffee frosting: We've also tried the chocolate with chocolate, the vanilla with chocolate, the choc with apricot, the choc with raspberry, the chocolate with cream cheese in the center, and the choc with peanut butter frosting. Oh, and the Santa Fe brownie. And the yellow cake with choc frosting, and the chocolate cake with raspberry frosting. These are real old-fashioned baked goods, solid and moist and just sweet enough, like my grandmother makes. I gave them a rave on my 'blog. I think their finest product, though, is the flourless peanut butter cookie sandwich, which is so good it's almost unholy: