Madison, WI dining

[nsxtasy]

A week and a half ago, I was in Madison for graduation weekend. I had been warned to make reservations in advance because of the huge number of visitors that weekend.

Friday night, we ate at Eno Vino. I gotta say, we absolutely LOVED it. The food was outstanding, and moderately priced too. They specialize in so-called "small plates", but they really weren't all that small. This is one of the very best menus I've seen anywhere, the kind of menu where there were so many things that sounded great, I wish I could go back again and again to try all the things I didn't get to try this time. Standouts? I loved the churros for dessert. The foie gras appetizer was excellent, and very reasonably priced for foie. I liked the braised short ribs, but what I especially liked was the squares of jalapeno polenta they were sitting on. The service was a bit on the slow side - not a surprise, on graduation weekend - and the room was rather loud - again, not a surprise. All in all, this was just a great choice, and a place I'd like to return to in future visits to Madison! (One other note, for those who haven't been there - Eno Vino is in the corner of a strip mall and its narrow entrance is not very visible; look for the Orange something-or-other next to it, colored like its name.)

Saturday dinner was at 43 North just off the capitol square. The food was mostly pretty good. I thought the menu was a bit limiting; it was a special prix fixe for graduation weekend, with about four choices for each course. None of them sounded all that great to me, but that's really more of a personal preference type thing than a knock against the restaurant. Of more concern, the wine drinkers among us said that the wine list was really inadequate, lacking variety and especially quality. The service was friendly, and this was a very elegant type place. Oh, and here's a tip - 43 North has two entrances, one at their street address at 108 King Street, and a rear entrance on Main Street between Webster and King; they validate parking in the garage on Main, right across the street from the rear entrance.

I had made reservations in advance for both of the above. I reserved 43 North on Opentable; Eno Vino is on Opentable but there were no openings there; I had to call them, I assume this was a specific arrangement for graduation weekend. And I made that reservation a few months ago, which I would recommend doing as they were already starting to fill up at that point.

I did not make any reservations for Sunday brunch. I had thought we might go to Great Dane but was talked out of it. We called Sardine on Saturday night to see if we could make a brunch res but they said they were full. So we went without a reservation to the Original Pancake House... and honestly, it was PERFECT. There are two locations in Madison. I had previously been to the Monona location right off 12/18 and I knew it was good. I was also sort of guessing that the wait wouldn't be as long in Monona as at the University Ave location because of the latter's proximity to campus. So we went to the one in Monona. As I anticipated, there was indeed a wait, but it wasn't all that bad, around 15 minutes or so. I should mention too that the OPH is my "go to" place for breakfast when I'm on the road; I've been to their locations in ten different states, and some of them are better than others. The worst I've been to (in several visits, unfortunately) is in the Milwaukee suburb of Brookfield. Fortunately, the one in Monona is one of the better ones around. I had their wonderful, puffed-up, cinnamony apple pancake, and they did a great job with it. Everyone enjoyed their food and it was a big hit. Not surprising that they've won various surveys for best breakfast in Madison.

We had a great time and some great food.

Edited May 27, 2011 by nsxtasy (log)