The Culinary Adventures of Jahboh and Tossy

Hiatus

2009-08-23T18:29:00.003-05:00

Hi Jahboh and Tossy Readers!

We thank you very much for all of your support reading this blog. Unfortunately, Jahboh is out of the state for grad school so this project will be temporarily put on hiatus. Cya around over winter break!

If you are interested in seeing what Jahboh is up to, here is her new blog.

Adventure 63: Noodles and Co.

2009-07-27T11:20:00.003-05:00

Noodles and Company (website)
232 State St.
3 Adjectives: Mediocre, fast, bland
Price: entree (4-7)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Veganness:
Other Opinions: yelp, madisonatoz, ...
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Noodles and Company (known as Noodles in these parts) started in Madison as one of those nicer than fast food joints that served a decently tasting giant bowl of pasta. Unfortunately, since those glory days when I was in high school, Noodles has slowly but perceptibly declined in quantity and somewhat in quality (depending on which restaurant you go to). Thankfully, the Noodles at State still tastes decent but don't expect delicious Italian or ethnic pasta dishes.

The Noodles and Company at State has a fun layout as it is on the corner of State and Johnson and is therefore triangular. There is plenty of seating upstairs and downstairs with a convenient condiments bar upstairs. The best thing about Noodles is it generally fits a variety of people's tastes and can be easily customized i.e. meat or no meat? salad or no salad? etc. and tastes a lot better than Za's. Also, one can always default to buttered noodles or mac and cheese for those picky eaters.

The last time I visited, I ordered the Japanese Pan Noodles. Unfortunately, these noodles have been progressively "Americanized" and every time I order them it seems like they are less spicy and savory than before. Also, they now serve their noodles on plates giving the illusion that there is lots of pasta even though the portions used to be much bigger. Other more solid dishes are mostly in the "American" section and include the Mushroom Stroganoff and Wisconsin Mac and Cheese. Also, the trio can be a hit or miss depending on if they overdress the salad.

Overall, I would recommend Noodles and Company only if you have a large group of people who have a variety of tastes. If you are looking for a fancier or more specific cuisine, there are many better pastas and noodles in nearby places including, Pizza di Roma, Tutto Pasta, Rising Son's, and Wasabi.

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I have been to Noodles&Company many times. I am a little sick of noodles by now, so my review may be clouded by my tiring of it. However, I usually order the Japanese pan noodles, which content me. I like to order them with tofu, which is an extra $2--kind of a rip-off, since it's not very much tofu. But the tofu is pretty tasty. On less routines trips to noodles I have tried the Bangkok curry and Thai curry soup, which both would probably taste better at an actual Thai restaurant. Only once did I order the Pasta Fresca and House Marinara, requesting that the cheese the ommitted. I would not recommend doing this, since the dishes are not particularly flavorful. Besides, I make pasta with tomato sauce by myself at home all the time, so I am not content paying six dollars at a restaurant for someone to do it for me.

Noodles is good place to go with a large group of people, I suppose, since it's one of those "something for everyone" places. And the mere fact that it has more than three full entres for vegans to chose from should put it at least at a two on the veganness scale...but it's usually not my first choice.

Adventure 62: Chautara

2009-07-20T16:44:00.001-05:00

Chautara Restaurant (no website)
334 State St.
3 Adjectives: Cozy, adventurous, flavorful.
Price: entree (7-32)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: yelp, madisonatoz, mmm...yoso ...
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Chautara is one of two Nepalese restaurants on State Street, the other being Himal Chuli. Since they are owned by relatives the two places serve different dishes to keep things varied.

Chautara has a nice lunch menu with many items being less than $10. On our most recent visit, I got a pork dish (above) while my friend ordered the dosa (left). The food also came with dal or salad. I recommend the dal, a nicely flavored lentil soup. My dish was nicely flavored and the dosa was nicely conceived with a huge flamoyant crust. However, it was not much different than dosas at Indian restaurants.

The restaurant is also quite spacious for a place on State St. with booths downstairs as well as more tables upstairs. Much of the place is adorned with interesting artwork and the walls are painted with flowers.

Since dinner does get quite expensive, and many of the items you can also get at cheaper Indian restaurants, I would recommend Chautara for lunch only. You get good food in a nice and quiet restaurant for a decent price.

Adventure 61: Opus Lounge

2009-07-13T10:48:00.006-05:00

Opus Lounge (website)
116 King St.
3 Adjectives: classy, fun, overpriced
Price: tapas (2-15)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Veganness:
Other Opinions: madisonatoz, yelp, ...
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Our trip to Opus Lounge was quite exciting as we got to go meet the writers of madisonatoz! It was quite an honor to meet and dine with Nichole and JM. Thank you both!

The inside of Opus Lounge reminded me of The Icon: a fancy dim lounge with mostly nicely dressed individuals and a tapas-style menu. Some of the odder menu items included spiced peanuts and bread and butter, which seem like things you could get for free at most restaurants.

For drinks, I got the Christina's XTC, Nichole got a Cucumber Press, and JM got the lemonade. The drink I ordered was colorful and fruity. Next, I ordered the spicy tuna roll (above), and Nichole and JM got the caprese salad and shrimp skewers, respectively. Tossy got the hummus plate (right). The sushi was nicely plated and came with an amusing cube of wasabi. The roll tasted pretty good but was neither warm nor had a whole lot of filling. I felt myself wishing that I was at the neighboring Restaurant Muramoto instead.

Overall the food at Opus Lounge leave much to be desired but the drinks are quite good. Thankfully, we went during happy hour (4:30-7pm) and got some nice half price deals for the appetizers. I would recommend Opus Lounge for anyone looking for a classy get together over drinks at a nice lounge before dinner at some other place.

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The drink menu at Opus Lounge is about seven times as long as the food menu. Most of the food is served as small portions of finger food--tapas, "fun" food (peanuts, etc), sushi rolls, and desserts (fondue), and range in price from $2 to $24. I ordered a pita platter, which came with sliced pita bread, hummus, a large garlic clove, and an olive spread. I enjoyed the hummus with the pita bread, but felt the olive and garlic were too strong. Other vegan options on the menu are vegetable tempura and a vegetable roll. It is possible to order non-alcoholic drinks, such as soda or juice.

Adventure 60: Gotham Bagels

2009-07-03T19:08:00.002-05:00

Gotham New York Bagels and Eats (website)
112 E. Mifflin St.
3 Adjectives: warm, big, urban
Price: bagel (1) sandwich (4-10)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: madisonatoz, thedailypage, yelp...
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Located right off the square, Gotham distinguishes itself with a nice large comic-bookish sign flanked by three lamps, boldly declaring its presence. Founded with the intention of bringing the big, chewy variety of bagel from the City to Madison, this deli is a success.

Inside, Gotham has a few tables and a counter to sit at with a large glass deli display in the back along with a counter to place your order. The feeling is at the same time Atlanta Bread Company juxaposed with corner deli, and with good results, as it generally has a bustling lunch crowd.

The menu is broken down into bagels and sandwiches. There's also in-house cream cheese - some are vegan - and salads. The place even features black and white cookies, an amusing New Yorker touch (though I always wonder how often people actually order these ridiculously sugary things). If I had to pick a favorite cream cheese, scallion is the winner, with fantastic savory scallion flavor throughout. Among the sandwiches the pastrami is quite good, with a flavorful pastrami meat. The last time I went there, I ordered the super egg everything bagel and lox (above). Though the lox was okay, the bagel really shone through with its crunchy exterior and chewiness. My friend ordered the Spanish Harlem, which was pretty messy, but this is not unlike how you would get it in the City anyways.

I would definitely recommend Gotham Bagels if you are ever near the capital or feel like taking a hike for lunch. If the place weren't so far, I'd recommend bringing it to your next breakfast/student org meeting over Einstein's any day. Gotham is so good that I'm sure it can't even disappoint a real New Yorker.

Adventure 59: Bubble Island

2009-06-26T18:25:00.001-05:00

Bubble Island (no website)
777 University Ave.
3 Adjectives: Novel, saccharine, empty.
Price: drinks (2-4) froyo (3-5)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: 77square, thedailypage, madisonatoz, ...
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Also, see Jahboh's edit for Fugu! I was prompted to return again after many people told me their experiences were much better.

I was extremely excited when I heard about this bubble tea and froyo place that had opened up in the East Campus Mall Food Court. Excited enough that I decided to brave the rather dull fast food spots that had opened up in the same location and check it out. I love bubble tea (sadly I've only been able to get it at Nam's and Asian Kitchen) and froyo craze seems to be spreading across the nation so I was eager to get a taste of the food here.

Unfortunately, the food at Bubble Island is rather disappointing. Most of the food is too sweet, and not particularly enjoyable. The mango lychee bubble tea drink I ordered tasted like pure sugar. The froyo is equally as sweet and the fruit toppings I ordered had chunks of ice in them.

The few times I have been in the food court, the area has been strangely deserted - even on days when there are plenty of students around. Therefore, it seemed awkward that Bubble Island even supplied games.

Overall, my experience at Bubble Island was a disappointment. I would not recommend this place for either the froyo or the bubble tea. Hopefully a more satisfying froyo place will open up in Madison in the future!

Tossy's Review will be coming soon!!!

Adventure 58: True Food (La Brioche)

2009-06-22T17:43:00.002-05:00

True Food Restaurant (website)
2862 University Ave.
3 Adjectives: Elegant, fancy, tasty.
Price: appetizer (6-12) entree (10-30)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Veganness:
Other Opinions: capitaltimes, thedailypage, ...
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The interior of True Food was certainly an interesting sight to see: the front of the restaurant is the bakery, La Brioche, while the middle involves a sitting area for bakery customers and the back, flanked by two wooden fences is the True Food restaurant.

Amusingly, much of the restaurant is decorated via the principles of feng shui, a Chinese custom of placement and design supposedly improving the qi, or atmosphere of the room. They even had a fancy little pamphlet on the table about this. Though this did result in a nice, paisley-infused dining room, we all collectively also felt that there was so much exposure to the front bakery area that it took away from the supposed enclosed space the area was supposed to represent. Additionaly, we couldn't really get past the fact that the signs for "La Brioche" and "true food" really clash both in font and color.

The menu at True Food was definitely on the pricey end, but did feature a few dishes that tasted good. I ordered the Fig-prociutto pizza (above) and we shared the mussels appetizer (right). Others at the table got gnocci, sausage pizza and the lamb chops (lower right).

The mussels tasted very good but the serving size definitely could have been larger. The pizza was excellent and the fig really balanced nicely with the prociutto. My friends reported that the lamb, sausage pizza and the gnocci were also excellent.

We also had a very nice waiter who was eager to help us with our order, even when one of the dishes came out wrong.

Afterward, we hung around the bakery area and scored some nice deals on $1 and reduced bakery items. The massive chocolate eclair I ate the next day was delicious.

I would recommend True Food restaurant if you are looking for a fancy night out with your family or for a romantic dinner. If you want to save a few dollars, go on Wednesday night when it's $2 off the pizza.

There are no vegan dishes here, unless you count the fruit salad. The bread rolls were nice, and came in three or four different varieties, of which the supply was unlimited. I attempted to order a meatless, cheese-less pizza, which was ultimately not worth the money I was required to pay for it. La Brioche is a nice place, but vegans ought to avoid it.

Adventure 57: Chipotle

2009-06-08T13:50:00.006-05:00

Chipotle Mexican Grill (website)
658 State St.
3 Adjectives: Fast, filling, tasty.
Price: burrito (7)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: yelp, madisonatoz...
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One of two fast food giant burrito stops on State Street (the other being Qdoba), Chipotle seems to be the better and closer one.

Upon entering the restaurant, the entree is dished out in a walk-up counter in assembly-line fashion. You basically choose a protein and move down the line as the staff adds the toppings you would like in your burrito. My favorite is the grilled chicken, corn salsa, and pinto bean burrito since the flavors go together well, and the chicken is not overly chewy, which is what I think fails in the beef burritos. Other options include tacos and naked (sans tortilla) but just don't seem to be worth it. My biggest problem with Chipotle is that in order to add guacamole to your burrito, you need to pay an extra $2 for a very measly amount. In the end, the result is a giant burrito that takes approximately two meals to finish. Additionally, the burrito is ridiculously unhealthy - don't even think for one second that lettuce is somehow going to counter the fat and calories in one of those things. In terms of in-restaurant dining, the seating area consists of various booths and high mushroom head-like stools and tables. The overall theme is an urban silver-tan color which is not particularly inviting. However, most of the time I prefer to take it home anyway; Chipotle is perfect for those periods of crunch time where you don't feel like cooking at your apartment.

I would recommend Chipotle as a place to buy something that you can eat quickly and that is decent tasting when you don't feel like making food yourself. Also, sometimes during the semester, Chipotle will hand out or mail out coupons for a free burrito at large campus events, so look out for those deals.

Adventure 56: Tutto Pasta Cucina Italiana

2009-06-04T18:56:00.006-05:00

Tutto Pasta Cucina Italiana (website)
107 King St.
3 Adjectives: elegant, buttery, friendly.
Price: app (8-11), entree (11-24)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: yelp ...
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Located in a trendy mall on King Street, this further away Tutto Pasta (Spaghetti Carbonara) is an upscale version of the Tutto Pasta Trattoria on State. With larger, spacious tables and even settings spread out to the indoor mall (they have some sweet hanging candles out there), this Tutto seems like a very nice place to dine. Also, the two times I have been to the place, the waitstaff has been incredibly nice and helpful.

The menu at Tutto features a variety of pizzas and pastas. Unfortunately, this one seems to be pricier than the Tutto Pasta on State Street but all the dishes come out plated fancier. This past trip, we were a large group and got the sampler plate. I ordered the Spaghetti Cabonara. The sampler was fancily plated on a tray and had some nice bruchetta and calamari. The Spaghetti Cabonara was very good but incredibly heavy. Someone else who got the four cheese pasta also remarked on the heaviness. For dessert (if you can stomach it, or in our case we needed to reach $150), I highly recommend the tiramisu.

Everyone seemed to have enjoyed their meal. It really helped that we got a $75 gift certificate for $9 from Restaurant.com (though we had to spend $150), which basically ment half off the bill. If you subscribe to their mailing list, they often have some nice deals for their gift certificates.

Overall, I think the food at Tutto Pasta Cucina Italiana is a bit overpriced, especially given the cheaper fare closer on State St. I would only go there if you get a nice gift certificate to it online.

Adventure 55: Asian Kitchen

2009-05-19T11:30:00.002-05:00

Asian Kitchen (no website)
449 State St.
3 Adjectives: Cheap, large, greasy.
Price: appetizer (2-5) entree (5-20)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Veganness:
Other Opinions: yelp, madisonatoz, yahoo...
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Asian Kitchen represents the usual Chinese delivery food available on campus; it's cheap but not anything special. Located in the mall that contains Wasabi, Asian Kitchen does not have much dining room space - but interesting bright yellow walls - and thus, I suggest getting the food delivered to you.

On our most recent Asian Kitchen delivery, I got to try the General Tso's Tofu (right) and Kung Pao Beef (above). The Kung Pao Beef tasted good, but I had to wonder how it differed in flavor from the ten or so other beef dishes that are served at Asian Kitchen. The General Tso's Tofu was a major disappointment considering it was just some fried tofu you can buy from the store coated in General Tso's sauce. However, I can see why it may be more appealing than other vegetarian dishes on the menu since it did taste nice. Additionally, the rest of the food - greasy fried rice, crab ragoon, wonton soup - tasted like pretty standard Americanized Chinese fare. Asian Kitchen is also one of the few places on campus that serves bubble tea, a milky drink with tapioca spheres and a fun extra large straw. The bubble tea is pretty good, albiet a bit oversweetened.

If you do order Asian Kitchen, I highly recommend ordering the lunch combo because it comes with enough food for two meals and is a good deal for $6. You can even order it at 3:59pm and eat it as an early dinner at 5pm. Else, because the prices at the restaurant are higher than its competitor, A8 China, and it only has marginally better food, I would actually recommend ordering at A8 China instead.

Tossy likes some things about Asian Kitchen. AK has some simple vegan dishes, like vegetable lo mein. AK will give you a lot of food for not a lot of money (one pint of lo mein runs about four dollars, one quart is about seven), and very quickly. But like many places that give you a lot of food for not a lot of money, AK has not very tasty tofu. And Tossy has a taste for good tofu. She recommends A8 instead for mass quantities of quickly produced, decently-tasting tofu.

Adventure 54: Cafe Soleil

2009-05-09T22:24:00.002-05:00

Cafe Soleil (website)
25 N. Pickney St.
3 Adjectives: fresh, harmonious, fun
Price: sandwich (8-10) *LUNCH ONLY*
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: yelp, 77square, madisonatoz ...
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The equally classy sister of L'Etoile, Cafe Soleil is probably the nicest place to catch lunch on a sunny day when you're motivated to trek down State St. Cafe Soleil is only open for lunch but is definitely worth the stop any time you are near the square or after a stroll around the Farmer's Market.

The interior has a nice case of baked goods, many sandwich and soup options, drinks, and if you are lucky, some Gail Ambrosius Chocolates. Further back, there are some regular tables as well as a comfy red sofa that strectches across the back wall. Additionally, photos of red flowers adorn the walls, giving the place a bit of a romantic flair.

Although the food is pricey for lunch, the local freshness makes it worth it. The menu item to go for is the Farmer John's Provolone Sandwich. As a big meat eater,I was hesitant to order this my first visit to Cafe Soleil and eyed the Reuben longingly. However, now that I have tried other things on the menu I am pretty much convinced that this is the best of Cafe Soleil (though most things on the menu are delicious). The sandwich - provolone, apple, and pesto - appears strange at first glance. Yet, take one bite and the flavors fit perfectly sandwiched between two rustic pieces of baguette; none of the ingredients are overwhelming. Additionally, the sandwiches are served with tasty waffle-fries-shaped chips. Another item I would strongly recommend is the French onion soup. The soup has a delicious texture and flavor and the top layer of parmesan accentuates the onion flavors well.

I highly recommend Cafe Soleil both in principle and in taste.

Adventure 53: Fugu

2009-05-03T01:48:00.016-05:00

Fugu: Asian Fusion (website)

411 W. Gilman St.
3 Adjectives: confusing, disappointing, hopeful?
Price: app (3-10) entree (8-16)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: none so far
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Edit: I returned to Fugu recently (June 09) and the service was much faster, but it was a bit annoying to see that our bill for the four of us included gratuity (and our receipt after we gave them a credit card also had a space for tip)! Shadiness!
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The first time I saw Fugu, I was shocked to see that a new restaurant had dared to replace the revered Yummy Buffet and wondered whether it really could live up to the famous/ or infamous previous occupant. Therefore, on opening week, a few friends and I checked out the place. Additionally, we heard that there was traditional on-a-cart dim sum, something the group was very excited about. However, what we did not realize prior to embarking on this trip that dreaming about the dim sum was going to be the the highlight and our expectations were going to be accelerating downhill from this point onward.

Upon stepping into the place, the restaurant's previous occupant was nearly unrecognizable. Major wood and bamboo additions along with dimmed lights and paintings suddenly elevated the status of the place to that of Takara and we were very impressed.

However, once we were seated and given menus, we were quite confused to see that there were two kinds. One was in a fancy blue binding while the others were in a plastic binding and the menus were completely different, yet both featured entrees. Also, dishes like "wonton soup" would randomly be in the Thai section while typical food such as "scallion pancakes" weren't even found on the plastic menu. One of my friends chuckled, "boy, they should really add three letters to their name and rename this place Asian CON-fusion." (This was quite the foreshadowing of what was to come, I now realize.)

Since the only item on the menu that looked immediately fun was the bubble tea (in this case named smoothies with tapioca), we ordered that and proceeded to check out the rumored cart dim sum. This turned out to be a major disappointment as a lone waiter wheeled up to us a cart with three items. He was also very difficult to communicate with so we tried out two of the dishes: sweet bean paste dumplings and what he said was shrimp (but what we were pretty sure was pork, it was definitely not shrimp I will tell you) dumplings. Luckily, it still tasted okay. About 20 mintues later, our bubble tea came out (tapioca undercooked) and at this point we realized we were in for a long lunch. After trying to hail a waitress, we discovered 10 minutes later that there were only five items on the dim sum menu. At this point, we should have probably followed suit with the group next to us and left the place in fury (they made quite the scene) but we decided to stick it out and see just how bad it could get.

Finally, we were able to place some orders off the main menu (after some confusion about the differences between the fancy blue menu and regular menu) and wait yet another deathly hungry 30 minutes for our food. Once again, the food was tasty (order of the basil pasta was especially good), albeit less in quantity than what you would get at a place like Nam's.

Although I do not blame the waiters themselves, I do blame the restaurant management which should have seriously evaluated the type of traffic they would get at this hour on State St. Additionally, there were some gaping issues involved in menu development, waitstaff training, and major deception about the dim sum.

Since there are no other real reviews about Fugu out there, I will make this my obligatory PSA:
DO NOT GO TO FUGU FOR THE DIM SUM ONLY. YOU WILL BE SEVERELY DISAPPOINTED.

Overall, Fugu has some crippling organization problems they must deal with immediately. While the food was tasty enough, the wait time was completely unacceptable. We were there for essentially the entire lunch period (2.5/3 hours) and were either hopelessly confused about the food options or twiddling our thumbs and starving for most of that time. In it's current state of confusion and identity-crisis, I would not recommend Fugu to anyone. Please, just go to Nam's Noodles instead and you'll get a lot more food with comparable taste a lot faster.

Adventure 52: Glass Nickel

2009-04-05T21:50:00.004-05:00

Glass Nickel Pizza Co. (website)

5003 University Ave.
3 Adjectives: harmonious, delicious, environmental.
Price: appetizer (3-9) pizza 10" to 16" (12-20)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere: depends on where you eat it
Overall:
Other Opinions: yelp, wisconsinfishfry, yahoo, madisonatoz ...
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Madison doesn't seem to have a shortage of delicious pizza places and Glass Nickel is up there among the best with Ian's, Pizza Brutta, Pizza di Roma and Roman Candle (to name a few). To trek to Glass Nickel is not suitable since it's further west than Copps on University but the environmental friendly (they run partially on used veggie oil) delivery trucks can make you feel at ease.

The pizza at Glass Nickel is superb if you stick to one of their many specialty pizzas. From the way the toppings go together in each specialty pizza, it is clear much thought was put into assembling complimentary flavors. Normally the devout meat pizza eater, I seriously can not get enough of the Fetalicious pizza. Their all meat pizza, aptly named Cardiac Arrest, is also tasty. Topped with bacon, pepperoni, sausage, and ham, this is a good compliment to the Fetalicious. Another tasty option is their appropriately spicy Border-to-Border which has a nice balance of spice throughout the Hawaiian-like pizza. In addition to the tasty pizza, Glass Nickel also has this amazing appetizer called Nickel Nuggets: soft and chewy fried pizza dough topped with parmasean and parsley for dipping in marinara. The only disadvantage to Glass Nickel is you can not get pizza by the slice. Before you order, check your coupon books or online since Glass Nickel generally advertises a lot of coupons.

Glass Nickel is a wonderful option for your next pizza night in the apartment or suggest it for your next student org kickoff/lunch seminar.

Adventure 51: Sardine

2009-03-29T23:47:00.001-05:00

Sardine (website)

617 Williamson St.
3 Adjectives: entertaining, large, friendly.
Price: app (5-12) entree (6-24)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: yelp, madisondining, tripadvisor...
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Ch-ch-check our side panel out! Jahboh and Tossy are now on Twitter for all those exranneous mini-tips we feel like throwing on this blog.

Located slightly beyond the capital in the odd John Nolen/ Williamson/ Wilson intersection, Sardine is a classy yet informal restaurant that faces Lake Monona. I visited Sardine on Valentine's Day and was surprised to see that the place was reminiscent of a large log cabin packed full of cheery people. The first portion of the restaurant is a bar area whereas the sit and dine portion is in the back half of the restaurant. Coolest free souvenior from Sardine? Their cute matchboxes (yes, matchboxes; not the flimsy cardboard foldover ones).

Upon being seated at a large wooden table, we were given fresh bread. The waitstaff was also incredibly nice, friendly, and very knowledgeable about the food. We ended up ordering the tomato soup, which tasted fairly average. For entrees, we ordered Choucroute de Poisson and the potato, gruyere and leek croquette. The flavors of the croquette were nicely balanced. The seafood in the choucroute had a wonderful fresh taste can were accompanied by a delicious cream sauce, although the large pile of sauerkraut was a bit odd, and most of it became leftovers. We also ordered a cheese plate for dessert and got to sample some of the delicious cheeses from Fromagination. The accompanying figs and sliced almond brioche were delcious.

Overall Sardine was a fun restaurant to go to with a great atmosphere and nice waitstaff. The food is pretty good although offered at a hefty price. I would recommend this place for birthdays and special occasions.

Adventure 50: Maharani

2009-03-21T16:23:00.001-05:00

Maharani Indian Restaurant (website)

380 W. Washington Ave.
3 Adjectives: flavorful,
Price: buffet (9) app (2-8) entree (8-16)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Veganess:
Other Opinions: tripadvisor, yelp, madisonatoz, madisonmagazine...
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There is not much downtown competition for good Indian food and maybe it's because Maharani is among the best you're going to get around the city. Perhaps second only to Maharajah on the far west side, Maharani serves a delicious lunch buffet that will certainly satisfy any Indian food craving.

The restaurant is quite big for a downtown restaurant and has everything from booths to tables wrapped around the long buffet bar. I always go to Maharani around lunchtime to sample their varietal buffet (11-3). The single dish entrees for dinner are not as interesting to me as the buffet where you get to sample a variety of delicious foods and is cheaper than any of the single entrees. Most of the buffet dishes are those that are found in many Indian buffets such as dosa, palak paneer, and tandoori chicken. My favorites are the malai kofta (veggetable meatballs in tasty sauce) as well as the butter chicken. These are not to be missed and I always find myself wiping my plate clean with naan to savor the delicious sauces. Maharani also has several nice desserts with the mango ice cream and the kulfi (spiced ice cream) being the best. My only complaint about Maharani is that the food is not as spicy (hot) as I would like as they probably have tried to Americanize some dishes.

Overall, I would highly recommend the lunch buffet at Maharani as the Indian food stop and as a good place to bring friends who are vegetarian. Maharani lives up to its name and is definitely fit for royalty.

Basically the same as other Indian restaurant lunch buffets Tossy has been to in Madison, but it does not matter, because Indian lunch buffets are tasty. Tossy has no problem with another Indian place close to campus. Buffets offers many varieties of curries, tasty stuffed breads and samosas, and nan (best ethnic bread, in Tossy's opinion). Tossy's only complaint is the desserts, which are all dairy based.

Adventure 49: Ocean Grill

2009-03-08T21:01:00.001-05:00

Ocean Grill (website)

117 Martin Luther King Jr, Blvd
3 Adjectives: chic, flavorful, stingy
Price: app (8-20) entree (15-55)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: yelp, tripadvisor, kirkspicks...
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Located right off the capital, Ocean Grill is one of Food Fight's more expensive restaurants, boasting a wide range of seafood. The interior of the restaurant looks classy and nice. There is a large oval bar in the center with various tables and chairs, some against plush red seating against a wall. Around noontime when we went, the large glass windows let us see a large stretch of MLKJr Blvd.

With a name like "Ocean Grill" I was expecting dishes composed mostly of seafood, yet was disappointed when the portions of actual seafood they gave were not very generous for the hefty price. Also, some dishes seemed to be like entrees you could order at any other Food Fight establishment for cheaper than at a place right next to the Capital. As an appetizer my friend and I ordered the fried calamari (above), which was crispy but mediocre and didn't quite go with the accompanying peanut sauce. The main course I tried was the seafood enchiladas (upper, left) whereas my friend got the crusted grouper (lower, left). The enchiladas were tasty but were a bit too oily and most importantly seemed like a Tex Tubb's spinoff. The grouper was also okay but clearly over-Americanized and unsatisfyingly small compared to the large amout of wasabi potato piled underneath it. Stylistically, at least the food was nicely arranged on the plate.

Overall we decided that going to Ocean Grill is really for the noontime window view and chic atmosphere. The portion sizes are a bit too small and not quite delicious enough for the steep price the restaurant charges. I would not recommend Ocean Grill due to its distance from campus and its very pricey seafood.

One Year Anniversary

2009-02-22T14:33:00.001-06:00

One year and 45 restaurants later...

Thank you for all of your support! We thought we'd take this opportunity to name our top four restaurant adventures we embarked on this year.

Jahboh's Picks:

1. Restaurant Muramoto
2. Paciugo
3. Le Chardonnay
4. L'Etoile

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Tossy's Picks:

1. Paciugo
2. Rising Sons
3. Lao Laan Xang
4. Einstein's

Adventure 48: Big 10 Pub

2009-02-22T14:20:00.002-06:00

Jordan's Big 10 Pub (website)
1330 Regent St.
3 Adjectives: Friendly, tasty, cozy
Price: entree (5-11)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: wisconsinfishfry, yelp, badgerherald, madisonatoz...
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The Big 10 Pub consists of your typical sports bar setting with some nice TV screens, a bar, a few tables and some booths on the side. The place is small enough that on a game night it feels crowded but on a slow night like the night I went it was not uncomfortable.

Our server was very nice and brought some menus almost immediately after we arrived. The Big 10 Pub also features a variety of beers on tap and cheap drinks. The menu consists of pretty standard sports bar food; I opted for the philly cheesesteak while my friend got a burger. The cheesesteak turned out to be okay, probably a tad better than a fast food joint and was a bit soggy. However, the accompanying wedge fries were great with the creamy chivy dip that was provided.

Despite being a sports bar and my initial low expectations, the Big 10 Pub actually stood out as a decent place. The friendly atmosphere really helped leverage the okay tasting food.

Adventure 47: Vientiane Palace

2009-02-15T17:54:00.001-06:00

Vientiane Palace-Regent (no website)
1441 Regent St.
3 Adjectives: Flavorful, soupy, Americanized
Price: entree (5-13)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: dailypageforum, ...
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After my trip to Campus Biryani, I noticed a new restaurant had opened next door after Trapani's disappearance. I was very excited about the opening of a new Vietnamese/Thai/Lao restaurant near my apartment and had to go quickly investigate with a friend.

The inside of the restaurant had a similar layout to that of the neighboring Campus Biryani. However, the quality of the furniture and decorations seemed to be slightly nicer.

For an appetizer, we decided to be adventurous and try the deep fried calamari wrapped sausage. The idea sounded appealing, but the result and the execution of the dish (above left) was mediocre. The sausage turned out to be wrapped in a dried and hardened layer of calamari and did not look especially appetizing. The dish turned out to taste okay minus the fact that it was a bit dry, even after dipping it into a ginger soy sauce.

For our entrees, I decided to go more standard and order the curry squash (above) while my friend ordered a spicy beef dish. I had pretty high expectations for the curry squash as I routinely order it at Lao Laan Xang, so I was greatly disappointed when out came a soupy curry with about five bite-size chunks of chicken. In addition, I really could not identify any distinct pieces of squash, but there was a great overabundance of onion. Luckily, all the favors seemed to go well and I had plenty of it left over. The spicy beef dish was also pretty average (but had more meat) and though it did not contain curry, had similar Americanized-Asian flavors as the curry (so much so that I was able to mix the two leftovers into a pan the next day and cook it with pasta and it still tasted fine).

I did not leave Vientinane Palace very satisfied. The over souped- little curry bothered me to the extent that I would apply the "less is more" standard where the restaurant should have simply reduced the amount of sauce and onion in the food. If you are looking for cheap Southeast Asian food, I would wholeheartedly recommend Rising Son's on State instead.

Adventure 46: Campus Biryani

2009-02-08T18:19:00.007-06:00

Campus Biryani & Kebab (no website)
1437 Regent St.
3 Adjectives: quirky, cheap, fast
Price: entree (6-13)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: yelp, madisonatoz, hobszeitgeist...
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Located across the street from The Regent, Campus Biryani is a quirky restaurant that boasts both Indian and Mediterranean cuisine. Despite the somewhat questionable interior, the restaurant serves some delicious cheap food.

My biggest problem with the layout of Campus Biryani is the haphazardly strewen fast food restaurant furniture and ketchup/mustard/napkin arrangement. Also I would not recommend using their bathroom. Considering the deliciousness of the food, the place could certainly use some refurbishment to bump up the atmosphere (I may not even mind the prices going up). What is kind of neat about the place is the cool Arabic tapestries and the BBC-like English/French news broadcasting in the corner (upon closer inspection it's Al Jazeera, a nice ironic jab at the news media that seems to constantly want to portray this TV station as extremist). If you get past the atmosphere at Campus Biryani (which is also generally devoid of other diners since this place does a lot of delivery orders), the food is actually quite good.

The cheap food at this restaurant is generally excellent if you know what to order. My favorite dish is the chicken tikka with rice. The chicken is very flavorful with many spices and it comes with a generous helping of biryani rice. If you are an adventurous seafood eater, I would also recommend the shrimp dish (photo above) which is a very flavorful cumin shrimp dish that is actually cooked with whole shrimp, something that is rarely done in town. The fries at Campus Biryani are also generally good and come with a tasty yogurt sauce. What I do not recommend at this place is the naan and the vegetable mango. The naan is simply warmed greek pita that simply does not work with the Indian dishes. The vegetable mango is very bland and appears to be cooked with a frozen veggie mix.

Campus Biryani adds a good ethnic addition to the south west side of campus. If you are really not comfortable with the sketchy layout of the restaurant, there is always the very fast delivery option.

Adventure 45: The Great Dane

2009-02-01T10:23:00.003-06:00

Great Dane Pub (website)
357 Price Pl. also 123 E. Doty St.
3 Adjectives: fun, bustling, laid-back
Price: appetizer (4-18) entree (8-15)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: tripadvisor, wisconsinfishfry, yelp...
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The Great Dane is a friendly Madison restaurant and bar with decent food. The restaurant has two locations that are close to campus: one is downtown while the other is located at the Hilldale Shopping Center.

While I have been to both locations, the downtown location greatly rivals that on the west side in atmosphere and food. At night the place is generally bustling with activity. After entering the packed restaurant, usually after an ultimate game, the place is great for chilling with a large group and ordering appetizers for the table. Even the menus at the Dane reflect its laid back attitude; it's on recycled newsprint.

As for food, most of the traditional bar food is pretty decent. Some of the better appetizers include the Dane's beer bread as well as their cheesy artichoke veggie dip. The important thing to remember about the Dane is not to get too adventurous: on my last visit I ordered the teriyaki tuna burger (above) and it was a disaster. The amount of ginger topped on my burger was completely ridiculous, and entire sandwich just simply did not go together. On the other hand, my boyfriend's reuben was delicious.

I would highly recommend eating at the Dane if you are with a large group of friends on the prowl around the capital for decent bar food.

Adventure 44: La Hacienda

2009-01-24T17:32:00.004-06:00

La Hacienda Mexican Restaurant (website)
515 S. Park S t.
3 Adjectives: Fast, tasty, spacious
Price: entree (6-16)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: yelp, madisonatoz, dinedotcom, ...
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With very few Mexican options near campus, La Hacienda is much welcomed in the Madison dining scene. The restaurant is located within walking distance on South Park Street (near Inka Heritage) and is hard to miss. As the name suggests, the restaurant is shaped like a small Mexican ranch complete with faux-adobe walls.

The interior has a large dining area with fast-foodesque furniture that doesn't quite match the theme of the restaurant. Also the bright lighting and high ceiling makes the restaurant feel emptier than it is and the slightly rundown look suggests the place has seen better days. Contrary to the slightly-off decor, the food is fairly good. After being seated there is free chips and salsa like most Mexican restaurants as you peruse the menu. The salsa is okay, albeit a bit watery. The menu is expansive and inexpensive with some nice traditional dishes like chicken enchiladas with mole sauce (something I have not seen elsewhere in town).

One item I would recommend above all others is splitting the parrilladas chica (pictured above) with 1-3 other people (depending on how hungry you are). This is very affordable considering you end up paying $7-3 for a meaty meal. The dish comes with a mini fancy kerosene stove and a metal plate that is piled high with various meats, onion, potato, and cilantro. The meat is perfectly seasoned and flavored. You can wrap your own burritos fajita-style and the meat always stays warm! One note is to be sure to remember to blow out the flame when the meat starts to burn, lest you want a plate of blackened meat. The waiters are very nice and provided us with plenty of tortillas. To get the full-on experience, order the corn tortillas.

The cheap food at La Hacienda is certainly tasty enough that it beats the steep prices at other downtown Mexican restaurants. I would recommend checking out this restaurant if you have a group of friends eager for some inexpensive Mexican food.

Adventure 43: Tornado Steakhouse

2009-01-18T00:10:00.000-06:00

Tornado Steakhouse (website)
116 S. Hamilton St.
3 Adjectives: Quirky, expensive, cheery.
Price: app (8-11) entree (20-42)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: yelp, kirkspicks, tripadvisor...
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Tornado Steakhouse is one of the most unique upscale steakhouses I have eaten at. Upon being seated, a vase full of veggie kabobs was placed on the table as decoration. This proved to be fun to munch on as we perused the menu, which ironically included no non-meat dishes (unless you count the sides). Also there were several hard-to-find-elsewhere dishes like frog legs, rabbit and venison. Suddenly the odd little vase placed in front of us made sense.

As an appetizer, we ordered the Coquille Saint Jaques (left), the traditional French dish (little know fact: most of the scallops is banned in the US) of scallops and duchess potatoes in a cream sauce which turned out to be the highlight of the meal. The scallops were cooked perfectly and the sauce complemented the dish well.

For entrees, we tried the more exotic rabbit and gulf shrimp (right). These dishes tasted good but could have been better. The rabbit was interesting but could have been plated better while the gulf shrimp simply did not live up to the level of Bellini's. We ultimately decided that the dishes were probably not worth the high prices we had to pay for them.

One thing that was worth the price was a $2 side. Being a big Harry Potter fan, I almost instinctively ordered the yorkshire pudding just to try it out (above). The pudding was shockingly the size of my head but proved to be very handy in mopping up the delicious gravy the rabbit was stewed in.

Overall the meal was fun but probably not worth the hefty bill to go again. I would recommend Tornado Steakhouse for adventurous meat eaters going on a fancy date.

Adventure 42: Greenbush Bakery

2009-01-07T14:14:00.004-06:00

Greenbush Bakery (no website)
1305 Regent St.
3 Adjectives: fresh, kosher, filling
Price: donut (1)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Veganness*
Other Opinions: madisonatoz, insiderpages, yelp...
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One of the best kept secrets of Madison is the best donuts you'll find in town. Greenbush is innocuously located on Regent Street right next to Rocky Rococo. The bakery has strange hours during the weekend but on most weekdays it is conveniently open until the early hours of the day, perfect for satisfying that late night studying food craving.

Upon walking in the bakery you are literally smacked in the face by a delicious fresh scent of baked goods. Translation: you can not walk out of that place without buying at least a donut. All of the donuts are baked fresh and there is an assortment of delights from the typical cake and filled donuts to the interesting drumstick-like donuts and giant fritters (feeds at least four!). Essentially: you can't go wrong in your choice. The cake donuts are an absolute delight in my opinion; they are perfectly flavored, dense, and buttery, though the regular donuts are flawless too. My favorites at Greenbush are the blueberry cake donuts, pumpkin cake donuts (seasonal), and the apple fritters.

The only downside to Greenbush is that besides the counter, there isn't much more room in the place so be sure to know where you can go afterward to eat your tasty treats.

*Note from Tossy: Some of the donuts are "vegan" but they do contain whey, so it depends on how strictly vegan you are.

Adventure 41: Bandung

2009-01-03T14:16:00.013-06:00

Bandung Indonesian Cuisine (website)
600 Williamson St.
3 Adjectives: Americanized, pricey, quiet.
Price: app (1-14) entree (9-16)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: yelp, madisonatoz, ...
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Happy New Year readers! Here's to a year of more unique and delicious restaurants to visit. I've been on vacation for awhile so I'm a little backed up right now. The next five-ish reviews should be coming out faster than normal.

After seeing a cool coupon in the Bucky Book - a buy one get one free at Bandung - I was quickly prompted to check out this restaurant. An Indonesian restaurant in Madison? How cool is that? I thought.

Bandung is located past the square (from campus) in a strip mall next to one of the most confusing intersections in Madison: the John Nolen - Williamson - Wilson intersection. The strip mall also contains several other Asian restaurants as well as Sardine. Upon arrival, I walked into a nicely decorated and quiet restaurant. The place was mostly dominated by couples and groups of four. Our waitress was very nice and knowledgeable about all of the menu items, and even pronounced all the dishes perfectly.

After some consideration, I settled on the bebek bakar or cripsy duck with garlic sauce (above photo). My boyfriend got the sambal goreng udang, a shrimp dish in candlenut lemongrass sauce (below). We also ordered the Lumpia, spring rolls, for an appetizer. The lumpia looked and tasted like a spring roll but was unfortunately rather small. The duck pieces definitely had a nice cripsy skin with a meaty interior, the way Asian duck is usually prepared. The shrimp were tasty but apparently few in number. While the food was overall good, it was not in any way distintly Indonesian. I felt like these dishes could be easily ordered at any semi-upscale fill-in-the-blank Americanized Chinese/Vietnamese Restaurant. In this case, this restaurant also happened to be on the more expensive end. Lucky for us, the bill was nearly half off due to our coupon.

Given the normal priciness of the restaurant, its distance from campus, and its unremarkableness, I would not really recommend it to anyone (unless you have a half off Bucky Book coupon). If you want something truly ethnic that far off campus, try Lao Laan Xang which is just a few blocks away.

Adventure 40: Rocky Rococo

2008-12-08T13:59:00.002-06:00

Rocky Rococo Pizza and Pasta (website)
1301 Regent St.
3 Adjectives: Fast, greasy, filling.
Price: pizza slice and combos (3-7) whole pizza (9-18)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: tripadvisor ...
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Rocky Rococo's or Rocky's is a fast pizza stop for anyone who is hungry for some greasy pan pizza. The restaurant is located on Regent next to Greenbush Bakery.

The interior of the restaurant mirrors any other fast food establishment in that you order at the counter and sit at one of the booths in the restaurant.

The individual pizza slices at Rocky's are rectangular and come in snug cardboard boxes with a top flap that opens and sides that fold down, which kind of reminds you of opening a block of cream cheese (only marginally more caloric... but you are going to a pizza place so what do you expect?). The single slices come in regular, thin and super slice (which is about 1/3 larger than regular). These types are generally offered in the usual cheese, pepperoni, and sausage varieties, but there are daily super slice specials as well (see website). Also, you can order a combo that comes with breadsticks (cheese sauce is extra) and a drink. You can also get a one-trip salad bar with your meal, which doesn't mean much considering how the Chinese overcome this silly rule these days at Pizza Hut.

In terms of the pizza, Rocky's pan pizza is fairly similar to that of Pizza Hut but comes with a sweeter flavor. Whether you like it comes down to your preference for sweeter crusts, though Rocky's sauce is never sour which can sometimes be hit or miss with Pizza Hut. The single outstanding topping on Rocky's pizzas is by far the sausage. If you like sausage, this is a must-go. The sausage pieces are big and juicy and Rocky's generously gives 3 or 6 large sausages per slice of pizza. Also, be sure to show up during peak hours to ensure that the pizza is hot and fresh (you may need to wait an extra 5 minutes, but it is totally worth it). Sometimes the slices sit for awhile in their boxes and loose their crispiness.

I would recommend Rocky's if you are craving for some traditional thick and flavorful pan pizza that is difficult to find around campus.

Adventure 39: The University Club

2008-11-16T14:39:00.000-06:00

The University Club (website)
803 State St.
3 Adjectives: Elegant, regal, fresh.
Price: entree (8-14)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: capitaltimes ...
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One of the more bourgeois building fronts on Library Mall, the University Club is an ivy-covered building I used to associate with fancy faculty dinners and expensive weddings. Not until recently did I find out anyone (yes anyone!) can go for a decadent lunch (11:30-1:30).

The interior of the club has beautiful dark wood furniture, faux-candle chandeliers, and plenty of tables and chairs to sit down at. The restaurant portion is located on the right hand side after you enter the building while larger rooms for reservation are in the back.

The menu at the University Club reads like a menu from L'Etoile or Le Chardonnay. For lunch you can order anything from the normal looking soup and salad to the fancy pine nut encrusted walleye fillet. After ordering the grilled chicken sandwich, I was pleasantly surprised to discover how well the dish was prepared. There was a generous helping of an entire chicken breast on a savory bun with lettuce, tomatoes, and fries. The chicken was very tender and the entire sandwich was delicious perfection.

I would recommend trying out the University Club for a fancy lunch date or whever you have your parents in town and want to bring them to somewhere elegant.

Adventure 38: Chocolate Shoppe

2008-11-07T14:39:00.002-06:00

Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream (website)
468 State St.
3 Adjectives: Rich, filling, friendly.
Price: ice cream (2-5)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Veganness:
Other Opinions: badgerherald, madisonatoz, yelp, ...
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As a Madison native, I can assure you that the emblematic Chocolate Shoppe logo complete with cow happily licking away at an ice cream cone has been permanently linked to the dopamine/happiness pathway of my brain. To my great delight, throughout the years the quality of the ice cream at the Chocolate Shoppe has never faltered and to this day the creamy goodness remains one of the best in town.

The Chocolate Shoppe located on State Street simply has no competition when it comes to delicious traditional ice cream around these parts. Walk into the triangular shaped corner store on State Street into the white, turquoise and pink interior, and more than two dozen interesting ice cream, sorbet, italian ice, soy, "gelato," and frozen yogurt flavors greet you. There is everything from the simple strawberry to more inventive flavors like superman (crazy rainbow colored fruity ice cream). There are also seasonal flavors to choose from like egg nog and pumpkin depending on when you go. Finally, in the back freezer you can find ice cream cakes and larger containers for birthdays and other occasions.

What is most amusing when you walk into the store is seeing the large nutrition facts disclaimer on the wall declaring:
"Don't even ask. This is the best ice cream made in Wisconsin, and it tastes so good because it has globs of rich Wisconsin cream, tons of real ingredients for boat-loads of luscious flavors. That means it's not low-fat, low-calorie or low-anything, and that's why everyone loves it. You want nutrition, eat carrots."
Some sage advice for anyone stepping into an ice cream store. Indeed, the Chocolate Shoppe's flavors live up to the hype. Each ice cream flavor I have tried at the Chocolate Shoppe has been rich, creamy, and smooth and the servers generally give you a generous helping to whichever flavor you choose. My all time favorite that I urge everyone to try is the Zanzibar Chocolate. One item I would avoid having at the Chocolate Shoppe is their gelato. The flavors are not as inventive as their ice cream, and bland compared to the down-the-street Paciugo.

Most of the time, I prefer eating my ice cream outdoors, but during the winter months there is plenty of seating inside. Chocolate Shoppe has about half a dozen mini-tables that can fit about four people each as well as an interesting mini-park bench near the back presumably for children.

The Chocolate Shoppe is the perfect place to satisfy your ice cream craving whenever you are on State Street.

Something a lot of people probably don't believe: there are vegan flavors at the Chocolate Shoppe. These include gelato flavors (lemon, nectarine, raspberry lemon) and some soy-based flavors (espresso oreo, vanilla chocolate chip). However the "veganness" rating is difficult to gauge here...the nearby gelato cafe, Paciugo, is definitely a four. The Chocolate Shoppe carries more flavors, but the gelato at Paciugo is better than the Chocolate Shoppe gelato. But then again, Paciugo has never had nectarine gelato, as far as Tossy knows. On the other hand, the Chocolate Shoppe isn't always consistent in portion sizes, which can be annoying, but Paciugo generally is. The other thing that generally annoys Tossy about the Chocolate Shoppe is that the vegan flavors are located in the back of the cafe, along with the vain-attempt-at-something-healthy frozen yogurt and sugarless gunk for wimps, and vegans get pretty sick of being singled out after a while.

Adventure 37: Lao Laan Xang

2008-11-02T14:35:00.011-06:00

Lao Laan Xang (website)
1146 Williamson St
3 Adjectives: Cozy, adventurous, flavorful.
Price: entree (9-16)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Veganness:
Other Opinions: yelp, madisonatoz, vegguide, ...
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Located slightly East of the Capital, Lao Laan Xang (pronounced: la-OW long zang - rhymes with 'dang!') is unique in that it is one of those restaurants that serves a cuisine found nowhere else in town. Despite the lack of pressure in competition, the restaurant shines in its specialty: Laotian.

The restaurant resides in a cozy house-like building decked out with Christmas Lights around the window on Willy Street nearly right across the street from the Willy Street Co-op. There are about ten tables in the restaurant so, if you have a larger than four or six party you might want to try their Atwood location about a five minute drive East.

The menu at Lao Laan Xang features a variety of curries, stir-fry-like dishes, rice dishes and soups. In addition, there is a four star spicy system from one star (timid) to four stars (native Lao). The system is definitely spicier than ones you will see at other restaurants in town so pick one star lower than what you normally have. Another tip is to go spicier on curry but less so on the non-curry dishes.

The singular dish that is a must-order is their curry squash (photo above). It is a delicious mix of creamy butternut and acorn squashes with eggplant and zucchini. After talking to the staff, we found out that their basement is actually chock full of squashes so they can prepare this high-in-demand dish all year long. If you are a little more adventurous, try out their house specialties. I had the Tom Som (photo) on my recent visit and thought the dish tasted very unique. The hot and fresh chicken breast was paired with a tasty crispy cold salad. It also came with a cute container of sticky rice that you could eat once the spicy salad got to you. Its a rarity a restaurant around here will go out on a limb and serve food with unique ingredients such as tamarind and unripe papaya rather than go with dull over-sweetened Americanized Asian food. One thing I would recommend avoiding at Lao Laan Xang is their stir-fry-like dishes. My few encounters with them have always been rather mediocre. If you are at a Laotian place, you might as well try something exciting rather than the run of the mill Chinese-like stir fries.

Lao Laan Xang gets four stars for it delicious food and its dare to be authentic attitude. I would highly recommend checking this place out. Both the 3 and 4 (and on weekends 7) go out there in case you don't have a car.

Lao Laan Xang has loads of delicious vegan dishes. Tossy has only had two or three herself, but is sure the rest are wonderful as well. Her favorite are the mock duck and whatever the tofu dish is with six billion different kinds of mushrooms. Actually, there are only three, but it is still delicious.

Adventure 36: Pizza di Roma

2008-10-26T11:27:00.003-05:00

Pizza di Roma (menupix)
313 State St.
3 Adjectives: Quick, dingy, tasty.
Price: slice (2-4) entree (6-10)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: badgerherald, yelp, insiderpages, ...
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Pizza di Roma is a good late night establishment to get some tasty greasy New York style pizza for a low price. Similar to Ian's, Pizza di Roma has a walk-up counter to where you can order a variety of large sliced pizzas. However, in this case, most of the pizza has normal pizza toppings.

If you are willing to dish out a few more bucks, you can also get some decent pasta at Pizza di Roma - without having to pay a tip to the waiter. The cream of the crop in the pasta department is their penne ala vodka, which I still swear is the best I have had in town even compared to fancy Italian establishments like Porta Bella (although now it is slightly less enticing these days after they removed bacon from the ingredients). The pasta always comes with some nice greasy cheese sticks.

Along with the cheap eats however comes the somewhat shabby interior with foam green plastic fast food tables, warped lunchroom trays, and seemingly perpetually dusty walls. You can tell this place has seen better years. However, if you can get past this fact like any normal college student who has eaten at one of the dining halls, Pizza di Roma serves some pretty darn good pizza.

Adventure 35: Einstein Bros Bagels

2008-10-17T15:59:00.005-05:00

Einstein Bros Bagels (website)
652 State St.
3 Adjectives: Quick, cheap, friendly.
Price: bagel (3), sandwich (4-9)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Veganness:
Other Opinions: yelp, madisonatoz, ...
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There are sure a lot of bagel places in town, but Einstein's has got to be one of the most conveniently located. Whenever I am near the Library Mall end of State and looking for something quick and easy, I often turn to Einstein's to pick up a bagel with cream cheese.

Einstein's has okay bagels - one step up from the supermarket but one step down from the ultimate bourgeois New York bagel. The softness and warmness in the dough is inviting but I often wish they were chewier on the interior and crustier on the outside like the high quality bagels at Gotham Bagels on the square, but I guess you can't expect too much from a chain. One plus is the bagels do come in twenty varieties. A fun thing to do is pair a sweet bagel with a savory cream cheese: chocolate chip - chives is always an interesting one. They also have a variety of sandwiches, salads, and soups (when you do not feel quite up to a bagel), which are all fairly mediocre. One function Einstein's is very good for is it's a great place to buy breakfast for a group *cough* like Thursday morning meetings in the physics building *cough* or treat your lab to some goodies. The 13 bagels plus 2 cream cheese containers is affordable and fast.

One annoying thing about Einstein's, however, is its awkward hours. It is not open for dinner, which is to be expected, but over the summer it is often not open at all. I realize this is a marketing strategy so that they can stay open when there is demand but it is somewhat annoying to have inconsistent hours. Therefore, during the summer be sure to have a second lunch place in mind. Two suggestions are the delicious across-the-street Mediterranean Cafe or slightly further down F ive Guys.

Einstein Bros bagels is probably the most vegan friendly place in Madison, in my opinion. This may just be by default, since bagels tend to be vegan anyway. In fact, most of the bagels at Einstein's are vegan, save for just a few (asiago cheese, cinnamon and sugar, green chili, egg). Tossy really enjoys potato bagels with hummus or chocolate chip bagels with peanut butter, but beware: clueless college students working at Einstein's often skimp on toppings. Tossy recommends the blueberry bagel, cranberry bagel, and dutch-apple bagel (surprisingly butter-free). Einstein's is economical on top of that--full meal for less that three dollars.

Adventure 34: Sunroom Cafe

2008-10-11T22:16:00.004-05:00

Sunroom Cafe (website)
638 State St.
3 Adjectives: Informal, classy, spacious.
Price: lunch (3-7), dinner (5-13)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Veganness:
Other Opinions: yelp, badgerherald, dane101, ...
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Sorry we've been backed up a bit lately. I hope to be updating more often in the coming weeks. In good news, we have negotiated a wonderful collaboration with The Daily Cardinal so that we can reach out to more college students!

Located on the first block of State Street coming from Library Mall, Sunroom Cafe is tucked upstairs one of the buildings on the left side of the street. Although easy to overlook, long time Madisonians know that here lies a tiny gem of a restaurant that is both delicious and won't break your wallet.

The interior of Sunroom Cafe features a counter on the left where you order during lunch and various summery chairs and tables line the rest of the establishment. There are also nice works of art decorating the restaurant featuring local artists.

During lunch hours, Sunroom features many sandwiches, salads, and quiches. Most of these are excellent and come with crisp and delicious baked potatoes.

At dinnertime, the cafe turns into a waited restaurant and the menu expands to encompass noodles, pizzas, and quesadillas. On our most recent dinner visit, we ordered nachos and I got the grilled steak sandwich. The nachos tasted good but were unremarkable. The steak sandwich on the other hand was very good. Two slices of crisp sandwiching generous slices of steak and caramelized onions. Although the food was pretty good this time around, I do want to recommend some of my Sunroom favorites. The crostini, chevre, and pesto is a must-try. The dish consists of crisp toasts with Parmesan that goes perfectly with the tasty baked pesto and chevre (goat cheese, but don't be intimidated - it works very well with the pesto). This is such a wonderful appetizer I have started making it on a regular basis at my apartment. Another delicious but seasonal menu item is their beet pizza. Whenever I used to think of beets before trying this, I was always reminded of the gross pickled rubbery slabs that you would see at the average salad bar so I was pleasantly surprised at the taste of a real, fresh beet. The crunchy and slightly sugary fresh baked beets go hand in hand with gorgonzola to make this one of the best pizza flavors I have ever tried. Also a must-order if you see it on the menu (and they are really healthy!).

One quibble I have about Sunroom, though, is its slow water service. If you sit in the back of the restaurant, you often have to wait upwards of ten minutes with an empty glass. I feel like they could easily solve this problem by giving all of us larger cups.

Overall, I highly recommend eating at Sunroom whenever you are looking for a relatively inexpensive but nice sit-down meal. You will not be disappointed.

Sunroom Cafe is certainly better for vegans than some other diners and cafes on State Street (see Gino's review). Tossy received a large bowl of pasta, bowl of soup, and complimentary bread for considerably less than one would expect, but Tossy must say, she is sick of paying for sandwiches and bowls of pasta and tomato sauce. These are things she could make more to her liking at home for less than a dollar.

Adventure 33: Gino's

2008-09-20T10:12:00.001-05:00

Gino's Italian Restaurant (website)
540 State St.
3 Adjectives: Dim, overcooked, okay.
Price: appetizer (3-9) entree (9-25)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Veganness:
Other Opinions: badgerherald, madisonatoz, google...
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Gino's Restaurant may have been a hit in its glory days, but now it seems to be overshadowed by the plethora of Italian Restaurants dotting the campus scene.

The restaurant is near the beginning of State Street (beginning being starting from Library Mall) and can easily be missed due to is smaller storefront shoved next to KFC/Taco Bell. Past the bar near the entrance, Gino's features nice dimly lit booths and tables, although there does not ever seem to be many diners around.

On my visits to Gino's I have tried their appetizers, pasta, and famous pizza. What turns me off the most about the restaurant is the hefty price tag it puts on its dishes. While nearby is Sunroom Cafe and about two blocks down is Tutto Pasta both featuring cheaper and equally (if not more) delicious options, Gino's should seriously consider lowering its prices. On my recent visit, I went with a group of friends to try their famous stuffed crust pizza. Since this order takes up to a 45 minute wait, we ordered potato skins as an appetizer first. The skins were at best okay, and were dry and a bit overcooked.

The 12" stuffed pizza, on the other hand, was the shining star of the night, and probably the entirety of Ginos' menu. Literally a "pizza pie," the interior was filled with cheese and toppings while the top was smothered with chunky tomato pieces, shredded cheese, and parsley. Each slice was the size of my two fists combined. My hefty piece got a bit cloying after awhile and I barely managed to consume the thick crust, but I can totally see how it would be appealing to a group of guys.

My recommendation is if you ever go to Gino's there's only one thing on the menu worth getting: the stuffed crust pizza. And be sure to call in your order early if you don't want to wait. Else, if you are either looking for romantic Italian or tasty Italian, I'd recommend Porta Bella and Tutto Pasta (respectively) instead.

Tossy will come right out an say it--Gino's, not the best diner for vegans. Tossy ordered a plate of pasta with tomato sauce, which is not even up to par with a plate of pasta from say, Za's (see earlier review on Za's). The pasta came with a slice of french bread, which was a little stale. The atmosphere at Gino's is rather nice, though--a bit dark, but good for talking with friends. If really just simply want a nice full plate of pasta and fresh bread, Tossy recommends the Sunroom Cafe. Plus the meal will be about half as much.

Veganness rating and makeover

2008-09-20T09:08:00.005-05:00

Hi Culinary Adventurists!
We just wanted to let you know that we have recently made a few changes to the blog to (hopefully) make it better.

1) Everything is rated out of 4 paws now (taking a leaf out of Ebert's book! ;P). We felt a little cramped when the ratings were out of 3 paws and ran into issues like Subway = Bellini?! Definitely not.

2) We have enlarged some photos. After browsing many food blogs, we kind of came to the realization that we needed some darn big mouthwatering pictures to accompany our text. Along with that we will try to take more photos in the future.

3) Tossy's reviews now have a veganness rating. Here's the breakdown:
4 - Spectacular; would totally return even if its expensive
3 - Good; probably return
2 - Okay; will return if friends want to
1 - Miserable; extremely vegan unfriendly/ cant even get a full meal

Adventure 32: Babcock Hall

2008-09-05T11:41:00.003-05:00

Babcock Hall Dairy Store (website)
1605 Linden Dr.
3 Adjectives: Fast, cheap, tasty.
Price: subspecial (5), entree (3-7), ice cream (2-5)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: madisonatoz ...
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The Babcock Hall Dairy Store's ice cream is the stuff to introduce guests to the delicious dairy produced on this campus. The store is located near the Biochemistry Addition building and Bock Labs, if you ever happen to be that far west on campus.

The Dairy Store features lots of good ice cream flavors and cheese-related products produced right here on campus. However, a less known fact is their yummy sub special that is offered on Thursdays, one that is certainly better than the stuff you'd get at Subway about two blocks East.

Upon entering the store, there are generally two lines: a packed one (especially during the summer months) near the back counter for ice cream and one to the left for the savory foods. There is also some seating inside as well as some nice picnic benches right outside the store.

The ice cream is tasty and you'll undoubtably feel a swell of pride as to the ice cream is produced right on campus and sold in a variety of places such as the dorms and the Unions. The taste may be a small step back from that found in the Chocolate Shoppe and Ben and Jerry's, but the ubiquitousness of the ice cream on campus makes it a perfect alternative.

What is less known to most Babcock Hall's visitors is the sandwich special they offer on a day to day basis. The best special of the lot is the Thursday sub special where you can get a large 12 incher (the wheat bread is less long but more wide) and chips for $5. The bread, veggie, and meat options might not be quite as varied as Subway, but moneywise this deal is a much better one. The sub comes with two meat options (and they don't skimp like Subway does), veggies of your choice, and a deliciously thick slab of Bucky Badger Babcock Hall cheese. Be sure to come early because the line for this can get quite long during rush hour and they sometimes run out of toppings.

On my recent visit, I went with some friends on a beautiful day and lounged outside around the picnic table. I made the mistake of going during rush hour where the line took about 10 minutes. However, the result was worth it: I had a turkey and salami sandwich with a nice thick slice of chivey jack (sometimes their cheese options get amusingly specific) on wheat. Since the sub was so big, I could hardly eat more than half of it let alone even touch the chips. Therefore, I'd recommend going with a big appetite (or splitting one with a friend).

Babcock Hall Dairy Store is a great place to stop by and get some ice cream if you are anywhere on west campus. However, you are even luckier of you are around there on a Thursday. Skip Subway and go get your sub special.

Adventure 31: Le Chardonnay

2008-08-30T10:05:00.008-05:00

Le Chardonnay (website)

320 W Johnson St .
3 Adjectives: entertaining, cozy, elegant.
Price: app (6-12) entree (16-34)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: tripadvisor, gaylot, yelp, madisonatoz ...
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I thought Le Chardonnay would be a good restaurant to talk about as a "back to school" review since it will be opening soon from a hiatus that the owner takes every August. As the name implies, the restaurant serves mostly fancy French food with a Tunisian bent (the country where the chef is from). However, don't let the Frenchness scare you away; although there are daring dishes such as the escargot, there are also less adventurous but just as tasty foods such as chicken in white wine sauce.

Since the menu is very pricey, the only times I have been to Le Chardonnay are during their all you can eat mussels and fries Tuesdays, on Valentine's Day (by mistake- an interesting story if you ask), and during the most recent Restaurant Week, where they offered a filling three course meal of their delicious food for $25.

The interior of Le Chardonnay feels nice and comfy. Upon walking inside, you will see rows of elegantly plated tables and a nice open kitchen on your right. Usually you can see the hardworking chef and owner, Sami Fgaier wearing his classic red bandanna, busy cooking with the many other cooks - no wonder he takes that vacation of his. He's a really friendly guy and may come to your table to ask about your meal.

The Tuesday night (and newly expanded to encompass Thursday nights as well) specials are an amazing gem if you like all you can eat moules frites (mussels and fries) for $19 or are willing to try plates of mussels and crispy shoestring golden fries. During any meal, you are first given baguette with a delicious curry carrot spread. However save your stomach for the best part of the menu: the mussels. The mussels are ordered the day they serve them so they taste fresh and I have discovered that mussels served in other restaurants are simply a far cry from those of Le Chardonnay. Le Chardonnay serves their mussels in many sauces on a rotating basis of four sauces every week. Their standard is a saffron cream sauce, Marinières, (my favorite) and it is on the menu every week. However, other sauces I have tried have been tomato based, cream based, and even curry (delicious) and barbecue based. The fries also have a tasty dip that accompanies them. This is a great activity to go to in a group and challenge each other on how many plates (generally 12ish) of moules you can consume. If you have a large group, be sure to call ahead and tell them you are competing. I recently challenged a group of friends to beat Le Chardonnay's previous record of 16 plates (though Chef Sami told me that guy never returned) and two of the guys to my great astonishment ate 17 and 18 plates (along with plenty of fries and baguette) and they've pledged to return. So for those of you googling the Official Le Chardonnay Mussels Record: it's 18 plates, folks. Top that.

The rest of the menu is generally delicious. On my trip for Restaurant Week, I ate the Julia Child Salade Niçoise, grilled chicken with a sherry cream sauce, and the tiramisu. The grilled chicken was the highlight of the meal. The meat was extremely tender and complemented well with the savory sherry sauce and grapes. Also, although I can not remember my dishes as well on a previous Valentine's Day, I do remember that meal as the tastiest Valentine's Day special I have had in town. Given the phenomenal food at the special occasions I have gone to Le Chardonnay, I am sure the regular menu is just as spectacular.

I would highly recommend paying the extra dollars and going to Le Chardonnay for the Tuesday/Thursday night all you can eat moules frites for those of you adventurous enough to try it. In addition, don't miss out on their regular menu, especially if you are able to snag a table during Restaurant Week.

Adventure 30: Cabana Room

2008-08-18T10:04:00.006-05:00

Cabana Room (website)

240 W. Gilman St.
3 Adjectives: elegant, bland, boring.
Price: app (3-10) entree (6-9)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: madisonatoz, yelp, tripadvisor...
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Given its wonderful upstairs sister restaurant, Samba, I thought the Cabana Room would be a wonderful lounge-like restaurant with tasty food and a fine atmosphere. The atmosphere it has, the food it doesn't.

After walking into the double doors of Samba on the ground floor, I was greeted by a similarly darkly lit and designed lounge as Samba. The prospects were nice: I thought I was going to enjoy the food at this place given the chic food descriptions on the menu and the fancy design.

However, despite the elegantly presented food and the nice atmosphere, the taste of everything was bland or unworthy of the price. Compounding on the problem was that the food took a very long time to come out, so we were already harboring great expectations for what was going to be presented to us.

For an appetizer, I had the zesty tomato soup, which suspiciously tasted like it came out of a Campbell soup can (this was completely appalling since I had the amazing tomato soup at Eno Vino recently). As a main course, I ordered the Cabana burger, which looked very fancy and potentially delicious, but ended up being a giant hard chunk of meat (definitely not cooked medium rare) dressed with toppings that were not good enough to save it. I realized at this point I could have gotten a much tastier burger at Five Guys for half the price. My friend received a cruler fate. His Portuguese sausage with peppers panini-like sandwich (which I noticed is thankfully no longer on the menu) was nearly frozen in the interior. After telling our waitress, she brought the same sandwich back - complete with missing bite - over twenty minutes later (now heated), yet we were in no way compensated for this like every other restaurant I have been to - very unclassy.

Given the service at the Cabana room and the lackluster food, I would not recommend the restaurant to anyone. If you want to go classy, you might as well save up and go to Samba. Else, there are plenty of similarly priced nice restaurants around the area such as Sunroom Cafe.

Adventure 29: Ian's Pizza

2008-08-06T12:46:00.002-05:00

Ian's Pizza (website)
319 N. Frances St. and 115 State S t.
3 Adjectives: Creative, crispy, fast
Price: slice (2-3) pie (7-24)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: yelp, slice, badgerherald, ...
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Ian's Pizza is one of those wonderful places on campus you can always fall back onto when you are scouting for some quick and delicious food.

Located on both Frances near the Kohl Center and near the capital-end of State St, Ian's essentially dominates the campus pizza scene. Both restaurants have a similar layout: a walk-up counter with many different pies on display for pizza by the slice. After selecting your favorite, the staff will help you warm it up in their pizza oven so that you have a nice and gooey slice in your plate in less than two minutes. The location on State St. has a bit more space for people to sit. On game days, the place (especially the Frances location) is especially packed but in general there is a pretty steady stream of diners during the peak hours.

Each slice at Ian's is a meal in and of itself (and, hey, if it isn't a second is only $3 more). The pieces are giant slabs, one of eight in a large 20-inch pie. There are generally about 10 different types to choose from - ranging from the typical cheese to the fancy steak and fries. The most popular variety, mac 'n cheese, has become such an iconic part of the UW experience you'll almost surely get asked if you've tried it your Freshman year - even if you are generally the cheese-eating type, you'll most likely love this flavor. Ian's also has a weekly special slice that's off the main menu (these guys are creative). Although the pizza itself is not the best in Madison (i.e. the pies at Pizza Brutta, Bellini's, etc. taste better), you have to give it to them for topping creativity and their iconic status among the university students. Also, the place features delivery and is pretty fast about the service.

Overall, Ian's is a fabulous place to go if you are looking for a cheap but tasty bite to eat with a group of friends downtown.

Okay, Tossy concedes that Ian's Pizza is certainly delicious. Mmm, and there are so many creative varieties of pizza, too. But why are there no vegan slices? Actually, Tossy already knows the answer to that question--Ian's Pizza had them at one time, before Tossy was a fresh skunk at UW-Madison, but nobody would eat them. Unfortunately, this means ordering an entire pizza every time Tossy wants Ian's. It's not a big deal though, since Ian's Pizza is still delicious.

Also, one time Tossy ordered a pizza from Ian's, requesting no cheese. The pizza arrived with cheese, but without marinara sauce. She is sure this is just a one-time mistake, though.

Adventure 28: Restaurant Muramoto

2008-08-05T14:38:00.010-05:00

Restaurant Muramoto (website)
225 King St.
3 Adjectives: ambrosial, adventurous, flavorful
Price: personal tapas (3) tapas (5-18)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: yelp, zagat, alllcallthetime...
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When you can step into a restaurant and confidently order the monkfish liver without second guessing yourself, you know you have entered one of the top of the line restaurants in town. Restaurant Muramoto is currently my all time favorite restaurant in Madison, and the only place I would happily blow $30 in one night for its food. Its owner, Shinji Muramoto, has won multiple Madison iron chef awards at the annual Madison Food and Wine show, proof to his amazing ability to create the best you'll find in town. The food is all Asian fusion and there are obvious nods to Japanese, Indian, Korean, and Chinese flavors.

Intrigued that Muramoto was moving to where Cocoliquot used to be, I called them up and was there the first night it re-opened, July 31st. The inside of the restaurant is much more spacious than the old location and features a large curved bar where you can sit and watch the chefs perform their magic. On any given night you can watch them start fires, use a blow torch (they use it on the gun smoke sushi roll), and carefully sprinkle that dash of greens to finish a gorgeous plate. This is far more exciting than watching any hibachi chef in town, as far as I am concerned. There is also regular seating as well as larger tables scattered across the restaurant.

The waitstaff at Muramoto are extremely gracious and helpful. They were all happy to explain the dishes and check on how we were doing.

For past diners: much of the menu has been expanded, especially sushi-wise, and there is now an additional section for mini-personal appetizers ($3 each or $7 for 3). My favorite out of the three we tried - scallops, monkfish liver, and kobe beef - was the kobe tartare with a quail egg on top. The marinate was perfect. Unfortunately, they have removed the earthen plates and replaced them with shiny white ones, but for some reason this fits better with the current atmosphere. I was also relieved that the prices had not been raised by more than $2, something I was fearing given the move.

Four of the best from the original menu remain: the subtle and tasty asian slaw (downsized and downpriced), the melt-in-your-mouth miso cod, the crispy and light scallops, and extremely addicting miso blue cheese hanger steak (above left, old version). There are also new delicious plates such as the orange grilled calamari salad(below right), harvest roll, and the chilled potato soup. The calamari has a wonderful spicy flavor and is paired perfectly with the rest of the veggies and orange slices in the salad. Special attention was paid to the sushi and the rice was nice and warm, exactly the way sushi ought to be (but is often not) served. Also, the cold potato soup was extremely savory yet sweet and smooth. The avocado pate with various tunas and salmon was also tasty if you are into a fancy version of tartare/sashimi. Possibly the only food that is not as exciting as the rest is the dessert. Although it is fun to try an exotic cheesecake or take a stab at ginger ice cream, sweets are not the forte at this restaurant.I insist that everyone try Restaurant Muramoto at least once. If you are going to splurge on food once in college, this is definitely the place to do it. For first timers: the hanger steak, miso cod, and asian slaw are not to be missed.

Adventure 27: Pizza Brutta

2008-08-04T12:37:00.002-05:00

Pizza Brutta (no website)
1805 Monroe St.
3 Adjectives: Tasty, cozy, healthy
Price: pizza (9-12)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: wisconsinstatejournal, yelp, thelostalbatross, selfloathingpopculturefanatic...
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Pizza Brutta is a very cute pizza place located across the street from Trader Joe's. After being tempted by it every time I shopped at TJ's, I finally decided to stop by one night.

The front of the building has a faux-brick house look and the inside has a nice walk-up counter to where you can order pizza and a sit-down area to eat it. The coolest part of the place is the gigantic wood oven located behind the counter where you can watch the chefs swerving their wooden peels, expertly avoiding yet tempting the flames. Definitely a major step up from the technique (and taste!) at Cosi's.

The menu features a variety of pizzas as well as the make-your-own option. It is clear from the choices that these guys know their stuff: there are both tomato and bianco (no sauce) pizzas and all of the ingredients are reminiscent of traditional Italian Neapolitan pizza, thin yet crunchy.

What gives Pizza Brutta the upperhand on many pizza places in town is the smoky flavor they have and the speed at which the pies are brought to your table. I ordered the proscuitto arugula, a white pizza with the italian salty ham, onion, and a variety of cheeses sprinkled with a fine helping of arugula. Despite lacking sauce the pizza tasted excellent and was crispy with a nice smoky flavor. My boyfriend ordered the four cheese and commented on how reminiscent it is of pizzas in parts of Italy.

Although Pizza Brutta is pricey for the personal pizza size you get, the reward is a very delicious pizza that you actually feel healthy about after consumption.

Adventure 26: Za's Italian Cafe

2008-08-03T14:42:00.010-05:00

Za's Italian Cafe (no website)
515 State St.
3 Adjectives: Customizable, quick, boring.
Price: entree (4-7) cheesecake (2)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Veganness:
Other Opinions: badgerherald, yelp, thedailypageforum...
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Za's is a very college-student friendly restaurant located where Blockbuster's used to be on State St. When you walk in, they have their menus on sheets of paper and provide golf pencils for you to fill out your exact order. The basic entree choices are: pizza, salad, sub, and pasta. There are generally several recommendations and plenty of extra space for customization. Perfect for people who love to customize their food, bad for people who actually want to eat good food.

I have been to Za's several times, yet honestly I can not bring myself to like their food (or drink for that matter). Although every time I have gone, I try to assemble seemingly tasty ingredient combinations - like the powerful apple, walnut, feta combo - I am ultimately disappointed. The toppings are generally sparse and there is very little attention put toward making these toppings fit with the rest of the dish. The biggest rip-off is the pizza, which has a really boring cardboard-like crust with the fewest toppings. Given some basic cooking skills, I feel like every dish at this restaurant can be easily prepared to taste much better in the comfort of the average person's own apartment.

As for the atmosphere, it is merely okay. Apart from peak hours, the fairly large restaurant is mostly deserted and seems to close rather early compared to most places on State Street. However, it is a good place to go with a group of friends since you will most likely be able to make a table big enough for all.

One thing I will give to Za's is the fact that they are willing to somewhat provide "gourmet" toppings. For instance they have shrimp, gorgonzola, and sun dried tomatoes. Another benefit of Za's is that they carry the overstock of Cheesecake Factory Cheesecake (don't worry, Cheesecake Factory also freezes their cakes so there's really no difference in taste). Since I am dying for the Cheesecake Factory to set up shop in town, I do enjoy these discounted cheesecake slices (beware: they are sometimes mislabeled at Za's) because they are much cheaper than Barnes and Noble, the only other place in town where I have been able to find this coveted cheesecake. This is especially exciting when they sometimes offer the cake as a discount after that rather tasteless entree.

I would recommend Za's if you are accompanying a group of Za's-loving friends or dining with someone who is picky about food, but don't expect to taste anything good. Here's a tip: order the cheesecake with your meal to make yourself feel better.

Don't go to Za's, unless you enjoy plates of cafeteria-like food, ordered sstandardized test style. Za's has a few things going for it, though. First of all, pretty much anything--paninis, pasta plates, salads, pizza--can be made vegan. There are also many fancy desserts that one can admire (but vegans cannot eat) while standing in line. One can also order smoothies. Tossy has always wanted to order one, but hasn't gotten around to it. Mainly because the food at Za's isn't all that great.

Adventure 25: Tex Tubbs Taco Palace

2008-08-02T13:32:00.005-05:00

Tex Tubbs Taco Palace (website)
2701 University Ave
3 Adjectives: Festive, texan, faux-Mexican
Price: app (3-8) entree (4-13)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: yelp, heyheyholymackerel, wisconsinstatejournal, wisonsinstatejournal2...
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Accessible by UW-Madison students through most buses that cross University Ave, I have ventured over to Tex Tubbs Taco Palace three times since it opened. I was pretty excited at the opening of this place since I love Bluephies and Firefly was really getting old.

The restaurant has a fabulous atmosphere, especially compared to its previous duller and pricey occupant, Firefly Cafe (amusingly, I accidentally walked in there once after missing the bus thinking it was actually a cafe). The restaurant is decorated with bold colorful faux-Texas signs and is completely decked out with Christmas lights. All three times, I have had to wait 10-15 minutes to be seated, evidence of the large crowds that seem to flock here on weekends. In addition, the waitstaff is wonderful and attentive. One neat thing to do here is shell out $3 and use the funky phonebooth with your friends.

As for the food at this place, it is clearly a step up from Firefly, but not something worthy of obsessing over. The entire menu at Tex Tubbs is a la carte, and you get charged extra for rice and beans. While it is nice that you won't end up over-ordering, the prices of many of the items are higher than other tastier dining establishments in Madison such as Taqueria Guadalajara and Laredos. One disappointment at Tex Tubbs is that even the very average bowl of chips and salsa is charged. At $3, I hesitated to order what is normally free at any other "Mexican" restaurant. Also, a lot of the food, such as the larger chunks of fish in the some of the fish tacos isn't evenly flavored and most of the dishes taste completely average but have a higher than average price. However, Tex Tubbs does have a few shining stars on their menu: the duck quesadilla is delicious and nowhere else in Madison are you going to find so many fish taco choices. The chimis are also delicious and, despite being a bit overpriced, I always find myself ordering the queso dip.

I would recommend Tex Tubbs for the wonderful festive atmosphere, and it certainly makes for a fun date any night of the week.

Adventure 24: Capital ChopHouse

2008-08-01T11:35:00.001-05:00

Capital ChopHouse (website)
9 East Wilson St.
3 Adjectives: Formal, elegant, classic.
Price: app (7-14) entree (22-43)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: madisonatoz, yelp, wisconsinstatejournal...
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Note from Jahboh: Hey all, I apologize for not being completely on top of things this summer (travel, work, etc). To make things up for the past couple of weeks, starting today I am launching a week's worth of reviews for the next seven days to push out those backlogged adventures. Thanks for all your support for J&T! :)

Tucked under the Residence Inn off the square is Capital Chop House, one of the fanciest restaurants you could ever go to in town. Fancy clothing is a must.

Immediately after walking in, I was greeted by someone offering to take my coat and I was ushered into the beautiful dining area. The interior of the restaurant has a beautiful amber glow. There is a main dining area with a private space off to the side. The bathrooms are stocked for almost any need you have, and even has personal Bath and Body Works lotions to take with you.

Since my visit was for a party, they had a nice vegetable and cheese display off to the side. A sign of fancy in the vegetable plate? Definitely the cooked asparagus that you can dip like any carrot stick. The food at the Chop House was impeccably prepared. I was very impressed since they had about 30 people to serve but the waitstaff remained very quick. My salad was good, my fillet mignon was perfectly prepared, and the cheesecake dessert was extremely rich. The food was definitely standard fancy-restaurant fare and there was nothing remarkable, which in this case may be a good thing.

Due to the extremely high prices, as a college student I probably will never go there again. However, I would recommend Capital Chop House for fancy business meetings or any time you are looking for a classic, delicious meal.

Adventure 23: Paciugo

2008-07-11T14:25:00.011-05:00

Paciugo Italian Gelato Renaissance (website)
341 State St.
3 Adjectives: Chic, comfy, adventurous.
Price: gelato (4-7)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Veganness:
Other Opinions: thedailypage, badgerherald, thedailypage, ...
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This place is really as good as it sounds, Italian Renaissance and all.

If you have not had the opportunity to try out one of the best frozen sweet treats ever invented, I urge you to go have some gelato. Paciugo (puh-CHEW-go) serves gelato that is both more flavorful (there have been over 50 flavors I've seen at Paciugo) and less fattening (70% less fat) than its sister, ice cream. To achieve ice cream smooth-y perfection, the gelato is frozen at a lower temperature than conventional ice cream and therefore something that you can not really get at the supermarket.

A visit to Paciugo never disappoints. The servers are really nice and you can try as many of the twenty-ish flavors they have laid out at the counter. Then you can select either three, four, or five flavors in dish or cone form.

The interior of Paciugo is very cute with a nice table and couch area and beautiful blue glass lamps hanging from the ceiling. The majority of the place is taken up by their large counter decked out with gelato. A little known secret: their bathroom is amazing. Just go in and try their soap and lotion. My only gripe about the interior is the size. Since its rising popularity, it has become harder and harder to find a seat during the peak hours (usually at night), and the place is certainly not able to entertain a coffee shop-like stop.

Back to the food: the thing to get at Paciugo is the gelato. Although the place also has other drinks, I have never found them to be quite as good as the plain gelato in a dish. There are both water-based and milk-based (regular and soy) gelato to choose from and both are excellent. Here, you'll find the typical ice cream and sorbet flavors like mint chip and strawberry, but Paciugo ultimately rewards the daring. Some of my favorite flavors include lychee, pistachio, rose (yes, the flower), black cherry swirl, pineapple, hazelnut, and Baileys. Some other interesting flavors I have tried are black pepper olive oil, strawberry balsamic vinegar, and bleu cheese (which I have found to be quite satisfying in small doses but probably not a full serving).

If you go there often enough, be sure to ask for a Paciugo card. The card tracks your purchases and you can redeem freebees after spending certain quantities (I've got two die-hard friends who are a few shy from a grande cooler ;P).

With dozens of flavors to choose from, it is not a place I see ever getting old. Paciugo has truly established a bustling niche in the heart of the many ice cream shops on State Street for years to come.

Every time Tossy walks by the Paciugo cafe, she is tempted to go inside. Delicious water-based gelato flavors are always available. Chocolate sherbet, kiwi, watermelon, and pink lemonade are among her favorites. She has also tried more exotic flavors, like "mango-cucumber", a combination that probably only works for gelato, and "strawberry pepper." Mmm.

Adventure 22: King of Falafel

2008-07-01T01:22:00.006-05:00

King of Falafel (website)
453 W. Gilman St.
3 Adjectives: Fancy, ethnic, helpful.
Price: app (4-7) entree (4-15)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: madisonatoz, yelp, dane101 ...
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With one entrance facing University and right next to a small parking lot, it's pretty hard to miss the white and green building that is King of Falafel. A couple of weeks ago, I finally got a chance to go inside and check the place out. Interestingly, I had not gone in the past because one of my friends claimed that it was a takeout place with little to no chairs, while about a year later another insisted that it was a sit-down restaurant. (I questioned both of them about whether they were talking about the same place!) It turns out both of them were correct: while King of Falafel has a take-out counter on the side facing University, the portion facing Gilman looks like the fancy dining room of any other restaurant.

The dining portion of the restaurant was a small room with about ten tables and lots of Middle Eastern decorations. Nice drape-like cloths covered the ceiling, giving the feeling of sitting in a tent. The take-out area lay beyond two double doors and looks like a counter out of Asian Kitchen. There were also a few Middle Eastern groceries on sale.

After taking a seat, we were greeted by a very pleasant waitress who gave us a wonderful cup of Turkish cardamom tea. The biggest perk in dining here is the free tea: served in beautiful Turkish tea glasses (right). The waitress was so good that neither of our tea cups or water glasses were ever empty - a huge perk!

We ended up settling on ordering the Vegetarian Mazza (above), or many small plates of appetizers. While some of the dishes were amazing, others were rather mediocre. One of our favorites was the M'hamara, a red pepper hummus-like dip. The sambosia, or samosa-like dish, was also very good. Other dishes, like a bowl full of pickles and the favabeans, were not as tasty. We ultimately decided that the Mazza was not worth its price ($28).

Overall, King of Falafel was a nice place to try out some Mediterranean food and sip delicious cardamom tea (which I have yet to find in a grocery store in town). However, if you are looking for a more tasty location, I'd recommend Husnus.

Adventure 21: Brocach

2008-06-10T21:38:00.008-05:00

Brocach Irish Pub (website)
7 W. Main St.
3 Adjectives: Generous, flavorful, cheery.
Price: app (3-13) entree (11-16)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: chowhound, yelp, madisonatoz, badgerherald...
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I've passed by Brocach, a large prominent restaurant on the square, many-a-time when I strolled the square for food because it always looked extremely cliche. Was I in for boring over-Americanized pub food? However, urged by a good friend, I overcame my stereotyping and finally went to Brocach. Surprisingly, I was completely blown away by the food and would definitely be up for a re-visit.

Upon entering Brocach, I was greeted with cheery Irish fiddle music. It turns out the restaurant has musicians on most nights, a wonderful touch to the food. The restaurant looks like an average pub with a large bar and plenty of seating room. There are interesting Gaelic designs all over the place and a nice dark and dingy atmosphere. They also have a second floor seating area, but was closed on that day for a private party.

My first course was a beet salad, which was delicious. I think beets get a horrible reputation because they are always presented at salad bars in a slimy acidic glob so you associate the preservatives with the flavor of the vegetable. However, fresh beets are delicious, juicy, and sweet if you know what to pair them with. In this case, Brocach was spot-on. The meaty beets were paired with spinach and a nice dressing. Next, I tried the fish fry which was again spot-on. The fish had a delicious crispy exterior and a nice meaty interior. My tip for going for the all-you-can-eat: leave the crispy shells out and just go for the meat. In addition, the fries and cole slaw were spot-on. My boyfriend had the bangers and hash and said it was delicious. The sausage was paired with a light apple syrup-like dressing and heaved onto a generous pile of mashed potatoes and the flavors were perfect.

I would highly recommend Brocach Irish pub for absolutely anyone looking for wonderful food and drink in a relaxed atmosphere.

Adventure 20: Nam's Noodles

2008-06-04T01:35:00.009-05:00

Nam's Noodles (no website)
1336 Regent St.
3 Adjectives: Savory, ethnic, delicious.
Price: entree (6-14)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Veganness:
Other Opinions: yelp, restaurantdb, ...
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Note*: I've noticed quite a few people are concerned about the status of Gum Seng so I will say this: I have a friend who collaborated with the Gum Seng owner to get her place set up and it seems like according to them Gum Seng isn't going to open up any time soon given the Union South repairs. Sad.

I said before that I thought there were no more delicious Chinese restaurants in town* but I am greatly mistaken. After getting a few tips about how almost every Asian in town eats at Nam's, I decided to try this restaurant using my ultimate test: my mom.

The restaurant is located next to Topper's pizza on Regent and has a small interior. It boasts itself as serving both Chinese and Vietnamese fare. Although the inside is not extremely remarkable in design, the sheer number of Asians eating inside was a sure sign of other successes.

The menu at Nam's is extremely impressive: it is nearly ten pages of food, food, food. After being at a loss about what to get, my family simply got the best hits. It was unanimously decided that all the food was very good and tasty. The short beef rib in black pepper sauce was particularly delicious but unfortunately had a bit of lack in chewiness. A fun dish to try is the mango fish fillet. The dish was a perfect balance of fresh fish and mango. My only complaint is that some of the photos on the menu do not match the food that you ultimately get. Also, it seems like people who don't have a good experience don't pick out the dishes this restaurant specializes in, so it is hard to say whether the many other dishes we did not try live up to their name.

Nam's was very courteous in that even though we arrived quite late, they stayed open extra for us and told us not to worry about the time. I really enjoyed the food and would definitely come again: especially for the noodles, since I have yet to try them. Nam's certainly makes a large leap towards the excellence that is Fortune (in Milwaukee), possibly the only acceptable Chinese restaurant in the State of Wisconsin.

Nam's left me extremely satisfied and I would highly recommend this place for anyone looking for an authentic Chinese food experience – even if you are trying to impress some harder to please Chinese friends.

The menu at the authentic Noodle place Nam's Noodles is very long, which isn't ideal for illiterate skunks...but perfect for vegans! Tossy had a large plate of noodles, vegetables, and tofu, which was delicious. She wished she had been able to try one of the yummy-looking drinks, like bubble tea or a smoothie, but she was simply too full. She hopes to return in search of more noodles and tofu soon.

Adventure 19: Sucre

2008-05-26T11:23:00.005-05:00

SUCRE IS NOW CLOSED.

Sucre (website)
20 W. Mifflin St.
3 Adjectives: Sterile, futuristic, glamorous.
Price: dessert (7-9)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: thedailypage, badgerherald, dane101, madisonmagazine...
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For a very unique big-city-like dessert experience, Sucre is definitely the place to go. This chic patisserie (which should not be confused with bakery) on the square is extremely interesting and fun. The interior of the restaurant feels space-age with a predominantly white and bright orange color scheme. Large plasma screens displayed moving blobulous-lava-lamp like colors while we enjoyed decadent desserts in an impeccably sterile and peaceful environment.

My visit to Sucre was a fascinating experience. After entering the patisserie, I was hit full-on with a wave of a delicious bakery smell, since the restaurant serves only dessert at night (they have sandwiches for lunch). Upon entering, you can make yourself to the back counter where you are either seated or you can order the desserts to go. My tip? Pick seated. Although the desserts are about 60% of the price when you get them to go (not to mention they get put into amazingly cute boxes), if you want the full dining experience, I would stay. Once again, you're paying for the atmosphere.

The prices at Sucre are steep but probably worth it for the unique impressiveness and design. Our waiter was extremely nice and prompt. After having an extremely difficult time with picking from the large array of deliciously looking treats that were lined up behind the counter, I finally decided to try the petite sampler: Chocolate Bouchee (chocolate tartlet, sacher torte, and chocolate mousse pomponette).

The desserts were brought over in fancy plates and the presentation was gorgeous. It was obvious extreme care was put into each added chocolate swirly design and each garnish. My boyfriend and I even argued over whether they went though the detail of sprinkling their food with transparent glitter-like sugar (they did). Our waiter was very eager to show us the sugar sprinkles. Turns out the sugar flakes are sent though a laser so they will have a CD-like iridescence when light reflects off of them.

In addition, the food tasted very good. Each bite was delicious and the flavors melded perfectly. The pomponette was especially rich and tasty. I was also thankful that none of the treats were overly sweet.

I left Sucre thinking about the lack of a real cosmopolitan restaurant that can pair up to the finish of Sucre. Nothing really stands up to the experience here like a Madisony-WD-50. I would highly recommend Sucre for a fancy girls night out experience as well as a stunning end to a romantic date.

Adventure 18: The Old Fashioned

2008-05-20T00:40:00.003-05:00

The Old Fashioned (website)
23 N. Pickney St.
3 Adjectives: Full, classic, relaxing.
Price: app (3-16) entree (5-24)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: yelp, dane101, thebrewlounge, wisconsinfishfry...
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Want to impress an out-of-state friend with the delicacies of Wisconsin? The Old Fashioned is where you want to go. The restaurant serves almost exclusively food originating from Wisconsin and is (mostly) an upscale version of a burger and sandwich restaurant. Like L'Etoile, but definitely not as fancy, this restaurant gets a lot of its ingredients from farms all over the state and then arranges them into a tasty meal.

The Old Fashioned is located right off the square and has a beautiful dark interior and is usually packed full of people. There is a large bar, and tables dispersed throughout the restaurant.

Our trip to The Old Fashioned was nice but not extremely remarkable. For an appetizer, we got the beer battered cheese curds. This was probably the most tasty part of the meal. The cheese curds were delicious and soft and gooey. For my main course, I had the grilled eggplant and portabella mushroom sandwich (with red pepper, zucchini, goat cheese, and black olive spread). The sandwich was nice and crispy and the flavors mixed well. However, the $8 a pop left me feeling like I could get the same effect for less elsewhere. My boyfriend got a summer sausage sandwich and said that it was also good. Unfortunately, besides the sandwiches, the prices of the very few entrees were much steeper, and therefore we steered clear of those.

The Old Fashioned deserves kudos for their ability to incorporate as many Wisconsin-y ingredients on their menu as possible. However, the restaurant in the eyes of a native Wisconsin college student is merely a fancy sit-down place for lunch if you are around the capital.

Adventure 17: Espresso Royale

2008-05-10T02:38:00.001-05:00

Espresso Royale (website)
650 State St.
3 Adjectives: Dark, crowded, friendly.
Price: coffee (2-5)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: yelp, madisonatoz, dane101, ...
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Since finals are just around the corner, I thought I'd squeeze in one last post before the week of hell. In the spirit of finals, I present to you a great coffee shop to study in, if you are into this sort of thing.

My discovery of Espresso Royale last year was out of sheer desperation as I hugged ten pages of notes I needed to cram for an exam next morning. I was determined to get some coffee, and stumble-hurled into the nearest coffee shop on State, which turned out to be Espresso. I am a studier who generally needs to be away from my highly distractive computer (although there is free wifi at Espresso) and need others studying around me so I do not find myself staring out into space. I decided to settle down in the shop after finding a nice single table, clutching my chai with a single shot of espresso.

Espresso Royale, the one closer to Library Mall, is and has always been filled with students. The coffee shop is usually chock full of some folks talking, but mostly students studying and has a wonderful quiet chatty atmosphere. Although the coffee is average, the folks are nice and it has a perfect study ambiance, for me anyway. I save it for those special occasions when I have to cram a whole lotta notes at one time while sipping my chai in the corner.

As a dining place, Espresso Royale's drink and food is quite average. You can certainly find better coffee and better chai further down State. Even their sandwiches (I tried the turkey avocado a few weeks ago) are mediocre. However, it is possibly one of the most ideal locations for college students as it fulfills the requirement of proximity - both location-wise and peer-wise.

Espresso Royale is the perfect location to buckle down, study, and feel connected to those around you as you prepare for that next test. It is the ultimate college coffee shop experience. And my exam? I definitely scored an A.

Adventure 16: Five Guys

2008-05-03T13:05:00.003-05:00

Five Guys (website)
517 State St.
3 Adjectives: Showy, convenient, filling.
Price: burger (3-6)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Veganness:
Other Opinions: dailycardinal, badgerherald, isthmus, yelp, quomodocumque...
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Although I'm probably going to get kicked for doing this, Five Guys is definitively getting a 3-star in my book. A 3-star in being the best cheap burger joint downtown, that is. After the restaurant opened in March, I have seen a constant stream of people lining up for the food. Apprehensive about the long wait, I finally visited on a day I had some free time. Surprisingly, the line at the burger joint moves very fast - especially for a place that cooks the never-frozen meat on the spot. If you don't like any wait, there are boxes and boxes of self-serve peanuts for the stay.

The design of Five Guys can be described with the cliche "If you've got it, flaunt it." The restaurant does just that. The checkered walls are plastered with articles about it success (most notably "Why go to McDonald's if you can go to Five Guys?"), and there's even a bulletin board with notecards for kids to draw what they most like about Five Guys. Like every other hour I pass by Five Guys, the interior was filled with college students. Luckily, the joint seems to have their calculus down and the rate of getting your food seems to equal the rate of sitting and eating so that there is practically no wait for seating once you have paid for your grub.

Food served at Five Guys comes in four simple nouns: burgers, hot dogs, grilled cheese, and fries. One quirk is that the normal burger has two patties while the "little" denotes only one patty. Although the menu is limited, the restaurant is extremely good at what it serves. All you have to do is pay for the base price and all the toppings are free. This is especially exciting for a topping-lover like me who often has to ponder over the value of adding 50 cents for lettuce.

My burger was nice and juicy and the cajun fries I got with it were great. My only complaint about Five Guys is that their bread is a little soggy and the eating of my ambitiously topping-filled burger soon got messy. However, that is partly the fun of it. In addition, I can't imagine this being a very vegetarian-friendly locale, unless you order the suspiciously titled "veggie or grilled cheese" and go for a topping sampler.

Eating at Five Guys is like being able to enjoy Madison's famed bratfest at your convenience: the food is cheap but tasty and the atmosphere is wonderfully collegiate. I definitely foresee myself returning to Five Guys whenever I want to satiate my desire to have a nice classic burger.

Five Guys, an all-American burger joint, is really not the kind of place a vegan would normally go. However, after Jahboh showed me the number of google searches with the key words "vegan" and "five guys," I decided to check it out. As it turned out, it is possible to order a full vegan meal at this place. One can order fries, which are vegan (cooked in peanut oil). One can also order a "veggie" sandwich, i.e. bread with some selection of veggies from a list. I did not try the veggie sandwich, but I did split an order of fries with Jahboh. They were very greasy and salty (the bag of fries was already see-through when it was handed to us), but this is probably what made them taste good.

Adventure 15: Bellini's

2008-05-02T01:40:00.006-05:00

Bellini's (website)
401 E. Washington Ave.
3 Adjectives: Fancy, okay, quiet.
Price: entree (15-26)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Veganness:
Other Opinions: madisonatoz, yelp, judysbook, ...
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Bellini's is one of the more fancier restaurants in town. It is located slightly beyond the capital coming from State Street, which is quite a walk. Make sure you give them a call before you go - once I tried to go there but the place was booked for a rehearsal dinner!

Although the prices are steep, Bellini often puts a coupon in the Bucky Book. In addition, they have nightly specials, the best one being Tuesday's 2 for 1 pizza.

Built in a renovated church, Bellini has an innately beautiful and elegant appearance. The interior of the restaurant has an amazing vaulted ceiling and makes it feel private yet not claustrophobic.

The menu at Bellini is similar to any other Italian restaurant with a interesting difference. There is an appetizer-like pasta course similar to what you would find in a restaurant in Italy. You are offered marinara or alfredo. I urge you to go for the alfredo, even if it hikes up the caloric count.

Which brings me to another point. The food at Bellini's is variable. My dishes of marinara pasta appetizer and Vitello Romano (veal sauteed with tomatoes, cheese, and proscuitto) tasted average. The veal was especially disappointing, with the tomatoes overwhelming the flavor of the dish, and I would have much preferred a cheaper chicken. On the other hand, both the alfredo pasta and Gamberi al Forno (large shrimp broiled with garlic, olive oil, wine, and capers) my boyfriend ordered were much more delicious. The alfredo sauce especially had a fine seafoody taste without being overwhelming.

Bellini's is a wonderful place to go for a celebration. However, if you want to enjoy the atmosphere and pay a lot less, go for the Tuesday night special with a friend.

Before reviewing Bellini's, Tossy should warn you that there is nothing specifically vegan on the menu at Bellini's (there are two or three vegetarian dishes, however). The best plan for a vegan would be to order a personal pizza, but request that the cheese be left off of it.

Tossy has never filled up on bread before like she has at Bellini's--it was warm and soft with a flaky crust. The texture of the pizza crust was nice, too, although it was pretty salty--perhaps too salty.
Also, the pizza had no sauce, so without the mozerella, the toppings didn't stick to the pizza in the way that Tossy is used to.

Adventure 14: UNO Chicago Grill

2008-04-26T11:13:00.012-05:00

UNO Chicago Grill (website)
222 W. Gorham St.
3 Adjectives: Fun, friendly, delicious.
Price: app (8-11) pizza (9-10, 15-18) entree (8-19)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Veganness:
Other Opinions: yahoo, ...
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A few weeks ago, a group of friends and I headed over to UNOs to feast on their deep dish pizza. If you have not been to a UNOs for awhile, a huge difference in the recent years is a large expanded menu with a lot more options than just pizza. The restaurant has also been renamed from Pizzeria UNO to the more awkward, UNO Chicago Grill to accompany this menu expansion.

The downtown UNOs in Madison is in a perfect location. It is conveniently located right off of State Street which somewhat matches its downtown pizzeria atmosphere it tries to create. One of the perks we didn't test out, but has been mentioned to me as being fun, is the drinks and half price appetizers available during happy hour.

We ordered various deep dish pizzas, flatbread, side salad, and one person ordered the steak and shrimp entree. The pizzas overall were very delicious and the deep dish has a perfect crispiness without being overly greasy. However, the other food available on the menu is quite lacking. The steak dish was fairly mediocre.

UNOs is also very courteous and the service is wonderful. On this particular visit, someone received the wrong pizza size and got to keep that in addition to getting another pizza of the correct size. In a past visit, they accidentally forgot to take out a topping and gave us that pizza for free along with a correct pizza and on top of that, a free dessert.

I would definitely recommend UNOs for any group dining occasion, especially if you are up for some tasty deep dish pizza.

Tossy had a flat-bread pizza with chunky tomato sauce and mushrooms, along with a delicious raspberry-lime cooler. Both were found to be delicious. The flat bread for the pizza was as fresh as it could have been, unlike the stale flat bread one sometimes finds at restaurants. Tossy really has good things to say about the food she enjoyed. In general, she noticed that Uno's is on the pricier side of college fare, but she did not end up paying too much (since vegan items on menus tend to be cheaper than non-vegan items in general). She is also delighted that Uno's participated in the "Tasty Way to Raise Some Dough" fund raiser for Kenya.

Adventure 13: Porta Bella

2008-04-17T15:22:00.002-05:00

Porta Bella (website)
425 N. Frances Street
3 Adjectives: Luxurious, antique, romantic
Price: entree (11-27)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: yellowpages, associatedcontent, googlemaps, yellowbot...
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A couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine asked me for the most romantic restaurant downtown to take a girl on a date for about $20 a dish. I hesitated for longer than I would have liked, muttering names like "The Icon" "Le Chardonnay" and "Tutto Pasta." The simple question had surprisingly stumped me. Although the aformentioned locations are by all means wonderful date restaurants, I felt that each of them lacked a certain amout of romantic privacy and intimacy. I have now definitively pinned down THE PLACE, THE RESTAURANT to book your reservation: Porta Bella.

Stepping into Porta Bella, a restaurant tucked slightly off of State Street, is like stepping into a different era. The restaurant has an outer courtyard that starts setting the mood even before you enter the building. Although when I went the weather was still very much wintry, I have heard that the courtyard is gorgeous in the summer time. The inside of the building reminds you of a victorian house: you are immediately greeted with a gigantic fireplace with comfy sofas inside the door. The tables are mostly arranged in booths and all of the furniture and decorations add to the theme of victorian luxury. If you arrive with a group of friends, see if you can snag one of the "hot air balloon tables." These round tables are encircled by a circular sofa-like chair and the area is partially shrouded by velvet curtains, giving you the illusion of sitting in a hot air balloon.

If you are looking for exceptional food, however, Porta Bella is probably not the place for you. The food is good but clearly overpriced: you are paying for the atmosphere. The owners of the restaurant also own Paisans, the restaurant previously occupying where Lucky is now, a cheaper restaurant on the other side of the capital. For an appetizer, we ordered the spinach dip, which was baked and added a nice touch to the sauce. I ordered the seafood tetrazzini and the dish tasted delicious but was lacking in size for the $18 price tag. My boyfriend ordered the shrimp and scallops with tomato cream sauce - which turned out to be less delicious than the vodka cream sauce at Pizza di Roma. We both agreed that the food was not worth the bill but the decor more than made up for it.

I would recommend Porta Bella for whenever you are in need of going to possibly the most romantic place in town to impress that spouse, significant other, or crush.

Adventure 12: Takara

2008-04-10T01:15:00.002-05:00

Takara Japanese Restaurant (website)
315 State St.
3 Adjectives: Expensive, entertaining, mediocre.
Price: app (4-10) entree (6-30)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: yelp, onwisconsin, yahoolocal, amake...
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Spring is here. Time for a new look and long walks to the best of Madison dining.

Takara is one of the two Japanese restauarants on State Street. Although the atmosphere is much more upscale than its competitor, Wasabi, the quality of the food and service is somewhat variable.

The restaurant features many bamboo decorations and is divided into a general dining section, a hibachi grill section, and a sushi bar. Since Ginza's closure, Taraka probably has the sole hibachi experience in downtown Madison. At the hibachi, a server will cook your food in front of you on a giant hot grill and chances are he will also demonstrate some neat knife tricks. Come with a big party for this, because if you come with one or two others, chances are you will have to share your table with another party, which can sometimes be awkward.

On my most recent trip to Takara, I went with a friend for dinner. He ordered several sushi rolls while I settled with Yaki Udon and a few sashimi a la carte. Luckily the server seated us close to the hibachi grills, so we got a nice view of the knife throwing action. Although I usually get very slow service at Takara, our server was very prompt and straightforward. However, our food did not arrive at the same time, something that this restaurant has never quite got right.

I was surprised when my sashimi arrived that all the fish portions were nice and generous. This is usually where Japanese restaurants in the US are skimpy. The only lack of foresight on my part was ordering a piece of toro (tuna belly) which turned out to be $6 - much higher than the price of most single sashimi pieces ($1.7-$2.5)! Therefore, I would advise asking the server before you order "seasonal priced" items.

On the other hand, the yaki udon was a complete disappointment. The pasta was not very tasty and was tossed with too many random vegetables. In addition, the plate was strangely decorated with a border of orange slices (not knowing what else to do, I ate them for "dessert").

My friend seemed to enjoy his sushi, however, and mentioned that Takara has a good sushi roll lunch special (two for $8.5, three for $11.25 - with soup/salad). Here's our two cents on Taraka: pass up the pricey dinner - unless you are ordering hibachi to entertain guests - and try out the sushi for lunch.

Adventure 11: D.P. Dough

2008-04-03T17:05:00.008-05:00

D.P. Dough (website)
244 W. Gilman St.
3 Adjectives: Filling, awkward, bland.
Price: 'zone (6.5)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Veganness:
Other Opinions: madisonatoz, yelp, badgerherald ...
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One of the one-shot wonders that recently opened up close to State Street, D.P. Dough feels like anything but that. I couldn't help but go to the restaurant a couple of weeks ago after debating with a friend the merits of Luvshack versus D.P. Dough, two rivals that make pretty much the same thing. To settle this, I decided I might as well try one out, and later, the other.

Upon entering the restaurant, the first thing I noticed was the odd arrangement of dining space (my hunch was later verified upon reading the same in the Badger Herald's review). The location of the tables and chairs looked awkward and large open spaces were left in various parts of the restaurant. It did not help that only three other customers were there - something I see quite often when I pass the place. The strange placement of chairs also added to the disorganization of the place and the dining area was adorned with two incongruous flashy flat screen TVs- two flat screen TVs that weren't really being watched and only contributed to background noise. Although I was not optimistic about the seating arrangement, I figured the food might be worth it.

The restaurant sells around fifty varieties of calzones, or 'zones, as they like to call them. Each calzone is at a fixed price of $6.5 and you are also able to design your own. One inconvenience I found was an extra charge of $0.5 for using credit card. Upon first glance the menu can seem a little daunting and it took quite awhile before I was able to settle on a classic: mangus zone - pepperoni, pesto, tomato, mozzarella, spinach. I figured, if they can make a traditional, they can make anything.

Our calzones arrived at our table hot and were fairly large. However, we soon discovered they did not have much flavor and the only way to assuage the problem was to consume large amounts of dipping sauce. In addition the crust was not particularly remarkable probably because it was advertised as "fat free." However, we were not sure how much that really mattered considering the inside was stuffed with cheese and was incredibly greasy. After eating 3/4 of my 'zone and feeling rather greased out, I concluded that D.P. Dough is not really worth the money. Ed's Express makes better calzones for cheaper if you have dorm connections.

Honestly, I would not really recommend D.P. Dough to anyone. Then again, maybe I got the bad end of the fare and I should give the place another go - going carryout, that is.

DP dough is another franchise I only went to because vegans seem to be google-searching it. My advice, whether you are vegan or not, is to avoid it. Yes, you can get a vegan calzone at DP dough (you can make your own in the "construction zone"). Yes, the dough is vegan, mainly because it does not contain any ingredients. It is advertised as fat free, and is consequently taste free as well. The breadsticks use the same dough, and are consequently also fat free, barring anything cheesy topping. I ordered a calzone with mushrooms, spinach, potatoes, and olives, which came with marinara dipping sauce. A few times I was squirted with ultra hot veggie juice. Mmm...fat free, salt free, flavor free veggie calzone. Sounds healthy. Too healthy. Stay home for lunch.

Adventure 10: Buffalo Wild Wings

2008-03-30T20:44:00.002-05:00

Buffalo Wild Wings (website)
529 State Street
3 Adjectives: Collegiate, busy, stereotypic.
Price: entree (5-16)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: judysbook, madisondining, madisonatoz, ulitmatemadisonbartour...
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Buffalo Wild Wings sits at one of the nicest locations on State and truly works a charm in preaching to the choir. Like their motto claims, "wings. beer. sports." can certainly rake in many college students. At least, that's what most people were eating, drinking, and watching when I went to BWW two Sundays ago.

Buffalo Wild Wings has a nice setup when you first walk into the door. The first floor reminds you of a typical college sports bar and the basement contains more seating area. One problem with the restaurant having two floors, however, is that it's hard to find your waitress if you sit on the floor below. This was precisely our problem when we went dining there - we kept on running out of water and couldn't find our waitress for ages!

The only item that I order at BWW is their wings, since everything else on the menu seems to rest around mediocre. If you go on Tuesdays, they even have a 35 cent wing special. Sadly, I had to contend to the normal pricing of $4 for six. What brings the wings above mediocre, are the sauces and dips that accompany the experience. Feeling a bit bold, I ordered wings with Honey BBQ sauce (heat level 6) and the nice-sounding Mango Habanero sauce (heat level 12). I figured the mango-ness would make up for the heat. However, I was gravely mistaken. After eating two pieces of wings my body was shaking - I have never been so spiced out in my life! Therefore, I'd advise abiding to their heat levels. My friend ordered the chicken bacon burger and said it was average. We topped off our meal with a nice slice of warm apple pie.

Buffalo Wild Wings is a perfect place for the average group of college students to hang out and eat some cheap and tasty wings. With such a great location on campus, the restaurant and bar is sure to attract students for years to come.

Adventure 9: Samba

2008-03-24T23:40:00.016-05:00

Samba Brazilian Grill (website)

240 W. Gilman St.
3 Adjectives: showy, friendly, bountiful.
Price: veg (15) meat (33)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: yelp, centralmadisonliving, wisconsinstatejournal, thedailypageforum...
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Now you might be wondering: why has Jahboh not stumbled upon such a place earlier in her adventures? Having previously been to a churrascaria in Florida and not having the best of experiences, I was quite wary of the Brazilian steakhouse that opened up in Madison. The past trip to Miami generated a bill of over $200, with fickle waiters who tried to guilt us into spending more and forcing obscenely large quantities of meat on our plates. Therefore, I had somewhat low expectations when I stepped into Samba with my friend two Sundays ago. Thankfully, Madisonians are wonderful and these folks know how to do churrascaria honestly; my trip this time was a fabulous laid-back experience.

Samba Grill, for those of you who do not know much about it, is a prix fixe churrascaria, which is essentially an all-you-can-eat meat fest. Although they do offer a salad bar only vegetarian option, my opinion is that it is not worth the price. Admittedly eating piece after piece of everything from fillet mignon to chorizo is not exactly healthy, but a trip once in awhile shouldn't hurt too much.

The interior of Samba is dim, elegant, and busy - even on a Sunday - which is very promising for the buisness. The restaurant is hard to spot when you are walking on State because of the large building - a church, I think? - on Gilman that blocks its way. However, once you arrive there, the interior is surprisingly chic and modern. Samba shares the building with its sister restaurant the Cabana Room (downstairs), which features normal dining. The emphasis of the design inside the restaurant is big and bountiful. The inside is spacious and has an upper balcony for more diners. There is also a stage with musicians playing slow jazzy music (click for music schedule). The salad bar itself features a giant vase with a cournacopia of flowers erupting from it, a typical centerpiece for a churrascaria (left).

The food at Samba is a beast of in itself, so make sure you are hungry before you dig in. It is interesting to have seen the churrascaria phenomenon embraced in the US. After all, big steaks is what a large part of American food is all about. Each Brazilian steakhouse is nearly identical in design: a flamboyant salad bar and gaucho-dressing males walking around the room carrying impressive skewers of meat. It makes me wonder whether this is purely an American phenomenon or whether something like this actually exists in Brazil. Once we were seated, we were given the directions: enjoy the salad bar and then once you're ready, flip over the hourglass-like wood block in the middle of the table to "green" to start the meat course. Our waitress turned out to be a really nice and cheerful woman who helped us try each of the nine varieties of meat in the house by even finding the correct gauchos and leading them to our table. She also gave us a useful fact about the restaurant: the meat doesn't really change but the salad bar is always different.

The salad bar turned out to be rather mediocre. We tried a little bit of everything (right) and most of the food did not seem like it would constitute a full portion of meal. The pasta salads were average and many of the plates at the bar were filled with more snack-like items - such as pickles - than food that could actually be filling. One dish that was surprisingly good was the seaweed and octopus salad. Other items, like the salami, were downright uninteresting and some that had been clearly submerged in vinaigrette for hours were veering on the unedible. It is this reason that I feel compelled to tell vegetarians: don't eat here; it's not worth the price.

After a light trip to the salad bar to tempt our palate, we started our long haul through the nine meat options. Luckily, the portions served by the gauchos were nice and small. After polling each other, we both arrived at nearly the same order for the meat:
1) duck breast
2) top sirloin
3) flank steak
4) beef tenderloin wrapped in bacon
5) pork tenderloin, rack of lamb
7) leg of lamb, beef ribeye
9) chorizo sausage

By far, the duck breast surpassed all other meats served. The meat was tender and had a delicious marinate. Among the beef, the top sirloin won out and was a nice balance of tenderness and flavor. It was surprising that the fillet mignon was not as appealing as the rest. Although the meat was incredibly tender, the bacon did not seem to be a good complement. The lamb and pork dishes were average and unremarkable. Finally, the chorizo is not worth trying at all; it tasted like an average breakfast sausage. There were no chicken entrees but our waitress did mention that they are in the development of a new chicken dish.

Our trip to Samba felt like a well-guided tour of steakhouse cuts and preparations. Since the price is steep and there is unlimited meat to consume, Samba is not for the faint of heart. I would recommend it for meat and steak lovers in Madison who are able to pay extra to eat a little bit of everything.

Adventure 8: Rising Sons Deli

2008-03-15T12:28:00.015-05:00

Rising Sons Deli (menu from menupix)
617 State Street
3 Adjectives: quirky, spicy, friendly
Price: entree (6-12)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Veganness:
Other Opinions: yelp, thedailypage, ...
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Two weekends ago, a group of us all made our way over to Rising Sons Deli, a restaurant loved by Tossy. Rising Sons used to be open in University Square but now has moved up and into State Street. The food featured is Thai/Laotian and most of the food is at a nice price of <$9. The most peculiar aspect of Rising Sons is that the owners never fully refurbished the interior, so the restaurant still has much of the old retro memorabilia from its previous owner. Therefore a juxtaposition of retro egg chairs and guitar photo tables with Thai food makes the inside of the restaurant feel more cluttered than it is. Also the elongated restaurant with an odd placement for a bar makes the place feel small. Despite the quirkiness of the restaurant, the food was much better than I expected. I ordered the classic pad thai: a great way to measure how good a thai restaurant is. Other table mates had coconut chicken noodle soup, pad se eui (above), and curry squash. The pad thai was very tasty, although I would have liked it to be less sweet - a common problem with Americanized East/Southeast Asian cuisine. In addition, it was less savory than that I have tried at Sa Bai Thong but much better than what is "made" at Noodles. Also, I liked the array of yummy hot sauces that were on the table to use. Everyone else seemed to enjoy their food. In addition, our service was fabulous. We even got an array of candy when we paid our bill. Rising Sons Deli is a refreshing change from the many European and American restaurants that line the first few blocks of State Street coming from campus. In addition, it's the only Thai restaurant that is within walking distance, if you are ever hungry for Thai. However, if you are looking for extremely delicious Thai food, I would recommend hopping a bus and hitting Sa Bai Thong further west on University.

Tossy really loves Rising Son's. She has been there countless times. She highly recommends the curry squash with tofu. However, she would like to warn any of you vegans/vegetarians out there that not everything on the menu that Rising Son's claims can be made vegetarian or vegan actually can be. Many of these dishes are made with animal broth or oyster sauce. However, the curry squash is one of the few dishes that can be made vegan, and Tossy is sure you will love it, even if you are a carnivorous snow leopard.

Adventure 7: Subway

2008-03-11T20:46:00.004-05:00

Subway (website)
1401 University Ave.
3 Adjectives: Fast, cheap, tasty.
Price: sub (4-7)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: could not find any of that location
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Yeah, that's right. That Subway by Henry Mall. I happen to a rather frequent (at least once a month) diner at this Subway, mostly out of convenience (I'd much rather go to Potbelly's, for instance, but it's just too far). This time, I just took it a step further and started to analyze what I was eating.

My friend and I strolled over to Subway last week after finishing class for a quick lunch. Subway in itself is not great, but this one happens to be in an amazing location to serve west campus. People everywhere from the Med Sci to Biochemistry seem to congregate at this geographical location at lunch time. And who can blame them? I got thirty minutes 'til my electrophoresis is done... perfect, a pilgrimage to Subway!

To be honest, I am a pretty big Cousin's fan, since I think they have two amazing - and addicting - classics: club and roast beef. Yet for some reason, the Cousin's on west campus just leaves far too much to be desired. From their cold and un-crispy shredded lettuce to their not-as-appealing bread, I just feel like they can't compare to the ideal Cousin's in my minds-eye. Therefore, with twenty minutes 'til class, very few options - and oops I forgot to pack my lunch - I usually find myself at Subway.

The biggest issue I have with Subway - or perhaps only this particular Subway - is that they don't give enough meat! As you longtime readers know, Jahboh is a snow leopard for a reason (tangent: NYT article about women who love meat) and darn it, I get rather pissed when I pay $5 and I see them put on TWO thin - like 1mm... maybe?- slices of Turkey. Also I am too stingy to pay extra for meat. Really, I shoudn't need to; what particularly irked me this visit was the fact that I actually got 1/2 as much meat as the guy I had lunch with. I even got the "spicy italian," which is totally the meat to $ ratio maximizer. Not okay.

In addition, I would not recommend ordering the pizza. Ever. The pizza is frozen and they generally add one meat topping and as many veggies as you want. However, the formula for add-what-you-want for Subway's subs simply doesn't yield a very good or coherent tasting pizza. If you want a pizza, spend $2 more and get a large from your nearest pizza chain or go to Ed's. Even the dorm pizza is better and a better deal.

That said, in general I have to admire Subway for being pretty good about non-meat issues. Their Italian herbs and cheese bread is by far the best of the line. Also, I appreciate their generosity with the veggies. In addition, their cookies are not too bad either.

However, the next time you go to Subway, I suggest you grab your nearest football-player-looking friend and hope that they give you some extra meat... for no extra charge.

Adventure 6: Kabul

2008-03-08T21:48:00.002-06:00

Kabul Afghanistan Restaurant (no website)
541 State Street
3 Adjectives: Spicy, savory, salty.
Price: app (4-9) entree (9-16)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: madisonatoz, yelp, badgerherald, menuism ...
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Last weekend, my boyfriend and I headed over to Kabul, one of several middle eastern restaurants on campus. What interested me about Kabul is the previous positive experience I had at the restaurant and I wanted to go again to try it out. What is interesting about Kabul is its proximity to Husnus, another great restaurant in its own respect and the two tend to get compared quite a lot due to several overlapping dishes. Personally, being a Kabul fan, I was determined to go there first and try Husnus another time for a final comparison.

The interior of Kabul has the perfect atmosphere for its cuisine. I was quickly whisked away to a restaurant of fanciful middle eastern flair. Also the waitstaff was very friendly and helpful.

We were first given some pita, which was slightly plain but good. If you catch them at the right time, their pitas can also be toasty and crunchy. The salad/ soup course consisted of a nice fresh salad with yogurt dressing and a spicy bean soup. The soup was good but was a little on the salty side and had a spicy smoky taste.

For an appetizer, we got the bulani, samosa-like large triangular dumplings filled with potatoes and spices. Although the bulani was good, we concluded that it did not have as much kick as the bulani from the restaurant across the street: Maza.

Our main dishes were the vegetarian ashak and the qabuli murgh. The ashak consisted of nice and spicy cilantro dumplings. The qabuli murgh was a spicy chicken fried rice with raisins. The dish was delicious and the chicken cooked to perfection. However, the dish was a tad salty.

Overall the experience at Kabul was wonderful but not as superb as past visits. In the past, I remember really enjoying their chicken kabob. In addition, one dish I heard about afterward that I missed out on was the duck strudel special that is sometimes offered. This demands a future visit!

Adventure 5: Bradbury's

2008-02-28T12:22:00.007-06:00

Bradbury's Coffee (website)
127 N. Hamilton St.
3 Adjectives: Green, cosmopolitan, fresh.
Price: drinks (2-5) crepes (3-7)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: badgerherald, dailypage, ...
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Last weekend a friend and I decided to check out one of the new upstarts in the Madison coffee scene: Bradbury's. It was a long trek to the Capital square in search of this coffee shop, which ended up being tucked in a triangular intersection facing N. Hamilton.

The owners of Bradbury's previously owned Ancora coffee, another local coffee chain in town. I love how the name is a spoof on the British author. The design of the coffeeshop definitely maximized the little space they had: the counter was wedged along the wall away from the street and large windows facing the intersection allowed shop-goers, sit, sip and watch outside (which, admittedly, is a bit dreary in this time of the year). A cleverly hidden ladder lead to a loft-like upper deck where hundreds of jars of creamy nutella and other ingredients were kept.

The design of the coffee shop also emphasized greenness. All the bowls, mugs, and dishes were an organic earthen brown, a chalkboard listed the daily eats, and even the chairs and tables added to the naturalness of the locale. My only quibble about the coffee shop is the lack of seats in the place. Since the shop was so small, it detracted from anyone staying for a very long time. Most people seemed to sit down, have their coffee, chat for a bit, and leave. There was almost a vulturous tension in the air from the people sitting on stools to leap upon one of the only four tables upon it's vacancy.

In terms of food, I was eager to try their crepes after reading several positive reviews. Bradbury's uses completely organic and local ingredients in their sweet (raspberry, banana, etc.) and savory (ham and swiss, wild mushroom, etc.) crepes. I ordered the raspberry nutella crepe while my friend got raspberry lemon. The crepes at Bradbury's did not disappoint, despite the service being a little slow (we waited over ten minutes for the food). Each crepe was filled with a delicious balance of egginess, fruitiness, and chocolateness. I was, however, a bit disappointed at how small the crepe was; this is definitely not a place to go looking for a meal.

Not feeling up for coffee, I did ask my friend about the tea he was sipping. The care they put into their tea was clearly visible: the tea was portioned and placed into little satchels tied with a fancy knot. He said that although it looked fancy, it tasted quite average.

Although I did not try the coffee, I concluded that Bradbury's was a neat little place to visit, but I don't think it's worth more treks up State and around the square. It's best to hone your crepe making skills at home and buy your own organic raspberries at Trader Joe's or Whole Foods.

Adventure 4: The Icon

2008-02-22T16:40:00.006-06:00

The Icon (website)
206 State Street
3 Adjectives: Chic, perky, modern.
Price: tapas (4-9) entree (17-23)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: madisonatoz, wisconsinstatejournal, badgerherald, yelp
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I have twice been to the new and highly praised The Icon, a nice tapas bar located across the street from the Overture. Like the Overture itself, this small place is glamorous and snazzy, mirroring the avant-guard dishes that the restaurant tries to put out. The inside of The Icon is a well-planned out mix of red, white and black. The theme is retro movies, and the place is decorated with plush red seats, some flat screens, and every possible movie memorabilia you can find in red, white or black. There is also a bar with a large selection of wines.

Interestingly, the owner of The Icon also owns Frida's, the mexican restaurant up a block and across the street. However, the fancier fare at The Icon is not something you would be able to spot if you were to go to Frida's. Some of the fancier ingredients used at The Icon include chevre (goat cheese), spanish chorizo, pine nuts, and a variety of imported cheeses and olives. On the other hand, the restaurant does mirror Frida's in some of the Spanish-tilting dishes. After all, tapas is a Spanish creation.

Although The Icon has entrees, a more fitting and fun way to enjoy the place is to try a selection of their tapas - small appetizer-like plates of food. Accordingly, The Icon prices their food as such; their try-as-you-like desserts are only $3 a pop. On the other hand, the money does add up, because many of the tapas dishes are quite small. Therefore, what is highly suggested is if you bring a group of four interested in food: then you can try a variety of nice dishes and split the bill. On the first trip, I had a selection of tapas while on the second I went for their special Valentine's Day dinner. I will try to address each of these experiences separately.

What is deceiving about the menu at The Icon is the seemingly plainness of each of the dishes. Surely "caesar salad" and "fish fry" are dishes you could find at practically any place in town, yet what makes this place unique is the way each of the dishes is prepared and presented. Possibly the most amazing is the wild mushroom soup (left), a phenomenal mix of savoriness and creaminess in each mouthful. The crispy bleu cheese toasts (generally crispy and buttery day-old baguette slices) complement the soup perfectly. This dish is flawless and a must-order. I'll save the neat presentation of this dish for you to find out.

Another good find is the ahi tuna tartare, if you are very adventurous. I decided to try the tartare on a whim (possibly due to subliminal messages from watching too much TopChef; it seems like almost every course has a tartare, doesn't it?) and it was delicious. The dish consists of delicate pieces of raw tuna complemented with a lovely parsley-caper sauce and bold roasted tomatoes. The tuna is spread onto toasts, similar to lox on bagels. What really surprised and delighted me about The Icon is when we asked for more toasts (only two were given with the tartare), they actually gave us a basket of precious crispy, buttery toasts instead of cheap bread. What a nice touch! The Icon also has a nice selection of flatbreads, a fancy way of saying pizza with non-traditional toppings. The seafood flatbread I tried was wonderful. Finally, the desserts are all great - especially the flan - and definitely worth it.

Although I have much to praise about The Icon, this is not to say that all of the dishes are mind-blowing. For instance, the baked garlic shrimp dish tasted quite average, and had a more chewy rather than melt-in-your-mouth texture I get with quality garlic shrimp. The patatas bravas, even though decorated in fancy aioli, tasted mediocre and was barely step up from good french fries. Although many of the dishes are very good and should definitely be ordered, some of the recipes are not well-developed and the dishes do not seem to be worth the cost.

This was especially true visiting The Icon on Valentine's Day. As tradition, my boyfriend and I have gone to a Valentine's Day dinner every year. Not well-known to most college students, many high-end Madison restaurants have a Valentine's Day multi-course dinner. While there are the rip-offs, most local places do a honest job preparing a fabulous and romantic meal. The fare is pricey ($70-100 per couple, without drinks, depending on where you go), but it's quite exciting to splurge just once a year to try something amazing.

The five-course menu at The Icon looked very tantalizing this year, and was near the "cheaper" end of Valentine's Day meals. The first two courses were sampler plates of their many tapas. A surprising hit was the plate of cold tapas. The imported cheeses each had unique, multidimensional favors and so did the smoked Spanish meats. As an olive-disliker, I was even wowed by the rich flavors the different olives had.

The hot tapas course and the mushroom soup course were both very good. However, the biggest disappointment of The Icon's Valentine's Dinner was the main entree. I ordered a baked chicken that was topped with chevre in a bed of mashed potatoes while my boyfriend ordered the vegetarian pasta. Neither dish seemed to spark the excitement that was elicited when we sampled the previous courses. Although my chicken was clearly brined (soaking the meat in salted water for a few hours prior to cooking to ensure a tender and juicy texture) and cooked well, the chevre combined with the buttery mashed potatoes made the dish feel too heavy. Also, outside of the chicken being topped with expensive chevre, the cheese did not really contribute much to the meat. Luckily, we did not spend an extra $20 to get the steak and lobster entree instead. A couple next to us had it and complained about the size of the half lobster tail (definitely looked prawn sized) they were given. The meal was slightly redeemed in the end by the wonderful desserts provided to us. A special tres leches cake saved the day. Overall, I would not recommend dining at The Icon on Valentine's Day - you aren't missing out on much. Instead, gather a few of your food-loving friends and head over to The Icon on a normal day to enjoy a few of their renowned tapas.

Adventure 3: Yummy Buffet

2008-02-16T02:38:00.011-06:00

Yummy Buffet (no website)

411 W Gilman St.
3 Adjectives: plain, cheap, plentiful
Price: buffet(6)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Veganness:
Other Opinions: badgerherald, madtownlounge, judysbook, yahoo
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Last Friday, Tossy, her friend, and I made our way through the snow over to Madison's most notorious or best (depending on who you ask) "Chinese restaurant," Yummy Buffet. One of the reasons I deftly avoided the place in the past was because I wasn't interested in eating at yet another at best, good bad Chinese food, or at worst bad bad Chinese food restaurant. Although Yummy fitted most of my fears of Chinese food in America, there were a few perks to dining at the restaurant.

First, I want to state that I am rather sensitive to good Chinese food because I get an amazing sample whenever I go home. Therefore, I am a bit of a Chinese food snob, tending to consider most of the Chinese food in the US "good bad Chinese food" (NYT article about good bad Chinese food). In essence, there is a lot of food that is not reflective of real, delicious Chinese food, but tastes acceptable. In particular, I am disappointed that there are no amazing Chinese food restaurants in Madison, just bad to okay food offered at a wide range of noncorrelative prices from Panda Express (horrible but cheap) to Imperial Garden (okay but overly pricey).

The exterior of Yummy Buffet looked questionable; on the day we went only the word "YUMMY" was lit up and large sheets of fog obscured the inside of the restaurant. The interior of Yummy Buffet mirrored its outside. The restaurant was not noticeably clean and the lighting, foggy mirrors, dull walls, and open space made the place feel more like a train station than a place to dine. After paying at the door a nice and cheap $6, the cashier handed each of us a spoon and fork wrapped in paper towel, arming us with the necessary goods. We were ready to chow down.

The selection at Yummy is plentiful for a cheap buffet yet the food left much to be desired. While it is certainly worth its price, some of the food looked (and probably was) old and untouched for hours - the egg drop soup had hardened to a thick paste and a bowl of bobbing and floating carrot slices looked quite suspicious. Amusingly, it was very apparent the owners tried to make the food as cheap as possible. The only "seafood" in the seafood medly was imitation crab. The beef dish was gone but there was no attempt to make more. A lot of the food was dry while some of it felt like it was doused in vegetable oil.

However, truthfully, given the price of the meal, I really can't complain too much about the quality of the food. Some of it was even near the margin of being tasty, like the lo mein and one of the stir fry pork dishes. In addition, I was surprised how many dishes contained meat.

Yummy Buffet is a great place to go if you are starving and looking to consume a large quantity of good bad Chinese food or to go with good company to take your mind off the food. Given the quality, the best deal would to be at least to get your money's worth. If you are looking for much tastier (but less variety, and obviously smaller portioned) Chinese food on campus, I highly suggest checking out the boxed lunches served at Gum Seng by Union South.

Mmm! Skunks, even vegan skunks, are not that picky when it comes to crappy Chinese food. Especially when the deal is all the crappy Chinese food a skunk can eat! Tossy really loves fortune cookies, vegetable rolls, lo mien, fried rice, and mushrooms. Even if the later three appear to be floating in grease. However, there was no deep-fried tofu available the day that Tossy went. Tossy was like, what's up with that? Deep fried tofu is a vegan must-have at any authentic non-authentic Chinese anything! But Tossy will return.

Adventure 2: Inka Heritage

2008-02-09T01:12:00.008-06:00

Inka Heritage (website)
602 S. Park St.
3 Adjectives: Ethnic, savory, salty.
Price: app (5-13) entree (9-30)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: chilimuffin's, dailycardinal, madisonatoz, badgerherald...

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On Friday, a friend and I trekked over to Inka Heritage, a small Peruvian restaurant tucked in one of the storefronts on the noisy and dingy South Park Street. The outside of the restaurant did not look very appealing, like many of the places on Park Street at night. However, the inside looked quite classy and was decorated with dried corn, Hispanic art, and candles.

Inka Heritage is a restaurant that serves traditional Peruvian fare and the menu even has the added quirks of phrases obviously lost in translation. Many of the dishes near the end of the menu are described as aphrodisiac, including a seafood soup that is "100% aphrodisiac!!!" The restaurant seems like it should belong on State Street and probably suffers in customers precisely because of it. Unfortunately, given its location, I was not aware the restaurant existed until a couple of weeks ago.

Interestingly, the first time I went to Inka was several weeks ago when a friend and I were supposed to grab a cheap lunch at La Hacienda (across the street and slightly north) but met up with a mob of protesters who were demanding higher wages to workers at the restaurant. They were pretty effective, because we ultimately decided against crossing the picket line and opted for the twice as expensive Inka Heritage further down the street. Moral of the story? It feels better to spend money on dinner at Inka than lunch.

A lot of the items on the menu are slightly on the pricey side, but there are several very delicious and cheaper (9-10) entrees. The restaurant also has many seafood dishes for those seafood lovers out there. Also, probably because I am not exactly certain what traditional Peruvian food is, I feel that a lot of the dishes have an Asian and Indian slant to them rather than a Mexican or faux-Mexican (aka chain Mexican restaurant) taste.

There are two major perks to going to Inka and both involve the earlier portion of the meal. First is the salty crunchy giant corn nuts (photo) that are presented as an appetizer along with a spicy chili guacamole dip (photo). Second is their most popular and very distinct drink: chicha morada (photo). Since no description of the drink can really do it justice, I will simply post the description of the drink directly from the menu: delicious purple corn refreshment with pineapple and apple water, cinnamon and lime. Miraculously, the flavors balance out nicely, and I really can't enjoy a meal there without ordering the mysterious chicha morada.

Some of the highlights from Inka for my two visits include Arroz con Mariscos (aphrodisiac rice), Aji de Pollo, and the Pescado a la Chorrillana. The aphrodisiac rice had a very nice seafood flavor, the chicken dish was incredibly savory, and the fish in the pescado dish was cooked perfectly and the fish was flaky and soft. Other dishes I had could have used some improvement. The Yuca a la Huancaina had a distinct texture to the plant, but the accompanying cheese dip tasted like normal nacho cheese sauce and left much to be desired. I also ordered a lamb dish, Seco de Cordero, which turned out to taste a lot like Indian food but was unfortunately a little too salty. This did not mix well with previously having the salty corn nuts. One gripe I have about Inka is that some of the waitstaff could use a little more training; our waiter on this visit only described the most expensive dishes on the menu and a previous waiter didn't really come to check on how we were doing.

Overall, the food at Inka is pretty good, especially if you want to try something a little exotic. However, besides their few outstanding dishes, there is not too much at Inka that would warrant many visits in the future.

Adventure 1: L'Etoile

2008-02-03T00:42:00.003-06:00

L'Etoile (website)
25 N. Pickney St.
3 Adjectives: Romantic, elegant, formal.
Price: app (9-14) entree (29-42)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: madisonatoz, madisondining, dane101, badgerherald, there are countless others if you search...
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Hi there folks! I thought I'd start off the adventures with one of the classiest and most famous restaurants in town: L'Etoile. I even dressed up for the occasion! Good thing I had an anniversary dinner right after this blog started, huh? And if you're freaked out about the prices folks, don't worry, it'll all be downhill from here.

L'Etoile is noted for its use of many fresh and organic ingredients from all over the state. In fact, in the summer months you'll see the staff at L'Etoile strolling through the Farmer's Market purchasing new and tasty ingredients to work their magic on. Hence, their menu varies wildly and you never know what sort of first-class meal you'll have. When I went there, the first thing I noticed is I received a custom menu and the back of the menu covers all of the locations across the State they get their ingredients from. This means no matter what the season or occasion, you'll definitely be in for a treat.

L'Etoile is a very formal restaurant, absolutely requiring shirt, coat, and tie. Reservations are also a must because they are very busy and the restaurant is only open for dinner. It is located upstairs of Cafe Soleil on the square (turn left on the square if you are coming from State Street) and has about twenty tables for two. The service was perfect for a formal restaurant with plenty of friendly wait staff taking your coat, talking you through the menu, coming to fill your glass, and folding your tablecloth when you leave for the bathroom.

In general, dinner at L'Etoile consists of three courses and four small palate-cleaning dishes inserted in-between. The dishes on the menu have fancy ingredients and even a frequent diner like me did not recognize all of the items. In addition, don't be deceived by the restaurant name: although it is French, many of the dishes have an Italian-slant to them. However, like any good French restaurant, the sauces are creme de la creme. The menu at the restaurant did not match the menu found on the L'Etoile website, but there is always one vegetarian entree on the menu.

Some of the food highlights of the night were the jumbo sea scallops with meyer lemon cream sauce and the ribeye with red wine jus. The scallops were cooked to perfection - a difficult task especially since they are easily overcooked - and had crunchy tops. These were paired with a chewy fresh egg linguini and a savory lemon alfredo-like sauce. The ribeye was similarly cooked perfectly and the tender meat paired well with the wine sauce. Surprisingly, I found the tiny palate-clearing dishes to be even more special. The port wine sorbet and a 1x1x1 cm cube of chili fudge were excellent and unique. The sorbet came at a perfect time: right after the appetizer to clear our palates before the main meal. It was light and had the perfect balance of sugar and port. At the end, piece of fudge simply glided across my tongue in a kaleidescope of flavors starting with sweet at the front and ending with a spicy kick. A perfect close to a wonderful meal.

What I think is L'Etoile's greatest asset is how precise and natural everything tasted. Although there was nothing I tried was completely wild, leaving me silently begging for more, every single item I ordered tasted fresh, clean, and the way it should. This is in of itself great praise to their chef who clearly has the skill to be able to work with an ever-changing list of ingredients. I would recommend L'Etoile for important celebrations (such as anniversaries, weddings, and graduation).

Ahoy Mateys!

2008-01-30T10:38:00.002-06:00

Ahoy! My name is Jahboh, and I am a regular diner around the Madison campus. I enjoy eating all sorts of food and tasting a variety of ethnic cuisines. Being a poor college student, I am usually eager to find tasty deals, but I am not afraid to splurge every once in awhile. Hopefully, this will yield an interesting mix of restaurant reviews.

I plan to follow a pretty standard rating system (which will be revised I'm sure as we go along here) evaluating each location using a three- point (or "paw") scale in four categories. These are:
price - This is an easy one; cheap, medium, or expensive?
authenticity - How authentic do the dishes taste in relation to the advertised cuisine? Are they over-Americanized?
atmosphere - How well does the setting and decor complement the food? How appropriate is the noise level?
overall rating - Is this place worth going to again?
In addition, there will be three adjectives that best sums up the location. I also plan on linking to the restaurant website (if available), its location, and linking to other reviews. Finally, there will be a review of the restaurant. If you have other suggestions, please let me know!

Personally - being a snow leopard and all - I am quite the meat eater myself so I usually order tasty meat dishes. However, to give YOU a better sense of what is available on campus, I introduce to you my roommate Tossy.

Hiya! I am Tossy! Every once in awhile, I will drop by to contribute some tasty tips for you vegan readers out there! I really enjoy all sorts of vegan dishes, except salads. Ewwww. Hopefully my dislike for salads will benefit you because I will be suggesting some novel vegan alternatives, that is, alternatives to salad. Cya around.