Madison, Wisconsin

When I visited my brother in Madison, Wisconsin last year for Holloween, I was expecting a good time—light beer (which I don't particularly enjoy, but it has its place), football, and costumes generally translate to a great time. What I wasn't expecting was some of the best food I've eaten in the United States.

Dinner 1: The Old Fashion

As the name would suggest, this restaurant and BAR offers a fine old fashion Wisconsin style, made with brandy isntead of bourbon (don't worry, they also have one with bourbon). They also have a list of about 30 premium beers on tap. But the drink is really just a wonderful compliment to the fantastic food.

Lets start with the beer battered, deep fried cheese curds. Look, anything beer battered and deep fried is gonna be good, but this is especially so. When they're deep fried they don't melt, just take on some heat and crunchiness. Delicious.

For dinner I had a deep fried (this will be a reoccurring theme) walleye sandwich with a fried egg. The crunchiness of the fish was really complimented well by the silkiness of the egg.

Breakfast: Brokaw

Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon and two perfectly poached eggs. Jonah got french toast with caramelized fig compote, Jaberman got french toast with a blueberry compote and a honey ricotta sace (and three eggs, and hashbrowns), and Ethan got a sweet-potato, feta quiche. Usually at a meal like this I would be jealous of somebody, but it was all just too good.

Dinner 2: the Blue Marlin

At this point I was the only one left in town with my brother, and we had a truly memorable dinner. Well, at least a truly memorable side dish. You see, the fish we had was fantastic, but the butternut squash coquettes completely overshadowed them. Perfect crunch on the outside, and creamy and buttery on the inside. (Great wine list too—Cakebread Cellars Sauvignon Blanc, possibly the greatest white wine on the planet.)


I talked to my Mom about a week after I got back and told her about the food and how surprised I was. She said, ofcourse it had good food, its the capital of the state. To which I said, so are you saying Lancing has good food?