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.