Sauk Prairie Eagle Inn Family Restaurant

In a word: Let nostalgia carry me.

The specs: #0584  
Address, hours & details via Isthmus; reviews at Yelp, WiscNews; official web site, Facebook,

JM ate the grilled ham and cheese and a cinnamon roll.
Nichole ate the smelt, raisin toast, sour cream raisin pie, and a coffee.
The bill was $21, or $10.50/person, plus tip.
JM gave Sauk Prairie Eagle Inn Family Restaurant a B; Nichole gave Sauk Prairie Eagle Inn Family Restaurant an A- (see our grading rubric).

At Sauk Prairie Eagle Inn Family Restaurant, the menu's mostly sandwiches (Reuben, liverwurst, fried egg) and platters, save-room-for-pie kinda stuff. There are plenty of high chairs and the kids' menu is all nuggets and fingers and grilled cheese. It's seat yourself and brace for apprehension unless you're from there. If you're from there, the waitress will dote.

JM noticed that across the board, the menu items with ham seemed more expensive than other items, but it turned out to be worth it for this good meat. The slices, even on the grilled ham and cheese where most places would hide it between layers of American and white bread, were thick and smoky. Everything was grilled just right.

That the smelt comes with a side of toast, and raisin is a choice, clinched Nichole's choice early. The bread is all made in house, so she didn't whine about half a slice that had no raisins. The smelt was crispy and moist, battered like hush puppies, and the fries were frozen crinkle cuts and it all reminded her of Louie's, shuttered on now-ghost-town Hampton Ave., and that you can't go home again, blah blah.

The coffee tasted like Monday morning's big red tub, maybe stronger than Nichole's officemates usually make it. But the pie? Very good. It was a homemade crust that was less flaky than crumby under a tart custard spiked with raisins and topped with real cream, if from an aerosol can.

There were a few fresh cinnamon rolls left, and the waitress warmed one up for JM. It was nearly as big as a loaf of bread, and there was not too much cinnamon. But though it was cloudlike, it stuck to his ribs.

Sauk Prairie Eagle Inn Family Restaurant is open every single day except Christmas, even Thanksgiving.

Comments

[Samantha]

Nothing else has ever quite compared to a bowl of Louie's chicken dumpling soup before a music lesson.

[catwoman5]

you seem to be a huge smelt fan, Nichole!

[Nichole]

@Samantha - I've never found anything like it, or like those pancakes that got more orange as the week went on.

@catwoman5 - I love smelt! I think I get it whenever I can but would you believe that's only 4 times in six years? Early returns suggest Sauk Prairie's > Med Hookah Lounge's > Queen Anne's > Sardine's.

[Bruce]

I've been to the Eagle maybe three times in the six years I've worked in Prairie. The standard joke is that they check your AARP card at the door. In my limited experience I never really enjoyed the food - it was all Sysco quality - but it was the insouciance toward non-regulars that sealed the deal. They're much nicer at the Blue Spoon.