Eating in Madison A to Z

And there you go. Thanks for the clarification. Amazing that it came via a Polish(? - sorry, ignorant American here) news site.

Their Enchilada soup used to be AMAZING! I just had it a month ago and it was awful. I used to go here (alot) when the Atwood location first opened. They are definitely going down hill.

An article from 2005 that can/will resolve confusion as to whether CB and Sal's are related: http://www.gazetametropol.com/print.php?idt=21419

We use to live in sun prairie years ago. Anna use to offer spaghetti and meatballs. I LOVED it. She stopped offering I guess because the pizza bussiness was so good she didn't have time to do the noodles or something like that she told us once. But the pizza remains our favorite. We still go back for it when we can. Delivery to a friend's house in Sun Prairie took FOREVER and they forgot a pizza and it got pricey.We finally had both pizza's inn our over 2 hours after the time of ordering and no discount was offered. But still the best pizza around! We continue to go back again and again! Nothing like it out there.

I like your style MadisonAtoZ. It's all about the food and the friends you meet :)

We'd love to take you to Matt's and 5-8 to compare the Juicy/Jucy Lucy.

I don't think I've got my story entirely straight either Jonny, but I'm pretty sure there are some flaws in your history.

I know a guy who laid out a bunch of the seed money to get Casa B off the ground back in the day, which would have been concurrent with, but independent of the opening of Sal's. I've picked up on some references that lead me to believe that Sal's was probably in some way related to some of the people responsible for the Great Dane, but I'm quite confident it had nothing to do with Casa B.

That's not to say that the owner couldn't have turned around and worked for Sal's after going under, but as far as I understand the two places would have been completely unrelated up til that point.

Good call, and great explanation. I think when amateurs try too hard to emulate big media they lose part of themselves and slowly but surely become part of the establishment that they really should be providing a counterpoint to. But everybody wants to be a bigshot these days. Glad to see you’re keeping it real. Just keep doing what comes naturally to you and I'm guessing you're going to be just fine.

We had the seafood tower. The lobster tasted soooo fishy. They took it off of our bill. The oysters were decent. Oh, the server also dumped our bottle of wine and a glass of water on our table. Not the most stellar experience.

Here's something. While Ian's Mac and Cheese pizza is iconic and got them on at least two food network shows, it may not be the best mac and cheese pizza on State Street. If you're ever in a mood for a carb overload, give Pizza Di Roma's Baked Ziti Pizza a try.

Yeah the whole building serves your run of the mill campus cafeteria food, better than some campuses I've visited and worse than others. One note: you can drink beer here. That's usually enough for me.

I've been to all of the Union South restaurants except Prairie Fire.

Ginger Root - I got a red Thai curry with tofu. It amazed me that anything called red Thai curry could have so little flavor.

Harvest Grain - I had a breakfast sandwich. The croissant was vending machine quality. The eggs had been prepared years in advance. The tomato had no flavor.

Urban Slice - It's OK pizza. I can live with that because it is pretty cheap and fast.

The Sett - My veggie burger looked and tasted like they had microwaved it directly from the package. The fries were OK. If I had paid $3, I would have been fine with it. However, I think it was around $8.

I work near Union South. I never go there to eat unless someone else picks it.

Ginger Root is meh...your average Chinese team table

RE: Casa Bianca Closing

Hey [redacted] - if anyone is still interested in this dinosaur thread --

HERE'S the real story. The property across from Embassy apts is owned by one group, headed by cheese brain [redacted]. They refused to renew Casa Bianca lease in that location with a vision of building a huge downtown apartment/condoplex, which didn't get approval/sufficient investment.
You can now find the same CB owner and food at restaurants in Appleton and Fond Du Lac called SAL'S (you do remember PDR used to be SAL'S...right? In fact that's were CB started but that's another story).

Your CB nostalgia is sweet, but Pizza Di Roma uses the same formula and (I think) some of the same pizza makers as Casa did. Plus PDR uses Grande cheese. If that means nothing to you well... "pizza Purist" my grande ass.

Keep your faces stuffed with slices and you won't talk so much gibberish my friends!

Sora at DTW is pretty decent and my favorite stop there during layovers. You can get limitless green tea, a simple roll, and a cup of miso soup for the same price as greasy sandwiches at other eateries in the airport. Their udon soups are where it's at though.

I like that french dip too, but it's so salty. I usually go with the Bayou chicken sandwich, which goes great with fruit as a side, but unfortunately they charge like 80 dollars to swap out a few pieces of melon for your fries (that may be a slight exaggeration, but still, it's freaking melon).

If this place passes the A to Z test, I gotta try it.

that sushi place might have been at Detroit Metro. I have a friend who's a sushi connoisseur and who does a lot of traveling for business, and she's mentioned the sushi at the Detroit airport many times....

I rather like the roast beef au jus sandwich here, really can't go wrong there. And their vegetarian friendly offers are not half-assed.

Word around the watercooler has it their lease is up @ end of Feburary and is not being renewed. It is being replaced by Pancake Cafe. My guess....at least 1/2 as many knife fights.

Been a couple times now and have always had wonderful service and never had a delay on the bread. I especially like the iggie and the lemon bar. The iggie is shredded summer squash, battered and fried. The lemon bar was coated in honey, like a lemon baklava. Both seem unique to Palmyra. Their dolma are some of the best I've ever had, super fresh. Yum!

Tried to go here last night based on this review. We were the only ones in the place and had to wait to get seated, wait for menus and then were left at the table for 15 minutes with no service. Needless to say, we left. When the staff realized we were leaving, suddenly they were interested in us. I'll never go here again. Bummer cuz it sounds yummy.

the owner pronounces it like they did in your history course (I guess he's the owner - or the manager, maybe?) - but I've heard most people who've talked about it pronounce it like the Wisconsin city.

The food looks wonderful.

On a side note... this may be kind of silly... how is Palmyra pronounced? In a Roman history course I took years ago the professor pronounced it(the ancient city) "Pal-meer-a", but from what I've heard from residents of Jefferson county, when referring to the nearby town it's always "Pal-my-ra". Is that just a local Wisconsin thing, like the town Oregon?

I love this place. We've had the same problem with the bread baskets. The bread is always "in the oven". I love fresh pita, but I'm thinking they might be better off making it ahead of time and nuking it right before serving....

Thanks, Heidi - fixed.

The Isthmus link still goes to Hometown Buffet, fyi.

I wonder how long Mo can keep up the Simpsons schtick before the Fox lawyers come crashing down on him. Weird that somebody would throw so much money at a theme that will eventually have to be stripped away.

I thought I knew about most restaurants in Madison, but I haven't even heard of most of the recent reviews. Way to go! I think you have a lifetime job:)

Would Froth House be a good place to have a small meeting?

We really enjoyed our meal. Todd got the BBQ burger; I got the mushroom burger with spinach and artichoke sauce. My favorite part was the sweet potato fries. I normally don't like the crinkle-cut fries as well, but these were great. (I don't know why I don't normally like them. Perhaps it's an irrational food fear.)

The bar is beautiful. The beer selection is Wisconsiny. The service was great. We are so happy it's close. I am so glad I saw your review. The burger place we intended to go was closed due to snow. I remembered the rave of sweet potato fries so I thought I would check it out.

Sa-Bai Thong is totally the benckmark and quintessential Thai food place in Madison. But the University Ave. is the original and definitely better of the two locations. Ha Long Bay is a close second. And then there is Lao Laan Xang of course, but not technically Thai.

By and far one of my favorite places in Madison. This place hit it off right away. Sorry people had slow service, maybe because it's so busy they cant always keep it up. You to want put this in perspective? Goto Lee's Asian Bistro, and you'll not complain about anything Ha Long Bay, even their menu. Long? Maybe, but at least everything in that menu they can make well and has fresh ingredients. Hands down, this place is doing just fine by what it should. A+ perhaps not, but I give it an A.

Review is spot on. There are major issues with Lee's I've discovered and after 3 seperate occassions. First was a Thai iced tea that was actually delivered with horribly curdled cream, absolutely disgusting! I wasn't charged for it but still, that fact that it was delivered like that shows a lack of perfessional service. Second time I had a dish with peanuts in it, can't remember what it was but the peanuts tasted very old, stale and rancid. Tasted better after picking off he nuts. Third time, I can't remember what the issue was, I was trying to use up a THIRD Groupon I accidentally purchaced from that place otherwise I wouldn't have come back even a second time. Don't go, they will not get better, they will disappear very soon.

I love this place! One time I went with a friend from Hong Kong, and the next time I just sort of giggled and pointed at things.

I remember meaty dumplings of awesomeness, and big piles of noodles, and amazing hot pot. Now I must try that fish-bean curd thing. LOVE.

+1000 for the Akbar and Jeff reference.

Mike, I don't think it's creepy. It's kinda sweet.

I got the impression that other people consider it odd, but you know what? Who cares what they think?

Same side of the booth couples are creepy? My wife and I often sit on the same side when on a date, leaving the other side empty. It's so rare to get to sit beside each other rather than splitting wrangling kids. Sorry if others think it's creepy.

Thanks for the Sequoya shout out :) I agree, I've tried several different dishes and not been wowed. I had a sandwich with a pasta side and it was $10, I could have zipped down to Great Dane and gotten a much better sandwich for way less. The pizza is just so so and not a fan of the cornmeal crust at all. I would haved loved a westside deli instead of a less than average italian place.

And Luigi's will be starting evening table service soon!

http://host.madison.com/wsj/entertainment/dining/redamte-making-name-for-itself-luigi-s-will-start-table/article_3ca5b4b6-388d-11e1-b850-0019bb2963f4.html

I finally know the answer to your question! The reason you pay $6.50 for the drink at Chili's is that they will call the cops if you bring your own. Just ask Mr. Weidner: http://www.cityofmadison.com/incidentReports/incidentDetail.cfm?id=12907

There is no question that the ordering process at Luigi's needs to be rethought -- I can only imagine that they were going for something like Pizza Brutta's setup, but it just doesn't end up working as well here (and it's hardly awesome at Brutta).

With that said, we've been a number of times and find the food to be consistently someplace between good and very good. In addition to the good pizzas and salads, the pastas I've tried were all pretty good, and having a pasta option is nice (compared, say, to Brutta). They also have a good set of kids menu choices, and a gluten-free crust option (if at a baffling $5 surcharge) for diners who avoid wheat.

I desperately hope the service model is revised soon, but overall I think Luigi's is a welcome addition.

"one order of dough knots (though we ordered two)"

Oh come on. The manager apologized to you for running out and comped your dessert. Don't make it sound like they forgot out of carelessness.

On the way home from work one night, my wife and I decided to give Luigi's a try. We called ahead and ordered the spinach and artichoke crostini, panzanella salad and chicken parm panini and throughly enjoyed all of it. The crostini stayed amazingly crispy even after the 15 minute drive home. We will definitely be going back.

I've had one pizza from Luigis and I thoroughly enjoyed the crust and sauce. It is nice to have this place within walking distance, albeit as my only such option.

Yea - I thought this place was pretty mediocre - disappointing since I live in the neighborhood and was happy to see it open. The staff was super nice the night we went in - but the food is B quality and the place just feels cramped. Plus, you're right - the ordering system is byzantine.

I'm sitting at Crema *right now* and just finished a Hot Chick sandwich. Stella's Bakery has been my go-to place for sandwiches for the last year or so (thanks to this blog), but I don't know - if this sandwich is any indication, this place is right up there, too....

The Verona Public Library's SelfCheck machines have Pirate and Baby Talk (courtesy of the same fellow who created them for Sequoya).

My mom took me to Cottage Cafe for breakfast not long ago, saying it was one of my dad's old favorites. Best. French Toast. Evah! Wow. Gotta get back over there for more.

Reuben is very good.

Chili is pedestrian--more like tomato juice with beans and very little ground beef. Last time I was there, it was barely warmer than room temperature.