Esquire Club

In a word: Good food for the coffee coupon set.

The specs: #0160
Address, hours & details via Isthmus; reviews at WiSJ, dmoz, Dane101, Wisconsin Fish Fry Reviews, Madison Fish Fry; official web site;

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John ate the prime rib dinner.
JM ate the BBQ chicken and a lemonade.
Nichole ate the crab-stuffed chicken and a hot cocoa.
Rose ate the chicken dinner.
Sue ate the tenderloin dinner with an old fashioned.
Tom ate the ribeye with a (warm) O'Doul's.
The bill was $109, or $18.67/person, plus tip.
Tom gave Esquire Club an A; JM and John gave Esquire Club an A-; Rose and Sue gave Esquire Club a B; Nichole gave Esquire Club a B- (see our grading rubric).

Kavanaugh's Esquire Club on Sherman Avenue is a classic supper club (or "blue hair" joint - don't blame us, we didn't say it!) that does its thing pretty well.

John described it as a leisurely dining experience. From the relish dish with port wine cheese spread to the chocolate mousse cake, our time was pretty well spent. Even the dinner salads and chicken soup were made with care and the freshest, nicest variety of ingredients.

As for entrees, the steaks got the highest rating from our group. Both Tom and John said they were crisp on the outside and tender inside (though John said it wanted seasoning, which a little pepper helped).

The chicken dishes, on the other hand, won't bear repeating. The fried chicken dinner could have stood a little more time cooking, and the crab stuffing in the chicken breast was mostly damp bread and celery. JM's BBQ chicken was tasty if not stellar.

Dessert, which was a slice of cake at either end of the table, was decent but not quite worth stuffing ourselves over.