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The Continental

Update 6/14/12: The Continental is closed.

In a word: A few steps behind downtown - a few steps ahead of most of Fitchburg.

The specs: #0251
Address, hours & details via Isthmus; news and reviews at Madison Dining Online, outside.in, Isthmus, Cap Times, Ruppert Food Blog; interview with Anna. See also: Cafe Continental; The Continental Fitchburg on Urbanspoon

Latest Continental news and reviews

JM ate the sesame chicken.
Nichole ate the grilled lamb sausage with a cup of corn chowder.
The bill was $38, or $19/person, plus tip.
JM gave The Continental a B; Nichole gave The Continental an A- (see our grading rubric).

So, is Cafe Continental the same as The Continental or what? Well, because they are located non-adjacently in the alphabet, we (i.e. JM) decided we needed to also check out this restaurant and compare it with its downtown sibling.

We arrived on a Monday, which turned out to be a nice casual day to be there. A waiter seated us after almost apologizing that there's no host on Mondays, but we certainly didn't feel neglected. Our meal started off with bread and olive oil of a fairly average variety. More interesting things lay ahead (for Nichole, at least).

Corn chowder Nichole started off with some corn chowder, since she was feeling a need for more veggies. She probably ended up with more butter and cream than corn, but who's counting? The soup was velvety and delicious, especially with a twist of black pepper from the pepper mill that would have been used on Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk had he been caught.

Sesame chicken JM opined that the potatoes and gravy were the best part of his meal. The sesame, on the other hand, didn't really flavor the chicken and it came out as a big "so what?" The food wasn't bad but it certainly didn't fill him with good thoughts. The total experience left him just full and not really satisfied.

Duck sausage The duck lamb sausage dinner was a winner. The sausages themselves were of bratmospheric proportions, presented nicely with grilled red pepper strips. The filling was sweet, lightly garlicky, and coarsely ground to give them a rustic feel. The dill and yogurt sauce complemented the sausage, as did the ripe tomatoes and good, sharp feta. The side of cold lentil salad with carrots and red peppers was also tasty, though it was the item least worth licking the platter clean for. Maybe if Nichole hadn't stolen JM's grilled asparagus, she'd have had room to finish her own meal.

JM concluded that the Continental Fitchburg location prepares the food just as well as the downtown shop, he just didn't like his meal as much this time (hard to beat bbq chicken pizza, we guess). Nichole counts both places as worthy date spots.

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Was it lamb or duck? WE MUST KNOW!

It was ... er ... damn! Luck. No, really, it was lamb. Bad, bad me.

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