Ironworks Cafe

In a word: Puts the good in Goodman.

The specs: #0430
Address, hours & details via Isthmus; profiles at Wisconsin State Journal and The Daily Buzz (video); reviews at 77 Square, Isthmus, Decider, Yelp, Bike It, "Guerilla Cuisine" (Kyle Nabilcy's profile of Underground Food Collective), World of Flavors; official web site,

Latest Ironworks news and reviews

JM ate the tomato, cheese & pesto sandwich.
Nichole ate the banana sandwich with coffee and a cookie.
The bill was $15, or $7.50/person (thanks, Kirsten!).
JM gave Ironworks Cafe an A-; Nichole gave Ironworks Cafe an A (see our grading rubric).

Ironworks Cafe at the Goodman Community Center is a program where community youth work and learn, and serve up really good food to boot. Full disclosure: Nichole probably would eat twigs in bug sauce if Underground Food Collective et al. made it.

A light, sweet Meyer lemon shortbread cookie didn't make it to dessert time. While surpassingly buttery, the lemon was barely detectable. The coffee, dark and rich.

The pecan butter/honey/banana sandwich made Nichole remember the best parts of being 8 years old again. The lightly toasted sunflower seed bread held up under a light coating of coarsely ground nut butter, and the fruit was perfect.

JM's tomato, pesto and Swiss sandwich wasn't bad, which for a man who artificially limits his choices at places like these is high praise. It had a good mouthfeel and the hard Swiss called out from the middle, not overwhelmed by garlicky pesto. The zucchini benefited from oodles of butter and bread crumbs, rendering a stereotypically bland vegetable outstanding.

We haven't ventured to try weekend brunch yet but we hear it's both crowded and excellent. Get there early, be patient, and enjoy.

Comments

[Kyle]

Coffee: quite good. Bacon sweet roll: tasty, if a little too citrusy. (I guess later versions were less so, and I wish I'd been in town to eat them!) Blue corn pancakes with caramelized bananas, candied walnuts and syrup: not nearly as cavity- or diabetes-inducing as you'd think. Really great. Tofu scramble: they aren't kidding with the tofu. Close to a whole block of it. Damn. Maybe a little muchy afte a while. And there was something in the salsa verde that I didn't care for. An herbal element.

Fun, great atmosphere, generally really good food. Recommended. Booyah.

[catwoman5]

Love it! I went yesterday morning and got a blueberry muffin and coffee. The coffee is good and there are free refills. The muffin looked and tasted like something I might have made at home - but I mean that in a good way. It was soft and buttery - a comfort foody kind of thing.

I returned for lunch today with a friend and my 12-year old niece. We all got sandwiches which came with a salad - my salad consisted of spring mix, diced beets, feta cheese, and sunflower seeds. My friend and I shared our sandwiches - a pastrami reuben and a grilled chicken dijon with gruyere cheese. Both were excellent. My niece gave her grilled cheese a big thumbs up ("a 10!", she said).

They have a small menu which changes every day. We'll be back again and again. The food is really good, and I like supporting the East High School students who work there.