Alt n' Bach's Town Tap

In a word: No longer under a cloud.

The specs: #0500! 
Address, hours & details via Isthmus; reviews at Yelp, Madison Fish Fry, Eat Drink Madison, collected at del.icio.us; official web site,

Latest Alt n' Bach's Town Tap news and reviews

JM ate the chicken sandwich with fries and a lemonade.
Nichole ate the brat Reuben, a cup of chicken soup, and a decaf.
The bill was $17, or $8.50/person, plus tip.
JM gave Alt n' Bach's Town Tap a B+; Nichole gave Alt n' Bach's Town Tap a B (see our grading rubric).

Alt n' Bach's used to be a smoker's haven. If you haven't been there in a while, you may want to try it again; it feels like a smaller, brighter Laurel, with a bar separated from a family-friendly dining area.

On this night, Nichole had a cold that left her unable to taste anything, but for that the chicken noodle soup was fine. She didn't even ask if it was homemade (and didn't care). The consistency was somewhat thick, whether from lengthy simmering or insufficient water added is anyone's guess. But the soft noodles, big pieces of chicken and bits of carrot were what you want in a remedy. Bonus points for the clever use of crockery.

The brat reuben didn't fare so well. It sounded interesting, and might have tasted amazing, but in texture and construction didn't quite work for a catarrh-head. The smoked brat was split and grilled, then put on a cloudlike white hamburger bun with Swiss cheese and heavy kraut. The dressing came on the side by request only. So basically, the cook's vision was to take a brat, swap the bun type and add cheese. We wondered if there was no love left for rye, or what.

JM's chicken sandwich fared a little better. The bacon and cheddar were welcome addition, though they did not stand out as much as they probably should have. The chicken was juicy though this ran into a problem with the bun, which dissolved almost on contact. The fries, however, were outstanding as perfect little potato explosions.

Alt n' Bach's is our five hundredth restaurant and we're glad to see that it is smoke-free and finally appended to The List.

Comments

[steve]

Congrats on the 500th. I hope you can do 500 more.

[Andy Bach]

Soup's not homemade (the chili is) but they have a good variety and are all pretty good. The brat rueben (they do have a regular corned beef one and they do have rye) is a traditional sandwich (from Tony Franks say 35, 40 years ago ;-), that's all it is - smoked brat, kraut and cheese. The burgers are truly great, the New York strip (Knoche's steak) for 10 bucks is a really good deal and they've a good set of daily specials. The meatball sandwich on Saturday is homemade and truly special. Yeah, they took a the no-smoking step well ahead of other places (they're Town of Madison so the Madison ban didn't apply), the restaurant and back "Bach" room have been smoke free for years, the whole place recently.

[JessC]

You should have had a burger- the are amazing!