Baldwin Street Grille

In a word: The Little Tavern That Could, mostly.

The specs: #0697
Address, hours & details via Isthmus; reviews at Madison Fish Fry, Fearful Symmetries, Best Bloody Mary, 77 Square, Yelp, A.V. Club; listing at Eat Drink Madison; official web site, Facebook, Twitter,

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JM ate the ham salad sandwich with a lemonade.
Nichole ate the Reuben with an O'so Night Train.
The bill was $26, or $13/person, plus tip.
JM and Nichole gave Baldwin Street Grille a B- (see our grading rubric).

We'd read about the wood-fired pizza at Baldwin St. Grille, and hoped for a chance to try it, especially after seeing the woodpile out back of the building. But it was about 100 degrees that day, and quite pragmatically, the Grille hadn't fired up the hot rocks.  Just as well, they could've probably cooked the pizza on the counter.

So JM got the summery ham salad sandwich with cheddar. The bread was homemade but a little dry; the lettuce was fresh and the tomato was good. The fries were a little planky but mostly frites-i.

Nichole pretended it was winter and got a heavy, dark beer to go with a Reuben on super-thin, toasted marble rye. The meat was stacked pretty high, the Swiss was tangy, and the kraut was drained of its extra juice, leaving a good moisture ratio for the Russian dressing to fill. Perfectly serviceable but maybe not destination-worthy.

The service was great - a too-foamy first pour didn't show up as two beers on the bill, and lemonade refills were attentive. We think the chef delivered our order, which was nice. 

This place seems like a nice bar stop for locals and it serves pretty good food, but for people from further afield, it is probably not worth extra effort to reach.

Comments

[Reggie]

I stopped by after La Fete de Marquette. Saturday night, seemed to be a nice crowd. Bartender (Andy/Andrew) seemed very attentive to all the customers, something I appreciate as a bartender myself. Quite a range of customers, but everyone felt welcome. The kind of place I'd love to hang out at if I didn't live on the Southwest side.

[beth]

This restaurant is now under new management and has a different menu. Check out the cheese curds! They're the best in Madison.