Cardinal's Nest

Update 2/10/14: Cardinal's Nest is closed, replaced by Varsity Bar & Grill.

In a word: It's the non-descriptiest!

The specs: #00807  
1205 W. Main St., Sun Prairie, 53590
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JM ate the ham and cheese croissant with hashbrowns.
Nichole ate the chili and fried green beans.
The bill was about $9/person, plus tip.
JM gave Cardinal's Nest a B-; Nichole gave Cardinal's Nest a C- (see our grading rubric).

Through no fault of Cardinal's Nest, we're just not feeling it. "Hey! It's another sports bar where people who like the Badgers can congregate and express appreciation for the home team or game. There are certainly none of those anywhere else in Dane County." 

And while the service was friendly, the place was mostly empty in mid-afternoon on Saturday. Football on every TV? Yup. Sercurity cameras ringing the parking lot? Yup. Giant barn-like atmos? Sure thing.

As to the food, there a couple of items that we hadn't had before, and that may have made this trip memorable. Nichole sampled the fried green beans and didn't find much to recommend them other than their butteriness. Her chili was pretty middle of the road, a little brothy, a little underspiced.

JM's ham and cheese was served on a croissant. That's different. It's too bad the entire sandwich dissolved under the weight of the mighty ham. Even the white cheese didin't really enter the flavor mix as much as it should have.

This may sound like a long diabtribe against this place, but it's really not. It can be hard for us to come up with different ways to describe that standard Wisco sports bar and make it feel fresh. So on that scale, it could use a sardonic dart machine, but it's still way the hell better than the KK. And it was nice to see some non-traditional offerings.