A First Look At Kickshaw
Kickshaw, in Fitchburg, has opened. With the interesting saga of aborted reality televison pilots and past failed restaurants involved, it was an opening that we needed to check out early.
The location that housed Kickshaw once housed Fitches. Fitches should have been a successful restaurant, but couldn’t make it. It then turned into Good Times. The less we say about Good Times, the better. Thankfully, the new owners have removed the completely out of place arcade games that dotted the landscape of Good Times.
Kickshaw focuses on local, fresh food with very interesting twists. There are a few menus to look at, and that may confuse, but don’t let that stop you. There is a regular menu featuring their routine dishes, and then there is their Chef’s Featured Kickshaw menu. The Kickshaw menu changes monthly, and with limited availability. Once the items are sold out, they are sold out.
This menu features a more innovative set of items. It also mentions that you can order a 3-course Price Fix on Monday through Thursday. When questioned as to what the Price Fix was on the evening that we dined, we were told that it was whatever the Chef decided to cook. Intrigued, we questioned how that worked – if you don’t like Scallops, can you request that the Chef not cook Scallops? The answser was a tenative yes.
We like this idea. A lot. We’ll try it out the next time we go. And there WILL be a next time.
But on to the food.
We started with some appetizers, one from the Kickshaw menu and one from the routine menu. Both were outstanding.
The Smoked Pork Belly Risotto ($8) was a terrific example of how restaurants should serve risotto. This is a dangerous dish to put on a menu, as any foodie who eats risotto has a very high standard for what it should be. Making it en masse can tend to make it mushy, mealy, pasty and, in general, not good. You could not apply any of these terms to this risotto. The texture was exactly what you would hope for in such a dish. It also featured chunks of what we assume were parsnips, and very nice peas. Highlighting the flavor was a Smoked Pork Belly. We often joke that Pork Belly is the New Black, given how it has sprung on to the food scene with unabated vigor. We don’t necessarily consider this trend a bad thing.
The other appetizer, from the regular menu, was the Crispy Ribeye Brushetta. This featured a very nice cut of medium-rare ribeye atop a very crispy multigrain flatbread. The ribeye was tender, the light sauce had a subtle herb touch, and it was a very good value at $7.
But on to the main event – the entrees.
The one thing that we must admire about the menu is that if you want unique and different combinations there are plenty of choices that will deliver this. Perhaps the most innovative item on the menu is the Horseradish Encrusted Scallops ($20).
These scallops were served over a buckwheat spaetzle, with dollops of a rye bread and horseradish mixture served atop. A mustard made crimson with beet juice accompanied the dish.
We know for a fact that there is no other restaurant around where you would say “Scallop”, “Rye Bread”, “Buckwheat”, “Spaetzle”, “Horseradish”, “Mustard”, and “Beet Juice” in one breath. For this fact alone we must commend Kickshaw. The fact that the entree lived up to the oddity is a very good thing. The diner that ordered this entree raved about it the entire time it was being consumed.
The Grilled Bistro Tender was a nice cut of tenderloin served with Gratin potatoes. Served just a touch rarer than desired, it was still a fine piece of meat – tender with good flavor. There are better tenderloins that you can get in Madison if you are looking for a hunk-o-meat. This dish combined the flavors nicely, and was a perfectly pleasant entree.
The Two Duck-In ($20) was a duck breast, served alongside a duck roulade. Contrary to the tenderloin, the duck was served a touch overdone. Sweet Potato Puree accompanied this meat, as well as root vegetables.
The last entree of the evening was the Slow Roasted Herb-rubbed Chicken ($16). We’ll start by saying that we believe that if you want to challenge a restaurant to prove what they are made of, you order their roasted chicken. Chicken has to be one of the most difficult dishes to serve to perfection. It needs to be served completely cooked, and it takes quite some time to completely cook. But if it sits around completely cooked for too long it becomes very, very dry. So, in a nutshell, the logistics of serving a roasted chicken in a restaurant are difficult.
Unfortunately, this chicken was not the hit of the evening. The flavor was good, but due to the above logistics it was dry and even a bit tough. Kudos to the kitchen, however, for substituting the requested mashed potatoes instead of the cranberry wild rice blend. The chef clearly believed that the cranberries were integral to the dish however, as a side dish of the cranberries made an appearance on the dish. This was entertaining because the rice was substituted out because of the cranberries – one of the diners firmly believes that fruit and “real food” should not touch in a dish. The gesture was still very appreciated.
And then… there was coffee and dessert. The coffee was served with a spoon that had been dipped in chocolate. A very nice touch. Also sampled was the Wisconsin Apple Pear Tart with Beer Ice Cream. Yes, we said Beer Ice Cream. Made with Guinness, it was a light ice cream with the dark undertones of the Irish beer.
The Artisan Cookie Plate ($5) was a real hit. Several small cookies made up a plentiful finish to the meal. It was uniquely accompanied by a shot of milk, which was a perfect touch. And as we ate the cookies, we realized that the milk was actually functional, as the chocolate chip cookies were “Cajun”, with a very interesting, slow burn of cajun spices mixed into the dough.
The manager had stopped by and had told us about their special after dinner drink – brandy infused with tea and honey. He offered us samples, and who were we to turn them down. Thankfully we did not. This drink was great, and though it was served over ice it would have been a perfect warm drink served on a cold night, or drunk to ward away a winter cold. 
When we go to a restaurant for a first look, we fully accept that things will not be perfect. A first look typically means that we are there within days, if not hours, of the doors opening for the first time. Having said that, our service was very pleasant and will improve with time and experience, the menu was highly innovative, and the food, for the most part, delivered. We hope that Kickshaw can meet the promise that we saw tonight, and can convince an at times conservative Madison dining public that unique is not bad, and that innovation should be rewarded.
Restaurant Listing and info found here.
Our first time being at Kickshaw was what we expected. It was very fancy in elegance as well in the food, the food was amazing. Our server Mike was exceptional at what he did for our table. We will for sure come back to this establishment again and again. We had the Salmon both my husband and I, we loved it, the taste was incredible. I myself had a glass of chardonnay as well my husband had a glass of Dead Man’s beer. Our service was outstanding it being a Saturday night the music was very nice to listen to while we ate, it was a busy night from where we sat and the Kickshaw staff is very nice on there greeting us as if we were there own family. We will for sure be back and would like to thank Mike for his desert presentation as well his service for our table that evening. We will be back again.
My visit to your restaurant wasn’t what i expected the service was very slow. The food, i ordered a ribeye and the meal was nothing close to success. The ribeye was grilled fine but the inside was completely pink. The scallops i ordered for a appetizer were completely raw. For some reason this location for restaurant’s doesn’t last long. And I know from my first time i won’t be going back, the price’s are a little pricey and the service isn’t up to standards.
I haven’t been here and have no affiliation whatsoever — simply a foodie interested in restaurants on the Madison scene. I had to comment on your “review.”
Ribeye should be medium-rare or less, otherwise it’s not worth eating. I guess I would also take issue with it being “completely pink” inside and send it back for being OVERCOOKED. How exactly could you say it was “grilled fine” if it wasn’t the temperature you like? If you ordered it well and it came under temp, fine, but at least acknowledge that you had already asked them to completely brutalize an otherwise good piece of meat.
Scallops should be barely cooked, being exceptionally good even in their raw state. Generally overcooked, it is rare that a complaint of undercooked scallops is heard.
I’m guessing you had SOME idea of what to expect in terms of price before you went. I mean, do people really go to a new restaurant without at least skimming a menu first?
I went to Kichshaw with a friend Wednesday night and the place was virtually empty. We were seated and shown the monthly menu and the regular menu. After being told that it was the first night of the monthly menu we decided to order off the regular one. It took over five minutes to get drinks (beer/wine) we ordered even though the place was quiet. We ordered a calamari appetizer, which took over ten more minutes to arrive. It had an orange colored tandoori sauce which was thankfully on the side because the flavors were not pleasant (sour/bitter?). The calamari were stuffed with ?? and were mediocre tasing, although the presentation was very nice. We had a tasty, crusty baguette served with butter and a peach chutney which was rather interesting. We chose the horseradish scallops entree, and while they were tasty the orange colored horseradish sauce was NOT to my liking and I wish it had been on the side so one could opt in or out of using it. The picture in the review above was definitely not what our scallops looked like either. I ordered a chicken pasta dish that looked nice but had ZERO flavor, and the chicken was dry. I could see lots of red and green color, along with whole cloves of garlic, but nothing had any taste, which made it very disappointing. We had to wait 30 minutes for our entrees…again the place was virtually empty…we wondered out loud if they had to go shopping for the scallops? Our server was a nervous fellow who kept circulating back, perhaps because he had nothing else to do? What really annoyed me is that this place is supposed to be “fine dining” but then why the big screen TV showing a basketball game, which was a distraction during our entire meal? PLEASE…I have had enough – I will not return to his place again.
We ate at Kickshaw for the first time during Restaurant Week (January 2010.) The food was terrible! The appetizers (mushroom/herbed cheese bruschetta and roasted fingerling potatoes) were tasteless and the mushrooms appeared to be canned. Our entrees were only slightly better than airplane food! The salmon was passable but came with an awful curry polenta. The herb roasted chicken breast had an unusual texture and was accompanied by steamed bok choy and wild rice. Again, these were essentially tasteless dishes. Dessert was possibly the worst part (and I LOVE sweets.) We had an apple pear almond tart, which was tough and contained little fruit. The chocolate sampler dish actually had chocolate-dipped Ruffle’s potato chips. Yuck!!
For a “fine dining” experience, the service was terrible. Our server stopped by no less than 4 times during our entrees to ask if we were done. We were so rushed through the meal that we actually were in and out of the restaurant in ~ 40 minutes (and they were not busy.) Overall, this dinner was incredibly overpriced and disappointing. We will definitely not go back!
My wife and I ate at Kickshaw Saturday 1/30. What a dismal evening. It all started with bread that was dry all the way through. When I asked for a fresh loaf of the bread, my waiter told me they would all be like the one I had, but that he would be happy to bring another. Our duck appetizer showed up slightly warm , but not hot. It went downhill from there. Upon ordering my second Bacardi and coke, our waiter informed me that the bar was out of Bacardi. Really? On a Saturday? My wife had the chicken fusilli pasta. In all these were 4 small pieces of what looked liked canned chicken in the dish. My bone-in rib eye was terribly overcooked. My waiter, to his credit, asked me if it was overcooked when he came to check on us. Unfortunately, his advice was that it would take better than 25 minutes to get a replacement if I wanted to wait. I did not. I did ask on the way out if a manager was available so I could comment in person. The host looked around and said “I don’t see one”. We had had enough and went home
We ate at Kickshaw last Saturday and had an AMAZING meal! We had a steamed riced bun filled with Korean BBQ’d duck and your mushroom bruschetta– very simple but hot, flavorful and excellent bread– do you guys use truffle oil because it tasted like that a little, but the balance was GREAT!!
Our server was a little shakey but very friendly and accomodated one of our friend’s diet restriction- even telling us that the chef is diabetic as well!
I had the chicken pasta with pesto, blue cheese, crunchy walnuts and juicy chicken. My girlfriend had a really cool eggplant lasagna where they used eggplant instead of pasta (which I had seen before, but the flavor was a 10! A real knockout.
My girlfriend’s dad had the ribeye with cheesey scalloped potatoes and it was a perfect medium. The sauce was awesome too and the vegetables (asparagus and little carrots with the leaves still on them) were great.
Her mom had a salmon with a curry cornmeal thing– kind of like polenta but the salmon was placed on top– it went great with the salmon- not too spicy and soft, but not -uber-creamy like polenta (which I don’t like too much)- it was like a square and with the basil and orange sauce, it went perfectly with the salmon, which was held together with a green onion.
Our desserts were very tasty- I had a chocolate tart which was warm and had a liquid center- the ice cream was vanilla. My girlfriend had their crem brulee and it was awesome!!! They put some strawberries on top and it was simple, but perfect- creamy and sold with the top nice and crunchy.
My GF’s dad had a carrot cake that was amazingly good too: a shot of carrot juice, carrot flavored frosting with carrot crunchy strips on top– and the cake was soft and moist-I wish I could have taken a picture because it looked really cool…
My girlfrien’s mom had a neat thing that was essentially tiramisu with cherries in it: Cherry-misu (Har, har har ) This was so close to us thinking it was bought that the saving grace was seing the cherries all throughout– I am not a fan of cherries, but had it been just regular tiramisu, I would have eaten all of it!
We finished with a 6 piece cheese board with some WI cheeses and some from France and one from Italy- it was a great end to a really great meal!
The only thing I think is that the wine list could be a little bit more varied- there is a pretty good wine list, but I would love to see it more European and Australian- but wow, what a great time!
The Owner was very nice and stopped by to say “Thank You” and was very friendly too-Thank YOU!
I think the service was good, but again, a little shakey, but overall fanastic food and a great addition to Madison!
After reading several less than favorable reviews we decided to try Kikshaws. The meal was very poor. Tuna Tartar came with a lump of frozen wasabi on top. Presentation was pretty but the dish was tasteless. When we mentioned the frozen wasabi our wait persons said she would tell the kitchen but a fresh, not frozen, garnish was not brought.
The house salad was old,warm and wilted.
The Eggplant lasagna was dry and tasteless as well. The scallops were attractivly plated but lacked flavor even with the addition of horseradish sauce. Dessert of flourless chocolate cake with vanilla icecream had been nuked. My advice would be save you money. The wait staff was friendly and efficent aside from the frozen wasabi. Meal was $100.00 for 2 people with shared starter and shared dessert and 1 martini(which was quite good) tip included. We won’t be going back anytime soon.
Horrible Experience – Do NOT go here.
The interior and ambiance is very nice. The music was good also and we were in the mood for a nice night with friends.
However it took over 15 minutes for anyone to even show up at our table even thought they were not busy. We ordered drinks and appetisers and the food was terrible. The wasabi was frozen hard and the food eas very small quantities for the money.
We showed the waitress (very nice lady) the frozen wasabi and management came over and asked “Is there a problem?” We told them we “really liked the place but it took us a long time to be waited on and that the wasabi was frozen – not a big deal.”
The reply was “you better watch what you say or you could be in trouble”. We were shocked and said there must be some confusion we are not trying to complain and we do not want free or reduced price food, just giving some input”. We were told strongly that we were not being respectful of the staff and that we could leave.
This was the strangest expereince of my life dining in a restaraunt. We are all over 50 and dine in nice restaurants often and this was a first!
With the attitiude of the owners, the quality of the food and the overpriced menu I would not expect them to be open for long.
Horrible experience! Will never return! Are food didn’t take long to arrive but it almost was too quick, barely finished one thing and was on the the next. I got the mushroom brucetta and it was a canned salty mushrooms on bread. Not impressed! My friend got the ribeye brucetta and it was basically cooked meat on a very dry stale cracker. I ordered the scallops for my entree and again sooo salty. The potatoes it came on were instant. You could taste the flakey graininess in them. My friend had the wrapped trout, SALTY again and extremely fishy, way more than trout should be. This place was WAY overpriced for the food you got. VERY disappointed! The best part was the carrots that garnished my scallops!
On our 9th anniversay 3/4/10 we decided to go some place a little upscale and picked Kickshaw.
I have nothing good to say about this place. The kid waiter had his nose in the air when addressing us. He failed to mention that the pork chop dinner ($17)is intentionally served rare to med rare. Had to send it back.
The fish special($25)had no flavor. The chicken-rice soup lacked flavor also.
Our dinner cost $65 and was one of the worst meals I ever had.
Kickshaw = High Price / bad food
I have noticed on a lot of other sites that seem to rip on the ownership of this place and it seems that there are posts that someone believes it is from former employees (owner posted?). I have been at this nice restaurant since its inception and it has always been consistent and albeit the service was shakey, it has been fantastic as of late. To you people posting about *my* favorite appetizer, READ THE MENU, STUPIDS!!!! It is a frozen wasabi on top. My God, it seems the real issue here is lack of people reading. I also find it hard to belive that a restaurant would serve “canned” mushrooms– Also, “Bob” if you are even a real person… I have met the owner and he is a complete gentleman. Hearing your crazy story makes me point a finger to call you out for making this up.
I have sent back mashed potatoes once with the only request of craving some fresh garlic and the staff and kitchen were more than accomodating to my request– even sending out a couple of cheeses while I waited. My waitress told me that if there is ever anything they could do to make my experience more enjoyable, simply ask and they would alway do their best to make me happy. *That* is cool and what has kept me coming back.
If you are reading these reviews, I would question that some are suspect of people who used to work there and are holding a grudge because I love the food there AND the service…..this is amazing to see so many snide and “noses up in the air” postings… am I crazy that I like what everyone here dislikes?!? No, I don’t think I am.
I agree with you Bill. I have been to Kickshaw twice and was impressed with the food and service. The staff could not be more accommodating. I’ll certainly go back.
I was pleasantly surprised my experience at Kickshaw. After reading the reviews on here we were a bit skeptical on what the restaurant would be like. But we went in last night and were very happy with everything. The restaurant is beautiful, filled with lots of charm. Our server was prompt, made great suggestions on the menu, and she wasn’t pushy. I had the trout, my husband had the fish special, and my son had the ribs. The only thing that I didn’t like about the experience was the desert. We had the carrot cake and it was kind of dry. Otherwise, it was well worth the money and we will definitely be back!
Bill,
You sound as though you may have some vested interest in this establishment, I am skeptical of your post as well. I have personally had three very different friends try this place on three different occasions, and let’s just say their reviews are consistent with the majority of these reviews. Perhaps a little less defensiveness on the part of those in charge of putting out the food, and a little more desire to please the public they are hoping to continue serving; I suppose only time will tell.