Brickhouse BBQ (see here for location and hours) has finally opened their doors in downtown Madison.  Featuring Memphis/Kansas City style barbecue, this establishment is brought to you by the same people who bring you Samba Brazilian Grill, The Churchkey and Badger Liquor.

We gave the place a first look for lunch recently, with very mixed results.

As is always the case, we start by using the following disclaimer – a first look at a place is just that – giving it a try before they may have worked the kinks out.  It takes a while for a restaurant to settle in and show its true colors, both good and bad. 

We intended to start with an appetizer of the BBQ Ribs ($9.75).  The menu billed this item as individual pork ribs served on a bed of crispy onion strings with Brickhouse Original BBQ sauce.   We say we intended to start with that, but that isn’t the way that it worked out.  We watched as the server took our order on a nifty electronic device, and then disappeared.  We then waited for our appetizer for around 40 minutes — all the while envying the tables around us who had ordered after we did and were already eating (and finishing!) their entrees.

After around 40 minutes, our server reappeared and told us that there had been a problem “getting the ticket to the kitchen” or some such thing.  After about 50 minutes everything came out of the kitchen all at once – our appetizers, sandwiches and sides all made a joint appearance.  To make matters worse, all of our food was at best room temperature, and at worst, just plain ole cold.

We’re not sure how the food could have been served to us at this temperature, logistically.  We also would have appreciated it if we would have been consulted about the timing of the appetizer in relation to the timing of the sandwiches.  But, it was what it was.

On to the food though.  The ribs were not individual, as promised by the menu.  If you had intended to share this appetizer with a group rather than with an close friend, it would have been a little awkward given that the ribs needed to be manhandled to be pulled apart into an appetizer to be shared with more than one.  It is possible that the kitchen knew that there were two of us at the table and so they divided the appetizer up into two portions.  This would have been a showing of remarkable thought and organization however, and it would have been the only one experienced on this trip — so we doubt that this was the case.  The “bed” of crispy onion straws was pretty sparse.  But the ribs were good.  The sauce was not cloying or sweet.   We’d order the ribs again, but probably as an entree.

Also ordered was the Sausage Sandwich ($8.25), described by the menu as Smoked sausage, grilled, and served with Brickhouse Mustard BBQ sauce and pickled peppers.  This sandwich would have been excellent had it been served warmer than room temperature.  It was overflowing with slightly smoky, slightly spicy sausage with a really very good tangy mustard sauce. 

Cheddar Grits had been ordered as the side, and while we understand that grits are a down-home rustic food, these had too many large clumps of grits to allow us to rave about them.  Still, the flavor was what one would expect.

The Pulled-Pork sandwich ($7.75) was described as slow smoked pork shoulder, shredded, and topped with coleslaw and Brickhouse Original BBQ sauce.  We dubbed this sandwich the “Poorly Pulled-Pork Sandwich”, and not only because of the tongue twister opportunity.  There were very large clumps of pork in the sandwich which made it somewhat awkward to eat.  The flavor was there, once again – it was the execution that needed attention.  The coleslaw should have made more of an impression than it did, but it was okay.

The fries were good – crispy and tasty, and the homemade pickle slices were really very good.

The interior of this new restaurant clearly shows that they are going for more of an urban BBQ restaurant versus a down-home bbq joint.  They did a very good job at remodelling the place, and the three floors (with a very good sized rooftop outdoor deck) will easily handle the crowds that will inevitably make their way there before Kohl Center events.

So, to wrap it up, our first look at Brickhouse BBQ turned up a lot of execution errors that we hope will be worked out in the upcoming weeks.  If not, we are not convinced that, while the food is good, it is good enough to overcome the execution.

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Vintage Brewing Company has at last opened their doors on Madison’s west side, housed in the building formerly occupied by JT Whitney’s.

Madison Dining Online stopped in within a week of the opening to take a first look at the place.  As with all of our first looks, we always make sure to throw around a few caveats.  We understand that the first few days of a restaurant’s opening is not always the best time to truly understand the longterm standards of the restaurant.  Often times we take a first look at a new establishment and end up eating our words of praise.  Other times, restaurants show steady improvement  after their opening.

Having said that, here are our initial thoughts.

When you first walk in to through the front doors, there is a lounge-like area with comfortably couches and seating.  It looks nice – it looks comfy.  We still don’t really understand why it is there.  It isn’t really a place you’d settle in with a drink.  Perhaps Vintage is expecting crowds and waiting lists of people looking for tables.

The interior has been remodeled, with the alterations bringing a slightly different vibe than its previous life as JT Whitney’s.   As the name implies, it is clear that the vintage look is a goal here.  The goal is reached for the most part.

But on to the important first impressions – the food.  We started with an order of the Guacamole, Salsa and Chips ($6.75).  When the order was placed before us we were a bit taken aback at the scarcity of the chips, given the price of the appetizer.  It became apparent that the guacamole was freshly made of high quality ingredients.  The salsa was quite good as well.  It appears that the price of the appetizer goes towards the quality of these items, and we don’t really mind paying more for quality.  But really – even if the chips are homemade, would it really cost that much to add a few more to the plate so that you can actually enjoy the guacamole and the salsa?  Or perhaps we were just shortchanged on the serving portion.

We also tried the Fish and Chips ($8.75).  This beer-battered cod was fried in oil that was not hot enough, which allowed the oil to seep into the batter rather than make the batter as crispy as it should have been.  We were somewhat forgiving of that execution error, as the fish itself was flavorful, flaky and moist.  We liked it, and we assume they’ll work out the kinks.  Much like the chips mentioned above, it was actually the sides and condiments that made this dish.  The coleslaw was crisp, fresh and tasty, and the tartar sauce was some of the best we’ve tasted.  Though the menu said the dish was served with malt vinegar, we needed to ask for it.  Which is ok – just remember to do so.  Nothing beats malt vinegar on fish and chips.

The item that stole the show was the Blue Heaven Burger ($7.75).  Unlike many restaurants which will not serve you a burger the way you ask for it if you want it medium rare, Vintage asked how we wanted the burger done, and delivered it perfectly cooked to order.  Served dramatically with a knife speared through the lettuce, tomatoes, onions and burger, we have to admit that we thought this was one of the most perfectly prepared burgers we’ve had in a long time. 

Clearly hand formed before being grilled to crunchy perfection on the outside, this burger was meaty, juicy and bursting with flavor on the inside.  It was the type of burger that your mourned when it was gone, almost immediately craving another one just for the taste and texture, no matter how full you might be.

We can’t wait to go back to see if the burger withstands the test of time.

We’ll go back soon to see how this restaurant has fared since the opening week.  When we were there they were not yet serving their own brews, as they had not yet been granted the appropriate licensing needed to operate a brewpub (or so our server said).  We look forward to trying that as well.

If you’ve tried Vintage Brewing company, let us know what you thought by leaving a comment below.

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Pollo Inka has opened up on Madisn’s far west side (See here for location and hours).  Fans of Peruvian food, but aware of the sparseness of such a restaurant in Madison, we stopped in for lunch recently to give it a try.

We left very pleased, and eager to go back again – soon.

Opening in January, the restaurant was doing a relatively healthy business the day that we stopped in.  Upon entering, one could not help but notice the aroma of rotisserie chicken filling the room.  And this is a good thing.

Lunch started with an order of Ceviche Mixto ($11.95).  This ceviche was made up of chunks of fish, calamari, shrimp and mussels, marinated in lime juice, garlic and chili.  The shell it was served on was balanced on both sides by mounds of sweet potoatoes.  Other ceviches available include fish only, shrimp only and mushrooms only.

For the main courses, we tried the lunch special, which was a quarter of a rotisserie chicken (6.95) which included a house salad and a choice of rice & beans, french fries, maduros (sweet plantains) or tostones (green plantains).   We also tried the Aji de Gallina ($9.95), a shredded chicken casserole with walnuts and parmesan, mixed with boiled potatoes, with hard-boiled egg and black olives on top.  This was served with a side of rice.

We enjoyed the rotisserie chicken.  We often say that the true test of a restaurant is to order their chicken.  It is so easy to do chicken wrong.  This was far from wrong, being moist, tender and very flavorful.  The house salad that it was served with was a bland shredding of iceburg lettuce - until you added the homemade dressing.  When asked what was in the dressing, our server explained that it was a secret even from him, stating,  “Our chef makes sure we aren’t around when she makes it!”

Another element that brought a burst of flavor to the chicken was the chili sauce.  Spicy enough to cause a nice, slow heat, yet not so spicy that it was overwhelming, this sauce was a really interesting addition to the chicken.

The Aji de Gallina was on the surface quite bland.  There was something satisfying about it, however, if one looked at it from a comfort food standpoint.  Admittedly, we did add some of the chili sauce that had been served with the chicken into the dish to spice it up, and that punched up the flavor tremendously.  Next time, we’d deliberately order chili sauce on the side to add to this dish.

We liked Pollo Inka a lot.  We’d go back there any day over many of the restaurants in the area, particularly the same tired old chains.  It is our hope that Madisonians support a small, local and unique restaurant such as this.

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Find address and hours here.

The Coopers Tavern recently opened up its doors on the Capitol Square.  Billing itself as a neighborhood tavern that specializes in craft beer and rustic food, it has a very extensive beer menu, with items on the food menu that are unique and not often found in Madison.

Established as a joint partnership between Food Fight and Madison couple Peter McElvanna (formerly of competing capital pub Brocach) and his wife Amy Marsman, Coopers occupies the location formerly housing the short-lived Sucre.

We recently stopped in for a first look at the place.  We left with a pleasant intial impression.

The dish that has all the local Internet writers and foodies abuzz is the Poutine.  For those of you who aren’t local Internet writers or foodies, Poutine is not only fun to say, but it also is a traditional Canadian dish that has its roots in Quebec.  It is comprised of French Fries tossed with cheese curds and topped with gravy.  As someone who has frequently visited Canada on business, I can attest to its popularity, finding the dish served in diners, restaurants and even fast food joints. 

Poutine purists will note that there are some small execution errors in this particular poutine.  First, the gravy is a tad bit heavy.  Second, the cheese curds on the order that was served to us were pooled and melted at the bottom of the plate, creating a disk of hardened cheese with embedded french fries.  Still, it was adequate comfort food on a cold winter day.

Somewhat more successful (though slightly overcooked) was the Sconnie Egg.  A play on the traditional Scotch Egg, this hard-boiled egg is instead coated with Wisconsin bratwurst before being fried.  It is served on a bed of stout mustard, with a side of pickled vegetables.  A lacking touch which would have put this dish over the top would have been a dab of sauerkraut on the side.

The lunch menu is comprised of a few salads including a roasted beet salad with citrus dressing and a brussels sprout salad with blue cheese, bacon and croutons.

The sandwiches include a variety of offerings, including a burger, a reuben and a veggie sandwich.  We split an order of the Brisket Sandwich.

If you are looking for a brisket sandwich slathered in barbecue sauce, this is not it.  And that is just one of the reasons why this became our favorite brisket sandwich in Madison.  The other two reasons were the onion jam and the bacon aoli.  The aoli alone made this worth ordering, though the brisket itself was surprisingly moist and slightly smoky.  Served with a side of homemade chips, we’ll go back for this sandwich alone.

The chips were also noteworthy.

The beer menu at The Coopers Tavern must be mentioned.  Heavy on Belgian beers, this menu provides very unique beers that you won’t find many other places.  There are a couple dozen on tap and many served by the bottle.

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Chef Graham Smith and The Heartland Grill are proud to be among the elite chefs and establishments taking part in the American Liver Foundation’s Flavors of Madison event, to be held on February 28.2010. 

The Heartland Grill, located at the Sheraton Hotel on John Nolen Drive, brings the downtown, the east side and the west side of Madison together, providing a central gathering place where people can connect.  The menu focuses on comfort food, strong on seafood and steak dishes. 

Chef Smith has been a professional chef since 1992,  graduating from the Scottsdale Culinary Institute.  A native of Janesville, he has been leading the Heartland Grill’s culinary endeavors since early 2007, bringing signature dishes like Grilled Salmon with Crystallized Ginger Sauce to the forefront.  Chef Smith believes in catering to his clientele and in giving them what they are looking for – comfort food in a warm atmosphere where people can connect.

He is passionate about fresh seafood-based dishes with a lot of flair from southwestern cuisine and Asian influences, while using local and seasonal ingredients to provide the freshest, highest quality menu selections available.

Both Chef Smith and The Heartland Grill believe in contributing to the community in which  they live.  They are very excited about participating in the American Liver Foundation’s Flavors of Madison, firmly throwing their support behind the worthy cause.

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Vintage Brewing Company on Whitney Way inches closer to their opening.  [Edit: It is now open for dinner.] Situated in the previous beleagured JT Whitney’s building,  Vintage Brewing Company’s menu looks promising, offering a rather ecclectic mix of ethnicly-influenced dishes including a Wisconsin Cassoulet, Mediterranean Lamb Meatballs, Curry Vegetable Pie,  Pot Stickers, and, of course, a selection of burgers and sandwiches.

We’ll be taking a first look at their food (and beer!) shortly, so come back for more information.  Sign up for our Twitter Feed and our Facebook Page to stay informed!

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Update:  A first look at Kickshaw (restaurant review) can be found here.

Kickshaw American Cuisine is opening in Fitchburg.  Located on McKee Road in the building that most recently housed Good Times, and previous to that housed Fitch’s, Kickshaw’s perpetual menu is focused on American Cuisine with a Global influence.  However, they will also provide a rotating menu that features more adventurous selections created with local, seasonal cuisine.

Kickshaw is purported to open on October 5th.  We’re interested in how this goes.  The space was beautiful, and was definitely not suited to children’s arcade games as was the focus for Good Times.  It could seemingly be one of the nicer places in that area.

We’ve heard some unusual background that seems a touch odd, but we’re going to withhold some of that until we find out more.  As always, if you have info you’d like to share, contact us, or leave a comment below.

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Ok, we get it. There are people out there that have a grudge against the old Cloud 9 Grille. Of course from our comments that we get and don’t allow through due to language and vindictiveness, most of the grudge is from a select few former employees with a personal grudge – many of the comments come from a small number of people who try to fool us with fake names and email addresses.  IP addresses are sort of like the DNA of the online world though, so the assumed names don’t fool us that much.

We prefer to keep our views of Madison-area restaurants focused on menu, service, food, atmosphere and value. We loved Cloud 9 when it first opened, then we ran into a very unfortunate run when we dined there several meals in a row. Towards the end, they seemed to be desperately trying to turn the place around, but alas, too late. There are too many restaurants in Madison to choose from to allow an establishment to easily come back from blatantly disrespecting the Madison dining public.

And so, with the controversy that certain contributors seemed determined to draw us into, we of course had to visit the newly opened Jovian Taphaus on opening night. And we came away quite pleased.

The first test was in asking for a table upstairs, something that the previous establishment failed at miserably. Jovian Taphaus passed with flying colors, seating us in the majestic upper level without blinking.

The second test came in the service.  On this visit, the service was very polite, if tentative.  It was, however, opening night, so one must be prepared to make allowances for nerves.  Our server was friendly and did a good job, and we expect that the service should only improve with practice.

The third test was the food.  And the food passed with flying colors.  The menu is quite different this time around, with a more limited menu balanced between appetizers, sandwiches, and entrees heavy on steaks.  We opted for the sandwiches on this trip, ordering the slow-roasted pork sandwich and the burger.  The pork sandwich was a winner, with a topping of crunchy cole slaw and a hidden tang of horseradish placed atop a crisply grilled ciabatta roll.

We’re not going to go into a long review.  We’ve done that before after one visit and ended up eating crow.  We’re going to go back a couple of times, try more of the menu and then give a more thorough review.  But, what we saw, we liked.

As we dined on this evening, the management of the restaurant made a point of patroling the floors to ensure that the dining experience was meeting expectations.  Chris, the manager, asked us how the meal was going, and then joined us for a few minutes to discuss the new endeavor.  We introduced ourselves and he recognized and acknowledged MadisonDining.com, noting that he paid attention to what was being discussed on the site in regards to Cloud 9/Jovian Taphaus.

We were also joined by one of the roving management members who talked to us about the wine list.  He sat in our booth for a few minutes telling us about the direction that Jovian Taphaus was taking with their food and beverage menus.  He admited that he was there for a short time, on loan from establishments in Kansas City.  He discussed the dedication to locally produced food.  The cheese, for example, is from Kraemer, a local cheese producer.

So, again, we’ll write up a more formal review of the restaurant after we’ve been there a few more times and have tried more of the menu.  We’ll see how the service settles in, and if the management continues to be on top of dining experience, as they were on this evening.

Until then, we recommend that you give Jovian Taphaus a try… and of course, let us know what you think!

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A new Asian restaurant opened in Fitchburg a couple of weeks ago. It is called Thai Noodles and occupies the location of the former LMNO Pies on Hwy PD. The first couple of tries were pretty good. The dining area is small with about 6 tables with the main traffic seeming to be carry-out and delivery. They also do catering. The food was very good, a more in-depth review will come at a later time.

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Daisy Cafe and Cupcakery
2827 Atwood Ave
Madison, WI
608-241-2200

Hours:
Cafe Menu: Monday to Friday, 7am to 2pm; Saturday and Sunday, 8am to 3pm
Espresso & Cupcakes: Monday to Friday, 7am to 5pm; Saturday and Sunday, 8am to 5pm

Daisy Cafe and Cupcakery has opened doors on Atwood Avenue, on Madison’s east side.  Located in the building that used to house Bunky’s Cafe (which has reopened in the former Goodman Community Center a couple of blocks away), it is a welcome addition to the neighborhood. Part bakery, part coffeehouse, part cafe, Daisy Cafe fits right in.

As the name suggests, the forte here is cupcakes.  And the cupcakes are great.  But they are not as good as the scones, which have to be some of the best scones offered in the city.  These scones are have the prefect texture, with just a hit of sweetness hidden in with the fruit and nuts.  The subtle icing adds to the taste experience.  Flavors include combinations like dried cranberry and walnut, and raspberry.

But if you go to Daisy for only the bakery, you are missing the interesting and very good menu that they’ve put together to serve to diners for breakfast/brunch and lunch. Stratas are their specialty, and they do their version of this egg casserole very, very well.  We sampled the Chorizo and Pepper Jack Strata, which also contained green onions and red peppers.  A strata is a welcome change from your typical omelet, though if you have a breakfast purist amongst you, they serve omelets as well.

We also tried the Egg Sandwich.  This sandwich had cream cheese, bacon, purple onion and cilantro on grilled rosemary bread.  The bread was high quality, very good bread that stood up to the test of having breakfast ingredients piled between the slices.

Daisy Cafe and Cupcakery also serves lunch items daily.  Meatloaf is their specialty for lunch, and they serve up a plethora of options.  Ground Beef and Bacon, Turkey/Feta/Pesto, Chorizo, and a No-Meat Loaf can be ordered as an entree or as a sandwich.

Other sandwiches available include a pork loin sandwich with pineapple, a grilled Chicken and Onion Chutney sandwich, a “Sloppy Jose” made with Chorizo, and various burgers.

Don’t forget to take a cupcake home.  They take a lot of care in the packaging of their cupcakes, placing them in appropriately outfitted boxes.  Cupcake are iced with butter cream, and include apple with cinnamon cream cheese, banana with chocolate, banana with lemon, carrot with cream cheese, chocolate with blueberry, chocolate with chocolate, chocolate with mocha, lemon with blueberry, lemon with raspberry, lemon with strawberry, vanilla with blueberry, vanilla with chocolate,vanilla with lemon, vanilla with mocha and vanilla with strawberry.

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