[From Homepage] A Mad-Town Chowdown

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By Titus Ruscitti (Da Beef)

    
There are as many good things about Chicago as there are residents here. As I was coming back from a trip to Texas recently, I realized that one of the things I liked so much was the fact you can drive two or three hours from the city limits and end up in another state. It’s not as quick as rolling up and down the east coast, but our central location allows for some great weekend escapes.

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Check out Da Beef's slideshow of all the great places he mentions in Madison - and a few more. Are you hungry yet?

[button link="http://www.flickr.com/photos/99388792@N04/sets/72157635295677884/show/" target="_blank" background="#66aa55"] Slideshow [/button][/pullquote]

Because I'm a food and drink aficionado, Madison, Wisc. is one of my favorite of these escapes. I might be a little bit biased, having spent my college days there jumping around enjoying the atmosphere of a school that's often ranked near the top as far as happiness goes. I was just a Spotted Cow/Jäger Bomb/Jack and Coke kid back then. A lot has changed - but almost all of the good remains.

Mrs. Roadhouse and I were just in Madison last week as part of a circle trip around the state of Wisconsin. We stopped in at Paul's Pel'Meni for a fantastic lunch; a mixed order of beef and potato Pel'Meni. Paul is on hand to personally serve you from his ridiculously simple menu, our order, mentioned above, representing all of it.

Each dumpling was perfect in its construction, the filling holding tight to the dough, no air pockets or separation during cooking. The "sweet chili" sauce is simple: a mixture of rice wine vinegar and sriracha, artfully squiggled over the pile of dumplings, previously doused with a tablespoon of melted butter, then dusted with curry powder. Some minced cilantro carelessly tossed on top, a side dish of sour cream, and you're in Dumpling Heaven my friends!

BTW, for anyone wanting to try the Pel'Meni experience without driving up to Madison, Fresh Fields (or is it Fresh Farms, I always get it confused) up at Dundee and Milwaukee has a whole section of their freezer case devoted to Pel'Meni. There are at least three brands offering about a half dozen varieties to choose from. One brand describes itself as Russian Tortellini, about as accurate a description as you're likely to get.

Our trip provided plenty of other great food opportunities, including outstanding Pasties from a Green Bay filling station, damn good Cajun food from a backwoods supper club, and brown sugar cured smoked whitefish filets, straight from Lake Superior.

Someday I'll get the time and write it all up. Nice report Beefy!

Buddy

Excellent report, Da...

My daughter just spent four years in Madison, and I made it a point to sample as many venues as possible during that time. It's by far the most eclectic culinary-wise city in the state of Wisconsin. It took me two years alone to work my way down State Street. Turkish, East African, Himalayan, Indian, Laotian...it didn't stop. And all pretty darned authentic.

Quick story--when daughter & myself toured the UW-Madison campus during her junior year of high school, it was in a raging blizzard, but dem cheeseheads never call off anything! After the dog-and-pony show we were two encased blocks of ice, and found Husnu's on State to get our core temps back to normal. It wasn't much past the first few sips of cardamom tea and a warm pita with homemade hummus & olives that my daughter--a foodie like me-- said, 'uh, I think I want to go here.' And so it was.

Again, Da Beef, great rundown on Madison eats!

Jay

Great piece, Beef! Well done. I'll absolutely second you on Bandung: great friendly place, with excellent food, nice folks. They *used* to do a rijsttafel from time-to-time, which was just plain killer. Don't know if they still do it.

Again, tnx for the piece, Beef!

Geo