More than snooty Ikea food

Our first (and not last) trip to Magnus was a full-service experience from great cocktails to wonderful service. Nice decor, the main dining room was open with a high ceiling and well lit.

Starting with cocktails, I had the Finn's #7 cup, a re-imagined Pimm's cup with local Death's Door gin, dry vermouth, Lillet, St. Germain in an old fashioned glass with apple and cucumber slivers as garnish. Very tart and refreshing, my kind of drink! Drew's Uptown Julep was sweet and tasty, with Bulliet bourbon, mint and a frosted rim in a martini glass.

Our first plates included a good deal of pickled things (apropos?). The Norwegian sausage and duck ham with pickled cabbage, cornichons and truffle mustard was a good marriage of flavors from fats to sweet to sour. Then the pickled herring, salmon, and shrimp with egg creme fraiche and cucumbers gave us even more pickled goodness. The seafood was all fresh and tart, the clean cucumbers and sweet/creamy creme fraiche bookending the flavors perfectly.

Our entrees were also winners; mine was the cardamom crusted sirloin with black currants, truffled cauliflower puree and spinach. The truffled cauliflower puree and spinach became a bit heavy-handed as the meal wore on as is often the case with truffle anything but the richness served as a good foil to the lean sirloin. The cardamom and currants worked well together, the cardamom never overpowering or too menthol. Currants are a good fruit for beef, they are not too sweet but slightly earthy, and they hold up to cooking.

Drew's cocoa nib wild boar tenderloin with wild mushrooms, pea puree and fig syrup was a study in decadent fatty/sweet flavors. When I tasted it, I felt that more pea puree was needed to balance the dish, the figs and cocoa were pretty strong. Overall it worked well because the pork was leaner and more gamey than your average loin or chop, the 'wildness' of the boar accentuated the wildness of the cocoa.

Dessert options looked incredibly boring, how many flourless chocolate cakes can one town have? So we went with savory over sweet; the jarlsberg cheese tart mixed salty/barnyard cheese with crunchy dough and sweet ligonberries.

Magnus has portion sizes and flavor combinations down. The dessert menu was the only flaw, but the menu is seasonal! We were well pleased by the fancy Ikea food.

Beer and Chocolate!

A recent beer and chocolate tasting at my local Whole Foods yielded some cool results. Along with the usual suspects: Stout, fruit beers, creme brulee....a few interesting pairings were revealed. Both. good and bad

Ayinger Oktoberfest with its intense/nutty Munich malt and smooth drinkability paired well with a 365 milk chocolate hazelnut bar. Both are mild nutty flavors with a hint of smooth/rich decadence. This pairing, I'll look forward to next year when the Marzens are 'in season'.

Lake Louie Arena Premium, a US Pale Ale with its typical US hop balance, bitterness, malt backbone, and palate cleansing action paired extremely well with a 365 dark chocolate mint bar. The hop heavy flavors in a US pale tend to be on the citrus/pine/resin side, the min and hops complemented each other and added a minty fresh dimension to the beer. Since the bitter dark chocolate fed the bitter hops, the overall effect was that the bitterness increased in both, and the mint was stronger with the bar but was 'cleaned' off a bit by the hops in the beer and the voerall carbonation and body of the style.

Stone Smoked Porter with the Vosges Moe's Bacon bar- match made in heaven. Bacon, beer, chocolate, smoke- a bacon beer would have been too much but the chocolate in the porter is always a hit when paired with actual chocolate.

Not a fan of the overly sweet and cloying desert beer, Southern Tier's Creme Brulee (I know, heresy) but the extreme caramel lactose sweetness was actually cut by the Whole Foods bakery bittersweet flourless chocolate cake. Taken in small amounts, I could do this beer as long as I had something substantial and bitter to cut it.

Ale Asylum's Trippel Nova was overshadowed by the chocolate covered ginger (bulk). The ginger itself tasted great with the Trippel, the spices from the yeast spiced up the ginger and gave it a great kick, and the sweetness from the candi sugar and Pils malt added to the richness of the chocolate. Sadly, while the ginger confection fared well, the Trippel wilted. By itself, the seasonal beer from one of my favorite local breweries was low on hop balance and high on fruity sweet and spice: not a favorite.

Another nice pairing was the oak-aged milk stout Dragon's Milk by New Holland with the Ben and Jerry's Smores ice cream. The oak aged beer complemented the woody smores, the milk and chocolate in the stout were prefect with their milk and chocolate counterparts with the smores ice cream.

Sweet ass beer and cheese pairing

After an Herve Mons cheese flight a few days ago by one of my favorite cheese lecturers, I imagined that the Tommette du Tarn with its earthy, tart, musty, sweaty, nutty flavor would be awesome with New Glarus's Berliner Weisse. The Berliner Weisse is a very sour, effervescent, lightly citrusy/floral, refreshing champagne-like beer. Light bodied, perfect for summer and perfect for a strong smelly cheese like the Tarn. I also tried the La Serena raw sheep's milk, it is also tart, smelly, sweaty, barny, slightly grassy/floral, mushroomy. The La Serena also warmed up and became even more creamy and smelly. Perfect.

We ate it so fast that I couldn't even get pictures.

Tornado Room, and my first rack

With garish come-hither neon signage, dark cozy interiors, and northwoods carcass chic all speak to an era long-gone where men wore pinstripe suits and poured hooch in the back bar. I'm shocked that the Tornado Room wasn't used n Public Enemies, I can easily imagine Johnny Depp's Dillinger charming the pants off some girl in the uber-cool bar.

Having visited twice, each time I've been excited by my entree. I've had the pork with sour cherry reduction and most recently the lamb with mustard, garlic, bread crumbs and mint. The pork was sweet and tart, tender cut dripping with fatty evil. The leftovers became an awesome sandwich, the sweet pork balanced by a salty English hard cheese on a baguette. The lamb was an inspiration. Crunchy burned mustard/breadcrumb on one side, silky lamb falling off the bone on the other side. The mint pops up like a beloved guest star during various sublime bites. There were no leftovers for this one and I let Drew gnaw on the bones after I gnawed until full.

Oysters Rockefeller was well done, but not special. The casear salad was real- real anchovy loveliness. Fatty nummy brussel sprouts were a welcome side.

Booze: The wine list is short, and not super fantastic but its certainly not crap/chain style with only one or two producers per varietal- it was not well rounded and not the usual merlot/cab/chard show. The lamb was safely paired with a semi-sweet rose (too safe, I should have gone for a light/sweetish red), the pork was accompanied by a malbec that was a little dry and tart- appropriate for the sweet/tart/fatty pork but with enough fruit to not be completely opposite. The cocktails were pretty neat in the cool recessed lighting bar. A ginger infused bourbon, peach liquor/brandy and a little lemon was a nice Southern style treat, the Vesper was strong and bracing. One cocktail during a trip last summer consisted of fresh basil, strawberry puree, and rum.

You've got red on you

When I think of the Red Eye brewing company in Wausau, my second thought beyond great beer is...nutella calzone.

Back up. My first intro to this place was beer served at the Old Fashioned. The Bloom and Scarlett 7 (a wit and dubbel) were exceptional, and when I found out the brewery was within 3 hours and near a good hike- off we went.



Everything tastes a little better after exercise, its a bit like beer goggles except you don't wake up next to someone you feel the need to gnaw off your own arm to escape. Pizza and beer are my two big post-exercise cravings, and I'm a sucker for wood-fired pizza. The bbq chicken, red onion, smoked gouda, and cilantro pizza was our selection. Red onions added that bit of sweetness, the cheese and toasty crust offered up the extra smoke, and of course the bbq did both- not exactly super complex flavors but they were exactly what we expected and wanted. The crust was perfect (go wood ovens) and the ingredients fresh. We also split the lobster cakes with avocado remoulade. Not impressive, but not horrible. The sweet delicate lobster was a bit overshadowed by the oil leftover from frying, and the remoulade was bland.

On to the beer: between the two of us we tried almost all of them. The Thrust is a US IPA that is very crisp, refreshing, and if course full of citrusy/piney US hops but still has a discernable malt backbone. Very nicely done, but its not a standout. The Bloom is a Wit with considerable wheat in the aroma and taste, along with the coriander/orange/perfumy spiciness to be expected. A great summer quencher, I could drink this one all day. A seasonal nut brown was on tap which excited the beer geek in me because the brewer specified it was a Southern Brown. A Southern Brown is not brewed with fried chicken or cornbread- imagine a Newcastle, with a less bitter finish, less hop flavor and aroma, with slightly more caramel/toffee/and sweetness. It was creamy and smooth with hints of fruits. Very nice, and we took some home in a growler. The Scarlett 7 was also a favorite of mine- dubbel style with full on dark fruits (plums, raisins, currants), molasses, bready/biscuity malts, almost chewy texture but still smooth enough to drink way too much. Sneaky alcohol and no the prettiest to look at, but a damn good beer.

Last but not least: the calzone of evil with chocolate and nutella. I mean, there's really no way to screw this up. It was so good Drew tried to steal my portion and I almost stabbed him with my fork. Do. Not. Steal. My chocolate evil.

Great taste 09: the quickie

This year I volunteered and even got a snazzy guayabera with my name on it. I 'ran' the beer and cheese education session. This pretty much meant that I shook hands with people, played bouncer to douchebags who were mean to my volunteers, and handed out beer and cheese. Dan from New Glarus gave a great talk and made some good pairings- it was a pleasure to meet and listen to him.



As busy as I was, I didn't take notes nor did I drink as much but I will mention some favorite brews. Real ale tent: Bluegrass Brewing chocolate rye porter, Fat Heads' Collaborative Evil, New Albanian: Beak's Best, Malcolm's Old Setter Ale, Hoptimus IPA (best advertising ever), Surly: Ash-Aged Cynic, Tea Bagged Bitter, Kuhnhnens' Cherry Belgian.

The real ale tent was a big haunt of mine this year, I arrived early and watched the guys and girls tap the casks. I was allowed/encouraged/dared to tap a bunghole (seriously its the hole on the top of the cask that gets tapped first to release CO2), there is footage of this somewhere of my tapping it, air blowing out, then the beer bath. In my first 30min of the festival, I was covered in beer. I also got to be all beer-groupie and meet one of the cool local lady brewers, Jaime of Dells Brewing/Moosejaw. I also got to meet a New Albanian brewer, who told me that the awesome Malcolm's Old Setter Ale was waiting for two years, it was full of alcohol warmth, sweet caramel/toffee malts, gasoline, butter, dark fruits.

Non-cask beers of note and remembrance:
B. Nektar Meadery- Buckwheat Mead
Blue Cat- coriander and orange US wheat
Lakefront- Rosie kriek lambic



Overall, an awesome time. Again. I'll take an even more active role next year, this is really a premier beer event and the small numbers make it all that much cooler. I only saw a small number of stupid shit, a few drunk vomiting, almost fights, outfits that should not be...but as a long-time veteran of DragonCon; this was Sunday school.

Wisconsin BBQ, who knew?

How can they possibly have good 'que here? Its no where nears hot enough. They have no concept of iced tea. The Wisconsin idea of spicy involves ketchup.

I ate these words two nights ago. Smoky Jon's is a much lauded institution here in Madison and apparently award-winning even in the South. So we wanted our fix. Holy crap, vinegar-based ribs that literally were cooked so long that the bones became soft. Sauce that was tangy and only a tiny bit sweet. Almost spicy, but really astringent. The ribs made me want to gnaw on bone like a dog. I don't even really like ribs, I like pulled pork or chicken bbq. Or mutton.

Crinkle fries, baked beans with the vinegar based sauce, and lame bread rolls rounded out the meal. Next time we'll try other sides.

Beer pairing: for unknown bbq, I decided that maybe an opposite flavor would work well. I was thinking spicy, smoky, or tart- so I chose a Belgian Dark Strong Ale with its high alcohol, dark fruits, yeasty malty goodness to balance the flavors. It did work well, we drank the Trois Pistoles by Unibroue and the large goblets of liquid goodness fit the bill.

Cowboys need beer too

Arizona is not exactly a beer paradise. We love the state; the ecological diversity, the adventure activities, the margaritas, and some tasty cuisine. Beer? Eh.

We begin our tour in Tucson, a perennial favorite of ours for the city vibe, the trails, and the best museum/zoo we have ever seen. And they have these freakin huge cacti.

Thunder canyon Brewery- Well reviewed regardless of the strip mall setting. Sadly, I don't agree. "Orange u Glad" it sucked, so someone poured orange juice concentrate into a hefe? Really? This is what I call a chick beer. Smell the disdain.

The ESB and the Amber were decent examples of style but not particularly stellar. The amber was definetely drinkable with some piney/citrus hops. The food was so unremarkable, not only did I not take notes, but I also have no idea what we ate.

1702 beer bar- In a near-campus strip mall, we found the beer snob bar. And it was good. We sat at the bar facing the wall of taps the likes of which are not often seen in the South or Midwest (Green Flash, AZ breweries like Barrio, Papago, Four Peaks). I drank an Eel River Old Ale; not the best for the warm weather with its full body and slick finish. Too vanilla and honey for my taste, it had a bit too much hop aroma for style but other than that it would have been a deent Old Ale for winter drinking- what the hell was I thinking in Tucson? Drew allowed me to sample his New Belgium Fleur Missere- a perfect warm weather drink: carbonated, citrusy hops, herbal, grassy, barnyard, even some grapefruit. I really thought it was a cross between a saison and a blond with the yeasty aromas and brett flavors but its a Belgian Pale. So I need to study more...

Overall 1702 was a great place for a beer, very local and the bartenders knew their beers. We didn't get a chance to try the food but we were impressed overall by the place.

Local Tuscon brewery Nimbus was one we'd hit in the past. Lacking time on this trip, we skipped the industrial-location of the brewpub but did pick up some Old Monkeyshine for camping. Its a lighter Old ale style, or a heavier/maltier cask ale. Its higher ABV probably prevented its dark fruits, nutty and biscuity malts from being too sweet. Well carbonated, with only a hint of earthy/floral hops in the aroma and taste. Maybe a high ABV, sweeter mild? Nice full body, and smooth. It was great for a windy desert camping nightcap, and a private train room.

Having never been in North Arizona, we planned a drive through Flagstaff and the Painted Desert all the way to New Mexico. Stopping through historic-cool downtown Flagstaff, we hit the Beaver Street brewpub. Typical beers: a stout, IPA, amber, etc. The stout was a thick chewy oatmeal, chocolate, toasty malts. The amber, 'red' ale, was a balanced easy-drinking beer. We reccomend the interesting meatloaf sandwich, tasty but very filling. We also munched on the Green Goddess grilled salmon salad- just for a bit of green in a vast pub-food sea. The food and the beers fit the bill after a day of driving.

Eating Santa Fe

The problem with eating in Santa Fe is not whether or not you will get some great food, its whether or not it will cost you a body part. Since we planned our meal for the lunchtime hour, I picked a highly rated, pricey (for dinner) kind of place in the middle of the historic downtown area.

Coyote Cafe has a rooftop cantina thing going on, since April in New Mexico can be iffy weather-wise, we were happy to sit next to the heaters. Starting with cocktails, we tried a variation on the same theme with our fresh watermelon mojito/margarita. Fresh watermelon juice, fresh mint- the cocktails were wonderfully fresh and perfect for an outdoors lunch. It would have been perfect had it not been kinda chilly, but since we are now Wisconsinites we pretty much get happy anytime above freezing.

On to the food: slow roasted duck with a papaya bbq sauce quesadilla, and a snooty Navajo taco. A Navajo taco seems to be a coronary inducing regional kitchen-sink recipe; shredded chicken, pork, and bison mixed with some cheese, veg, and other usual taco suspects- all on top of fry bread. It was filling, fatty, not too greasy, and completely sinful. The duck quesadilla was a perfect mix of flavors; the fatty duck and the sweet/tart papaya bbq sauce are not new combinations, but they were executed admirably. From the lunch plates, I only wish that we had come back for dinner- I am pretty sure the insane cost would have been worth it.

Service with a sneer

I admit that the reason I generally won't go to an Italian restaurant (Sotto Sotto being an exception), it that I associate Italian-American food too much with Olive Garden. Olive Garden, in my pretentious Viognier swigging foie gras eating mind, is the epitome of staid suburban mediocrity in food and in life. I blame the Will and Grace episode "I never promised you an Olive Garden" for entrenching this in my imagination. I am an unabashed foodie, snob, geek, whatever and since I'm not Italian and have never had grandmother's lasagna, I don't get the big deal. Again, I have had "snooty" Italian and find it very good but since most of the places calling themselves Italian have the spaghetti and meatballs line-up- I simply don't care.

We tried Tutto Pasta on State Street for lunch one day having not heard anything bad about it. Let's start my rant with the fact that as soon as we walked in, we felt like we had interrupted some extremely important standing around time of the staff. After being ignored at our table for close to 10 minutes with Drew getting more and more pissed, we were brought water with ice (no I don't like ice in my water when it 15F outside) in plastic glasses. The cheap local beer was $5 on draft, for Atlanta thats high-end but for Madison its nuts to pay that much for Spotted Cow. Bud was $3.50. Mediocre wines like Ecco was about $8 a glass. So no booze today.

The best part comes when our bread is literally tossed on the table without a word. I giggled and resigned myself at that point to a $30 object lesson.

At least the food didn't suck...entirely. The bruschetta may have been cold, but at least the ingredients tasted fresh. We ordered specials; a cheese ravioli in a tomato sauce, and a chicken in an alfredo-ish sauce with veggies, pistachios, cranberries. The ravioli, chicken, and veggies in cheese sauce were all either canned or frozen. The tomato sauce was homemade with fresh garlic, basil, and tomatoes- it was quite nice. The flavor combination of the pistachio, cheese, and cranberries was nice as well. Immediately after eating, we did get garlic burps since you MUST have a ton of garlic in Italian food right?

I never leave crappy tips. But getting ignored, being made to feel like I was putting out the staff, and the bread-tossing all added up to a small tip. Lesson learned.

Old Fashions are always in fashion

Every once and a while that popular place in the tourist section of town can be judged well worth the hype. Visitors may scoff at the notion of “Wisconsin cuisine” but the OF pulls off this niche so well that there’s an hour plus wait some evenings and most weekends. This food is comforting, filling, and exciting enough to make me come back at least once a month. To add to the all Wisconsin all the time theme, they are now serving all Wisconsin beer that can be bottled or tapped. From the usual suspects of Spotted Cow and Tyranena, to nouveau ghetto (Old Style? Really?), to small brewpubs as far as Lake Superior (Thirsty Pagan coming soon).

Food first: A little something for everyone: veggies, salads, fried food, and tons of meat. The ingredients are fresh and quality enough that even the fried coatings of the awesome cheese curds can’t hide. The roast beef is superb, tangy and a little bloody but full of flavor- the tiger blue sauce makes a great foil to the meaty sandwich. The pulled pork is sumptuous and greasy; toasted bread and a great sauce pull it together to fill up for the day. The veggie sandwich is savory and filling, I am pretty much a sucker for anything with warm goat cheese and roasted veggies that aren’t from a can. Very good burger and the fries are thin and crisp. A really cool touch for dinner are the lazy susans, a selection of finger foods to share. From the great WI cheeses (of which there are many), to the local inspired fish plates (still not sold on walleye), to the great dips; these lazy susans are a great way to introduce people to the spirit of the Old Fashioned. And of course they have brats, you betcha.

I'll get back to the beer in a second. Let's talk booze. If you choose, you may look at the large book o booze, listing cocktails to and exhaustive bottled beer list, to local non-alcoholic drinks- people really go for local brewed root beers here. Go ahead and try the signature drink the Old Fashioned. This is made with brandy in the great white north here which is the subject of much speculation and did get the hairy eyeball from this Southerner who is pretty damn sure that anything other than bourbon in an OF is high blasphemy. There's even an editorial about this, ironically, in the latest issue of Imbibe. I'm sure the bartenders do a great whatever-tini too when the chicks come in to drink at night, but the beer is really worth exploring here.

Not only are there tons of bottled beers, but over 20 taps including a monthly "cheap" beer that generally isn't cheap- right now its Tyranena scotch ale and when I first ate here it was the very drinkable Fattybombalatty by Furthermore. So far in the every brewery initiative, I've tried a couple. Red Eye brewery in Wausau put out a Belgian style called Scarlett 7 that I just had to try because I'm a sucker for Belgian style. Not a big smell coming off of this ruby colored beauty. Slightly floral, figgy and malty. A sweet medium mouthfeel gives way to rich fig, raisin, cinnamon, and spices. The hops are noted at the finish, balancing the sweet and malty taste in a crisp way that American brewed Belgian styles are great for. Wausau is now on my WI beer list.

Tyranena Rocky's Revenge: Bourbon aged brown ale, poured medium brown with a lacy tan head. Good bourbon smell to it. Drinkable and smooth, I could taste the bourbon and wood but only as a finish. It did not slap me over the head with it. Kinda fizzy mouthfeel, overall it was nice but I feel like the bourbon aging was the difference between a boring beer and an ok beer.

Calumet rye! I do miss rye beer, Terrapin was a good go-to beer in Atlanta suitable for all weather. This rye was not as hoppy or crisp, it is more of a go-to beer for a place that has seasons. Muted, smooth, floral, and very drinkable; I felt this rye to be less hoppy and more like an ESB than an IPA- I'm very very fine with that. I want to try this again, more of it than a taste.

So that's the Old Fashioned. I actually did talk about food in this entry. Go me.

On the road- land of rain and coffee

Back in June, the family vacation landed us as far west as we can go in the lower 48: Orcas island off the coast of Washington. Six hour flight followed by tow hours drive, then a 90 minute ferry ride- I'm not sure if a less accessible place could have been picked without backpacking involved. But damn the food was good.



Highlights and beer-lights:

Rose’s Kitchen and Bakery: Small café atmosphere with very fresh local ingredients. King salmon, halibut, and mussels chowder. The mussels tasted of the sea, salty and wild floating in the light creamy soup. There was no skimping on the fish, no potato overload in this chowder. The bread was made in the adjacent bakery, it was crispy and a perfect match to soak up the chowder. Drew ordered a sandwich with local ham, gruyere, and butter on a baguette. The flavors melded together very well, the slightly sweet ham, fatty butter, tart cheese all on the crusty baguette. The Washington state white was a fresh, citrusy summer wine that went well with all of the dishes. In addition to baked goods including a wonderful flaky almond tart, the bakery also carried gourmet cheeses, gourmet snacks, meats, wines, and local pate. We all sampled the local pork, then rabbit pates later on in the house we rented.

Café Olga- OMG awesome oysters! I actually drool while thinking of these Judd island oysters- perfectly briny and mineral tasting- if you can put a conch to your ear and hear the ocean, you taste these and taste the ocean. Seafood plate had smoked trout, local sockeye lox with cream cheese, pickled things (capers, onions, peppers), and oysters! Dungeness crab quesadilla was ok. Not crazy great but tasty. Cream of broccoli soup that was basically fresh pureed broccoli and maybe a tiny bit of stock and cream.

No chains on this island, it would have probably cost too much and the local food was just fine. The local pub carried the usual suspects, the Alaskan on-tap was the only interesting thing as there isn't much of it in the South or Midwest. The local hippie grocery carried a tiny but fresh fish selection and fresh baked cod was on the menu for one of our evenings.

Seattle: Elysian Fields brew pub. The beers I did try were tasty, but not incredible. The farmhouse saison was very drinkable; mead, malty, slightly tart fruitiness, sweet and lighter in taste than it looked. A good example of the style and one of these beers that tasted considerably more complex than it smelled. The stout poured black with a tan lacy head. Coffee, chocolate, yeasty bread, and burnt sugar were the main flavors. It was malty and nice with a good mouthfeel, a good stout with few bells and whistles but a little high on the abv than I would have liked for a drink all night stout.

The food was the suck. Seriously? At first the veggie-patty type sandwich with goat cheese and various veggies was tasty, then as I continued to eat it fell victim to one of the vegetarian food classic blunders: too much frickin garlic, If I am burping it up, its too much. Especially if I am burping it up for the next 10 hours. The tomato soup had a pretty green pesto swirl on it, but it was pretty amateur and not terribly interesting,

Spice is relative and regional

We like Asian food. We like spice. Many times we can get both, but we get the feeling that maybe in Wisconsin there is a different concept of spice. Much like Irish time, or Indian time, or Cuban time; WI spicy does not resemble Southern spicy or (insert ethnic group) spicy.

We tried the little noodle house on Willy St, Wah Kee, not expecting much. Looking at the chef special menu, we concluded that if they served tripe it is probably pretty authentic since most American are not down with tripe. Drew ordered it, being French and used to eating suspect animal parts. Honeycomb tripe with a garbanzo honey sauce- it had a low spice factor but it was flavorfull. The beans were firm denoting dried, not canned. The tripe was, tripe-y. I'm not a fan of the texture but I can get the taste. My entree was supposed to be spicy, it had a little picture of a chili dammit, but the tofu and veggies were kinda blah.

We later tried delivery. This time ordering appetizers such as the sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf and pork buns. The sticky rice rocked, smoky and slightly sweet with the vegetal flavor of the leaf infusing the rice. Nice. The pork buns were ok, nothing to write home about. As far as the entrees, Drew struck it rich again with the roasted duck with taro. I will say that the duck was mainly gristle, but the sauce was rich and accented nicely by the starchy taro. I tried to order another spicy selection: jambong (seafood, white noodles, spicy broth). Not only was there no broth, there were big clumps of chili on top. Perhaps I was to make my own broth- which I did. The seafood was what I can only describe as fake and it was not even remotely spicy.

I'm wondering if I need to ask for extra spice or non-Wisconsin spice when I order.

All in all, its obvious that you need to order off the chef's menu, dine in, and ask for extra spicy for this to work. We plan on gong back for sure since it seems to be one of the few places that isn't only Chinese-American food. There are just rules that must be adhered to.