East West 'que...in Wisconsin?

East meets West fusion cuisine reached a critical mass somewhere back in the 90's. Now it goes one step further with East West bar-b-que. Local Madison restaurant dynamo Muramoto adds the Haze to his list of food hot spots.

Since I'm a fan of the sushi and the other lovely dishes at both Restaurant Muramoto and Sushi Muramoto, I decided to go the East 'que route. Bahn Mi is basically a Vietnamese po-boy; stacked with smoked chicken, cilantro, jalapeno, pickled veggies, and mayo all on a baguette. The flavors all melded together beautifully, the pickled veg and spiciness of the peppers set off the smoky chicken. The mayo adds a bit of fat, and the fresh cilantro also adds a tangy aspect and a bit of wild greenery to this po-boy. Cheddar jalapeno grits were full of creamy goodness (very few places in Wisconsin seem to be able to make grits), edamame also was a nice addition to a pretty decent meal.

Drew tried the West route; pulled pork, the much touted house pickles, and fries. He was not as thrilled with his selection. The pork was boring, the pickles were a bit too much for one person, and fries are...fries.

He is determined to try it again. The place was also completely dead at 6pm, during happy hour. In downtown Madison. Thats not a good sign. While I enjoyed my food much more than Drew, I don't feel the need to try it again. I also don't think this one may be around much longer.

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.

Road Trip food: Atlanta to Owensboro

From a few tip-offs including a thread from RoadFood.com, we took a little detour west of Nashville to hit the RiverView Marina Restaurant in Ashland City. We have been known in the past to drive a ways for the hint of a fish fry so we were excited about this catfish buffet on the river. The parking lot was empty at 2 minutes before it opened and 10 minutes later, the lot was packed. The buffet offered standard Southern fare; fried catfish, chicken, green beans, mac n cheese, potatoes and gravy, and a sad salad bar that mostly had wilted lettuce, scary dressings, and 'salads' that prominently featured mayonaise. The catfish was of good quality and not too greasy, the spinach was tasty, the mac n cheese was bright orange as it should be, but the hush puppies were the real winner. A good combo of spices and fat, the hushpuppies were tasty little puffs of evil. My husband also rated the banana pudding highly, it was made with Nilla wafers and had actual bananas in it. I pretty much can't stand banana pudding, some sort of childhood fear, but I could tell this pudding seemed a bit more 'fresh' than the radioactive yellow puddings normally found in the grocery store.

Once in Owensboro, we had one thing on our minds: BBQ. Owensboro touts itself as the capital of BBQ, with the MoonLite Inn as the capital. Not being big carnivores, it takes a good amount of hype/prodding/hunger to get us some meat. First of all, the MoonLite is warehouse huge which is a good thing considering how full the parking lots were. The place was full of Indiana residents from across the river, out of towners, but mainly there were locals who traveled in packs and could be identified by how often they stopped and spoke to someone while walking around the cavernous buffet. The mutton was not the life changing experience I had hoped for, but it was marinated and spiced within an inch of its life creating a very tender and flavorful alternative to the usual rack o ribs in a bbq place. Actually, I like the chopped pork better than the mutton. Again, the buffet featured the usual southern fat-filled evil with some neat additions such as the Burgoo, honey carrots, giblets, and 'dressing' (a yummy stuffing thing mixed with gravy and pieces of some sort of meat that I apparently missed out on as a child). The cornbread was fantastic, not sweet at all but a little spiced and full of buttery goodness. The salad bar was predictably scary, the potato salad being particularly full of mayo.

With the exception of the catered event we attended, we saw nary a fresh fruit or vegetable all weekend. With only fat loaded or fried veggies or fruits as part of a dessert; I actually feel a bit ill from such a drastic diet change. We can't imagine eating like that all the time but hopefully a week of penitent salads and wheatgrass colonics will purge us of the tasty, but evil food.