Vacationing: Travels With The Dulcinea

The Dulcinea and I were on the road reasonably early Saturday morning. Our next destination was Chetek, about 90 miles north. But first we would break our fasts at another Wisconsin institution – the Norske Nook in Osseo.



The NN is famous for its pies as well as its Norwegian cuisine. West central Wisconsin generally and the Osseo area specifically are infested with Norwegians. My old high school is about 10 miles from Osseo and most of my classmates were Olsons, Johnsons, Nelsons, Skogstads, etc. In Chicago, we had Casimir Pualski Day off from school but up here school closed in observance of Leif Erikson Day.

Although the NN started in Osseo, they have expanded to Eau Claire, Rice Lake, and Hayward. The one in Osseo today is relatively new in that the original location was across the street in a building which is now a NN coffee and gift shop.

We entered and were seated immediately. I hadn't been to the NN in 20+ years since I lived in the area while The Dulcinea had never been ever. Most of the waitresses had blonde hair and they all wore dresses that were at least an approximation of traditional Norwegian garb. Now, lest you think that the NN is stuck in the past, know that they do indeed keep with the times.



See, they have wraps on the menu. OK, they're lefse wraps but wraps nonetheless. It was so novel that I ordered a breakfast wrap which featured eggs, sausage, and hash browns inside a piece of lefse and topped with hollandaise sauce.



The Dulcinea went with Norwegian pancakes which are [Norwegians stop reading here] quite like Swedish pancakes in that they are very thin. [Norwegians can resume reading.] They were folded, plated, and topped with lingonberry syrup.



When we were finished, the waitress asked if we were going to be having pie for breakfast dessert. Of course! It was banana cream for my sweetheart while I opted for blueberry.





The pie was indeed quite excellent. Our only complaint was that the topping on the banana cream slice was Cool Whip or whatever generic equivalent Sysco down in Baraboo peddles. If you're going to take the time to make pie crust from scratch, how hard is it to whip up some cream?

With breakfast having concluded, we wandered across the street to pick up some souvenirs. I came away with a couple items.




The socks are comfortable but I've not yet busted open the cookies.

Rather than hopping back on the interstate, I instead opted to hit Highway 53 just west of town which would take us through Sawdust City and on to Chetek. That required a short jaunt down historic Highway 10.



OK, it's not overly historic but John Steinbeck did drive this stretch on the trip he took with Charley.