Somehow I have found myself at restaurants rather a lot this month. This is partly due to a dance card that has been more full than I could imagine until very recently. Although I am looking forward to my social life slowing down a bit so I can catch up on things, having a busy and rewarding social life is a problem I gladly take on.
When the cold settled in at the beginning of the month, a friend and I took our dinner at Fratelli's Trattoria. Not our first choice nor our second nor our third, we settled on it as our initial choices were all closed on a Monday night and Monona Drive threatened to become the Donner Pass if we didn't get food into our bellies soon. I'd been to Fratelli's once before while this would be my companion's first time.
The minestrone was tasty with a lovely tomato flavor despite missing an ingredient I've had in every previous take on the soup that has crossed my lips. Alas, I cannot recall what it was. Beans? Gah!
My salad was very tasty with the dressing adding a nice herbal accent. I.e. - no iceberg lettuce and a nice Italian dressing. I missed having freshly ground black pepper sprinkled on it straight from the mill, though.
My fellow eater had a hankering for fried calamari and it proved to be delicious. I appreciated the lemon wedges and enjoyed the bright flavor the juice added.
The pizza was mighty fine. High marks for the generous application of pepperoni and I only wished that it was been a bit more well-done. Brown that cheese! I take that back. Brown the cheese and sprinkle some herbs on there.
The oil-vinegar combo for dipping ended up being a culinary Rorschach test. What do you see?
My previous visit had been with my wife and I found that my dinner there with someone different made new and happy memories.
I spied some ghost pepper caramels from Madison Chocolate Company at the co-op.
While they were tempting, I was just not a big enough fan of caramel to make the purchase. Still, my curiosity remains as to just how spicy these treats are.
Last month I chronicled my venture to Stoughton and the Sons of Norway lodge there which was having their annual Christmas bake and craft sale. I bought a bag of Norwegian meatballs and they remained in my freezer for a couple two tree weeks until finally becoming dinner.
The nutmeg was just the right strength and they made for a fine, hearty meal that kept the cold at bay.
There was a fellow of Norwegian extraction at the Historical Society when I worked there. He knew many an Ole and Lena joke, lived in Stoughton, and visited family in Norway every year. One day not long after having had Swedish meatballs I approached him with a query of some import.
"So Jim, what's the difference between Norwegian meatballs and Swedish ones?"
He replied with characteristic Nordic seriousness, "Norwegian meatballs taste better."
A couple weeks back I did my duty and made sure that Ahan's tom yum soup was still delicious.
I can assure you it was and it almost makes me stop longing for Wah Kee's soups in the winter. Almost.
Not too long ago I made my second stop at Molten Monkey for some of their fine Detroit-style pizza but I think I accidentally deleted the photos of that fine pie whose only defect was that it was missing garlic. This was my failing.
Also missing was a stop at Tipsy Cow in Sun Prairie with my stepson. There I had some delectable cheese curds and finally noticed that their burgers contain about half a cow. A multi-patty delight.
I took stepson out more recently before a stop at the supermarket so he wouldn't deplete my bank account by merely grocery shopping. We went to Fin Sushi at his request.
My salad was fine and the cucumber-avacado roll I ordered proved a fine vehicle for large doses of wasabi. The kid enjoyed the King roll and another type that was all decked out.
I do believe that I ate all of his julienned cucumber.
Last night a co-worker and I dined together to celebrate the holidays and send him off on an extended vacation. He was in the mood for pho. We made a last minute audible and so, instead of our usual meal at Saigon Noodles we ended up at Viet Town.
I revisited the spring rolls which were excellent. They still had that stick of rolled and fried rice paper wrapper which gives you a surprising crunch on your first bite. Ingenious.
I called the spring rolls with the crispy egg rolls. Here the crunch was on the outside.
Delicious.
My companion's pho:
He commended it highly saying that the broth was even more flavorful than that of Saigon Noodles.
For my part, I tried the Quang-Style Noodles.
They were very tasty indeed. Quail eggs? I think it was chicken broth with a nice dose of turmeric plus other seasonings. It had a nice mellow taste which was soaked up by the noodles. There was much slurping at our table, I will confess.
I shall conclude with a photograph of the Westworld pizza guy at Woodman's in Sun Prairie just biding its time before springing to life and going on a rampage.
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