Blog

Well it’s that time again…January in Wisconsin.  The holidays are over and so is Green Bay Packer football. It was 7 degrees out today.  That’s almost too cold to go outside. We’re bored. Let’s eat!

Restaurant Week is a great excuse to get out of the house and try a few new restaurants in Madison.  You get three courses so it’s a great way to sample the restaurants offerings and decide if you want to go back again.  I’ll be blogging everyday this week so continue to tune in.

Day 1- Lunch at Quivey’s Grove.  Quivey’s is pretty quintessential Wisconsin. I mean you get to eat comfort food and drink beer in a stable.  Fun, but those stone walls aren’t insulated very well..it was chilly where we were sitting.

 

Here are the menu options we had.  We chose the Parmesan Potato Puffs and the Chopped Romaine Salad for our 1st course.

The Potato Puffs were average and needed to be a bit more done in the center. The Truffle aioli was a delicious touch.

The Chopped Romaine Salad tasted just like a summer classic potluck 7 Layer Salad.  Mayo and shredded cheddar, but none of the onion or peas and one piece of bacon broken in two pieces and laid on top. Although I like 7 layer salad, I wasn’t expecting  it and I was a bit disappointed at the lack of creativity of the dressing.

For entrees we chose the Kobe Beef Burger and Fish Fry Platter. The burger never disappoints during Restaurant Week and it was as juicy and delicious as always-good thing for the cloth napkin!  The perch was the clear winner on the fish fry platter.  Crunchy and sweet, it left me wishing I had all perch. Both the beer batter and the whitefish was a bit soggy. The steak fries on both platters were a tad greasy and lacked crispness.

For dessert we had Quivey’s famous Mary Jane Sundae and a warm Caramel Apple Pudding.

The Mary Jane brownie tasted like it just came out of the oven!  Perfectly done with crisp edges and a gooey center. Topped with warm hot fudge, ice cream, whipped cream and a cherry of course. Yum!  The  pudding was lightly spiced and bathed in just the right amount of caramel “hard sauce”.  These kind of sweet treats demand coffee for balance. I wish the cup I got had been good enough to stand up to the delightful desserts, but alas, as is the case for a lot of restaurant coffee, it was sub pare.  But that’s another post…

My top picks for Quivey’s for Restaurant Week:

The Beer Cheese Soup, the Kobe Burger & The Mary Jane Sundae