Pat says: While Kevin is off learning new stuff, Neil and I headed out for dinner in Verona.  This isn’t my first time at Monte’s (no relation to the food fight Monte), but it’s been a while, and in the meantime Verona put a smoking ban in place and I have to say YAY!  I had a mushroom & swiss burger with fries – good bun, good burger, good fries.  Neil had the special – bottomless wings, and he polished off two servings, one with bbq sauce and one with ranch.  For a low-key, good food, great service dinner, we’ve got to remember Monte’s.

Visit the Vintage Brewing Company website for location and hours. Don’t pay attention to the front page if it still says they’re under construction. They’re open!

Pat says: Tried the new Vintage, in the space previously occupied by JT Whitney on Whitney Way & Odana Road.  What a nice surprise.   I’ve dragged everyone to a few supper clubs, trying to relive my youth, with no success at all.  Vintage, with it’s Mad Men decor, pre-dinner baskets of assorted rolls, and stuffed sofa waiting area, is the modern version of the places I remember.   A bowlful of radish roses and crinkle cut carrots, and it’d be the 1960’s all over again.  The menu is thoughtful – not so many choices that nothing is really well done, but enough that there’s a nice variety.  Had a hard time deciding between the caesar salad and the pulled pork sandwich, went with the pork.  The waitress mentioned that the pulled pork was spicy, and it was, but just the right amount.  Fresh, chewy roll, tangy bbq sauce, and slaw to top it off – everything that’s good about a pulled pork sandwich.   I’d like to try something different on our next visit, but might just go back to what I know is good.   Except for the Sylvester Stallone movie playing on the television mounted above the fireplace, with people being chased through the sewers by rats, Vintage offers pretty much everything needed for a nice evening with friends – warm, well planned out surroundings, a menu with something for just about everyone, and really good food served by people who seem to care whether or not you’re enjoying yourself.  I’d recommend that they take a note from Cafe Porta Alba and run an Italian love story (preferably with Sophia Loren) in an endless loop on the television…………other than that, couldn’t think of a thing that I’d change.  I’ll give Vintage a 9.5.

erin says: We were excited to see what moved into the old JT Whitney’s location.  The Vintage decor is still pub-like with dark wood booths, but retro with the lamps that Kevin said reminded him of his parents and retro objects like record players and fans and chairs with chrome plated legs.  I like the fish tanks.  We were kind of surprised to see a whole dining area with a combo lock on the door marked something like “staff access only”.  Maybe they’ll open that up when the hordes arrive or maybe they’re reserving it for private parties or something.  Last night, a Monday, almost every seat in the bar was taken and a little less than half of the dining area was occupied.  We all had trouble deciding on what to eat.  Everything on the menu sounded good.  Pat described her choice above.  I settled on chicken pot pie, Brian chose the Creole ravioli, and Kevin chose the gnocchi with shrimp.  We were served two baskets of rolls while we waited a short time for our dinners.  The rolls were an assortment, including a dark bread with raisins and a light bread with rosemary.  I liked all the ones I sampled.  The chicken pot pie was quite large with a huge biscuit topping and a spiced apple sliced on top.  The interior was rich and dark colored with chicken, corn, pearl onions, peas, and other veggies.  The biscuit topping was probably the equivalent of four biscuits.  After eating a couple of rolls, it was more than I could handle.  Even after all of that, we decided to share desserts.  Brian and I got a cookie sundae.  The cookie was hard, but the rest of the sundae was good.  Pat didn’t mention that she and Kevin shared some of the peach rhubarb cobbler served with ice cream.  They seemed to enjoy it.  I’m sure we will be back.  I am a sucker for chicken pot pie, but the rest of the menu sounded so good that we’ll have to go back to try the rest.  Our server and the other staff were nice and friendly.  We look forward to trying their beer in the near future.  9 out of 10.

Visit the Bonfyre Grill website for menu, location, and hours.

erin says: Brian and I and a friend visited Bonfyre Grill last night.  One thing that immediately struck me about the layout was that the aisles to get to the tables can be narrow in places.  Three of us and our winter coats had to sort of dance around some other guests who were trying to leave, and again on our way out the waitstaff with trays were trying to stay out of our way.  It’s pretty dark in there, too, which might be good or bad depending on your point of view.  I’d rather have a little more light.  We ordered bruschetta as an appetizer.  There were 6 small pieces with three topping variations.  One was fresh tomato, fresh mozzarella, prosciutto, one was maybe sauteed mushrooms and melted cheese, and one other had olive tapenade.  The three of us agreed that we thought it was just ok.  I enjoyed the salad with balsamic vinaigrette in the middle.  I ordered jambalaya, Brian went for the pot roast, and our friend ordered the Ahi tuna steak.  The food was a bit slow to come out, but our server brought us some bread and compound butter to keep us happy while we waited.  The butter was described as ancho chile butter, and it did look like it had chili pieces in it, but it was slightly sweet tasting, which seemed odd.  I gave away two of my shrimp so my companions could taste, and my companions shared a bite of tuna and pot roast.  I enjoyed my jambalaya.  It was the perfect thing to order on a freezing cold night.  It was moderately spicy, enough to make my lips tingle, and left me feeling warm inside and out.  The shrimp were large, and the rice was studded with small morsels of chicken, green pepper, tomato,  and split coins of andouille sausage.  My bit of tuna was tasty.  My bite of pot roast reminded me of the beef bourguinon that we make at home.  Brian said that the richly colored sauce made him expect a stronger flavor.  We ordered a creme brulee and a tiramisu to share among the three of us for dessert.  The creme brulee was everything it ought to be (smooth vanilla interior, crackly sugar crust), but the top layer of tiramisu cream had a strange texture – slightly dry.  The prices were fairly high (you can see for yourself on the posted menu), except for $4 desserts, which seems low compared to some other places.  Overall, I’d go again.  I think what our friend said as we were leaving summed it up:  everything was good, nothing stuck out as particularly outstanding or extraordinary.  My opinion?  8.5 out of 10.

Here’s a link to the Isthmus page on La Tolteca.

erin says: Brian and I and our friend from the Sun Prairie area visited La Tolteca this past weekend.  I ordered a combination plate with a beef taco, beef burrito, and beef quesadilla.  They were having a 2 for 1 margarita special.  Brian and our friend ordered margaritas.  I kind of thought that would be order 2, pay for 1, but later they brought us two more margaritas without asking.  I enjoyed the beef burrito and taco (although the taco was soggy by the time I got to it).  The burrito came with red sauce and a light sprinkling of cheese.  The quesadilla was seasoned in a way that made me think of Italian sausage – it was a little strange to me.  I would not order the beef quesadilla again.  We ordered a small dish of guacamole.  It was blended with something (sour cream, mayo?), so a little different than I’m used to, but still good.  The salsa was hardly spicy at all.  The chips were pretty average for what I see in Madison area tex-mex.  Brian ordered a burrtio deluxe and our friend ordered seafood chimichangas.  Everyone seemed to agree that the food was decent.  The service was good and the food came out almost faster than I thought possible.  The atmosphere was pretty standard.  The only weird thing of note was that the side of the booth we were at was a few inches away from the wall, which gave me a place to stash my stuff, but felt a little weird.  I would go again, but probably only if our friend suggests it.  There are a lot of similar options for Madison residents.  7 out of 10.

This particular Pizza Extreme location also serves Ancora coffee, Chocolate Shop ice cream, Greenbush doughnuts, thin crust (Pizza Pit) pizza, and Athenos gyros in addition to Pizza Extreme’s pizza.

Pat says:  On a Monday night, with no plan for dinner, we decided to get together and try the gyros at the Pizza Extreme on Raymond Road.  At first glance, it didn’t seem like this was going to be the best idea – the front door of the restaurant was boarded with plywood after someone broke the glass doors.  There is no menu for the gyros part of the restaurant – we only knew what to order because of the list on the back of the ValPak coupon we brought along.  And, the person taking our order told us that it would be a long wait for dinner because they had just gotten a phone order for 200 sandwiches.  With no better plan (although I did suggest that we run next door to Walgreens to get some chips to hold us over until dinner came – no one else liked this idea) we decided to wait.

We got our gyros and fries about 20 minutes after ordering, and I thought they were delicious.  Crispy fries, the meat in the sandwich was seasoned just right and there was plenty of it, and the sour cream was served on the side.  Based on the restaurant’s casual approach to service, this was a lot better than I expected, and I’d definitely go back the next time I want gyros and don’t feel like heading downtown.  I do hope that they post a menu, though, because I think they might have a salad with lamb, and I’d like to try that the next time.  I’ll give Athens Gyros an 8 out of 10 – good food, not much ambience (but not bad for a strip mall restaurant), and hopefully, they’ll post a menu soon.

erin says: I did think it was funny that the guy that helped us said the chalkboard menus hadn’t changed since he’d been there (and maybe he said a couple of years?).  I think the best way to find out what they’ve got is to ask them what’s good.  We were a bit worried about how long the wait would be after we heard about the big order (200 gyros?  really?), but then the food arrived after about only 15 minutes.  No one needed to gnaw an arm off… no problem.  I think maybe the big rush of business was because of the coupons they had issued (that was why Pat and Kevin suggested that we go there).  A lot of people came in for carry out orders while we were there.  Sometime I’ve got to try the doughnuts.  We were all eying one giant doughnut that was still in the case.  I think it’s great that they have all of these different local food choices.  I was pleasantly surprised by the gyros.  They weren’t as good as some other places we like to go, but pretty darn good considering they came from a pizza place.  Sometimes convenience wins – so I’m sure we’ll be back when we’re craving gyros and unwilling to travel far.  I hear there’s a blizzard coming…  7 out of 10.

Visit the Cafe Porta Alba website.

erin says: I never got to visit Cafe Porta Alba when it was downtown.  Now that they’re at Hilldale we’ll probably visit them more often.  Brian and I ordered a plate of the Prosciutto con Mozzarella to snack on while we waited for our friend to arrive.  It was served with a side of syrupy balsamic and sprinkled with basil chiffonade.  Brian had the Salsiccia pizza.  Our friend had the Capricciosa pizza.  I had spaghetti carbonara.  I had a bite of Brian’s pizza, and I liked it.  Hopefully Brian will chime in with his thoughts.  The pasta was pleasantly springy and al dente.  It made it a little bit of a challenge to twirl on a fork, but it was very tasty.  The portion was generous and about the perfect size.  Soda (Pepsi and Diet Pepsi) is sold by the can, so that could add up fast.  The service was friendly and cheerful.  The atmosphere interior is nice and diners have a choice between watching tv (playing an old movie I couldn’t name) or watching the bustle around the pizza oven.  They offer a number of individual pizzas, a kid sized pizza, and a few pastas.  There are also some salads and appetizers.  I was surprised that they didn’t serve any bread, since they keep an olive oil bottle on each table, but maybe that doesn’t make sense for a place that primarily sells pizza.  The dining room is a pretty small space.  One party of 10 that was there when we were was taking up a large part of the dining room.  They have plenty of smaller tables they can reconfigure at will, but I’d hesitate to take a large group there.  I enjoyed reading all of the little facts and tidbits on the menu about the restaurant and the food.  They say it takes 90 seconds to fire a pizza, so for a quick dinner with a small group it would be perfect.  I think it’s going to be hard to get near the place on an average weekend.  I’d give them an 8.5 out of 10.

Check out the Brasserie V website.

erin says: After seeing 2012 with a group of friends, some of us headed to Brasserie V, a favorite of one of the group. It was crowded, but we only spent 5 minutes at the bar, long enough to order beers before being shown to our table. Three of us ordered butternut squash risotto with mushrooms and micro salad, one ordered moules et frites, and one ordered lamb chops. The bread basket contained chewy sourdough and some crackers along with a compound butter with cranberries and walnuts. We polished that off in no time. Two of our group split an order of appetizer scallops, and they were kind enough to share with the rest of us. I thought the little taste that I had was extremely good – I wish Brasserie V had a scallop dinner. The risotto was good and creamy. I’ve only had risotto maybe once before, so I’m in no position to judge if it was done “right”. It was a generous serving, and I think I would like it better as a side. I had a small piece of one of the lamb chops and I thought it was absolutely perfect, medium rare and juicy. It’s a shame there were only two on the plate. All of us stole frites from our friend with the mussels, and they were very tasty in the two dipping sauces.  I was really tempted by the smoked turkey sandwich, but turkey was kind of a theme this week. I saw a few salads go by, and I regret that I didn’t order a side salad. They looked wonderful. We ordered a couple of the desserts, bread pudding and chocolate pudding (they had run out of creme brule by 7:15). The chocolate pudding was excellent. I didn’t try the bread pudding.  I liked the atmosphere, although by the end of our dinner it was getting so loud that I could hardly stand it anymore.  I think this was mostly because of the table next to us.

Overall, definitely high quality food, very tiny place with a nice atmosphere, friendly servers. I’m a little torn on giving a number rating. I feel like the prices are high, but they’re comparable to other Madison restaurants. When it comes down to it, I consider whether the price and the inconveniences like location and ability to get a table (on an average night) are worth the food. Here I’d say almost, but that might change if I give it another go with a different dinner.  I also don’t usually drink beer, but my friends seemed impressed with the selection, so they would definitely rate it higher, I think.  8 out of 10.

erin says: We visited Oliva again and found out that they are moving into the former Atlanta Bread Co. space next door. I’m very happy to hear this. I knew they were going to have to expand!

Everything about this visit was delicious. Most of my family got calzones. I got canneloni, kisir, and lentil soup (stuck in a rut, I know – I have had a calzone on another visit, and they are very tasty). The service is friendly and prompt, the food is good, and the atmosphere is good (I bet it will be even better next door). I hope they’re prepared for the stampede once they open in their new space.

Visit the jacs website for menu, location, hours, etc.

erin says: I have never been to the Monroe Street Bistro, but recently it turned into jacs.  Our friend decided she wanted to go to jacs, and Brian and I went along.  I neglected to do my write-up for so long that I’m hoping it won’t be too innacurate.  We were first seated right next to the door.  It was extremely drafty, so we asked to move further back and we were accommodated.  It’s a very small place, half taken up by bar, so I can see why they’d squeeze in tables everywhere they could.  During our meal it appeared that several groups of diners came in, read the menu, and the left.  I can’t be positive that that is what was happening, but I can’t explain it any other way.  It seems really strange since the service was prompt and the menu is posted outside.  I ordered grilled cheese, which came with tomato, with bacon for an extra fee.  I got chili as my side.  I love places that let you choose your sides and offer more than just chips or fries.  My friend ordered moules et frites.  Brian ordered a burger with frites.  Both orders of frites came with garlic mayo that was very tasty.  The frites were thin and golden and the ones that came with the moules were served in a huge cone – more than enough for me to share.  Our friend enjoyed the mussels, and Brian liked his burger.  As for my grilled cheese – I’ve never had to question whether or not there was bacon before.  It was there, I could see it, but I could hardly taste it.  Maybe it was particularly mild or maybe my taste buds were off (we’re all fighting various sicknesses these days).  The chili was good, but I’d probably go with the frites next time unless I could be sure someone else would share.  There were quite a few children there that night, which I think is an encouraging sign that the neighborhood is supporting jacs.  I’d give them an 8 out of 10.

Pat says:  Kevin chose this place – he misses Rice Cafe, which was one of our favorite places until it closed and the space turned into Fiesta Grill.  They’ve put in booths to replace the round tables in the window, added a bar at the entrance, and traded the art deco posters for brightly colored pottery pieces.  Kevin and Brian both had a beef chimichanga, the dinner special.  They both seemed to enjoy their dinner, but neither was overly enthusiastic.   I ordered the vegetarian dinner with a cheese quesadilla, and a bean burrito.  It was good, and I’d try this restaurant again, but I agree with Kevin and Brian that there are so many everyday Mexican restaurants in Madison that’s it’s hard to distinguish between them.  There wasn’t anything about this dinner that made it memorable – good basic food, that’s all.  I’d give Fiesta Grill a 7 out of 10.