On Wisconsin! On Wisconsin!

Re:On Wisconsin! On Wisconsin! (ann peeples)

Sun, 13 Mar 2011 09:22:31 GMT

If this isnt a private party, I think I would love to join in! I have been a hermit too long....

Re:On Wisconsin! On Wisconsin! (buffetbuster)

Sat, 12 Mar 2011 20:49:19 GMT

JRPfeff-
Oh no, that could ruin my appetite. Then I would only be able to eat a half dozen slices of piediva creations!

Re:On Wisconsin! On Wisconsin! (JRPfeff)

Sat, 12 Mar 2011 20:45:30 GMT

Steelers garbed guests will enjoy a private showing of NFL Property's Super Bowl XLV Champions in Blueray!

Re:On Wisconsin! On Wisconsin! (buffetbuster)

Sat, 12 Mar 2011 20:38:47 GMT

Time to start checking flights on ~~Midwest~~ Frontier Airlines! Thanks!

Will I still be welcome, even if I wear a Steelers shirt?

Re:On Wisconsin! On Wisconsin! (JRPfeff)

Sat, 12 Mar 2011 20:34:00 GMT

Si, senor. Things are slower than expected with the AZ place, so we should still own the WI home at that time.

Re:On Wisconsin! On Wisconsin! (buffetbuster)

Sat, 12 Mar 2011 20:19:00 GMT

Hey double-f, right now I have no plans for May 30, although it is my niece Rita's birthday. Does this mean what I think it means?!?!?

Re:On Wisconsin! On Wisconsin! (JRPfeff)

Sat, 12 Mar 2011 19:54:54 GMT

Hey double-b, any chance you'll be in WI on May 30?

Re:On Wisconsin! On Wisconsin! (buffetbuster)

Sat, 12 Mar 2011 19:47:22 GMT

mr chips-
My apologies for not answering you earlier. Better late than ever!

The fruits of the forest pie finished third on all three of our scorecards, only ahead of the cherry pie. Both CTD and cousin Johnny ranked the caramel apple #1, while I liked the blueberry best. But to be fair, all four of these pies were well above average, even in a great pie state like Wisconsin.

Re:On Wisconsin! On Wisconsin! (buffetbuster)

Sat, 12 Mar 2011 19:43:14 GMT

Always nice to see an old trip report return from the dead. Which is a reminder that I need to finish this thing!

merick-
Thanks for the tidbit on Mihm's and I agree that it is a great place. Just a few weeks ago, a co-worker was headed to Appleton and I pointed him towards Mihm's. He really liked it, too.

Re:On Wisconsin! On Wisconsin! (merick)

Fri, 11 Mar 2011 21:47:40 GMT

Mihm's is a great place to eat. This is actually its second location. The first was down the block a bit.

Re:On Wisconsin! On Wisconsin! (mr chips)

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 01:55:01 GMT

buffetbuster

Wisconsin truly is one of the best states for pie. As if Stockholm Pie Company isn't proof enough, consider the Holy Hill Cafe . For the first day or so of the trip, we were joined in Milwaukee by that illustrious eater, ChiTownDiner.

Located a little less than an hour from downtown Milwaukee, this is one of the most scenic and historic Roadfood settings.

Also known as The Old Monastery Inn Cafe,

we were the first customers of the day when they opened. We were greeted by signs listing the days specials and pie selections.

Guess which one we were more interested in?

But things were different now than in my previous visit. Instead of utilizing the cafeteria line,

they now have waitress service. Johnny and I started our meals with bowls of homey cheesy vegetable soup.

Sandwich-wise, Johnny and I split a generously stuffed egg salad,

which came with lettuce on it. The side of potato salad tasted very fresh and strong on the mayo. We all liked it. ChiTownDiner seemed to be quite pleased with BLT.

Okay, now that we got the appetizers out of the way, it was time for the real reason we were here. In case we didn't remember, this sign reminded us.

In the interest of being thorough, we ordered four slices of pie: Caramel Apple,

Fruits of the Forest,

Cherry

and Blueberry.

It didn't take long for all three of us to start making yummy noises, because these pies were excellent. All of them were loaded with fresh, sweet fruit, in a thick, yet flaky crust. To my surprise, the Blueberry Pie was clearly the best to my taste and I'm not usually a big blueberry lover. Both Johnny and CTD named the Caramel Apple as their #1. Since it was loaded with walnuts and I'm a nut frowner, I just picked at it. All of us agreed that the Cherry Pie finished last, although the typical diner would be thrilled to serve a pie as good as this Cherry Pie. Here is a photo of Johnny and CTD in full pie eating mode.

Not one to rest on his laurels, CTD grabbed a whole pie to go, which had just come out of the oven.

I believe it was Blackberry Peach and I will leave the desciption to him.

Taking care of us at Holy Hill Cafe was our waitress Niki (on the right)

and the head chef, Christina. The man who used to run the place, Frank, is no longer here. Obviously, Holy Hill Cafe is in good hands with these nice ladies.

Since we were here, we did check out the beautiful inside of the church

and the view surrounding it. Next, we headed north towards Sheboygan.

Holy Hill Cafe
1525 Carmel Road
Hubertus, WI
262-628-4295

http://www.roadfood.com/R...ws/3762/holy-hill-cafe

The Sterns list fruits of the forest pie from the Holy Hill as one of the 500 things to eat in their latest book. How was that pie and did it make an impression on any of you?

Re:On Wisconsin! On Wisconsin! (ces1948)

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 11:47:51 GMT

I saw something else interesting on the menu board at Mihm's $.50 extra for lettuce and $.30 extra for mayo. Seems it a little nickel and dime like. JMO

Re:On Wisconsin! On Wisconsin! (MiamiDon)

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 11:39:01 GMT

Another fine trip report, buffetbuster!

Where does the butter come into the double-brat sandwich?

Re:On Wisconsin! On Wisconsin! (Nancypalooza)

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 11:16:24 GMT

I would have trouble choosing between the peanut butter roll and the bismarck. And what a pretty room!

Re:On Wisconsin! On Wisconsin! (buffetbuster)

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 10:53:13 GMT

While on the brat trail in eastern Wisconsin, cousin Johhny and I made one more stop, Mihm's. It is located in Menasha, a lovely town on the north end of Lake Winnebago. The outside is a rather plain looking building,

but the inside is nicer than expected. The counter,

with the comfortable, burgundy swivel chairs, was our choice of seats. They have been charcoal grilling their food for over 50 years and the front of the menu

shows off their slogan, "Outside taste from an inside place". From the counter, we had a great view of all the food being cooked over the charcoal grill.

They also have big menu boards on the wall and what caught my attention was the statement on the bottom that they will not serve Coca-Cola.

I asked and the young lady who waited on us, (who turned out to be the current owner's daughter) told us that when the place first opened, a series of salesmen from different soft drink companies, visited to get Mihm's to serve their brand. Apparently, The Coke salesman haughtily told the owner that if Mihm's didn't serve his product, they wouldn't be able to stay in business. The owner didn't appreciate that and vowed Coke would never be served there. When the current owners took over, they tried to take the Coke statement down, but the customers complained. So, back up it went!

Johnny started his lunch with a bowl of the chicken dumpling soup.

The dense dumplings were on the small side and I found the soup a little too salty for my taste. Johnny was very happy with it, though. And of course, more delicious cheese curds.

To drink, thinner than preferred, but still tasty shakes,

mine being banana and Johnny's strawberry.

Now for the real reason we were here. Our brat sandwich

was a double, neatly butterflied inside an ultra-soft and airy bun. The condiments were the usual, brown mustard, onion and pickle. You could really taste the charcoal flavor and the butter in the brat. My one complaint was that the top of the bun seemed overly greasy, which wasn't attractive, but didn't hurt the flavor at all. Johnny's burger

was fine, but didn't reach the heights of the brat.

Mihm's Charcoal Grill
342 Chute Street
Menasha, WI
920-722-0306

http://www.mihmscharcoalgrill.com/

Re:On Wisconsin! On Wisconsin! (buffetbuster)

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 10:05:46 GMT

TTM-
Hmmmm...... I don't really remember that, but if I said it, it must be true!

Re:On Wisconsin! On Wisconsin! (The Travelin Man)

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 09:24:56 GMT

buffetbuster

Since there were no locks, we were able to walk around and steal the chocolates off the pillows from the other rooms.....

Huh.

You learn so much about your friends from their trip reports.

Re:On Wisconsin! On Wisconsin! (buffetbuster)

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 14:25:08 GMT

We weren't planning on a visit to Bloedow's Bakery,

but once we saw the GPS was going to take us right through Winona, Minnesota, we were happy to stop in. I was here for the first time just last year. In the Roadfood review, the Sterns highly recommend the peanut butter roll

and she is a beaut. Just think of a cinnamon roll and replace it with peanut butter and that's what you got. Pleasantly soft and sticky, but not overly sweet, it is a real pleasure to eat. Bloedow's also offers a fine selection of donuts, bismarcks, long johns and

cookies and we loaded up on all kinds of goodies. The peanut butter cookies and the peanut butter and jelly bismarcks

are also standouts.

Bloedow's Bakery
451 E. Broadway Street
Winona, MN
507-452-3682

http://www.roadfood.com/Restaurant/Reviews/6319/bloedow-bakery

Since we were already in town, a stop at Winona State University became necessary, so that I could pick up a college t-shirt. This isn't a large school, but was still a very attractive campus, including the obligatory ivy covered halls.

Re:On Wisconsin! On Wisconsin! (susanll)

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 14:01:07 GMT

Stout Island Lodge is one of the loveliest and most romantic places I have ever seen. I hope to be back again, only this time when the dining room is open!

And with someone other than Cousin Johnny...

Re:On Wisconsin! On Wisconsin! (Foodbme)

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 13:58:11 GMT

Your experience at Stout Island Lodge is what life is all about!

Re:On Wisconsin! On Wisconsin! (buffetbuster)

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 13:53:08 GMT

It just occurred to me that some of you might like to see what the rooms looked like. Since there were no locks, we were able to walk around and check out lots of the rooms. Here is the one next to ours,

which had a fireplace and a screened in sitting area. The rooms did have a little bit of a musty smell, but since they hadn't really opened for the season yet, that is no surprise. Otherwise, the rooms were very comfortable.

Re:On Wisconsin! On Wisconsin! (buffetbuster)

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 13:39:57 GMT

One of the things I most wanted to do on this trip was to spend the night at Stout's Island Lodge. Since it is located on an island in the middle of Red Cedar Lake, the thinking was, it would be a cool and unusual thing to do. Little did I know just how unusual it would turn out to be.

I made the reservation online. All the previous dates to May 26 were blocked off, but the website did accept a reservation for the 26th. When I had already been to Wisconsin for a few days, the Lodge contacted me to say, that they made a mistake. The Lodge actually didn't open until the next day, the 27th. But, if I wished to, they would honor the reservation, just that they won't have everything up yet, including the dining room. Knowing that changing the day of our visit would throw our itinerary off, we decided to stay there anyway.

When we got to the address listed for the Lodge, we found a cabin and a dock, with this sign.

Knowing the ferry wouldn't be running on a regular schedule, I called and they said a boat would be right over to pick us up. In just a few minutes, we could see a boat heading towards us.

In the photo of the island, you can barely make out an American flag. Here is the boat house where we landed.

The young man led us up to our room

(this is the outside of where our room was) and said he would bring up our luggage in a few minutes.

Once the luggage was dropped off and he left, I asked Johnny if he was given a key. He said no, so we looked at the door. There is no outside lock on the door. When I asked one of the employees later, he told me, they have never had a problem, so they have haven't installed locks on the doors. Needless to say, I found this strange, but not a big deal. That is because we were the only guests on the entire island! This gave our visit here a bit of a The Shining quality to it!

We really enjoyed exploring the beautiful island, which I believe is 12 acres. Most of the island is covered with woods or thick brush

and there is a nature trail on the far end. Johnny and I took to a canoe and went out in the lake, which was lots of fun. The main attraction, though, is the lodge itself.

Here is the inside,

which looks every bit like the 100 year old hunting lodge that it originally was. My personal favorite place to hangout was the white chairs,

overlooking the large lawn, with a great view of the water.

Since we were in the middle of a vacation where we were constantly running from one place to another, we found it very relaxing to be here. Over the boathouse, they had a game room,

where Johnny and I played pool and ping-pong. Unfortunately, the satellite tv wasn't set up yet and there was no net on the clay tennis court, but we found these minor annoyances. They also have a firepit,

where they end each night with a bonfire, but it wasn't lit on this night. Our dinner was the food which we brought to the island. We snacked on meat sticks, smoked salmon and cookies, all which we had collected from the start of the trip.

Johnny was tired and fell asleep before sunset, around 8:30. That left just me to enjoy the gorgeous sunset,

from the balcony over top the boathouse. For some reason, I just did not want to go to sleep. I ended up walking around the island for hours until I settled in the dining room and read and played on my laptop. Besides us, the only other two people on the island for the night were two chefs, working in the kitchen to get the dining room set up for the next day's guests. One of them came out and gave me a bottle of wine. I finally went back to the room and fell asleep around 12:30AM.

The next morning, the first light coming through the window woke me up, so I was back out to the same spot, to watch the sunrise.

I just sat there and thoroughly enjoyed the tranquility and the beginning of a new day.

I ended up going back to bed, Johnny slept late and we didn't get out of the room until after 8:30, which is really late for us. They did put out a breakfast of bagels, toast, granola w/yogurt, coffee and juice. Afterwards, we took the boat back to shore and continued with the rest of our vacation. Stout Island Lodge is one of the loveliest and most romantic places I have ever seen. I hope to be back again, only this time when the dining room is open!

Stout Island Lodge
2799 27th Street
Birchwood, WI
715-354-3646

http://www.stoutsislandlodge.net/

Re:On Wisconsin! On Wisconsin! (X1)

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 20:00:24 GMT

ces1948

We are actually thinking of relocating to Appleton, WI so I'm very interested about local specialties in the area, the whole state really as I've never lived in Wisconsin before.

If you do, you'll find we're a pretty sociable bunch, and by "we", I mean The Contingent (formal name: The Wisconsin-Illinois Contingent). We often get together for planned and impromptu foodie meat...errr....meetups.
We'd love to have new members.

As far as Appleton goes - it's a charming little city. My favorite Italian place, ever, is there - Victoria's. It's like walking in to an old-school Mafiosi hangout. Which it might have been, considering WI was a popular home-away-from-home for the Chicago Mafia.
Another great place is Van de Walle's Homemade Chocolates. It's near the sprawling Appleton Mall.

Appleton is about an hour away from Madison, Green Bay and Milwaukee (in different directions), so great sightseeing and restaurants are always near, once you've tried all of Appleton's great places.

Keep us posted if you move here, and we'll do a proper Contingent greeting.

Re:On Wisconsin! On Wisconsin! (BuddyRoadhouse)

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 17:26:17 GMT

I'd like a PM of that joke, please.

Buddy

Re:On Wisconsin! On Wisconsin! (The Travelin Man)

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 16:00:23 GMT

joerogo

buffetbuster

Brad_Olson

BB, because Wisconsin relies heavily on tourism all bears have been trained to stop and pose for photos when asked so there's never a reason to settle for a blurry image. Unfortunately I didn't think to give you this advice before your visit.
Brad

Brad, thanks so much for this useful information. If only I had known. Now, the bear was making a beeline away from us. How do I go about asking it to pose? Do I chase it into the woods, maybe, luring it with cheese curds?

Not recommended. You know what they do in the woods

Somehow I am reminded of the Gilbert Gottfried joke whose punchline is something to the effect of "you don't come here for the hunting, do you?"

Re:On Wisconsin! On Wisconsin! (ScreamingChicken)

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 15:57:13 GMT

Curds would work but I think you'd have better luck if you simply rolled around in a full dumpster first. No bear would ignore you then!

Brad

Re:On Wisconsin! On Wisconsin! (joerogo)

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 15:54:00 GMT

buffetbuster

Brad_Olson

BB, because Wisconsin relies heavily on tourism all bears have been trained to stop and pose for photos when asked so there's never a reason to settle for a blurry image. Unfortunately I didn't think to give you this advice before your visit.
Brad

Brad, thanks so much for this useful information. If only I had known. Now, the bear was making a beeline away from us. How do I go about asking it to pose? Do I chase it into the woods, maybe, luring it with cheese curds?

Not recommended. You know what they do in the woods

Re:On Wisconsin! On Wisconsin! (buffetbuster)

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 15:49:24 GMT

Brad_Olson

BB, because Wisconsin relies heavily on tourism all bears have been trained to stop and pose for photos when asked so there's never a reason to settle for a blurry image. Unfortunately I didn't think to give you this advice before your visit.
Brad

Brad, thanks so much for this useful information. If only I had known. Now, the bear was making a beeline away from us. How do I go about asking it to pose? Do I chase it into the woods, maybe, luring it with cheese curds?

Re:On Wisconsin! On Wisconsin! (buffetbuster)

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 15:29:49 GMT

Immediately after the boat ride through the Apostle Islands, we had lunch in the quaint little town of Bayfield at Maggie's. The restaurant is easy to find because of the bright pink exterior,

while the inside is decorated with a flamingo motif.

Yeah, we thought it was a bit much, too. Apparently, Flamingos Up North is the name of the restaurant group that owns Maggie's.

The place was mostly full, with quite a few tables taken up by Coast Guard members. Still, we didn't have to wait for a booth. Instead of filling up on entrees, we decided to sample some appetizers.  Johnny got the tortilla soup

(there is that face in Rhode Island again), which he enjoyed and said was heavy on the cilantro.  My hearty bowl of chili

could have been warmer, but otherwise was a real rib sticker. I think this chili (and probably all chili) could be best appreciated in the Winter months.

One of my very favorite sides is sweet potato fries and the version here did not disppoint.

Fresh cut, fried perfectly, covered with sea salt and accompanied by a tarragon sauce to dip, these disappeared quickly. The only complaint and it is a minor one, is that I prefer my sweet potato fries cut thin and these were some of the fattest fries I've ever seen.

The last appetizer was something that we had to talk each other into trying. Apparently, whitefish livers are popular around these parts. Neither one of us are particularly a liver lover, but when again will we ever see this unusual dish on a menu again?

First of all, we were surprised how big they were. They come with sauteed peppers, onions and mushrooms and the outside coat was deliciously crunchy. But, the inside still had a distinct organ meat taste that neither one of us would really seek out. By no means was this a bad dish, but it just wasn't for us. Still, I'm glad we tried it.

Dessert time!!!!! Here is the list of our choices.

Johnny was thrilled to see creme brulee

listed and he thoroughly enjoyed it. By the way, that is Maggie's homamade whipped cream on the side, not ice cream, which is what we first thought. Of course, I went for pie, selecting the cherry.

This pie had plenty of tart cherries and a nice crumbly top. Good pie!

Overall, even though we didn't love everything, Maggie's still gets a good recommendation.  One issue we had was with the service, which was painfully slow. There were several tables who came in after us and were long gone before us. It appeared there were only two servers working and it was just too much for them. Normally, this wouldn't be that big of a deal, but we had to be somewhere.

South of Bayfield, near the town of Hayward, is the National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame and Museum. Now, I'm not a fisherman, but what attracted us about a potential visit is the giant fiberglass fish, one as large as a 757. This was a photo opportunity I was just drooling over. Unfortunately, they close at 3:30PM and we walked in the front door at 3:15. The woman who greeted us, told us it was too late, they were closing up. I asked if I could at least take a couple of photos and even tried to pour on the charm, but she was having none of it. She completely shut us down. At least I was able to take this photo from behind the fence.

Maggie's
257 Manypenny Avenue
Bayfield, WI
715-779-5641

http://www.roadfood.com/R...t/Reviews/6695/maggies

Re:On Wisconsin! On Wisconsin! (Foodbme)

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 14:59:42 GMT

Nancypalooza

I see your maladjusted alternarock classic and raise you a web comedy show of delight: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=07FAAF5582CDD8A6 Episode 7 might be my favorite.

That Woman needs professional HELP!