Spiedini in Madison WI

Last Friday we went to The Continental for dinner and since spiedini is advertised as the house special I tried it for the first time.  It was pretty good and from what I could tell each spiedini is rolled, wrapped with an onion petal, breaded again, and cooked.  The sauces were a lemon/basil oil (didn't seem buttery enough to be butter) and the house red sauce, both of which I liked.

The next time I'm in an Italian restaurant and spiedini's on the menu I might give it a try to see how somebody else makes it.
 
The Continental can trace its roots back to the long-gone Antonio's; in fact, some of the menu items are flagged as "Antonio's originals".  I'm no expert on Italian food but Madison has a surprisingly rich Italian history so I would have to believe The Continental does things right.
 
It was a very pleasant late afternoon so we chose to eat out on the patio.


 
We started with a plate of steamed mussels in a lemony, garlicky sauce.  I don't care if it's listed as an appetizer; at $9 I'd be more than happy to polish off 2 orders as a meal.

 
Of course, fresh bread is mandatory and I do like the bread here.

 
Kathy ordered the chicken parmigiana and received a hearty portion.

 
So hearty, in fact, that this is how much she took home.  I didn't dissect it but yes, there's chicken in there!

 
Unfortunately the service was a bit off that evening.  After ordering the mussels we had to wait too long to place our dinner order and our bread didn't come with the usual plate of balsamic-dotted olive oil (which I love), although to be fair our server got hit pretty hard before additional help arrived at 5pm.  We've been happy with enough meals here to overlook it this time; we both worked in the restaurant business years ago and understand that sometimes things just happen, and it certainly won't keep us from another visit.
 
Brad