Late Night Eats - the good , the bad and the hard to find

Yes we have not been asleep at the wheel. It just seems harder to get time to write and share with everyone the things we love. Well how about late night eats, mostly in Madison, but we have a few others. We look for those places we can get a nice drink and good nosh when the evening is done. Our favorites are Sardine (the bar menu), Tornado Room (the late night bar menu), Green Bush Bar (Pizza) and in NYC I love the Blue Ribbon. All of these have great wine lists, cocktails and wonderful service.

Sardine - Serves until 12 or 1 am depending on the night. Two killer burgers, a high end hot dog, a sopresat sandwich with house made hot gardinera. And the best bartenders in the city of Madison. Serving great Mojitos, Cosmos and wine by the glass. Always ask for a taste of wine before buying and ask for a recommendation - Gabe, Nate or Bobbi always have a good idea of what is hot.

Tornado Room - crowded, a hopping bar menu is not even available until after 10 pm. Killer wine selection, good scotches and whiskys. But the best $7 beef tenderloin sandwich anywhere and an amazing $5 jumbo shrimp cocktail. The service is professional but can tend toward serving the younger crowd a little more quickly....

Green Bush Bar - the best pizza in Madison. Serving until 11 or 12 depending on the night. Stay away if these is a Badger game of any kind. The bar is located in the basement of the Italian Laborers hall and is small, charming and a killer place to finish the evening due to the massive selection of scotches, bourbons and Irish whiskys. The pizza is sublime a cracker thin crust with just the right amount of toppings that you never feel stuffed.

Blue Ribbon - serving in GV until 4 am this is the place to eat serious food if you fly into NYC late. They have the best oysters on the half shell, and are know for the bone marrow with oxtail marmalade. Both ends of the spectrum succulent and decadent - and dam yummy. Also they have the best hanger steak when paired with an amazing bottle of pinot will delight any one. The service at Blue Ribbon is always spot on and very courteous and friendly.

So get out an about after the music stops to grab a late night bite that is sure to send you to dreamland with a full tummy and satisfied soul.

Pizza Night!!!!

When we want the best pizza in Madison we head to the basement of the Italian Labors Hall to Greenbush Bar. They serve the best super thin crust with just the right amount of toppings and have a stellar wine list too. Last night was Monday night an evening that is usually a slow one but with the Lady Badgers playing and everyone out because the temps were warmer it was a zoo!!! We chose not to wait for a table but bellied up to the bar and had a glass of wine while we waited for our delicious pizza - a large with sausage, mushroom and banana peppers - yum! The pizza here is not super filling so you can share a whoel pie and not feel stuffed but really satisfied with the flavors and texture. It was so busy that they had run out of Cabernet, Tempranillo and Zinfandel - wow we settled for a Shiraz that was very nice just right with dinner. One of the best things about the Greenbush is that they serve until late - 11 PM they are part of our late night dining club ..more on that in another post. Service is usually friendly and prompt -even on a busy night the bartender did a very good job of keeping everyone happy! So if you wan to try the best thin crust in Madison - head over to the Greenbush Bar - open after 4 PM - except on Sundays they are closed.

In a special side note - Greenbush Bar has one of the best and most affordable selections of Scotch & Irish Whiskys and Bourbons in Madison. If you can't find it here it is not in the city of Madison. And the prices - pretty unbelievable too.....go have a drink and relax!

Party all night long at the Brink

Well sort of - it was time for some fun music and Midlife Crisis was playing at the Brink lounge in the "nightclub". If you have not seen Midlife Crisis - I suggest you do since they are non-stop til you drop music that is for dancing. This was one of the first times the dance floor was never empty and these guys don't stop between songs and chit-chat, they came to rock and they did. We really had a great time sipping some Irish Whisky, dancing and listening to the band. You know these guys played hour and 10 minute sets full out.

It was a great evening - they only rant I have is the lack of cocktail service the Brink provides. Having been in the bar business for years it pains me to see a lounge full of thirsty guests to only have one or two service folks on, it is like selling drinks is an after thought. I am talking about a room with an easy 50 to 75 people who could not get a drink. I sure hope that someday Curt Brink and his team figure out how to provide service to match the quality of entertainment at the Brink. It would seem to me that making money on drink sales is more attractive than the $5 cover at the door. We will keep coming to listen to the great line up of bands they book we just might not drink here - maybe before hand at the Malt House....that is another story.

Friday night dinner at Lombardino's 11/21

We love having dinner at Lombardino's the chef/ owner Patrick is by far one of the most consistent and innovative chefs in Madison. He really creates a wonderful menu and specials sheet using local and seasonal ingredients that really tempt the taste buds.

As with most trips to Lombardino's we like to sit at the bar - the service is always excellent with personal attention from Micheal Banos the GM of the restaurant. This evening we had to sit at one of the high top tables at the end of the bar. - A great spot to watch people and enjoy the energy of the dining room near by. As usual we ordered off the specials sheet - not that the main menu items are not great - we just love the items that are featured - this evening we shared three of the antipasti items - the Beet Salad, the Duo of Scallops, Sausage & Peppers - all three really fun and delicious. While dining we each had a glass of the Zenato Ripassa - one of our favorites - rich fruit, with a little raisin and dried currants and Amarone at half the price.

The beet salad was a classic with roasted beets, greens, Gorgonzola, nuts and lightly dressed greens. It was great way to start the evening it really was nice since we had happy hour downtown at Broccah but that is another story. The nice thing about splitting items at Lombardino's is that they split them in the kitchen when the dish allows, we love this extra little special attention. Next up the duo of scallops which combined a chilled slice of salmon and scallop mousse over baby arugula on one end of the plate with a hot offering of a seared scallop with truffle and brown butter crumbs pasta. The cold half of the duo the mousse was not very pleasing a slight miss in our opinion. The salmon in the mousse was to over powering for the scallop and made the entire item taste really fishy. On the other end of the plate the hot half of the duo really delivered a nice punch. The scallop was perfectly cooked the black truffle with the brown butter crumb was just rich and luxurious on the palate. We quickly noshed on the scallop and sopped up every last crumb with their wonderful bread. The flavors of the earthy truffle with the scallop's freshness of the sea taste all tied together with the light caramel notes of the brown butter make this dish a must repeat, yum!

We rounded out the meal with the final course, a classic sausage and peppers. Patrick puts a nice spin on this favorite by first using a wonderful piece of Frabonis coiled Italian sausage. The sausage it self had been grilled which added a nice smoky note to the dish, He then combined peppers and onions that are almost caramelized, but he used poblano peppers instead of just bell peppers. The poblano provided a wonderful glow of heat to the dish that separated it from being ordinary.

We enjoyed the rest of our wine and then headed back to the eastside since we could not find any music we were interested in this evening. We always look forward to the great food from Patrick and the awesome service from Micheal and his team. Thanks for making our Friday night a tasty one!