Rick's Travelicious: Gastronomical delights on Wisconsin’s 94: East to West

Editor’s note: I know one of the photos is sideways; it refuses to rotate! Just turn your head a bit . . . Mark From Frozen Custard in Milwaukee to Spicy Cheese Bread in Madison – Gastronomical Delights on Wisconsin’s 94: East to West You can easily eat your way through Wisconsin. Beer and cheese provide the obvious ways of doing so yet there are many other variations of eating and drinking derived from the state’s European heritage that will surely satisfy any visitor. Last Saturday I found myself enjoying the Dairy State’s two largest cities and what I suggest are their best culinary offerings! You can do the same by traveling East to West along Interstate 94. My journey of expanded waistline began in Milwaukee with a beer sampler with my friends Fuji and Carol. (Oh my, I pray my trainer Cody in Shreveport doesn’t find this blog!) There is nothing more refreshing than catching up with a couple of my many interesting friends and the latest brews at the newer St. Francis Brewery near Mitchell Field, the city’s international airport, and at my all-time favorite Milwaukee Ale House wonderfully located on the Milwaukee River. Fuji is an incredible artist who I journeyed to Cuba with years ago on a visual artist exchange (she represented calligraphy, I represented TV arts) and Carol was my assistant for years and is American Indian and has been active with Indian Summer for years (North America’s largest gathering of Indian heritage, held every September (this year the 9-10-11…GO!) at Summerfest Grounds in the “Brew City”). Most ale houses offer samplers of 6-8 beers for less than a buck a piece and have a wide menu of foods to accommodate all palates.
My dear, dear friend Noni (my intern from years ago whose wedding I attended in Karachi Pakistan many years ago as well) then picked me up to head West on 94 to the most amazing gathering of tastes you will find anywhere in the world, I promise! The Madison Farmers Market, officially the Dane County Farmers Market on the Square is located all around the square of the state capitol and now spills out to the side streets including the renowned State Street which will take you to the University of Madison (where, by the way, you can enjoy more beer at Der Rathskeller in the wonderfully creepy and dark Wisconsin Union and homemade ice cream created by ag students there at Babock Hall where my suggestion without question is orange custard with chocolate chips). The Market’s offerings change with the season, so this time of year, we enjoyed sampling and purchasing green onions, white and red radishes, mushrooms of all colors, shapes and sizes, tender asparagus, incredible organic tomatoes of various kinds, popcorn, fresh spinach and lettuces from bitter to sweet. Of course, we stopped along the way to taste cheese curds made and brought in that very morning and the famous Stella Bakery’s spicy cheese bread bread baked moments before being sold, served hot and steamy! Sign of the times or perhaps better health, but the amount of cheese is disappointingly far less than I remember. The Market unfolds under the cover of Wisconsin’s stoic capitol building, the only state capitol to be designed by the same man who did the US Capitol and only inches shorter in size. Of course, being in Madison during Walker’s reign proved interesting. The usual political and social agendas were represented amidst the market vendors including PFLAG (an organization that certainly has bettered many of our lives…I know mine for sure…having grown up in small town Northern Wisconsin!). But this time, countless petitions were available for signature from recall to repent! Ah, I love the activism in liberal college towns…and it doesn’t get better than in Madison, Wisconsin 2011! Along the square are great restaurants like my personal favorite for fish, the Blue Marlin and cool theatres (both film and live) which consistently feature art we LGBT appreciate…no agenda, often, just good story! The Bartell Theatre had just closed a production by the Proud Theatre. When in Madison, you will want to take in a show at the glorious olden golden theatre, the Orpheum, which is one of the venues of the fabulous springtime Wisconsin Film Festival. Returning on 94 to the shores of Lake Michigan, Noni dropped me off to my car which I conveniently left at Kopp’s Frozen Custard on 76th Street (one of three Kopp’s locations). I picked up a pint (or two!) of the flavor of the day…peach melba…and headed out to visit my longtime friend Shirley who celebrates 82 this year! It is our tradition to enjoy custard and pour over Kopp’s Flavor Forecast, printed out each month to make planning easier for custard freaks like us. Some flavors we LOVE; others, not so much. And there is usually one new creation that creates a conversation of curiosity. This month’s concoction of concern: Pancakes and Syrup custard. Would you try it? Five pounds heavier, I headed back to downtown for more beer samplings with friends and a run along the beautiful county parks that dot the shoreline of one of the five greatest lakes ever which are overseen by my incredibly gifted friend Sue Black who formerly ran the State Parks in Wisconsin . . . my favorite being Bradford Beach! Okay, I did sneak in one stop on 27th Street for a scoop (or two!) at Leon’s Frozen Custard, which boasts the “world’s finest custard,” is open til midnight and was the inspiration for Al’s Diner on Happy Days. You gotta love Wisconsin….such a flavorful state! Happy to call it my homeland. Before heading there, you must visit www.travelwisconsin.com and send a message to my good friend and former co-host of Discover Wisconsin, Stephanie Klett, Miss Wisconsin 1992 and now Secretary of Tourism for the state. I couldn’t be more proud!]]>