RiRa Irish Pub Review

     After the history walk we were starving. You would think we would visit one of the many, many, new places we haven't been to yet. But wife's go to place in downtown Burlington is Ri Ra's. And since we haven't done a full review yet, here we go.

      First of all, many people do not realize that Ri Ra's is a chain. With twelve locations up and down the East Coast, (plus one in Vegas). What most of you may also not realize is I usually HATE these type of chain restaurants (Chilli's. Longhorn, Olive Garden, etc.) YUCK, pre-packaged frozen food, trucked in from all over, YUCK, YUCK, YUCK, the absolute total opposite of the whole Localvore movement which I love. Not to mention the "fake atmosphere" trucked in by corporate planners to make you feel like your in the southwest, or a saloon or in Ri Ra's case, a pub in Ireland. And yet despite all this, I really do like Ri-Ra's.
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      First the atmosphere, they really have done a good job of giving us what we Americans think of as the ideal Irish pub. Beautiful bar, lots of TVs playing sports, some quiet areas in the back, and a nice fireplace to curl up near on those cold winter nights. In addition, it has some of the best beer choices in Burlington, (Yes, I know it doesn't come close to Farmhouse Tap but still), wife loves their hard cider on tap and I always have a Black and Tan. This visit they had a pear cider, which was OK but didn't have a real strong pear flavor. Bro-in-Law went with a Guinness stout (even heartier that regular Guinness YUM).

      After getting our drinks, we all ordered. Ri-ra burgers for Chris and I, a nice burger with an Irish rasher, (bacon), Swiss cheese, and onion rings, YUM. Mike went with the Publican Reuben and wife went with cottage pie (shepherd's pie for the rest of you). No pictures, and YES I did have the camera handy but c'mon it hamburgers and Shepherd's pie, you've seen pictures of them a million times, nothing earth shattering in their presentation. Mike and wife loved their meals, Chris and my hamburgers were OK but too well done and dry . We had asked for medium and they came out much closer to well done. A hazard of the pre-packed burgers I assume. Cottage pie and the reuben were both very good and as always the beers were tasty and cold. All in all a very satisfying but not inspired meal.

On a scale of 1 to 5; Food,                Quality means much more to us than quantity. Beer and Wine,  Based on selection and pricing Service,             Speaks for itself Ambiance,          Does the look fit the food and pricing  Price,                And finally does the pricing equal the results we had. Food,                     3.    Not totally inspired but consistently good. Beer and Wine,    3.    Nice beer and cider selections, wine is not a highlight Service,                 3.5  Always efficient, not always super friendly Ambiance,             4     Looks like an authentic version, of an Americans idea of an Irish bar Price,                     3     Average food but average pricing also. In downtown this counts as inexpensive. Overall                  3.3  This is a pretty consistent place downtown. Casual, but the food is Ok. Don't go in expecting gourmet fare and you will be very happy. And be sure to order my favorite, Black and Tan.

Great Dane Pub Review

      Our last stop on the Great Wisconsin Pub and Brewery tour may have been the best. So good in fact, we ate lunch at the airport location on our way home the next day. The Great Dane looks more like a professional chain restaurant than a local place full of character. That may be because they now have five locations and plan on growing even more. We visited the Fitchburg location. Located in a mall area full of other stores and restaurants, the Great Dane is a stunner to look at. Lots of brick on the outside, beautiful dark woods and copper beer tanks on the inside. We chose to eat out on the patio, as it was a warm and sunny, summer night.

     Our first disappointment, was that some of the beers were sold out ?? It's a brew pub, shouldn't you have beers in stock. Since the Fitchburg location list only 6 beers ALWAYS on tap and of those, two were sold out, that left slim pickings, I settled for Old Glory American Pale Ale, it was quite good , not an exceptional ale but cold and refreshing on a hot patio. Next disappointment was our server, she was all smiles at first, but maybe because we moved to the shade without asking she got sullen? Not sure why but her attitude wasn't the greatest and she would disappear for long stretches at a time.

      When I first glanced at the menu I was intrigued and frightened at the same time. We have all been to those chain restaurants that have a hundred item menu of which NONE of it is local, or even tasty. All of it brought in frozen, in nicely pre-packaged servings, by big trucks with names like Cisco on the side, BLAH my absolute LEAST favorite restaurants in the whole, wide world. Give me a local hole in the wall place making food bought fresh from within the area ANY day. Now that you heard the rant I have to say I was wrong. The food was the best part of this experience. We all tried something different and every meal was great.

      To start we shared the Tuna TaTaki, this was very good, maybe a bit unexpected as we were far from water here, but the tuna was very fresh and the Cajun spice dusted on top gave it just the right amount of heat. For our entrees we visited around the world, starting with wifey and India. Her tandoori chicken was not a true "tandoori" but more tandoori spiced, still very good but what she truly raved about was the almond flavored Israeli cous cous that came with it. Along with tomatoes, olives, artichokes, grilled flat bread and a lemon yogurt dipping sauce, this was the U.N. on a plate.

      My meal was no less exotic for the mid-west. Called "Drunken Jerk", (NO comments please), it was
tender pork shoulder, soaked in spiced rum and jerk marinade,slow-cooked and wrapped in banana leaves, then finished with coconut-lime butter and pineapple salsa (yes I copied from the menu,and no I can't get the fonts to match ). Served with incredible, sweet, fried plantains, this was an exceptional meal. And it was a hoot for everyone at the table, because the amount of pork in the banana leaf wrapper seemed never ending, just when I thought it was done, I'd notice another fold and even more yummy tender meat. For his meal , Dean went with a great American city, New Orleans. His smothered and covered chicken read like this,a hand-breaded fried chicken breast topped with shrimp, andouille, artichoke hearts, mushrooms and tomatoes in a Cajun butter sauce. Served with jalapeno cheddar mashed potatoes and market vegetables. All in all we were extremely satisfied and VERY full after the meal. No dessert for us.

On a scale of 1 to 5;
Food,                Quality means much more to us than quantity.

Beer and Wine,  Based on selection and pricing

Service,             Speaks for itself
Ambiance,          Does the look fit the food and pricing 

Price,                 And finally does the pricing equal the results we had.

Food,                     4.5  Excellent all the way around.

Beer and Wine,    3.    How can you run out when you brew it here.
Service,                 3     Efficient but not really friendly

Ambiance,             4     Patio was great, bar looked inviting, I never saw the main dining room but overall nice ambiance for a Brew Pub.

Price,                     4      This is not a "cheap" place to eat, but the portions are HUGE, you will leave full and happy.

Overall;               3.70    Our final stop on the great beer and pub tour, and certainly the best and most creative food of the bunch. So good in fact, we arrived at the airport early, so we could eat at the Great Dane in the terminal. Food was just as good (just not as many choices), it was more expensive (DUH, it's in an airport) and they had a full selection of beers (Go figure).  If your in the Madison area , make sure to stop by one of their many locations.You won't be disappointed.

Tofflers Pub and Grill Review

       Our second stop on the pub and brewery tour, Tofflers, only fit half the bill. No on site brewery, but a bar full of New Glarus Brewery beers made us happy, happy, especially after hours of walking the Farmers market, (see previous post on market and stay tuned for future post on Brewery itself). Since we had walked and sampled our way around the Farmers market and planned on cooking all our goodies that night, we just wanted a quick, light meal, RIGHT, in Wisconsin there is no such thing.

      We started with New Glarus beers, Fat Squirrels (nice nut brown ale with great flavors but not too heavy) and Two Women ( a classic country lager, very crisp and refreshing). Just a quick aside , we sampled many of their beers but I do not believe we ever tried their most famous beer The Spotted Cow. So on with the ordering , I chose the roast beef sandwich with, once again, homemade chips (really what is it with homemade chips in Wisconsin? Though I will say, sometimes you just get sick of french fries), Dean also had a sandwich , the name of which escapes me now and both women went for the Cobb Salad, as the picture's clearly show, light was not what we got , Tasty yes, light NO!!;

      Once again a trend is appearing here. Wisconsin pubs (or wait is it a bar? I am going with pub cuz the food is so good), serve some damn, tasty food. My sandwich was incredible, maybe one of the best ever. Slow braised beef had been hand pulled apart and piled high on a kaiser roll, with Swiss cheese and horseradish sauce on the side. The sauce was GREAT not only on the sandwich but perfect for dipping the chips in (LALALALA not listening, I am on vacation). Once again chips were crisp, fresh and salty, The salads were gigantic as you can see and made with fresh ingredients. Everyone loved the meal and once again this is the type of local place I wish we had in our town.

       One quick note, the main reason we were in New Glarus, was because of their incredible bakery and next door meat shop. We stopped to pick up some home made potato rolls for the brats which we picked up at the meat store. These are the kinds of great, small places you find all over Wisconsin, LOVE IT !! Last of the New Glarus pics followed by our review;

On a scale of 1 to 5;
Food,                Quality means much more to us than quantity.

Beer and Wine,  Based on selection and pricing

Service,             Speaks for itself
Ambiance,          Does the look fit the food and pricing 

Price,                 And finally does the pricing equal the results we had.

Food,                     4.5 Actually no faults at all, other than it is bar food, but REALLY good bar food

Beer and Wine,    3.  What is there is good but not alot of choices
Service,                 4.5 The staff here was great.

Ambiance,             3.5 Again, its a bar so not much atmosphere but still clean and nice.

Price,                     4    Price was very reasonable for what we ate.

Overall;                3.90  Another great find, this pub tour is starting to work out great.