Chris Hynes
Savory, sweet, and spicy: Eldorado Grill’s blue corn flapjacks.
Do you ever go through your old yearbooks? Ever come across one of those pictures where you suddenly wonder how you ever fell out of touch with that old friend? You two were besties! It’s certainly happened to me, the realization that I haven’t talked to an old pal in years. And if it can happen with human friends, it can also happen with food. Remember that dish you used to order all the time? And then it dawns on you that have haven’t had it in...how long now? It’s not always the restaurant’s fault, and not the fault of the dish. Sometimes it’s just geography.
When I lived on Williamson Street, I’d hit up Eldorado Grill for brunch on a pretty regular basis. Eldorado has been consistently enjoyable, and how great is a restaurant that takes brunch reservations?
Yet it’s been a while since I’ve dug in to Eldorado Grill’s blue corn flapjacks. Visually, it’s a done deal. There are famously few blue foods in nature, so whenever I can combine a little novelty with my breakfast foods, I’m a happy boy. The combination of savory, sweet and spice in this dish is balanced on a knife’s edge: take the dollop of red chile butter on those deep blue cakes. There’s real truth to “out of sight, out of mind,” though, and sometimes I plain forget how great Eldorado’s brunch really is.
Eric Tadsen
Symphonic: the ginger cake at Grampa’s Pizzeria.
While we’re on Willy Street, I’m recalling that the ginger cake at Grampa’s Pizzeria is on my Mount Rushmore of Madison desserts, and I haven’t been there for a while, either. There may be any number of reasons why dessert-lovers might have failed to keep Grampa’s ginger cake in the forefront of their minds. But the cloud of whipped cream atop a truly symphonic combination of crunchy exterior and moist, cakey interior is not one of those reasons. Plus, ginger helps to lower blood pressure.
The storefront may be small, but if there’s one thing that Estacion Inka isn’t, it’s out of sight. It has a nice little spot on University Avenue near campus, just right for student traffic, but for those of us in the car culture, it’s way too easy to zoom right by. Who’s going to enjoy the quarter rotisserie chicken with rice and beans lunch special then, Kyle? Not you, dummy.
This platter is still under $6, no small amount of bargain. I know conventional wisdom says that roasting a chicken is something everyone should be able to do, but I’m happy leaving it to pros like the Estacion Inka team. I just have to convince myself to slow down and find a parking spot nearby.
At least there’s a city parking ramp near Estacion Inka.
Zooming past South Park Street’s Taqueria Guadalajara and trying to find parking out front can be an impediment to bellying up to the counter and enjoying a delicious lengua taco or three. Don’t let it be. The richly savory lengua, cooked to pot roast-tenderness, is worth testing your parallel parking skills.
John Kuehl
Loaded: Maytag Bleu potato chips from Bonfyre American Grille.
There’s not much pedestrian traffic around Bonfyre American Grille. Though the Beltline hums along in the restaurant’s front yard, so to speak, there is plenty of parking. In the decade since Bonfyre opened, trendier dishes have come along, but nothing has made Bonfyre’s Maytag Bleu potato chips less appealing. Scallions, tomatoes, pepper jack and blue cheeses are served over chips, not today’s hipper house-made tater tots. But the portions at Bonfyre have remained as generous as ever, and sometimes a good old-fashioned pile of loaded potato chips does the trick.
