Dutch and delectable: Cafe Hollander’s House Bitterballen with curry ketchup dipping sauce.
When it comes to having a few drinks with friends, the old tavern model — beer nuts or maybe some frozen pizza — is going by the wayside. Brewpubs are full-fledged restaurants; even modest taphouses are looking to hire killer chefs and venerable taps like Mickey’s long ago upped their game. Here are some of our favorite appetizers from over the years from some of our favorite watering holes.
Working Draft Beer Co. has a smart menu that is ever-changing. One worthy constant, though, is the pimento cheese spread and buttermilk biscuits, certainly devourable by one person, but also splittable. The spread, made with Hook’s 5-year cheddar, is wonderful but the real scene-stealer here is the biscuit, with a perfectly crispy-crunchy exterior and yielding buttery interior. A second order is almost inevitable.
Likewise the Belgian beer bar Brasserie V has featured a cheese board on the menu since it opened. Our resident cheese guru, Jane Burns, found the board “as much cheese porn as it is a cheese plate. Candied nuts, a chunk of baguette from Madison Sourdough, Wisconsin honey and Potter’s Crackers are interspersed among the cheeses.”
There’s a choice of three (for $16) or five (for $25) cheeses from eight available. The cheeses change frequently, but you’re likely to find local favorites like Hook’s 10-year cheddar, Uplands Cheese Company’s Pleasant Ridge Reserve and Bleu Mont Dairy’s bandaged cheddar. A few recent standouts were Landmark Creamery’s Sweet Annie sheep’s milk gouda, Crème de la Coulée’s Wisconsin tomme and the delightful Barely Buzzed, a cheddar from Utah’s Beehive Creamery that’s rubbed with espresso and lavender.
It seems hard to imagine now, but The Coopers Tavern was (as far as we can determine) the first in town to serve poutine. The Canadian appetizer seemed exotic when Erin Hanusa reviewed Coopers, what we then termed a “gastropub,” in 2010. (Now, practically all pubs are gastropubs, and many feature poutine.) This classic, with Coopers’ letter-perfect Belgian frites topped with cheese curds and peppercorn gravy, is still the perfect pairing with a pint. That’s also true of another of the original appetizers, the much-lauded Sconnie Egg, a twist on a Scotch egg. It’s made with an organic egg from New Century Farms, wrapped in a housemade brat, then breaded and fried. Like the best tavern fare, it comes with pickles.
Truffle oil may be over, but we can’t stop loving the Sexy Fries at Mickey’s Tavern, a memorable plate of deep-fried handmade chips sparked with white truffle oil dressing and sprinkled with Parmesan cheese. The truffle oil gives that special something — an undertone a little oaky, a little foresty — to the chips.
It may seem a splurge, but our reviewer Kyle Nabilcy thought the fish board (a singular variation on the “board” concept) at Longtable Beer Cafe a good value at $21. Cured salmon, smoked trout and whitefish spread along with market vegetables and dill creme fraiche and bread to arrange it all on.
What about sticking with a classic, the supersized pretzel? Head to Dexter’s Pub, which has a seven-ounce version and another that’s uber-sharable at just over a pound, both made by Batch Bakehouse. “The beer cheese dip here is superb and the peppadew pepper mustard was lovely, with a good bite,” wrote Nabilcy in his survey of area pretzels. There’s actually a choice of five mustards, if peppadew is for you a peppadon’t.
House Bitterballen is the specialty at the Benelux-themed Cafe Hollander. These Dutch meatballs, made with beef, pork, minced vegetables and cheese and then breaded and deep-fried, make you wonder why this snack isn’t more popular across Wisconsin. The curry ketchup dipping sauce is brilliant.
The Great Dane recently revamped its appetizer menu. Gone is the comfort food bread bowl with veggies and spinach artichoke dip. The Nakoma Nachos are still around, but try instead the lighter ahi tuna marinated in soy, sesame and lime, that comes with refreshing cucumbers, avocado and radish, topped with creamy sesame aioli, and wontons for a little crunch.
The spinach artichoke dip is still around at HopCat and sometimes it’s just what the doctor ordered. Its housemade spinach, stout and artichoke dip carries a little heat from its house “fire sauce” and comes with tortilla chips. Timeless.
Another favorite that’s more than the sum of its parts: Vintage Brewing Co.’s loaded potato bites. They are not potato skins; they’re whipped potatoes dotted with bacon bits and cheddar, breaded and deep fried and served with a black pepper aioli or ranch dipping sauce — a supercharged potato croquette for the ages.
