Sharon Vanory
HopCat sticks the landing with their wide-ranging burger menu. Here, "The Classic."
130 taps and crack fries. Crack fries and 130 taps. If you know anything about what’s happening at HopCat, the new craft beer emporium open since mid-July at Gorham and State, it’s probably this. And if either of these are a draw for you, you’ve probably already visited. How HopCat delivers the rest of the goods — the appetizers, the burgers, the mac and cheese — will determine who else it can reel in.
HopCat hails from Michigan, with four locations in the Lower Peninsula plus another in Indianapolis. More are on the way.
The first-floor dining area is big and wide open, filled with tables (built for two, but shoved together for larger parties), high-top bar tables and plush horseshoe-shaped booths; in the center is a large bar with stools that are wide and comfy. There are no bar games but plenty of TV screens tuned to sports, and not a sound-dampening device in sight. It is loud at HopCat.
With 130 taps, you’re going to find something unusual or unexpected — Lagunitas Sour Mashed DayTime session IPA or Elgood’s Coolship #3 lambic out of jolly old England, for instance. The food menu is also unexpectedly deep, with salads, soups (the spicy beef chili is worth consideration), mussels, and “street” tacos that are stuffed wetly to the point of busting out of their single corn tortillas. Lots of sandwiches, of course, like the Angry Bird, a breaded Buffalo chicken deal that impressed me during HopCat’s soft open.
The spinach artichoke dip is homemade and elevated by a splash of HopCat’s house hot sauce. There’s more of that sauce in the Buffalo chicken rolls; both dishes are worth ordering to share. Ordering a Board of the Things — cheese, apple, mustard, sausage — seems like a good idea for sharing too, but for the price, it’s skimpy, though the brûléed cheese spread is novel.
I love a good bar burger, and HopCat nails it. The patties are thick, with excellent season and sear, and cooked to a true medium when requested. There’s a burger with corned beef and Swiss, another with Polish sausage, and one with bacon, barbecue sauce and overfried jalapeños that’s respectable for its relative restraint. The “Classic,” with just lettuce, tomato and onion, is hefty without the absurdity. I recommend adding “bar cheese.” It’s Michigan’s answer to pimento cheese, and it’s melty and gooey from the first bite.
With all burgers come HopCat’s other calling card: the so-called crack fries. They are lightly beer-battered, peppery, crisp, and usually fresh from the fryer. I find the seasoning wears out its welcome, though, before the fries are gone.
And they can’t pull off poutine, which should be all messy decadence, not crunchy and sharp. Not even the punny Vladimir Poutine, with onions, bacon, sour cream gravy and a smattering of from-the-box cheese pierogis, works. When I want poutine, even with extra stuff, I still want a lot of curds and a healthy pour of rich gravy.
As good as the burgers are, five are priced at or above $12. Pro tip: During happy hour, which runs 2-6 p.m., they’re half-price.
If you’re in the market to spend closer to a Jackson per person, you could do a lot worse than the pork schnitzel main course. A surprisingly juicy slice of pork is fried with a crisp crust that amazingly stays that way underneath a smothering of gravy and fried egg salad, another HopCat object of fascination.
For Sunday brunch, there’s a waffle called the Dude — yes, a Lebowski reference — topped with chocolate chips, vanilla wafers, whipped cream and Kahlua syrup. It doesn’t quite evoke a White Russian, but it’s a good, very sweet waffle. The poached egg on a BLT Benedict, which you’d expect to be runny, was cooked to hard-boiled, and I don’t know whether it’s more surprising that it came with crack fries that weren’t listed on the menu or that the Dude’s Waffle managed to not include them.
In addition to being the best place to sit for prompt beer refills, the bar features the best service overall. Floor service is friendly, but inconsistent. The bar team is conversational and attentive.
I don’t know if any restaurant or bar needs 130 tap lines, and I wonder how viable this is in the long term. There are better beer-bar meals to be had in Madison, but HopCat revels in its loud braggadocio, and it’s definitely making an impression.
Hop Cat
222 W. Gorham St., 608-807-1361, hopcat.com/Madison
11 am-2 am Mon.-Sat., 10 am-2 am Sun., $5-$23
