Linda Falkenstein
A perfect perch fish fry paired with Untitled Art’s double apricot double milkshake IPA.
Sometimes, all is right with the world: Jupiter aligns with Mars, peace guides the planets, love steers the stars… and a former executive sous chef from Estrellón cooks outstanding food in a food truck outside a brewery in the middle of an industrial park in Waunakee, Wisconsin.
To be sure, Octopi Brewing’s brewery and taproom is in an uncommonly bucolic corner of Waunakee’s industrial park — the view from the patio includes woods, fields and an old barn. Inside, there’s the expected reclaimed wood communal tables, concrete floor, barnboard accents, it’s all good.
So is the tap list. Octopi is primarily a contract brewery, but is also the brainchild behind the offbeat brews of Untitled Art. It also sells beer under the names Octopi, The Giving Brewery and Dachs, and engages in frequent collaborations with other Midwestern breweries. These days the tap list seems to seesaw between lower-alcohol fruity sours and big, boozy imperial pastry stouts (but expect to find a lager and an IPA on board). Still, on one recent night, taps included a waffle stout, an imperial espresso marshmallow stout, a marble halva stout, a fudgesicle stout and a strong stout with maple. That’s a lot of desserty beers.
They go, however, hand-in-hand with the rich, indulgent menu. The cheeseburger — of the smashburger variety, a superior version of a butterburger with plenty of meat juice, melty American cheese, a judicious scattering of smoked onions, and mayo-based “secret sauce,” all on a Batch bakehouse brioche bun — is a dream of American-summer fast food. The sweet beers easily step into the role of milkshake, but with a broody edge.
The rest of the current menu is primarily tacos: brisket, pork belly or potato, all on flour tortillas. The potato tacos are fine, with fried potato cubes, a blend of queso fresco and chihuahua cheese, topped with an excellent salsa verde — but one longs for eggs and a proper Mexican breakfast to accompany them. If you do eat meat, steer toward the brisket or the pork. Both are impertinently rich, the one percent of the taco world.
It is hard to choose. The brisket is tender and salty with a ginger soy marinade; the kimchi relish is lost in the overall richness. Topped with spicy mayo and crispy shallots, this is again an oddly fun pairing with those sweet stouts. The pork belly is alternately meaty and melty, topped with pickled vegetables and a garlic chili mayo. It all calls to mind a pancake filled with moo shu pork — very good moo shu pork.
The south-of-the-border element is rounded out with cheesy pork nachos. There’s also two sizes of soft pretzel, and grilled cheese or a beef hot dog for the kids.
On Friday only — oh yes, you know what’s coming — fish fry. And what a fish fry. Four perfect pieces of fried perch, and I will tell you as a lifelong consumer of Wisconsin fish fries, I’m not ordinarily a big fan of perch. But this I would order any time. The flavor is mellow yet enhanced with a light, crunchy, crumbly batter that I associate with fried oysters. The perch comes with a smashed potato — basically half of a baked potato that’s been flattened and griddled — classic sweet Wisconsin tartar sauce, a slice of marble rye and a cup of coleslaw. The only misstep was the coleslaw, which suffered from somewhat bitter cabbage.
Chef Jacob Guyette took over Octopi’s food truck (it sits out front, but patrons order at the bar) a year ago. He came up under Tory Miller and previously cooked at L’Etoile, Graze and Estrellón, but eventually wanted to explore a different way of doing things. He worked for a while cooking for the Madison Mallards, catering with at-risk youth at the Goodman Community Center, and farming at Vitruvian Farms. Then his brother caught sight of an ad saying that Octopi was looking for a chef. “It’s been a dream,” says Guyette. “I love to prepare food that goes well with beer, especially the crazy cool stuff they do here.”
Guyette’s relationship with Vitruvian continues, and he looks forward to changing dishes as more produce comes available: “I want to get what’s nice and fresh onto our menu,” says Guyette. “That’s a big part of the food that I like to cook.”
And — are you sitting down? — with the completion of Octopi’s expansion at the end of the summer, there will be an indoor kitchen and Guyette will expand the menu. “We’ll still have sandwiches, tacos, a couple different burgers, but do different little bar snacks, appetizer plates, we’ll make pretzels with different toppings — one with housemade bacon, with Swiss fondue and fried eggs. I can’t wait, it’s going to be so fun.”
Octopi Brewing
1131 Uniek Drive, Waunakee; 608-620-4705; octopibrewing.com
Food served: 4-9 pm Wed.-Fri., 3-9 pm Sat.
taproom hours: 4-10 pm Tues.-Fri., 2 pm-10 pm Sat., noon-7 pm Sun.
$5-$15
