Briners Go Mad!! Madison, WI - October 2-4, 2009

[jackiecat]

First thank you thank you thank you to beenie an Pari for organizing a wonderful weekend! You are the best! And another happy Birthday beenie!

I didn't join the group Friday night because I was having dinner with my nephew and his partner. Note: If you get a chance to go to Eno Vino I highly recommend it. And if they have scallops on the menu GET THEM! Huge and perfectly cooked. The best scallops I've ever had. AND the foie gras OMG!

Saturday morning I joined Sadiedog, Josh and honeycomb at the farmer's market. Great company and fresh hot cheese bread! Whee and Yum!

Next, the Great Dane and lunch. One hamburger patty, one ground bratwurst patty and bacon! That's a burger! Thanks jrzjrz for the fried cheese curds and thanks to CopperTop for the lunch! BTW, you can count on CopperTop to come on like the Texas Rangers when help is needed! Thanks CT, I very much appreciate you for all you did!

Finally we got beer! New Glarus Brewery was amazing and I think I sampled all they had on offer thanks to the briner tradition of passing yummy stuff around. I of course fell in love with the $8.00/bottle beer. Next to Pari's favorite bar. I could spend a week there learning all about beer from the bartender, he was awesome! And here is where I got to meet Mrs. jrzjrz again. I felt we were soulmates the first time I met her and I felt the same way about her friend Eileen who will be joining us on the board. I had a really great time with the Saltys as well.

The Tornado Steak House was great. jrzjrz continued our tradition of sharing escargot

Sunday we brunched at the most fun deli! Carousels, trains, dolls, all the retro toys you can imagine live at Ella's deli. And the food is good too.

After that I spent time at a bookstore reading Good Eats: The Early Years Book until I went to the airport.I missed my connection in Detroit and was feeling sorry for myself but the flight attendant led us in a rousing Spartan fight song and other Michigan State cheers! Perked me right up!

My only regret is I didn't get to spend time with everyone. Next year?

[Parintachin]

Had a wonderful time with you folks this year, as usual. I am happy that our first Briners "Gone Mad" went well. No nasty surprises and no bad service anywhere.

As usual, it doesn't take long after the last dish is washed and the last beer bottle is emptied before I start thinking of how we can do this better next year.

Next year we'll see about hitting the Quivey's Grove Beer Fest instead of the tour, we'll make time for a night out at the Malt House (since everyone seemed to enjoy it), we'll arrange for better transportation and more centralized hotel arrangements.

It was soooo much easier to pull this whole thing together in Madison versus the Dells. We'd somewhat run the poor Dells out of entertainment sources where we have only just begun a small sampling of what Madison has to offer. (next year, maybe we'll do L'etoille or Harvest).

[CopperTop]

We made it back home last night. It was great to see those that I visited and I wish I'd had more time to spend with folks.

Quizzy, Beenie and Pari - we really need to get together more.
Geof and Repmogirl - I will let you know when I'm back in the area, and we can get together again.
Dana - I'm very glad that you were not injured badly in that accident. It's an absolute blessing, considering the description you gave as to what happened. You may be pleased to know I drove a whole lot more cautiously on my return than I might have normally. You made a difference.
Kosher & his lovely Missus - Y'all are now officially requested to call me when you're next in Texas. You're a blast to hang with.
Tena - I want a report on how those chocolates were, because I'm planning to switch iSag's mom's annual Godiva pack with David Bacco. Also, you know where to call now if you want anything, including company. I can drive that on one of my weekends.
Maria - A repeat: when you get back to Texas, call. If you need anything, call. If need be, I can lend you an extra set of hands to help out when the new arrival gets here.
Jackiecat - you never fail to surprise me, and I'm not an easy one to surprise.

[haleoalau]

We made it back home last night. It was great to see those that I visited and I wish I'd had more time to spend with folks.


Maria - A repeat: when you get back to Texas, call. If you need anything, call. If need be, I can lend you an extra set of hands to help out when the new arrival gets here.

Thank you. Thank you for lunch, for your more than generous offers of assistance with everything from phones to just calling. For a great afternoon of just grown up talking - even with a three year old hiding under the table. I did indeed wind up getting almost 10 hours of sleep that night, so the day out did me a world of wonders.

We'll definitely call as we near Lewisville so ya''l can meet us at the L&L.

Maria

[koshersalty]

Continuing...

Malt house...best beer hole EVAR. What made it was the 'Omikaze' bartender. I got the first beer, loved it, then just brought my empty glass back up and said 'what's next?' He then gave me the next best beer I ever tasted. The worst part? We didn't get to stay long enough. I asked the bartender if they would rent me the apartment upstairs for a week.

Tornado room: The bar? Awesome...old school. Classy cocktail place. The restaurant? Even better. 20oz Bone-in tenderloin. Bone in you ask? yup. 20oz of tenderloin PERFECTLY cooked. It was a meatgasm. Worth the price, but WHOA...that was the biggest restaurant check in my career!

Jrzjrz...thanks for the curds! That's a snack I'm glad I have to go to wisconsin for. Cripes, I could eat POUNDS of those. It was very nice to meet your missus. Can't wait for her buddy to get on the board...she's a kick.

CopperTop...what a hoot. You're my first phone call when I get into DFW. Thanks for lunch...that was great.

Sadie...very cool talking with you over at CBP. Nice to finally meet you and Josh. It was fun to hang out with Josh at the Malt House.

Whisk...THANK YOU again for DD-ing. I really wanted to enjoy the beer tour and you made that possible. I very much appreciate it. Also..thanks for the tip on the Gruyere...delicious! I should really get that cheddar that's older than my kids. I hope you and Stewie make the next one...we'll get a limo-bus or something.

Erin and luna...great hanging out with you for the late shift...you're both quite the mixologists! I'll be looking for A-SAH-EE

Pari - again, what a great time. I'm really looking forward to the next time we can hang out and shoot the BS. Your idea about finding a way for us to get together around a bonfire and BS is spot-on. You and Beenie are just fantastic ambassadors for your fair City.

Quizzy...you're just awesome.

Honeycomb...I swear you're my long lost big sister. We were separated somewhere in the U.P of MI (dontchaknow).

Who'd I forget...I dunno...I blame the malt house.

Counting the days till next year.

[Butterbean]

So, only jrzjrz took pictures?

[jrzjrz]

So, only jrzjrz took pictures?

I'm sure others took pics but, I didn't see alot of the cameras everyone was going to bring.

I hope so. I mean, I didn't take pics of everything. I was having alot of fun. Whenever I thought of it I took a pic or two.

[jackiecat]

Jackiecat - you never fail to surprise me, and I'm not an easy one to surprise.

Thanks CT, that's one of the best thing anyone's said about me on the board!

[beenie]

I took very few. Like, I could count them on one hand. And only two turned out okay.

[Quizmistress]

Not to worry, Beens. Just uploaded a bunch.
Lets start with:
Honey and her balanced meal BEFORE we hit Lombardinos Friday evening


Next we have the Burfday Princess in her headgear at the restaurant


Pari dared me to take his pic with his mouth full. Then proceeded to flip me off when I really did


CopperTop carefully considers her next bite


Then the bolognese arrived


CopperTop ordered the pork belly. Those who tried it found it succulent & perfectly done


Salty had the Walleye


And Miss Beenie finished her meal with fire


Saturday morn, CopperTop, Alex, Whisk & I hit the smaller, but not any less impressive Hilldale Farmers Market.
Then after, repaired to David Bacco Chocolat for some well deserved treats.
The chocolates are kept on slabs of marble under glass. The whole place looks like an elegant jewelery store.




We each picked out 1 or 2 to eat there. The associate gave us a knife so we could all share. Mouthgasm!


Since I didn't go on the Beer Tour, I have no images of that, but Tornado? Yeah, I've got that.
Like Pari wringing his hands, waiting for the first meat course to arrive.


Soon it did


...and he wasted no time slurping it down


Next came his entre` - brontosaurus steak


Some of us preferred to dine lighter, like Mrs. Salty's spinach salad


Whisk's lovely wedge


or the awesome bowl of perfectly seasoned french onion soup


The shrimp were a thing of beauty..until Pari & I finished them off


For dessert, Erin had a rhubarb..crisp, was it? Looks great regardless of what it is


And though many considered it, only Whisk was brave enough to order the Ho Ho Cake, which was shared all around


While others take pics of faces, I am deep in the depths of food pr0n.
Maybe someday I'll find a 12 step program..............hope not.

[beenie]

That French onion soup really was the best I've ever had. I would totally go back just for that soup.

[honeycomb]

Thanks for taking photos, gang! I didn't take any at all. As you can see, my hands were full.

Honey and her balanced meal BEFORE we hit Lombardinos Friday evening

Who needs food when you have a Brandy Old-Fashioned (the WI state drink) and a sparkling Black Shook Shiraz in the other? *hic*

I'll post more later about some of the fun details, but I didn't want to come back home; I wanted to hang out for another week! You folks make me feel at home.

Thanks again to Whisk for driving us around for beer-tasting, and to Pari and Beenie for planning work and excellent dining choices.

[Erin]

I took pics and I will likely post them tomorrow or Friday.

[Kinsley]

Apparently no one had the photo assignment to document the annual meeting
of the Cleavage Club. I will make sure that doesn't happen again.

[Quizmistress]

Kins said:

Apparently no one had the photo assignment to document the annual meeting
of the Cleavage Club. I will make sure that doesn't happen again.

Dear boy, said assingment requires ATTENDANCE. You make sure that your lacking attendance DOESN'T happen again.

[sadiedog]

We got home about 45 minutes ago. I've got a bunch of pictures I will get uploaded either tonight or tomorrow. Trip back was pretty uneventful (thank GOD!) but when we left Billings, MT this morning it was 12 degrees...fahrenheit. No really. That wasn't the worse of it. At 9:00 AM, about 50 miles W of Billings the temp hit...brace yourselves...9. We didn't see temps above 20 until we got into Idaho. Freaking cold. I wanted to put on the Christmas music.

What can I say that hasn't already been said? The weekend was fantastic. Fast moving, yet full of camaraderie. You guys are truly an extension of my family. Thank you Pari & Beenie for hosting. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Hey Quizzy! We finally made it over to the Mustard Museum on Sunday. *Snort* What a goofy place. I'm all proud that I've got a t-shirt that says "Mt. Horeb" on it and not "Middleton." It's just not going to be the same.

Ok, enough for right now. I'll get the pics and descriptions up as soon as I can.

[sadiedog]

Here we go.

Lombardino's Restaurant:
Josh ordered the braised pork belly. It was one of the best things I have ever eaten.

This is my walleye on a bed of truffle infused polenta. There was this savory, earthy, succulent flavor - I guess you call it umamai - that I just couldn't get enough of. The walleye was crisp on the outside, creamy and sweet inside. It too was one of the best things I have ever eaten. (This may become a theme. )

Josh and Honeycomb had the ORECCHIETTE with FRABONI'S SAUSAGE & RAPINI - Little ears of pasta with Fraboni's hot Italian sausage, rapini, roasted garlic cream & a splash of brandy. Yeah. We swore there was a full pound of butter in that dish. It was so rich and creamy. The rapini was a good, bitter contrast that was needed in such a rich dish.

Looky at the desserts. This was the sampler Erin & Lunanoir got, but it is a good representation of what was on the menu. There is tiramisu, Boca Nera (flourless chocolate cake) and panna cotta.

Wonderful food and really great staff. Even though we were their last customers and kept them there a couple hours after closing, I never felt hurried.

Saturday morning. Josh, Honeycomb, Jackiecat and I went to the Farmer's Market. Such fun!
Cheesebread. Best thing on a cold, damp morning. Cheese seemed to be the order of the day.

Interesting gourds.

We saw many veggies that were new to us. First off were these interesting looking Black Beauty Chiles. At first I thought they were largish olives.

Then there were unusual radishes:
The Beauty Heart Radish:

The Black Spanish Radish:

I am intrigued by veggies that offer a surprise when cut open.
The winner of the most interesting colored vegetable of the day had to be the cauliflower. It looks like it comes pre-cheesed! I have never seen anything but white cauliflower before. The fuchsia was gorgeous too.

Broccoli Romanesco, winner of the "Most interesting shaped vegetable":

Props to the vendor. She was a dear and was proud as punch to help me set up the shot of the cauliflowers.

After the Farmer's Market we met up with the rest of the gang at Great Dane Brewery. I was a little disappointed at the wheat beer here. It had a strange bitterness and very little of the nuttiness I associate with wheat beers. Oh well. Food was pub fare, heavy, tasty and good with beer.
The Great Dane’s Brat & Bacon Pretzel burger - A one-third pound U.S.D.A. choice ground beef patty and a one-quarter
pound bratwurst patty grilled with caramelized onions and topped with applewood smoked bacon, sharp cheddar cheese, lettuce, pickles and tomato. Served on a pretzel roll with a side of Peck’s Pilsner mustard.

I had the Chicken Pot Pie. They used mashed potatoes instead of potato chunks. It was good. The applesauce was not.

Josh, WhiskMEaway & Honeycomb all decked out and ready for the beer tour:

As others have mentioned, Capital Bewery was closed for a private party, so we headed out to New Glarus and their shiny new facility. Yes, I did have the Raspberry Tart beer. Yes, it was pretty tasty.
I tried a new beer at the Mill House. It was a German beer known for it's smokey notes. Very interesting. Very hoppy. Helles Schlenferla Lagerbier.

Time for dinner at the Tornado Room. Another great place, if not a bit echo-y once you get 20 Briners all chatting at once.
My 28 oz Ribeye. I don't really know what I was thinking. I did take the rest home to my folk's house and we ate it with a little browned butter. That was nice.

Josh & Honeycomb had the Venison. It was so tender you could cut it with a fork. Here's Honey's with Yorkshire pudding:


Sunday morning and the food-fest continued at Ella's Deli. What a fun place! Good food, but not photogenic in the least.

They had dioramas in the tables. Some were set up to play with, but most were just to look at:

This one's for ChefShawn:


Before we left Madison, Josh and I ran over to Mt. Horeb. We have been trying to get to the Mustard Museum for 3 years now and we finally made it.

'Tis a silly place.

The foodie highlight for the rest of our week was Wednesday. The sun finally came out. Josh and I went over to the Cities and restocked our pantry at Penzeys. Of course we had to run over to Dino's for gyros, then we spent the rest of the day wandering around Como Park, Zoo and Conservatory. Those in the Twin Cities should take the time to check out the park. It's wonderful. (And the Zoo and Conservatory are free) The Conservatory has one whole garden set up for food. I've got pictures of Cardomom, Vanilla, Tamarind, Ginger, Black Pepper, Bay Laurel and several other plants we use everyday. It was neat to start the day out smelling and purchasing spices and herbs to ending the day seeing the plants those spices/herbs came from.

For all those wondering, Dad is doing really well. He has bad days and good days, but the good days are winning out. He looks thin, but is eating pretty good. I think he's going to be ok.

Oh and Honeycomb - I think you bought the last 6 pack of the Furthermore Knots Stock at Steve's. They were out when we arrived. It is sold in MN though. I found it at MGM Liquors.

I just realized I don't have many pictures of Briners. Thank goodness some of ya did. I was having too much fun with pretty food.

[sadiedog]

Oops! I forgot to show you my chocolates! Bad Sadie, bad! My pictures don't do them justice. I shared them with Mom and Josh. They are like a work of art. It was kind of sad to eat them. Totally worth eating though.


Left to right - Top:
Cider Caramel / Fleur d'Autumne / Chardonnay Smoked Bacon / Frambois
Bottom:
Caribbean Fire / Apricot Marzipan / Pomegranate-Melbec / Cashew Caramel

Thanks to Quizzy and CT for getting them for me. You gals rock!

[whiskMEaway]

So, these were all taken on my iPhone, so the quality isnt the best, but it's better than nothing, right?


Choosing chocolates at David Bacco is some serious business!


The final choices. Clockwise from the top left: Chardonnay-Smoked Bacon, Cocoa Nib, Pomegranate Malbec, another Bacon, Jack Daniels, Tahitian Vanilla


The doors to our lunch location.


Lunch!


when we got to Capital Brewery, we found out it was closed. At first we were worried there was some sort of beer'mergency, but it was just a cleverly marketed catering truck.


So we continued our beer pilgrimage to New Glarus. They just opened a HUGE multi-million dollar brewery that sits nestled in the hills. Honeycomb, Koshersalty, and Mrs. Salty are pictured hastily moving towards the entrance.


Sadie, Josh, and Honey enjoy some beer in the tasting room.


It wasnt long until the whole group joined in. Left to right - Top: Honeycomb, Josh, Sadie, Me, Pari, Koshersalty. Bottom: Jackiecat & Mrs. Salty


It took a couple tries to get the picture right with this because i was giggling so hard that i couldnt keep the camera straight. The point of the picture? None really. Honey just saw the cigarette thing and saw that it was labeled "butts" and thought a booty picture next to it would be funny. Obviously, i agreed.


The cute little cheese place we stopped at.


"Yay for whiskey!"


The crew outside the Malt House. AltonsGal, Coppertop, Mrs. Salty, Koshersalty, Pari, Jackiecat, Josh, Sadie, Jrzjrz


...And a shot of my ho-ho to finish it all off.

[Butterbean]

Great pics, everyone. Thanks for sharing them. What a handsome bunch o'Briners!

[Erin]

I took pics and I will likely post them tomorrow or Friday.

Sorry - been busy with family stuff. I will get around to uploading everything soon.

[Erin]

Allrighty! Seriously, between travelling like a madwoman and then trying to catch up at work and at home and being obsessed with Dexter and Mad Men and Drop Dead Diva and my NEW PHONE (!!omgomgomgbeautifuladoregorgeousgeekedouterin!!), things have been a little busy over here. But I did manage to upload my pix into Photobucket this morning before work.

NOTE: I have not edited any of them, but they don't suck in general. PM me if you need me to edit something.

And now...onto the Friday pix:

After getting stuck in abhorrent traffic, I finally made it to Jen's house and we were on our way. Unfortunately, we also got snarled in nasty traffic so we decided to take a break at Coopers Hawk Winery with the hope that the traffic would die down a little by the time we'd get back out there. We got a cheese platter - and I was a dumbhead and didn't take any pix of the cheese, d'oh! - and each a glass of their house red, which I'm told is kept in the same cask and the remnants of the previous batches enhance the flavor of the new ones. It never tastes the same, which I thought was kind of cool.


So, we finished up - I helped Jen finish her wine because i'm a good friend - and headed back out. We grabbed a coffee and...traffic still sucked. This was compounded by the RAIN. Ugh. Our entire ride up to WI looked like this:


We stopped for gas and laughed at the loaded-down, beloved Mini:

Bless it, it's a pretty, speedy little thing and it managed to handle both us and our luggage handily.

After landing at Chez Beenie-Pari (CBP), we all loaded up and took off to Lombardino's. We split the braised pork belly and got some delicious pomodoro (tomato) soup with a basil oil drizzle on top. It was very fresh-tasting, like the tomatoes hadn't been fully cooked, yet it was hot. It was like a...hot gazpacho, sorta. Fresh/raw-tasting, but hot. It worked.




The gang, at our respective tables:



As it was the sweet Kat's birthday, she got a special dessert treat and we all wished her a very Happy Birthday on her pretty, tiara'd head.



As it wasn't OUR birthday, we ordered the dessert sampler, which was featured on this thread already. Honey and I especially enjoyed the flourless chocolate cake cuppettes:


Afterwards, we headed back to CBP, where Mix Mistress Jen made Veev Basil Gimlets for all. They were delicious!


We all enjoyed them.


Honey maybe a bit more exuberantly.



Next...Saturday!

[Erin]

Saturday:

Our day started out early - although not as early as some others! Kat and Jen and I aimed for the Madison Farmer's Market, which is just the most badass market EVAR. After obtaining the requisite coffee, we found a place to park and made our way over to the deliciousness.


Glorious swiss chard was abundant, along with many, many other fresh things, including all kinds of cheese, vegs, fruits, root vegs/tubers, pasta, heck, even my little dog's coveted smoked ostrich bones.








Kat and Jen and I also hit up the Frommaginarium, a cheese shop which I think is in some way affiliated with Deal and DeLuca, mmmmmm. I picked up a bunch of little "cheese orphans;" little bits of cheese at about $2-$3 apiece meant to encourage one to try new cheeses. I also picked up a manchego-style sheep's milk cheese before winding my way out past the fig and quince pastes :drool:


Later that night, at the Tornado Room:

Deliciousness struck early in the form of the ginger-vodka infused Hollywood Cosmopolitan:


After a few drinks most of our party had arrived and we were ushered into an adjoining party room, which we quickly filled with our cachophanous banter.

Pari and koshersalty:


Me and Jen:


Quizzy and Mrs. koshersalty:


Another one of Jen:


Beenie and Whisk:


As for the food, others have covered pretty much all. I got the escargot (which I adore) and Jen - we were splitting a lot of stuff this trip! - got the scallops, which were delicious and sweet, if a bit odd placed on top of pasty, plain mashed potatoes:




We all split the yummy desserts profiled above before heading back to CBP for yet more cocktails and talk before parting ways for the evening.

The next morning we met up at Ella's Deli. The food was okay - I'm thinking this place is mostly where you go with kids. I get it's a Madison institution, but it was just okay for me. The stand-out there? The deep-fried pickles. They were GOOD. That was another first-taste opportunity. The matzoh ball soup was also yummy

In all, it was a great, albeit brief, trip northward to catch up with foodie friends. Looking forward to next year already!
I tried some stuff I hadn't had before, too! I hadn't ever had oysters on the halfshell or oysters Rockefeller, and I actually don't think I'd ever had a scallop, either! So it was all good. But not the rabbit. It was dry and kinda gamey. Boo.

[Mrs. Salty]

More pictures from WIsconsin
Autumn delight sundae from Ella's Deli

Fried pickles


beer I had to drink because of its name
delish cocktails at the tornado room
Gathering of new and not so new friends