On the Yahara A-Z

K.

Killer Baja Tacos from El Dorado Grill, Willy Street.  Closer to the intersection at Machinery Row at where John Nolan meets the inroads to the Capitol, the El Dorado Grill is a much more fashionable looking and feeling place than many of the others along the street moving east.  El Dorado is another Food Fight (restaurant group) so it has a wonderful mix of throwback retro style but new and innovative foods and service levels.  The decor is a kind of clean but gritty bold southwest thematic

 
which totally transports you away from any expectations of this part of the city, but food options offer gluten free and even a vegan burrito at brunch time.  An enjoyable and standard way to test southwest food is the fish tacos, in this case called Baja Fish Tacos, made with blackened mahi-mahi, pickled red onions and a homemade cilantro-lime aioli, served with red rice and black beans.

Very similar in quality to the great Tex's Tubbs Taco Palace not far down the road on Atwood, the execution here is even a bit more gourmet or refined -- the mahi mahi is about as good a seafood selection to place inside a soft shell as you can find and the homemade sauce is very unique.  On a sunday the night the bar is full of Madisonians who have any number of a hundred places to scout out, but the El Dorado clearly has a major following, serving a fresh tap selection, "world-famous"

margaritas and what is claimed to be the best tequila menu in the city.  A half of a block away from the main city bike path which to the east leads to Riverside Drive and past, and the west up to either the Capital or a run along the lakeside at Monona, El Dorado is in an enviable spot to begin the long link of restaurants along Willy.

Easy Sweet Potato Salad

There are a lot of points and positions that the Paleo diet might recommend, such as trying to avoid gluten, grains, inflammatory oils, dairy, and refined sweeteners, but I like to think of it more as working consciously at simple, fresh, non processed foods that takes a more common sense stance on sugar.  To avoid gluten, for example, is a tough task when you consider gluten is a naturally occurring protein from grains.  The idea that clean meats are good and that a vegetarian diet doesn't actually occur in any of our ancestry, is basically a cook's dream.  To add the prospect that we can follow these rules within the tradition of an ancient Mediterranean diet is downright fun.  The simple recipe for the side dish of

'easy sweet potato salad' brings this to light.  Take four medium size sweet potatoes (or yams in many midwestern grocery stores) and decide how best to cook them soft and cut them into bit size chunks that are not too mushy but soft and maintain their shape.  This time around I cut the yams first then slowly fried them in a pan with avocado oil and a few pinches of salt.  The recipe calls for a dressing of diced red onions, ginger, vinegar and cilantro, so I got a headstart on this and placed a hand full of diced onion into the pan and let it slowly cook and brown with the bite size sweet potatoes.  I added a few dashes of ginger (skipped the cilantro since nobody here likes it), and drizzled the combination with more avocado oil.  Sweet potatoes, when just barely browned on the outside and soft in the center, are a surprisingly easy but flavorful side along with baked shrimp.

Eggs Florentine

Whether the Paleo diet is a new food movement or not seems to be a hard one to tell mostly because what tends to be called Paleo is simply what people used to eat before the onrush of processed food and heavier intake of sugar and corn syrup  The Paleo food pyramid, if anything, looks a lot like what our ancestors would find most handy and agreeable to digestion, starting at the top as nuts and seeds, then fruit and berries, veggies, naturally occurring fats, oils, and dairy (not processed), and on the bottom, the widest berth, is given to pastured meats and wild fish.  The key terms here are fresh and natural; so heirloom fruits and veggies and, if at all possible, grass-fed animal meat and eggs.  Where this throwback concept meets the Mediterranean diet, we find a very rich, bright, and nutritious diet which, when combined with an older version of a European 'slower' lifestyle, the body begins receive what it has always wanted not just what is most available or convenient.  The Eggs Florentine recipe is a

wonderful introduction – basically a bread stacked on with spinach, tomato, poached eggs, seasoning and hollandaise sauce.  Sided by herring and some dried beans, and its Paleo all the way, quick, fresh and bright.

The recipe calls for a homemade version of a French biscuit, made with the famous herbes de Provence, but a simple English muffin worked fine for the base of this version.  A clump of spinach is tossed in for sautee along with fresh basil, in butter – or we tried avocado oil to go along with the fresh oils – then sliced tomatoes tossed on the same pan, each to stack on the muffin.  There's probably little doubt that homemade Hollandaise sauce is richer, creamier and more authentic, but we had a simple powder packet that is mixed with water and boiled until close to creamy which was just fine.  The fun part of this recipe is poached eggs, one of those ingredients that when done well are fun and soft.  The key to a poached eggs seems to be to add a little apple cider vinegar into a fairly deep pan of boiling water and to make sure that the egg is gently released into the water not from the shell itself (too

inconsistent), but from something like a small ramekin.  This allows for the egg to enter into the water but not bound down to the bottom where it begins to lose its shape.  If placed well, the eggs slowly bubbles around the pan, keeps its shape somewhat, and after two minutes can be pulled out with a slotted spoon, dried, and placed on top of the spinach and tomato mix where it waits for the creamy hollandaise and dashes of paprika.  The biscuits are hopefully low on grain; the vegetables are not seasoned but taste just like themselves; the egg, hot and like a bubble, takes the sauce perfectly, especially when the yolk begins to run over the rest of the dish.  You could easily see this short brunch style meal served in a cafe of a perched village somewhere in France or Spain, served with ice water and bar of Mediterranean sunshine reaching over the plate.

Madison's Gift

"The solitary hero, the man on horseback, readily commands emotional attention. Madison's heroic moments tended, like him, to be the quiet ones." – Stewart, from chapter "The End of the Beginning"















James Madison is often thought of the first of the four presidents who has been most forgotten.  The more one reads about Washington, no matter current political stances, the more we realize his profound influence on all levels for the formation of a united states.  If anything, Washington can sometimes be undervalued as something of a hollow character, which is a total misperception and one that has hopefully run its course in contemporary historical studies.  Adams was a firebrand, a frenetic worker devoted to causes of liberty against a monarchical background of rule.  Because he was the second president and the first occupy a modern white house, Adams is often given his due on paper.  Jefferson might very well receive more study than any other president besides Lincoln, as one of the more dynamic characters in American history.  Jefferson's is a very human story of life and loss and deep

Hamilton as chief partner in constructing the Federalists Papers

ambition and a deeper yet loathing of the monarchical system which he saw first hand not just here in American under England but also a French ambassador before his presidency.  Madison often comes across as a man in the background, an aid to Washington, a friend to Jefferson, a partner to Hamilton, which is exactly what Madison's Gift underscores: Madison's true talent was not as a war hero or as the chosen drafter of the Declaration of the Independence, but as a influential, brilliant and devoted servant to those he chose as partners.  As he said in a quote, his style of leadership was focused on "what was due from him to others."  His partnerships with Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, Monroe and his wife Kitty turned him from the prospect of a mere untiring worker behind the scenes to an overachiever who became the fourth president, and eventually inspired nearly sixty cities across the U.S. to dedicate his namesake, Madison, as the designated city name.

On the Yahara A-Z

J.

Japchae from Sujeo, which calls itself a Pan-Asian restaurant (a fusion of various Asian cuisine), is a Korean style dish packed with sweet potato noodles, marinated beef, bacon, spinach and seasoned by sweet soy sauce.  We were tickled to try Sujeo, located on East Washington street, maybe 2 miles away

from Riverside, for a few different reasons.  At the closing of our house we were given a gift certificate for Sujeo from our realtor, Spencer, who has now become our best contact in Madison and considered a friend.  When we realized that we could ride our bikes in a fairly small radius from tennis to the new Festival grocery and store…. and that Sujeo was directly across the street, it is what we might call culinary synchronicity.  Sujeo is one of those wonderful little examples of turning a food dream into a food reality.  Both the outside and inside are creative, bold but not pretentious; many wonderful details show that the owner and head chef had a very strong vision for what it would be to offer a full Pan-Asian cuisine.  The Japchae is well thought out because it is a kind of tasty compromise between some new trends towards gluten free and fusion, but old and reliable because it is also very meaty and substantial.  Japchae is bowl full of sweet potato noodles bathed in a sweet soy sauce but fully padded

by marinated beef, bacon, and clumps of cooked spinach, a tomato or two to boot.   Julia ordered a more simple batch of chicken and noodles in a bowl, which was very brothy comfort food.  The approach of this restaurant seems to be a great way to pull in all kinds of types of customers who share a liking for 'Chinese' but with a little more care and creativity, fast yet gourmet at the same time.

Sketches of Spain

The smell of the cocido reminded them of the beginning of the pilgrimage at San Sebastian as there

they walked the modern courtyard at the Plaza de la Constitucion after the great Marmitako at
Akalarre.  If they had wanted to learn the true and authentic New Basque, then they had in the previous nights found what they were looking for.  Pedro Subijana had moved up through the ranks as a young chef in Madrid and Navarre, moving closer to his desired destination back home in San Sebastian where he would land as head chef at the great perched restaurant Akalarre.  It had been said

that he mostly wanted to innovate upon traditional Basque dishes and took "push the frontiers."  They had ordered the Marmitako, a traditional Spanish fish stew (what better dish to request when in the very lair of the greatest fisherman on the continent?), and could nearly smell, as they closed their eyes

and sniffed the broth, the very ocean.  Tuna that had been cut into small pieces; onion; cloves, bells, and white potatoes.  There had nothing that could have been more simple yet, with that softened dash of Spanish pimenton dulce, something had turned from raw ocean to elegant.  No doubt the fish stock of the stew had been bubbled just the night before, made of fish bones, onion, a leek was there, peppercorns and a pinch of thyme.  The children picked at the pieces of fish and pulled them out of the broad shallow bowl onto the surrounded plate and said that this part was the best.  The rest tasted like ocean water.  That was the trick that had earned Pedro Subijana, over his 30 years here, finally the third

Michelin star and that brought the beachgoers daily in hordes out from under the Spanish sun up the twisted cliffs to wait for the Marmitako.

Arundel's Eggz

It had been the summer previous, one week with the grandparents, that had inspired the notion of the Arundel family food truck.  Living on the back bay of the Black River in a retirement complex was not necessarily what Lacy, Zach and Hannah had in mind, but dad had been pulled to Chicago for the week on assignment to create the finishing touches on a Spanish Tapas eatery in the financial district.

He had given up chiefdom years ago when he realized that eighty hour weeks left little time for sleep, kids, marriage, sanity and just life in general, but he stayed on with the Food Fight corporation as a consultant for what they called 'peripheral' projects.  Dad's specialty was Spanish cuisine, as he had spent the better part of his 23rd year in Madrid learning the art of rustic Spanish cooking at the great

kitchen of Shane Pessoa.  It was the second night of their stay in the condo when Hannah had briefly glimpsed out of the crack upstairs window shade the glimmer of what looked to be a large group of other children slinking away from the back decks of their own family condos across the grass and into

the water where a long pontoon boat sat gently bobbing and gleaming moonlight.  What little they could have imagined that this was the initial annual meeting of the Privateers of the Black River Bay...

Sketches of Spain

They had been in Spain now for two weeks; the pastels of the city of Madrid had yet failed to mesmerize them as they walked along the various streets in the city it was the great blues of the sky that floated with the puffy white Mediterranean clouds against the city heights that did not seem like

other cities.  She said that she would like to enter into the great Parque del Retiro (a park of rest for the city dwellers) and they all agreed to which opened to them a world onto itself of great greens and statuary only half-rivaled by that in Central Park New York City. The girls' clothing did not get

cleaned since the beaches at Barcelona and smell of salt and warm sand.  The sun was setting; yet their  American clocks inside had changed by now; the Spanish were beginning to pile onto the courtyards and cobblestones; a soft hum, chimed in by an occasionally louder roar of a laugh filled the pavements.  He knew they were only blocks from the Ritz Carlton where the world's finest Cocido would now be

sampled and he was quite sure that along the easy bends of the breeze, as it slipped in and out of the guarding trees of del Retiro, held the waft of the garbanzo beans, veal, the chorizo, the potatoes and the pinches of cumin.  After the walk maybe it was time to take a walk in the direction of the grand fountain.

On the Yahara A-Z

I.

Isthmus taco joint. Tex Tubbs Taco Palace on Atwood Avenue is the kind of place you'd like to call your home taco spot. Part of the Food Fight Restaurant Group in Madison, Tex's, on famed Atwood St., is located right next door to the unique One Barrel Brewery just down the road from the original location of the first Food Fight establishment.  Each of the Food Fight Group locations that I have visited anyway have shown a similarly inviting stylish thematic: they all have an older, retro foundation but with a new facelift both structurally and to the menu.  Tex Tubbs could just as well be an old dive joint, but it is refurnished in appealing decor and topped by cool signage.

This seems to fit well the Madison food ethic where glossy or corporate is avoided for the sake of independence and quality; in the case of Food Fight, also an improved employee benefit program, including profit sharing.  Tex's is unlike most other taco shops, then, that serve a sort of standard and limited menu. Here there are upwards of 20 taco types, good homemade black beans, and a cabbage

radish slaw for starters.  I tried the Talapia Tacos topped by guacamole, chipotle sour cream, black bean puree and pickled red onions...

all the while sipping on the wonderful Little Sister Witbier, a Belgian style wheat with citrus and

spices from Door County Brewing which stood up perfectly well to the fish and starch of the soft shell tacos.  Tex's is easily bikable from Riverside Drive and conveniently next door to One Barrel...and not far from Next Door Brewery.