On the Yahara A-Z

O.

Oysters on the menu at Gates and Brovi, Monroe Street.  As the description to one of our favorite new places in Madison describes, Gates and Brovi, a creation from from the same partners as

Marigold Kitchen, and Sardine, is East Coast fish house meets Midwest supper club.  And so the interior of this gem, way down past Lake Wingra on Monroe Street, is a modern Cape Cod style open

fish shack concept but decorated with great memorabilia from midwestern lodge icons like Leinenkugels, an ancient spinning Schlitz globe above the bar, and a trophied pan fish above one of the tables.  As a fish shack, here you can get a good batch of fresh Blue Point oysters, the first thing

item advertised on the menu.  Dovetailing right along with the whole food movement, salads here include oil packed Italian artichokes, radichio, green cabbage, kalamata olives and parmesan in a cider mustard vinaigrette; fine, gourmet style pizzas, include clams, roasted fennel, cream basil,

mozzerella and pinches of parmesan, topped with over easy eggs.  My own favorite is un upward trending fixture on menus in Madison, a version of the salmon burger, with Napa cabbage slaw, cucumbers and spicy mayonnaise.  Lodge style beer taps at a bar that looks like purposefully

designed happy hour neighborhood bar round out this little masterpiece of combined styles.  Easily bikeable, walkable and even boatable from Lake Wingra, it feels a little like the lake lodge restaurant in the middle of the west town hubbub.