Rhinelander Cafe & Pub

Our usual focus is on the WI Fish Fry, however, those of you who enjoy the ‘fry’ and the cocktails that accompany the tradition know there is a fact of life to be delt with.  In the morning after a good night out you need to feed the furnace, and what better place than the Rhinelander Café & Pub.

The RC&P has the best breakfast in town and I say that for several reasons.  First the English Muffin Toast; not only is it tasty - they still butter toast the ‘old fashioned’ way…they use a brush and paint on the clarified butter.  (Honey dial 911 cuz the arteries are startin to close.)  The Little Marinara loves this, her pet peeve is when she gets toast and it only has a meager dollop of butter.  We are true Wisconsinites when it comes to butter; don’t insult us with your margarine or oleo crap.  Second: are the breakfast entrees.  I always have the Corned Beef Hash with Poached Eggs and an order of Hashbrowns with fried Onions.  It seems that I have only found two places that can poach an egg, here and the Eagles Nest in Wausau.  (At most places the poached eggs look and task like golf balls) Of course the plate is garnished with fruit, which I promptly remove from the plate least it attempts to make me healthy.  Marilyn always orders Eggs with a slab of Ham and Hashbrowns, she also eats the fruit..someone has to!

The décor is right out of the mid seventies, dark furniture and carpeting that has throw back colors, dark paneling on the wall and some pictures that are always for sale.  Most of the waitresses in the morning have been there since day one; they are tired but friendly.

We have been there for lunch several time and always found the sandwiches to be of a generous size but slightly expensive, we have never had dinner there. 

The Little Marinara and I have always worked on the theory that you dine on the strengths of the establishment and for us this is a breakfast only place.

Big Ragu gives this place a breakfast rating of 4.5 Outa 5

Wausau Elks Club - Wausau WI

Even though we have moved to the Northwoods, the Little Marinara and I still maintain our Membership in the Wausau Elks Club.  Why?  Well I can still smoke a cigar inside (at least for a few more months), we like the people and on some Friday’s in Fall we bowl in a couples league.  Actually Marilyn bowls, I throw the ball and hope it doesn’t flop in another lane or bounce around the floor and whack someone.

Anyway it is Friday and time for cocktails and a Fish Fry.  This club has two bars, the Member’s bar where you can smoke and the upper bar for those who like to complain about those who smoke.  We head down to the Member’s bar where I can smoke a cigar and still listen to people complain about it, however, I usually have someone stop by and tell me how much they enjoy the smell of a good cigar.  Since we haven’t been around as much we find out we have a new bartender so it is back to teaching someone how to make a decent Martini.  This is a On-the-Rocks crowd so there is a learning curve and for whatever reason they haven’t invested in the proper barware to do this correctly.  Our good friend and Republican Tammy pops in with a fresh tan from some country I can’t pronounce and we beat the crap out of Health Care for a while.  We really do miss this place.

Our table is called and my cigar is not done so we have our bartender call the hostess to give us another 15 minutes.  Two minutes later the hostess calls our table again, (need some work on this skill-set) it is not busy so we don’t worry and I finish my stogie.

We arrive at out table and a few minutes later our friend Jim Carlson arrives at the table next to us.  He is alone so we ask him to join us.  Nancy takes our order and we are off to the salad bar.  The food at the Elks Club is usually good, the atmosphere is dated and the dining room needs a facelift.  On Friday evenings they have a large salad bar with the usual items, token pasta salad and cole slaw. The salad bar is good but boring, it never changes.  I believe this is in part due to the fact that the cook is not real creative.  Additionally, there are always two types of soup of which one is a clam chowder (always excellent) and warm rolls with garlic butter.  I will give this kitchen crew credit, they make good soup. 

I order the Perch with Homefries and the Little Marinara orders the Poor Mans Lobster with Hashbrowns.  The Marinara loves the Hashbrowns that they serve and I have to agree they are some of the best out there.  My Perch as usual is very good, light breading and flavorful, Marilyn has more than she can eat and takes home her usual box–o-fish.  She still enjoys the Milwaukee tradition of a shore lunch for breakfast.

We go down to bowl only to find out that our opposing team is not there, I am sure they heard the Big Ragu was bowling and decided to forgo the contest (it was safer for them).

I always tell people that the Wausau Elks Club is the best deal in town – and it is.

The Big Ragu gives this Fish Fry a 4 Outa 5

Saxe's - Delafield, WI

Just off Hwy 18 and about ½ mile to the West of Hwy 83 tucked in the Kettle Moraine hills you will find Saxe’s Restaurant.  The owners are Tom and Lynn Saxe who were once in the movie theater business but sold 1985 and opened this restaurant.  I was in town for a few days and met my good friend and Masonic Brother Joe Harker for a late dinner meeting.  I have enjoyed lunch at Saxe’s many times and also a good Fish Fry on a Friday evening, but that is a tale for another story.

This was the middle of the week and owner Tom Saxe was behind the bar and Tony was working the tables.  Saxe’s went smoke free recently so the Big Ragu had to forgo his cigar.  Fortunately they did not go alcohol free.  Tom mixed a Martini for us and we were good to go for the evening.

The specials this evening were steak – several different ways, Diane, Sicilian or a NY with Garlic Mashed Potatoes.  I went for the NY and Joe tried the Chicken and Dumplings, Joe just got back from a 4-day golf outing with the boys and wanted to let his arteries flush out.  Tony brought us a hot loaf of bread and a Cilantro infused Olive Oil for dipping.  The side salad was fresh and crisp as it should be.

 Service was very good; Tony had a sense of humor and was very attentive and professional.  I liked the presentation of the food; my NY came with Onion Strings, Two large Shrimp and Garlic Mashed Potatoes.  The steak was small but properly cooked to a medium rare, which is hard on a thin piece of meat.  My only complaint was that the potatoes were cool on the inside and warm on the outside (bad nuke job).  I wasn’t really interested in potatoes and only wanted a taste so I didn’t say anything.  Joe said his Chicken and Dumplings were great, it was presented well and of a generous portion.

Most of you know that I am not a desert person, however, Tony did the age-old restaurant tactic of showing me a sample of the special deserts for the evening.  I am usually a sucker for this.  I gave in and had the Flan with a cup of coffee.  Flan is a type of baked custard with a caramelized sugar base and can be dressed up with sauces, fresh fruit or in this case both.  Think of it as a Crème Broulee on steroids.  Just look at the photo and drool– it melted in my mouth.

It was a good evening and I will be back with the Little Marinara.

This Big Ragu gives this a 4 Outa 5

Potato Pancakes

I have been searching for the best Potato Pancake in WI. Years ago I got hooked on the Potato Pancakes at Hesser's Supper Club in Oshkosh, WI. These things were so good they were like a side of crack for your Fish Fry.

My search continues. Please help out the Big Ragu and leave a comment below with the name and location of the restaurant you feel has the best Potato Pancakes in WI. I will check it out and review the results later in the year.

Bootleggers Lodge Supper Club - Tomahawk, WI

Wisconsin Northwood’s restaurants are seduced by the lore of prohibition mobsters, if one were to believe all the stories floating around you would think that Al Capone and John Dillinger spent more time north of the Cheddar Curtain than in Chicago. And so it goes with Bootleggers. In the 20’s (of course) this was known as Phils’ Resort, the usual suspects were rumored to have used this place as their hideout. It all makes for a good story line and is sure to suck-in the tourists from south of the border.

As is the usual case we picked this restaurant with a flip of the coin The Little Marinara and I picked up Dave & Donna our neighbors from down the lake and headed out for a new adventure. For 7:00 pm on a Friday evening it is relatively slow. We check in with hostess and are told it will be a 15 minute wait for a table. We tell her we needed a little more time and wander off to find the bar which to my amazement is huge, hell I thought I was in Serb Hall in Milwaukee. They don’t have a cocktail waitress and the bartenders look kind of old so the girls go out on the deck and Dave and I pick up the drinks. We pulled up a chair to get a view of Lake Nokomis (I think this is an old Indian word for ‘water gone paleface’) or at least what was once the lake, there was more lake bottom than water. I am glad I don’t pay property tax on this beauty.

Within a half an hour the hostess calls our table and we are seated in the dining room by a door to the bar. This corner is so warm the girls think menopause is starting over again. Fortunately, for Dave and myself there are no mood swings. As I look around, the first thing that grabs my eye is that there are not any dead animals hanging from the walls, which is odd for a Northern WI restaurant, however, there are plenty of pictures of Flappers – you know gun molls – easy women of the 20’s, whatever, there are a lot of them.

Our waitress is right on top of things and gives us a rundown of the menu. We all (at least three of us) decide on some form of a Fish Fry, Dave has the traditional fry, The Little Marinara has Poor Mans Lobster, I have Perch, and Donna has (cough, cough) the Chicken Cordon Bleu. Bootleggers also offer Potato Pancakes so I add that to the order in addition to the normal sides. As some of you know I have been searching, almost lusting, for good Potato Pancakes for years. With the order taken our waitress announces she will be back with crackers and cheese – this is after all Wisconsin; real cheese and butter, no Oleo. Most of you probably don’t remember Oleo but the Marianna and I still remember our parents smuggling the stuff across the border into WI and then adding the yellow coloring to make it look like butter. To this day I don’t know why they did that – must be the thrill of bringing illegal food products into WI. Anyway the waitress returns with a basket of crackers and a 1oz portion control cup of some type of cheese spread. This is perhaps the funniest thing I have seen in months, talk about a lack of class. She also brings some warm rye rolls, which are out of this world; slather them down with butter then reserve a room at the hospital bubba. Dave and I have another Ketel One and in a short time our food arrives. Across the board we all agree that it is a average Fish Fry, although the portions are large they are short on flavor. At first I am disappointed that I only receive two Potato Pancakes but after I bite into them I see why only two. They are dense with a slight sweetness and served with a side of applesauce, (in another portion cup) I still haven’t decided if I like them, they were so dense I could only eat one. My major disappointment was the abundance of portion control cups, reminded me of Culvers.

Dinner for 4 with a couple of drinks and a tip was $100. I will put this on my list of places to revisit for a second opinion. Bootleggers is located at 2001 Indian Pine Point Rd., Tomahawk, WI

The Big Ragu gives this a 3.25 outa 5

Fish Scraps - Tidbits from Milwaukee

The Little Marinara and I were enjoying a few cocktails and a great view of the lake last evening and we started discussing Fish Frys in Milwaukee. The end result was a decision to put together some snapshots of several places. Please add your comments and additions to the list.

American Serb Hall – South Side - 5101 W. Oklahoma Ave. For some reason this place is always listed as the best Fish Fry in Milwaukee. Don’t believe it. It is however, probably the biggest in Milwaukee. Serb Hall claims they serve between 1,500-2,000 dinners on a Friday evening and I can believe it. The place is a huge barn and the customers are treated like cattle. If you believe that fish are shaped like a hockey puck then this is your place.


Turner Hall – Now Known as Historic Turner Hall Downtown - 1034 North 4th Street, Milwaukee. Turner Hall also claims to have the best Fish Fry in Milwaukee. Once again a myth, save your money.


The Packing House
-South Side-900 E. Layton Ave. This is always a good choice, great cocktail lounge, good Fish Fry with all the necessary side dishes, and always busy on Friday evenings. If you are in a hurry they have a drive-thru window to get a fish fry to go.


Saz's State House –West Side- 5539 W. State St. The little Marinara and I have been here many times and have not been disappointed. Saz’s of course is known for ribs and pulled pork sandwiches, but their Fish Fries are wonderful. Get it fried or baked but make sure you add an order of Onion Rings.


The Butler Inn –North West - 12400 W. Hampton Ave. The place has been around forever, and so has their food, the Fish Fry is average.


The Open Hearth Restaurant -
2930 N. 117th St., Wauwatosa. The Open Hearth has been in business for at least 25 years. Their fish fry includes: fresh Walleye Pike, Lake Perch and Haddock, all battered or broiled. Always good and always busy.


The Schwabenhof
- 14750 W. Silver Spring Dr. The Schwabenhof offers a Fish Fry on Wednesday and Friday evenings. Sides include choice of German Potato Salad, Potato Pancakes, French fries or Baked Potato, Cole Slaw and Homemade Tartar Sauce (the best). They offer the traditional Fish Fry (Cod) as well as Lake Perch, and Walleye Pike. For those of you who don’t like a WI Fish Fry (go back to IL) you can always get Fried Chicken and Ribs.


George Webbs – All around town. 
I like Webb’s you can get just about anything at any time including a the traditional Perch Fish Fry with French Fries, Cole Slaw and Rye Bread. Sometimes this is the perfect Friday Fish Fry at 1:00 am. The sweet sounds of the Bagpipes may be from Don Hensiak.

Henkels Town Pump - Rhinelander, WI

Why would you want to eat at a place called the town pump? The Little Marinara and I have been asking ourselves that question for years. We go by this joint all the time; it is only a ½ mile from our house. I am guessing it is the curb appeal or lack of, that has kept us away or is it the name. Now I know why they call it the town pump. Years ago when I was the Little Ragu this place had two gas pumps and was a local gin mill. It was also in the Town of Woodboro, hence town pump – or maybe it was because they pumped booze into the old geezers who hung out at the bar.

Oh well, it is Friday and raining, no it is a huge downpour so the Little Marinara and I decide we do not want to drive too far. We look at each other and decide Town Pump after all. If it looks too bad on the inside we can just leave. Three minutes later we are walking in the front door soaking wet, heads turn to look at us and I am waiting for the usual they must be from Mars attitude. To our surprise everyone is friendly asks how we are and comment on how bad the rain is. We find a place at the bar and Marilyn orders an Old Fashioned and I have my Martini. I am guessing it is better to have it on the rocks and forgo the straight-up option. The drinks are great I am smoking a good cigar and my edge is wearing off. As I look around, the place is full of old lumberjack tools; saws and big things that can take your arm off. There is also a non-smoking as well as a smoking dining room. One end of the bar is a 60” flat screen, not bad for a Town Pump. My eyes focus on a jar behind the bar labeled ‘Lake Slime” and over the jar is a sign indicating a contest between Squash Lake and Crescent Lake, order a drink, name your lake and a ticket goes into a pot, on Labor day the lake with the most tickets wins a pizza party. This stuff is gruesome it looks like someone put some frogs in a blender and then added some yogurt to give it body. I’ll pass on the pizza party. So lets eat!

We get a table in the no smoking section, and look over the menu. The Fish Fry here is pan-fried not deep-fried. We both order the standard Fish Fry. As we gaze over the other tables we see someone having Homemade Potato Chips. They look great so we order some and were not disappointed. Dinner is served and the Fries are also homemade, there is a side of slaw that was average and then something different – fry bread. I can tell I am going to need an extra dose of some simvastatin tonight. The fish was fantastic, light, flakey and full of flavor. Marilyn also said the same about hers. I’ll be back I want to see how the lake slime jar is doing.

I guess I am pumped about the Town Pump. Henkel's Town Pump is located West of Rhinelander at 7161 US Highway 8.

The Big Ragu gives this a 4 outa 5