Draper Brothers Chophouse pays homage to an 1800s-era meat house in Madison in a beautifully designed space best known for housing the Blue Marlin. (more…)
Posts Tagged ‘steakhouse’
Draper Brothers Chophouse
Sunday, July 7th, 2024Rare Steakhouse
Sunday, September 21st, 2014
The area where State Street and Mifflin Street converge is home to a growing restaurant empire that consists of the Ivory Room, Capital Tap Haus, Buck and Badger and now Rare Steakhouse. The owners did a beautiful job of renovating the space, as seen by its mahogany interior and atmosphere of elegance without pretentiousness.
All steaks are dry-aged for up to a month in the state’s only in-house dry-aging cooler. I know this because our head waiter during a dinner talked our ear off and went into excruciating detail about everything. Fortunately, that was the only negative aspect of the restaurant.
I was impressed with the selection of appetizers, but the one I want to feature is the PB&J ($20), a plate of foie gras and port black currant jelly in mini jars with a (small) side of French bread. This was a highly decadent dish, with all the ingredients complementing each other’s flavors (salty, sweet and tart)–an excellent way to wake your taste buds.
That brings me to the steaks. I tried both the 6-oz. filet ($23) and the 16-oz bone-in ribeye ($46). As expected, the dry-aging unlocks a different type of meat–much beefier in flavor and of course more tender. While enjoyable, the steaks were a bit under-seasoned.
Other entrees include chicken, lamb and seafood.
All entrees are served a la carte. Sides include duck frites ($8) and twice-baked sweet potato ($10). I recommend the BLT Mac ($12) because of its delicious blend of cheeses and added bacon (no lettuce, luckily).
If you still have room, get the bananas foster ($10) for dessert. It’s prepared table side. The bananas are cut into coins instead of length-wise, which seems to allow them to soak up more flavor.
Rare also serves lunch. The Prime burger ($15), topped with bleu cheese, carmelized onions and horseradish, was super flavorful and juicy. I also was a fan of the lobster roll ($16), with its generous chunks of lobster meat. Meanwhile, the French onion soup ($9) was unexpectedly filling and sweet.
Rare serves dinner Monday-Saturday and lunch Monday-Friday. It also has outdoor seating, which seems a bit out of place.
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See more photos in our Rare Steakhouse Flickr album.
Double Cut and Wisconsin Brew Pub
Sunday, April 27th, 2014
The Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells recently shut down two restaurants on its massive property. The first, Kahunaville–the bar near the convention center that featured a nightly bartenders’ performance–was replaced with a high-end steakhouse called Double Cut. The second, Damon’s, was replaced with the generic-sounding Wisconsin Brew Pub.
I was surprised by the announcement of Double Cut, what with Field’s nearby and Ishnala Supper Club and Del-Bar within a five-minute drive. When you walk in, you may be surprised by the complete transformation of the space, from the previous tropical theme to the dark, sophisticated lounge-steakhouse hybrid. The only thing that seemed out of place was the excessive amount of TVs in the bar area, which added an out-of character sports-bar feel to the venue.
The food and cocktail menus are impressive. Highlights for me were the succulent prime rib (12 oz. for $24, 16 oz. for $28 and 20 oz. for $32; comes with a bland puff pastry) and supremely tender filet (it’s 8 oz. for $34 on the menu, but the bill said 6 oz. for $31), neither of which required the sauces or enhancements you can tack on for a fee. I also liked the perfectly flavored lobster bisque en croute ($12), though the pastry was surprisingly flavorless (like the puff pastry). The black pepper calamari ($13) and the accompanying remoulade were average at best.
I would love to come back some time to relax in one of the lounge areas with a few cocktails, which are divided on the menu by base alcohol, such as whiskey or rum. The Vodka Gibson ($10), made with Ketel One and spicy pickled onions, was exactly what I was hoping for–stiff, with a slight hint of heat from the onions. I enjoyed the Clint Eastwood ($10)–a Manhattan made with Knob Creek–even more, and I would likely order again the Door County ($10), a brandy Old Fashioned with Door County cherries.
Overall at Wisconsin Brew Pub, which had zero renovation done to it and still looks like Damon’s as a result, you’ll find a menu full of Wisconsin-themed items. On name alone I had to order the Nueske’s bacon-wrapped potatoes and bacon-wrapped Platteville pickles ($10), but I was immensely disappointed. Although the bacon was delicious, it didn’t work well with either the potatoes nor the pickles, and even the nacho cheese dipping sauce didn’t help.
I almost asked for the Old Milwaukee beer can chicken ($36), which serves two, but instead I got the Everyday Wisconsin Fish Fry ($17), which came with three finely battered pieces of Atlantic haddock. Even better was the very sloppy and mouth-watering beer cheese Nueske’s bacon burger ($13), though I thought it should have been priced at $9.
Wisconsin Brew Pub doesn’t brew its own beer, but it, too, has an extensive cocktail menu (and beer list). I thought the Madison Mojito ($8) had too much sugar, but I did appreciate that it was made with Cane and Able rum from Old Sugar Mill. The Cow-Pie Tini ($10) was a dessert in and of itself, especially since it comes with a mini Cow Pie (candy) as a garnishment.
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See more photos in our Double Cut Flickr album and our Wisconsin Brew Pub Flickr album.
