madcity girl

Twice a year, more than 30 Madison restaurants open their doors to the masses for Restaurant Week, during which each offer a $25 three-course prix-fixed menu—with three options to chose from for each course. In recent years, my Restaurant Week outings have taken me to several of Madison’s finest—Fresco, Blue Marlin, Lombardino’s, Inka Heritage, and Harvest. It’s hands down the most affordable way to sample Madison’s best restaurants. Although some of the restaurants offer slightly smaller portions during the event, a similar meal would likely cost three to four times as much any other night. Espeically at some of the finest restaurants.

The winter Restaurant Week (usually the last week in January) is appropriately themed “Go Stir Crazy.” Because that’s what Wisconsintes have become by this time of the year—stir crazy. You may have guessed that it doesn’t take much to motivate me to get out for a night of fine dining with friends. In fact, if I could find friends to go out every single night of Restaurant Week, I most certainly would. In the end, I was able to convince a few friends to join me for two separate outings.

My first Restaurant Week meal was dinner at L’Etoile on Tuesday night. L’Etoile is arguably Madison’s finest restaurant. Established in 1976 by Chef Odessa Piper, and now led by Tory and Traci Miller, the restaurant’s menu is inspired by the small sustainable farms and artisan producers of the Midwest. I made reservations for a few friends and I several weeks in advance. By the time Restaurnat Week rolled around, L’Etoile was booked solid for the entire week. Reservation=score.

Tuesday was actually my first ever dining experience at L’Etoile. I was very anxious to experience it, especially since hearing the news that L’Etoile will expland and relocate later this year. I must say, my dining experiece at L’Etoile was everything I had hoped for. The food, service, and atmosphere were all top notch. I chose the following options from the Restaurant Week menu:

Appetizer: Willow Creek Farm Pork Mulligatawny Soup with mint yogurt
Entree: Willow Creek Farm Pork Saltimbocca with creamy polenta, snug haven spinach, and caper brown butter sauce
Dessert: Cordillera Dark Chocolate Cake with warm chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream

Luckily, my friends and I chose different options and were all willing to share, which allowed me to sample nearly all of the menu offerings. What I loved about all of the dishes were the freshness of all ingredients and the complexity, yet subtleness of flavors. Going into the experience, I was a little worried that L’Etoile would be a bit too hoity-toity for my tastes. Certainly there were elements of that, evidenced by one particularly robotic server, but overall I found the food and service to be unexpectedly unpretentious. Which is why I’m now especially excited for L’Etoile’s new concept, which will make the restaurant accessible to more people—both in terms of space and price.

My second dining experience was for lunch at Johnny Delmonico’s on Thursday. My friend Lauren suggested that we check it out. I’ll admit, I was a little hesitant at first. Several years ago, just after I graduated from college, my family and I had dinner at Johnny Delmonico’s. My roommates had given it rave reviews. It was probably the most disappointing dining experiences I’ve had in Madison. My dad’s steak was overdone, and the risotto that my mom and I both ordered was unedible. But that was several years ago, so I figured I’d give it another shot. I chose the following options from the Restaurant Week menu:

Appetizer: Fried Calamari with sweet chili glaze
Entree: Chinese Chicken Salad with hoisin vinaigrette
Dessert: Chocolate Cake with vanilla ice cream

I’d say my experience at Delmonico’s was better than the last, but still pretty average. The service was decent, but the food was unremarkable. What I did enjoy was the sweet chili glaze on the fried calamari and the chocolate frosting on my cake. But the Chinese Chicken Salad was entirely too salty—it was just bathed in soy sauce.

That’s the best part of Restaurant Week—the experience helps you decide which restaurants you want to go back to for more. I think it’s safe to assume I’ll be heading back to L’Etoie. Sooner rather than later, I hope.