Feb 26 -
One winter weekend in Madison, Wisconsin was spent eating and drinking almost everything on the menu @Merchantmadison.
My closest and oldest friend Sam invested in Merchant. Believing that his former coworker & friend, Josh; whose passion and love for good food would create the best restaurant in the city. Sam was right. Our first dinner was no less than an epic feast of epicness. Above are pics from our first meal. The french toast was from our brunch the next morning. Other brunch items enjoyed were biscuits w/ butter & jam, all kinds of eggs, thick ass bacon & gin bloody mary’s. Yes gin, not vodka. No matter what liquor was used, this cocktail as with all the other cocktails I tried were proper.
Later on the 2nd evening we had ourselves a dinner that was a little more modest in portion but no less interesting and diverse. The main entree was Lamb Neck. It’s the first time I’ve had the cut of meat, gamey and on the bone, eating makes me want to pound my chest and grunt like the balding ape that I am. All the food on the menu is local and organic, but that’s just fancy talk for top quality food. Wisconsin is known as America’s dairyland, the cheese is where its at, but there’s no shortage of quality meat & vegetables. People here still believe in mom and pop farms, Merchant stands by that same principle.
A block away from the restaurant is the capitol square. Right now it’s getting a lot of press for the day in and day out protesting, but in the spring time, the nation’s largest farmers market opens up on the same square. Picture all the protesters you’ve seen outside the capital building and replace them with farm stands. That’s Food Rich. That’s what Merchant gets to use in its kitchen.
Do yourself a favor and just eat there dammit!
