Offbeat Eats

Prost! Even a little bit of traveling around either Madison, WI or the surrounding Dane County quickly shows that Germans were the most numerous ethnic group to settle in Wisconsin (around the turn of the 20th century, almost a third of Dane County had been born in Germany), and their stamp is seen everywhere from the many breweries, churches (particularly Catholic and Lutheran), place names, and culinary traditions (I think Wisconsin eats by far more bratwurst per capita than anywhere else). But as time progresses and migration patterns continue, while the traditions are certainly strong, Madison doesn’t have nearly as many actual German restaurants and watering holes as it used to. While Der Rathskeller in the Wisconsin Union remains a staple for the University crowd, there aren’t that many other places around town; most are further out in Dane County. And one of the longer-standing ones, Essen Haus (itself a replacement for the earlier Hoffman House) is slated to close later this year and get turned into more apartments. But there has been a nice addition to both the German food and beer scenes in recent years: Prost!

I’ve always loved Madison, Wisconsin. It’s a very scenic city, with a downtown located on the isthmus between Lake Mendota and Lake Monona, and for a city of it’s size, it has always packed a good punch when it comes to good restaurants, bars, and other watering holes. I don’t actually get to Wisconsin very often (I did drive through it a few times on 2021’s trip to Minnesota, stopping at the excellent Ru Yi Hand-Pulled Noodle), but a week-long business trip for a conference gave me a good opportunity to explore a bit more. Several people I know had recommended Madison’s The Harvey House for dinner, and then a week before I left for Madison, The Harvey House was the location of one of the challenges on Top Chef. I decided it was worth a visit.

Our next stop was a night in Minneapolis visiting with friends. Normally, if I was doing that driving route I’d usually try to stop at New Glarus Brewing, but when we passed through in June, they were still closed to the public due to the pandemic. To give ourselves a nice break from the drive, we decided to stop for lunch in Madison, Wisconsin, which has quite the selection of potential dining options. After looking at a few potential spots, we settled on Chinese, getting noodles from Ru Yi Hand Pulled Noodle on State Street.