When we add a new restaurant to our Restaurant page, we choose a representative dish which best captures the Great Lakes Cuisine concept on the currently offered menu.  With The Old Fashioned in Madison, WI, we could have easily listed the entire menu. This is an updated take on all that is best of the culinary traditions in the state of Wisconsin. Though we take a broader view of the cuisine on this site from a geographic perspective, the same passion for this cuisine is on display in everything done by the folks at The Old Fashioned. From their site:

“Inspired by the traditions of Wisconsin taverns and supper clubs, The Old Fashioned exists to pay tribute to the foods and spirits that make our state famous. That’s why we chose to highlight meats, cheeses, produce, and local specialties from small Wisconsin producers. It’s why we drive over 100 miles to Seymour to pick up a shipment of their world-famous soda (and of course, take back our empties). It’s why we don’t mind a jaunt to Sheboygan for brats and hard rolls. And it’s why it’s commonplace to find Willi Lehner from Bleu Mont Dairy sitting down with a cheese plate featuring a selection of his craft. These things are all as much a part of the Wisconsin culinary tradition as an ice-cold PBR paired with a spicy pickled egg, or Reuf’s Meat Market landjaeger sausages.”

Now I may quibble with the ice-cold PBR, and plead for an update to an ice-cold Spotted Cow from New Glarus Brewing. But anyone that is serving Willi Lehner’s beautifully cave-aged cheeses along with Bavaria Sausage Kitchen’s delightful offerings has our support. The Old Fashioned faithfully reproduces and updates many of the traditional dishes featured in supper clubs, restaurants, and dinner tables of Wisconsin through-out the years.  These food traditions are the touchstone, the taste foundation, from which Great Lakes Cuisine emerges. Let The Old Fashioned inspire you.