The last time I was inside Forrestal’s in Middleton, which was about four years ago, I was the best man in a wedding. Now the space has been transformed into The Free House Pub, which opened this summer and specializes in ale, whiskey and pub food.
The entrance has been moved from Parmenter Street to Elmood Avenue, and because it’s set back, it can be hard to find. Once inside, you’ll see a long bar and flat panel TVs on the wall, and you’ll instantly feel the venue’s rebirth.
Like most new establishments these days, the menu here is pretty limited, with the requisite apps, sandwiches and burgers found in most bar and grills. From the first category, I tried the cheese curds ($6.50). For the price, I thought I would get a lot more. In fact, a lot of the appetizers are comparable in price to the sandwiches, meaning that they are too expensive (e.g. $8.50 for loaded fries).
The sandwiches and burgers are served with a side of tossed greens or fries. I paid another $1.50 to substitute the fries for garlic parmesan fries (you also can choose sweet potato fries) with my BBQ jalapeno burger ($8.50). This delicious burger was topped generously with jalapenos, and I enjoyed the cheddar cheese and spicy BBQ sauce. I also paid 50 cents to replace the bun with a Cybros whole sprouted grain bun, which was unfortunately really cold, like the cooking staff didn’t fully defrost it.
Those garlic parmesan fries, by the way, are not worth ordering. Neither the chunks of garlic nor the big pieces of parmesan stuck to the fries, so you had to use a fork to keep it all together to get it into your mouth. (Look at the photo to see what I mean.)
The Big Tex ($8.50) also was tasty, with its sauteed onions, cream cheese and BBQ sauce sitting comfortably on a juicy patty. The only other item on the menu that interested me was the buffalo chicken wrap ($8.50), which features a buffalo garlic sauce.
From the cocktail menu I tried the Bulleit Rye Old Fashioned ($5.50) and the All Wisconsin Iced Tea ($7), made of Yahara Bay Vodka and Lemoncello, Death’s Door Gin and Old Sugar Distillery Freshwater Rum. I loved the former and would order it again; it seems like it would go well with a fish fry. The latter was very potent, and unfortunately the gin was the dominant flavor (I like gin, but it overwhelmed the other spirits).
I probably won’t eat here again, but The Free House Pub is a decent place to get a drink, especially when the second bar–located in the dining room–opens. The restaurant serves dinner every day and lunch Tuesday-Sunday.
Shabu-shabu is another term for a Chinese hot pot. It’s like fondue, but instead of a pot of cheese, it’s a pot of boiling water; and instead of dipping bread, you put in meat and vegetables. That’s the obvious specialty at the newly opened 
For appetizers, I tried the fried taro cake ($6.99), except instead of a fried turnip cake found on most dim sum menus, Soga serves a sweet cake. I’ve eaten it before, though I forget the name, but it’s definitely not a taro cake, so be warned.
Earlier this summer, Noodles and Company invited me to try the new salads on its menu. The American version is a spinach and fresh fruit salad, the Asian version is a Chinese chop salad and the Mediterranean version is a Med salad, which is what I ordered. It’s made up of romaine, mixed greens, tomato, cucumbers, red onion, olives, cavatappi pasta, spicy yogurt dressing and feta, and I followed the restaurant’s suggestion and added marinated steak to it.
I didn’t have high expectations at first, but I actually really like the new Spicy Chicken McBites at McDonald’s. It’s not like popcorn chicken that’s 95 percent breading; rather, it’s a sizable portion of chicken breast with a little kick (spicy but not too spicy).
It’s not that new, but I wanted to write about the Pizza Hut Dinner Box. Since I ordered it originally, Pizza Hut has added another size. So the original version is now called the Big Dinner Box and comes with two medium, one-topping pizzas, breadsticks and your choice of wings or pasta.
