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Cafe Zupas

Sunday, July 9th, 2017

20170630_124915 Cafe Zupas is a chain restaurant that serves soups, sandwiches and salads. It’s a perfect spot for lunch, especially if you’re around the Greenway Station area.

The space is very bright. You’ll probably encounter a long, snaking line that may remind you of an airport, except it’s not depressing and actually fast-moving. The reason the line moves relatively quickly is because Cafe Zupas has around a dozen employees working the food prep area, and each takes a different order (e.g. a person dedicated solely to soup).

Let’s start with the soups (half $4.59, large $6.59). You can choose standard soups, like tomato bisque and New England Clam Chowder, or ones that are more unique, like red pepper & lobster. The Wisconsin cauliflower was perfectly thick and creamy. The cauliflower flavor wasn’t overpowering, which was nice, and I’m glad I added the applewood-smoked bacon pieces ($0.69) for a little saltiness.

The sandwiches ($5.99) are normal size, meaning not crazy big like other restaurants serve. I was considering the Cuban grilled pork but instead settled on the crab avocado melt. Even with the crab salad, cheese, avocado and bacon, the sandwich leaned on the bland side. In fact, I had to dip it in the chipotle ranch that came with my salad to get through it.

20170630_124720 On the other hand, I didn’t need to use the chipotle ranch with my glazed chicken chipotle salad ($5.99 half, $7.99 large). The glaze itself was slightly sweet, and it enhanced the bland chicken, which was similar to packaged chicken you find in a grocery store. The salad was otherwise a well-crafted ensemble of peppers, tortilla strips, corn, black beans, red onions, tomatoes and cheese.

If you can’t make a decision, you may combine soups, sandwiches and salads into Try 2 combos.

Three quinoa protein bowls ($8.99) also are on the menu. The Mexicali Braised Pork bowl was super fresh, and the pork was tender. However, there wasn’t much quinoa included, making the bowl basically another salad.

Cafe Zupas is open Monday-Saturday for lunch and dinner.

Tags: American, Middleton
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Taqueria Gonzalez

Sunday, July 2nd, 2017

20170623_120615 Taqueria Gonzalez is equal parts grocery store and restaurant located in a strip mall in Middleton. It’ll certainly satisfy your Mexican food cravings if you’re in the area.

First, let’s discuss the format. When you enter, an employee standing in front of a counter under the menu will take your order. You’ll then take a seat (FYI, there’s not much seating), and your food will be brought out to you. When you’re done, you’ll go to another counter, tell them what you ordered and then you’ll pay.

The menu consists of 10 items plus specials. Of course, I had to try the tacos ($2) at a taqueria. I liked my steak taco ($2) because the steak was juicy and tender, and there was enough flavor that I didn’t need any sauce. Other toppings include tinga, chorizo and for an extra charge, barbacoa.

The torta de jamon ($5.99) is huge. Despite the relatively high bread-to-meat ratio, the sandwich was enjoyable because of the lightly fried ham, crunchy peppers and fresh tomato and avocado. The regular tortas ($8.99) has more meat.

20170623_120608 Other menu items include sopes ($3.50) and burritos ($8.99). You may notice the pricing here is inconsistent, as some items end in .99 cents, and others are rounded to .00 or .50.

One of the specials was the tamales ($7). Most of the ones I’ve ordered recently at various restaurants have been super dry, but fortunately, that was not the case here. The tamale and the chicken were both moist, although they both were fairly bland (the two kinds of table salsa helped). The accompanying Mexican rice was super fluffy, and the refried beans had zero taste.

Taqueria Gonzalez is open every day for lunch and dinner.

Tags: Mexican, Middleton
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La Nopalera

Sunday, June 25th, 2017

20170613_122229 La Nopalera replaced the Subway on Schroeder Road. Despite the big space, it’s got a small, mom-and-pop feel, with a concise menu and a grocery section limited to a few perishables and non-perishables.

An item you typically don’t see on menus is the sincronizada ($5.95), which is a mouthful to say and a mouthful to eat. Ham, cheese, tomatoes, avocados and jalapenos or chipotle sauce are pressed between two flour tortillas. It’s tasty, but I would have preferred the contents to be a bit warmer.

Street corn seems to be growing in popularity in Madison, and this version ($2.95) is fresh and delightful. The corn is mixed with a huge dollop of mayo, crumbles of cheese, lime juice and tajin seasoning.

The Mexican BLTA ($5.95) adds avocado and jalapenos to the classic. The ingredients were very fresh (e.g. the avocado is sliced just for this sandwich), and torta was used instead of toast, a nice touch.

20170613_123332 Other items include salads ($5.95) and hot dogs ($2.95).

Come for breakfast sometime. The yogurt ($5.95 for 16 oz., $6.35 for 20 oz, $6.95 for 24 oz) is blended with your choice of fresh mango, peach or strawberry, then topped with banana, apple, strawberry, mango and granola. The mango version I had was full of flavor and contrasting textures, but the yogurt melted quickly and was basically soup after five min.

La Nopalera is open every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

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See more photos in our La Nopalera Flickr album.