Archive for September, 2015

Taigu

Sunday, September 27th, 2015

It can be hard to review Chinese restaurants when their menus are so standard. That’s mostly the case with Taigu, although there are a few unique items served at this Middleton restaurant.

No surprise, the menu is divided into appetizers (e.g. fried dumplings, egg rolls, etc.), meat dishes (e.g. beef, seafood, etc.) and specials. The gems are the homemade noodle dishes, served primarily pan-fried ($9.95), boiled ($9.95) or in soup ($9.95-$11.95).

I ordered the knife-cut (“cat ears”) boiled noodles with pork and eggplant in house sauce. Despite the lukewarm noodles, I did enjoy this ensemble. The eggplant was thoroughly cooked (making it tender), and the bits of ground pork and the sauce generated a lot of flavor. Next time, I’ll probably get the beef chow fun ($11.95), which is pan-fried rice noodles with steak, scallions and vegetables.

Meal combos come with fried or white rice (note the fried rice is barely fried) and two crab rangoons or soda at lunch or fried rice and an egg roll at dinner. The only other dish that caught my eye was the General Tso’s shrimp ($8.35 at lunch, $9.95 at dinner). I liked that the jumbo shrimp was not overly breaded, and the sauce met my expectations.

Be warned that service can be slow. At lunch time, with only three other tables occupied, my entrees took 30 min. to be served (and my soda was served just moments before that).

Taigu is open every day for lunch, dinner and carryout. You may get lucky and find street parking (in angled slots) in front of the building, but otherwise, be prepared to drive up and down Elmwood Avenue.

***

Taigu Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

wiener shop

Sunday, September 20th, 2015

In a small storefront on Gilman Street, in the shadow of the gigantic Hub apartment building, you may find wiener shop, which like OSS, puts fancy toppings on a plain hot dog.

I really do mean plain. The bun-length, beef or vegan hot dog is jammed in a bun straight from the package. From there, it’s buried in toppings connected by a theme, all for $4.95.

Ones you may already be familiar with include the Chicago-style dog, topped with mustard, relish, peppers, onions, pickles and tomato chutney (but no poppy seed bun), and the Tucson Sonora dog, topped with bacon, avocado, mustard, cilantro mayo, pinto beans and pickled jalapenos.

The Vancouver Asian dog reminded me of sushi, and that’s because of the well-crafted sesame ginger slaw plus soy sauce, avocado and way-too-much wasabi mayo. For lack of a better term, the richness of this dog brought diminishing returns in enjoyment.

On the other hand, I was surprised by the somewhat bland taste of the New York street dog, as the pastrami kraut was not at all sour and wasn’t helped much by the mustard or NYC onion sauce.

Tater tots are the only other items on the menu. You can get them plain ($2.95) with your choice of sauce, and note, you will need the sauce, since these non-crunchy tater tots come from the oven, not deep-fryer. Try the awesome sauce, which uses a Sriracha-like sauce as its base. The other versions of tater tots come with cheese ($3.95) or chili-cheese ($4.95).

wiener shop is open for lunch and dinner Tuesday-Saturday. You won’t find any seating inside, but there are a few tables outside.

***

Wiener Shop Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Nani

Sunday, September 13th, 2015

Another Chinese restaurant has opened in the space next to Mermaid Carwash on the west side, but this time, it’s not a buffet. Besides a regular lunch and dinner menu, Nani features dim sum throughout the day, a welcome addition to Madison.

Upon seating, you receive a picture menu that lists 63 dim sum items on one side  and appetizers, soups and entrees on the other. Dim sum items are priced as small ($4.50), medium ($4.95), large ($5.95) or special ($6.95).

I’m a fan of pan-fried turnip cakes ($4.95), and Nani’s version didn’t disappoint, as they were crispy on the outside without being dried out on the inside. Turnip cakes often can be too bland, requiring soy sauce or Sriracha, but these were excellent on their own.

The shrimp dumplings ($4.95) were super meaty–it was impressive how much shrimp was stuffed inside each one without  vegetable filler. I also ravenously ate the beef brisket & rice noodle ($6.95), a clay pot filled with tender and not overly gristly beef complemented by the soft rice noodle.

The sauces are Nani are delicious. They don’t overpower the dishes; rather, they accentuate them. An example can be found in the chicken feet ($4.95). The feet sat in a “special sauce” (the waiter couldn’t even describe how it was made) that made me think you could put any item in this sauce that somewhat resembled a beefy-soy sauce broth.

For the dinner entrees, I was quite pleased with the sauteed lamb with garlic ($18.95). The plate was loaded with the delectable lamb that actually had no discernible garlic flavor. The BBQ duck ($13.95) also is worth ordering. Before, if you wanted to get crispy and juicy duck in this form, you had to go to Chicago or Garden Asian Market on University Avenue, but now you can get it right here.

Nani is open every day for lunch and dinner.

***

See more photos in our Nani Flickr album.

Nani Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

    Madison Symphony Orchestra Urban Air

  • Blog Home

    You are currently browsing the EatDrinkMadison.com blog archives for September, 2015.

  • Archives

  • Categories