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Cozy Up to the Bar At Plank Road Pub and Grill

10/18/2022

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I used to regularly drive along the frontage road where Plank Road Pub and Grill sits alongside the highway to Appleton. For years, I’ve driven by and wondered what brought the crowd to it’s large parking lot, and yet, I never made the attempt to cross town from my old living space to give it a visit. Shortly into October, I moved to the west side of the Green Bay Metro Area, and I decided to satisfy my curiosity with my soon-to-be ex-husband.

A friendly dinner after a day of moving at a location neither of us had ever visited before harkened us back to easier times. He often sat across the table from me when I dined for articles like these. Fortunately for us and the other patrons of the restaurant that night, there was little different on this night than any other. We ordered our drinks, and I did what I always do.

Plank Road Pub and Grill has a menu familiar to me in any bar-restaurant setting. I would never personally call it original. Every bar-restaurant has a spinach and artichoke dip, mixed french fry platters, etc. A compact burger menu positioned beside a sandwich menu is precisely what you can expect from a place like this when you drive up. It was a friday in Wisconsin, so of course there was a fish fry menu.
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The best part of this somewhat predictable menu is knowing precisely what you want even as a first timer. As a spinach and artichoke dip connoisseur myself, I ordered it for the table to share with my ‘new’ friend. The least predictable element of the common bar appetizer was its arrival with both pita chips and toasted baguette. I often see only one or the other. A blanket of bubbly mozzarella shielded the dip itself from the dipping bread, but with effort, we enjoyed a rather traditional bar dip.​

​It kept us thirsty for a second round of drinks while we waited on our entrees. The staff were attentive to us and the other tables surrounding us. The crowd at the bar appeared to also be well taken care of. Empty glasses were not common. Low light provided by the decorative Edison bulbs throughout the restaurant gave it a warm, welcoming feeling. Families had their children with them at the table. All are good signs at a place like this.

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When our entrees arrived, I was pleased with my choice of a perch sandwich on a fish fry evening. At nearly half the price of their perch platter, it proved to be a good way to gauge the quality of the fry and the fish itself without committing too much on my first night out at Plank Road Pub and Grill. The single plank of perch among a well toasted bun and common sandwich accoutrement such as lettuce and red onion was somewhat lost flavorwise. However, looking at the fish and tasting it separately, it was clear to me the perch is well cared for and cooked here.

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The accompanying tartar sauce and trio of fries served here satisfied me well. There are few things that make me happier than a variety of fry options, and Plank Road serves a mixture of traditional french fries, waffle fries, and sidewinders on every burger and sandwich platter. Sidewinder fries are especially comforting to me with a strong association to a favorite restaurant in Iowa,
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I left Plank Road with a ticket of around thirty bucks despite ordering two drinks, the appetizer, and my entree. A strong tip for the attentive staff pushed me into the forty range, and despite the concerns I have of going out on my own into the world for the first time, I didn’t regret a cent. Plank Road is a comfortable location for friendly dinners, and with reasonable price, it is much more accessible than some of its restaurant genre compatriots in town.

Plank Road is accessible via the Scheuring Road exit off of highway 41, and their daily specials offer an opportunity to try much of their menu at reduced costs. Their frequent live music acts are announced on their facebook page. Thank you to the staff for a delicious, comforting meal after a hard day of moving!
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Toast and Company - East De Pere, WI

12/24/2021

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There’s something to be said for having a weekday off work. I don’t get to do it often, but my husband and I took a Friday off together to recharge before the holiday. That day took us to Toast and Co., a brunch location in East De Pere that I’ve kept an eye on for quite awhile. Plans of all kinds got in our way from making a visit for months now, but not today. I insisted we go, so we went with the free time available to us.

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Even on that Friday morning, we arrived at nearly full tables and customers awaiting coffee to take with them on their way out to work. We got a small two seat in the back of the restaurant and patiently awaited our turn. The staff was thin for the busy morning, especially when someone is needed at the coffee bar, the front desk for to go orders, and to wait the tables. The woman waiting the tables was on her own.
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Graystone Ale House - De Pere, WI

7/29/2021

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A hazy sunset came down over Green Bay one Thursday evening while my husband and I went out for dinner with a friend on his way out of the area very soon. It was our last chance to spend some time with this guy that has been a great friend to my husband when we came to Northeast Wisconsin. We decided on Graystone Ale House over in East De Pere, not far from where my husband and I now live. We’ve driven past it several times and always wondered. We ended that curiosity.

Their outdoor dining, while next to the country highway out of Bellevue, is comfortably seated and perfect for a drink or two with friends. Two firepits burned through the evening. It was the last evening of restaurant week, so on a better day I would have indulged myself in the offering. It was a bad day for my stomach, so I ate simply. My husband and our guest were a little more adventurous.

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The Exchange: Coffee, Merchantile, & Eatery

12/2/2020

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Small Business Saturday began with a coffee and breakfast at the Exchange Coffee, Mercantile, and Eatery in Downtown De Pere on a breezy November morning. It looked different than every Small Business Saturday that went before it with people wearing their masks even on the sides of the road, while they stood in line to go into the small businesses that so need their help to continue to survive the pandemic. The Exchange was no different with spots on the floor to mark proper social distancing and laminated menus to be washed off behind the counter after you ordered.

I talked about them more than a month ago when I wrote a short series highlighting favored and interesting local food businesses in the area, and The Exchange was a large part of my coffee article when I discussed other places I still wanted to go. We finally got there that morning, hungry and not at all caffeinated. We changed that quickly in their beautiful indoor dining area. Other patrons made sure to help maintain distance at tables, and the Exchange itself adopted a system where customers deposited their own dishes into washbins to limit interactions with staff during our stay.

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La Nostra Strada Pizzeria

11/7/2020

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La Nostra Strada Pizzeria in downtown De Pere opened this week, serving Italian street pizzas in what is my first experience with this style of pizzeria. I missed their soft open Wednesday night, but I couldn’t let another day go by without a visit. So, on my lunch break Thursday afternoon, I stopped in to pick up a few slices for my husband and I to try out.

Strada, as it goes by on Facebook, is conveniently located on Broadway street just a few blocks before the roundabout, and right next to Afogatto Bar. Day two, on a thursday afternoon, they had a small line waiting to grab slices for carry out. Social distancing was enforced with those little markers on the floor to tell you where to wait while others were ordering, and the short wait gave me enough time to admire the decoration inside the building.

I will always appreciate a new restaurant in an old building that maintains those gold painted, individual plate ceilings. They kept those around during whatever renovations needed to occur for them to set up the adorable interior of Strada. The seating area by the window, while not actively spaced for social distancing, is occupied by visitors in a way to maintain that distance either way. The front area of Strada doesn’t allow for as much spacing as some other locations have done since the 25% capacity order, but it looked to me that anyone visiting knew what they had to do to eat here safely. I also noticed a back room for seating and a bar along the back wall for individuals, so there is plenty of space for customers eating inside.

This Italian Street Pizza style location offers a case of pizzas every day, displayed as you enter the line. What’s there is what you can get, and if you’re ordering a full size for home, they display what you’re looking at on the wall so you know the sizes ahead of time. Given that my husband and I are interested in different types of pizza, I believe I will always be stopping in here for two different slices of pizza rather than a whole. All of the pictures I took while at Strada are displayed below, and after that is the actual review of what I ate.​



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Takeout Edition: The Abbey

10/24/2020

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I've talked up the Abbey for being massive supporters of the Eat Local wave going through Green Bay, but I had yet to actually eat there. COVID came right on the heels of me starting a new job, and I didn't have time, money or the ability to check out many of the local icons. Now that I do(and the need is so dire), it feels only right to use what I've got to support the people who are struggling most in the pandemic: our small businesses.

I’ve made it a goal to not eat another single meal from a major fast food chain for the rest of the year. Everything is going to come from a local-- coffee, sandwiches, pizzas, sushi, pasta-- all of it. This means that I’ll have to spread my net a little wider to find more people to support. Knowing that the Abbey played a major part in my decision to do this, it felt right to start Boycotting Big by Supporting Small with them.

My husband got our carryout order and brought it home. We live in Bellevue, so the meal had to survive about a fifteen minute trip from downtown De Pere. It did. When we cracked open the foam takeout boxes, our food was still warm and our fries still crunchy. Being able to enjoy almost the exact quality of a food as it should have in the restaurant is always an added bonus when the carryout goes well.

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