Category: WI

Eating Bay Area Burger Co's Lenten Special

3/4/2023

I have long loved the Bay Area Burger Company. It’s often been hard to get my hands on their smash burgers since their inception in the middle of the pandemic, but it is a testament to how good those burgers were that they now stand in a brick and mortar location on Broadway. I’m admittedly late to the game, paying them a visit. I rarely make my way into the Broadway district anymore now that I live in De Pere. I had to be in Green Bay’s downtown for less than savory business, but I knew exactly where I could find a savory lunch.

And I deserved it, didn’t i?

Cocoon Brewing's Open for Business

2/7/2023

Cocoon Brewing has been long anticipated in the Ledgeview area, and it's finally open. Their soft opening in the first weekend of February was the first rumbling of a formal date with the following Monday opening their doors to the public. I was planning on being in the area anyway, so I diverted my afternoon to stop in and see what they have going on so early into their new business.

Firstly, it is somewhat difficult to see from the highway. If you don’t know where you’re going, it would be easy to go right past it. I suspect more signage is to come over the Brewery’s life. The building is striking when you turn off onto Kaftan Way. Google Maps will get you that far, so if you come with a mission, you’ll find it just fine.

The interior of the building is bright and vibrant in a way that the exterior, modern architecture does not betray in the slightest. It felt cozy, comfortable, and welcoming, to belly up to their short bar and order. The bartender guided me through the early modifications to their business model set to get them through the first month or so.

As of the writing of this article, their own beers are not yet available, and their taps are loaded with guest breweries from throughout the region. The bartender on staff during my visit reported a likely early March date for their own beers to begin trickling into the line up. Until then, house cocktails are available as well. If I hadn’t started out with a beer, I would have definitely been ordering from that.

Finding Comfort at Sticky Fingers Cafe - Kaukauna

10/13/2022

The first true Fall morning of September, I bravely got in my car to drive down to Kaukauna to enjoy the Produce with Purpose Open House. I turned away from the Green Bay Farmer’s Market early in the morning when I had a strong sense of purpose. That sense of purpose didn’t last long. I hate driving. I have several chronic health issues that sometimes make me scared to leave town on my own.

It scared me so much I spent the entire drive to Kaukauna having a panic attack, and I pulled into the downtown area in search of a nice breakfast to help me come down. I stumbled upon Sticky Fingers Cafe, open early enough for someone like me just trying to find a comforting meal and a safe place to relax. When I found them, two other people were on their way out with coffee in hand.

McKayla Marie Sweets Opens in Ashwaubenon

10/2/2022

I first met the mastermind behind the sweets at a June event in the Revolution Market and found something special in the crisp shells of her miniature macarons. I checked on her facebook page once a week waiting for that final announcement of opening day. It came almost a month later than her original estimate.

A crisp fall morning in Ashwaubenon rose over the grand opening of McKayla Marie Sweets, a much anticipated event by yours truly. I arrived nearly thirty minutes early to discover that a line had already formed outside of the door, bisecting the parking lot. I had to park along the road. I waited patiently alongside other connoisseurs of the baker’s goodies, listening as they talked about their plans for the rest of the day after this.

No one was ignorant of what they were about to eat. McKayla Marie Sweets attended several events in town, spreading the anticipation over the summer– and it worked. I’ve attended many openings like this since I started writing for this blog, but I can’t recall this level of anticipation in a crowd. It spoke highly of the mind behind the product.

Taco Tones Returns

8/24/2022

Green Bay has a blessing that is sorely lacking in many other cities in our country: access to Native Frybread prepared by natives themselves. Indigenous cuisine in the states has long been an under-represented area of our culinary history. At Taco Tones food truck, the frybread is the base upon which more familiar dishes and flavors are built as an introduction to the under-represented cuisine.

And, let’s face it, it’s just plain tasty. From a frybread taco to a ribeye sandwich to a burger, you don’t have to be a food history weirdo like me to appreciate what they’re doing. We tried them once during the winter while the proprietor ran deliveries when unable to do business in the Green Bay Streets. At the time, I tried their native nachos and their frybread burger. I remembered it so fondly that when I heard they were involved in an accident that rendered their food truck inoperable early in the season, I was crushed.

Thankfully, it was not a goodbye when they shut down their original facebook page– just a see you later. Taco Tones is back, and we had our first chance to get their flatbread taco right out of the fryer at the Washington Street Block Party this past weekend. Under the warm sun with a cold beer, the slight crust on the exterior of the pillowy interior of the frybread worked hard to contain an overflow of delicious taco meat and the usual suspects. The small slices of tomato on top went down particularly refreshing with the heaviness of the overall experience. It was a perfect food truck meal.

As early as I arrived at the event, the line was not long. The staff moved through those that did stop in immediately for their meal quickly, which is a good sign for their setup on the interior of the truck. For the hour and some that I stayed at the block party, it appeared that the quick service I got continued. Every frybread taco that I saw go by looked as good as mine. There’s something special going on in there. Don’t let the unassuming exterior of the truck fool you.

You can follow Taco Tones on facebook to keep track of their schedule, or you can check our own facebook page off and on as well. We do our best to repost when we see many of our area food trucks announcing their openings outside of regular events in town. Tell them Eating Normal sent you. I’m so glad to see them out on the streets again to share a unique food truck experience with the city.

Faith in Sushi Restored at Nakashima of Japan

6/2/2022

Holmgren Way is home to several of Green Bay’s greatest sports bars, but it’s also home to Nakashima of Japan– a sushi bar and hibachi location hiding between tall apartments and a hotel. The building is easily identifiable when you’re driving along in the daylight. My husband and I went after a Packers game once pre-pandemic to wait out the traffic. We enjoyed ourselves, but we hadn’t been back since then.

My mother was in town. She’s also a big sushi person. Living in rural central Illinois limits her sushi options, however, so we brought her to Nakashima originally to experience their hibachi. We didn’t make a reservation. The wait would have been an hour. This is to be expected with hibachi, especially so when the restaurant expresses problems with being short staffed in a small sign at the door when you arrive.

I was too hungry to wait an hour for an open table, so we decided to go to their sushi room for dinner. The restaurant has largely converted to a QR code menu, but paper menus are available for those that aren’t accustomed to QR menus such as my mother. Nakashima has a sister restaurant in Appleton that allows for a Yakiniku experience– that isn’t available at the Green Bay location.

Sushi Lover-- I Was Not

4/19/2022

The sushi scene in Downtown Green Bay has always been something of an enigma to me. My husband and I have to be in a particular mood for sushi most of the time, and our favorite in the region left Downtown last year. We didn’t explore the other options on Broadway after Koko Sushi Bar moved. We simply accepted the nearest option when the mood struck us, which is now Umi Sushi.

One Sunday afternoon, we made our way to the Broadway District to try out the all you can eat Sushi Lover across the street from Titletown Brewing. We arrived shortly before opening time, and a small crowd was already gathered to wait their turn at a table. I thought this to be a good sign at the time. If that many people were waiting for the doors to open, then surely what waited for us inside was worth it.

A selection of Sashimi and a rainbow Roll

Once the doors opened and the waiting diners flowed inside, we were seated quickly. A steady flow of diners came behind us until eventually every single table in my line of sight was full. I sat with a bottle of Kirin Ichiban looking at a full restaurant for the first time since the pandemic began and felt a little nervous. Dining restrictions are over, but still. I’m still not over the need for a little space between me and other diners. I may never be.

1919 Kitchen and Tap

4/7/2022

The roads thawed after an icy day of winter weather, and my husband and I craved an evening outside of our apartment for once. After more than two years in Green Bay, we finally went to 1919 Kitchen and Tap within Lambeau Field. We’ve walked past it on multiple visits with friends that have come up to the area, usually out of concern about price. For two people with a relatively limited appetite, willing to share a few plates, those concerns were much more easily bypassed.

To get to the restaurant, one has to go through the atrium of Lambeau and pass the fan shop to get up to the second floor. When we arrived, the shop was still open. It’s worth keeping in mind for friends in the future if we want to kill two birds with one stone– eat and shop in one stop. We came for food only, however, so we bypassed that opportunity to get to 1919 upstairs.

There was no wait when we arrived, likely because it was a Wednesday evening. The tables toward the center of the main dining area are surrounded by four very comfortable chairs, and being sat there wound up being a good thing for us over the course of the evening. We had a long wait and a mishap with our appetizers, but we had our drinks, an open kitchen to turn around and look into, and college basketball in every corner of the room to keep us busy.

There are two things I order whenever I go somewhere that the menu centers around bar food: the Brandy Old Fashioned and some french fries. I maintain that it’s the easiest way for me to determine the actual quality of the bar program and the kitchen. 1919 shows extra effort from their bar program in creating their own bitters to showcase in their Definitive Brown County Old Fashioned, forgoing the angostura bitters often seen to focus on a cherry wood and vanilla bitters formula instead. It’s obvious that they muddle the bitters in brown sugar behind the bar– my first sip had just a tiny grain of that sugar cube in the straw.

Saint Brendan's Inn - Green Bay, WI

1/20/2022

The Packers first playoff game of the year is coming, and it reminded me that I forgot to post a review I wrote for a downtown classic back in November. Please enjoy this backlogged post and consider Saint Brendan's Inn for your playoff needs-- food and lodging!

My husband and I wandered into Downtown Green Bay on a chilly November evening looking for something to eat. Something was going on at the Meyer, so many of the places we scouted out before we got into the car were already full. Vintage Cantina had long been on the radar, and I swear that every single seat in there was full. We parked just outside of Saint Brendan’s Inn, so we walked back down toward the car, found ourselves guided to the door of the Irish Restaurant/Hotel by the delightful smell in the air, and walked inside.

This wasn’t the first time we visited. Back when we first moved here, one of my husband’s new coworkers invited us out to lunch here. It is still one of my fondest memories of town. We ate and drank very well, and yet my husband and I hadn’t been back since. This Friday night provided the opportunity to return without a wait at the door, and we sat down in the dining area with the Bucks game on at the bar behind us.

The dining room is gorgeous, exactly what you would expect of an Irish pub. Celtic knots in the stained glass and Gaelic phrases painted onto the walls above them. Soft tones against natural wood. It felt very cozy after a short walk out in the wet cold of the evening. My husband ordered a Spotted Cow for his drink, and I enjoyed a Brandy Old Fashioned in the first building I ever had one in. The crowd was beginning to thin out, so we were able to catch up on the day in relative quiet while we waited for our meal to arrive.

Toast and Company - East De Pere, WI

12/24/2021

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.

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.