Tale One
After we joined up with FOJTY and wife at the Courtyard on Friday night, we went to said hello to “Gramma” at her apartment. Leaving there we all agreed we should go and have at least a libation to prepare ourselves for the coming Birthday Day on Saturday. In our never ending quest to locate something local and non-chain, we had previously found “Piggy’s” a downtown restaurant that offers a version of fine dining. The restaurant is in a large historic building near the waterfront.
The restaurant has both a fine dining area (upstairs), and a "Blues Lounge" on the street level. By the time we got there, it was after nine and we were not exactly DFD’d since everybody had been on the road or in the sky all day and so we decided to go to the lounge and see what was available. Upon entering the door it became immediately apparent that one of the things available was live music. Undeterred. we went into the lounge and noted that what customers there were, were located around the periphery, with most of the tables near the band empty. That was because the sound waves from the music would have probably cleaned the dishes off the table. Yes, I am old, but I think it was TOO LOUD by any generation’s standards. These were not kids in the band either, but gentlemen probably on the order of my era. There were a couple of guitarists, a bass player a percussionist, and a vocalist. Mostly they were playing Beatle’s covers, some bluesy things, and not bad, just too freakin’ loud. Okay, enough of that.
We chose the next empty table which was a rather largeish round table, probably for six, so we were sort of seated at the points of the compass. Leaning and speaking loudly, you could converse. We were approached by someone who would be taking care of us, and given menus. As for drinks, they had a pretty nice selection of Wisconsin beers, a fairly good wine list, and of course the ubiquitous list of Martini’s. The FOJTY’s chose a “Spotted Cow” farmhouse ale from the New Glarus Brewing Company, one of many, many, Wisconsin breweries. I went for the Dirty Goose martini, and MFO did a Gin and Tonic. The menu had mostly sandwiches and appetizers. The others immediately decided what they wanted, and of course when what’s her name returned with the drinks I was still flailing, and in a panic said “we’ll need a couple more minutes” – “okay, I’ll be right back”. Wrong. I think she went and changed the oil in her car or something as a good ten went by before reappearance was made, and we were left with our drinks. A feature of my martini was it came with olives stuffed with Roquefort cheese. Bad idea. The Spotted Cow ales were very good. MFO’s G&T appeared in a rocks glass, an all too common occurrence these days. Anyhow, after the new crankcase of oil was installed, she returned, and took our order for a couple of (black angus) burgers, MFO’s flatbread, and FOJTY wanted the cheese steak sandwich but asked if he could not have the cheese. “Sure, no problem”. For both the burgers (mine with cheddar and bacon) we were very pointedly asked how we would like them cooked. I ordered mine medium rare.
The band played on, we leaned and yelled, while the kitchen apparently was changing the exhaust systems on their cars. Finally the food arrived (after another round). My burger was sort of like those pre-made patties you get in the grocery store in ten pound bags, maybe 3/8th inch thick, perfectly circular. One bite confirmed that it was uniformly gray throughout. And, guess what, the steak and cheese was exactly that, steak and cheese. Eventually WHN showed up and played the “how is everything?” tape. I snapped. I held up my partially eaten burger and said, does this look like medium rare to you?? I then said I thought you said you could hold the cheese! Look at that (pointing to the glop of melted something)! She sort of reluctantly said she would make another order, but at that point we were past waiting for any further car repair delays from the kitchen and demurred. Eventually the charge for the beers was removed, and we left, music ringing in our ears. Nice time, bad service.
Tale Two
Fast forward to the end of the next day (Birthday Day - another post), when all the siblings were tired and just wanted some recovery time. Since Piggy’s was close to the hotel, we geared up and entered again. This time however, the (same) band was doing old timey things, and apparently had found the volume knob, as the sound level was many dB’s less than the previous evening. It was actually (pardon me) easy listening. The (different) server took all the drink orders by memory, two spotted cows, a sauvignon blanc, a couple of reds, and a dirty goose, with regular olives. This time conversation was not hard and we had a nice time. At one point when the band played one of the (I have to write these things down) Drifter’s tunes, a couple got up from their table and danced. These were not your lithe twenty somethings, just two people having fun. It was a pleasure to watch. A fun time with your sons and families is always worthwhile, regardless of the circumstance.
So there you have it. One evening does not a trend make. Don’t write a place off on the basis of that first bad experience… and stay
DFD
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