After feeling physically awful about the meal choices I'd made the night before (see Quivey's Grove post), I vowed that healthy eating for at least a day was in order. 24 hours later, I found myself at Echo Tap ready to order another of Madison's best. Promises you make to yourself aren't really that important anyway...
Echo tap is a watering hole a few blocks off the Capitol square. Mike and I thought it would be a nice night for a walk and a mile or so later, I was cold enough not to be able to feel my toes. Nothing a Rogue Dead Guy Ale didn't fix though. A usual visit to the Tap would mean running into folks from the office and this night didn't disappoint. After a quick chat to show people I will acknowledge their presence outside of a meeting room, we had real work to do.
Echo Burger:
- Once again Madison Magazine let's us down by not providing a burger name with the restaurant. What to do? Oh, we'll order the one with the restaurant's name on it. Easy fix.
- This burger is all Wisconsin: toppings include a brat patty, white cheddar and American cheese plus a heaping portion of grilled onions. While putting this sandwich together, the chef must have thought: "Is it healthy? Any nutritional value? Yes? Not going on the Echo Burger."
- The burger patty itself is hilariously thin when compared to the brat. We all gave heat specifications to the waitress and she probably had a good laugh with the cook when giving him our order. There is no way to cook meat that thin medium-rare.
- The brat's flavor was so strong you couldn't really taste the beef. That's not really a problem though since the beef actually tasted similar to breakfast sausage. These may sound like complaints, but it works. I really enjoyed this burger and would get it again.
...
I think I'm going to let Trina take care of the relationship analogies.
We made more poor decisions when it came to the appetizers. Cheese curds were on the menu, so naturally those were included. I've never actually seen an appetizer come with a packet of ranch you'd get at a salad bar, but it got the job done. These curds were standard bar fare. We also decided a small buffalo chicken pizza would be a good way to start the meal. This took a little longer to get out of the kitchen and turned into a dessert pizza (non-sweet desserts are catching on!) The pizza was a nice little surprise: hand tossed and absolutely delicious. Trina modified hers by adding cheese curds and fries. Like she's five.
Current weight: 170.9 lbs (Couldn't really eat all day. :,( )
Notable Observation: My blood pressure has risen significantly since the beginning of this tour. These burgers are quite literally killing me.
Ned -
Echo Tap - Echo Burger
The night started with a nice jaunt from the Penthouse (Jason and my bachelor pad) to what is known as the "Epic compound". (the "compound" consists of a new-ish apartment complex completely infested with Epic employees and the Echo Tap)
During this walk, everything was in perfect order... 1) Jason was complaining that it was too cold, 2) I was sweating, and 3) Trina was sending incoherent texts to us both as she drove to meet us at the bar/restaurant.
In true miracle fashion, all three of the amigos arrived at the same time (mark it down
1), ordered/finished a beer at the bar, and then made our way to the "dining area" to begin our feast.
On to the important stuff:
During this walk, everything was in perfect order... 1) Jason was complaining that it was too cold, 2) I was sweating, and 3) Trina was sending incoherent texts to us both as she drove to meet us at the bar/restaurant.
In true miracle fashion, all three of the amigos arrived at the same time (mark it down
1), ordered/finished a beer at the bar, and then made our way to the "dining area" to begin our feast.
On to the important stuff:
- Decor – The moment you walk into the Tap, you know it's a bar. Neon lights and old advertisemts are plastered across the walls, a jukebox is in the corner, and the bartender serving drinks looks like he's been there since Nixon's resignation. Oh yeah, and did I mention my Epic coworkers are everywhere?
- Service – Our waitress was unnecessarily inappropriate with most of her comments throughout the night. I won't go into details here, but I will say that when ordering pizza from this girl, size apparently DOES matter
- Food (the important stuff)
- Appetizers - Cheese curds... of course we got the cheese curds. Not impressed here as the batter was too thick. They also came with "do-it-yourself" ranch.
- Beer – Snake Hollow IPA and Rogue's Dead Guy Pale Ale. Rogue is legit and comes from one of my favorite places in the world: Oregon.
- Burger – The burger was fantastic! Not because of the high quality of meat or perfect cooking methods (because it had neither)... but because of the brat patty. Yes, you read that right. The burger comes with a brat patty, fried onions, and two cheeses ON TOP of the hamburger patty. It was greasy, cheesy, and brat-y. Can't go wrong with any of those.
- Sides – Steak fries. I hate steak fries. If I want to eat a baked potato, I will order one. I let Jason finish these for me.
- Dessert - The amigos decided to get a little creative with dessert this time and ordered buffalo chicken pizza. Who needs chocolate or ice cream when you have delicious thick crust, gooey cheese, and spicy buffalo sauce covered fried chicken? Not I.... not I.
TLDR – Order the burger for dinner and pizza for dessert. No, I'm not joking. You can see Jason's excitement in the shadow of our colossal dessert pizza.
Lucky-
After the Quivey’s Grove burger binge, I was in no shape to eat another burger the next day. It’s amazing what a Friday at work can do to change your opinion on things (if you doubt me, think about how many Friday Happy Hours someone had to very lightly twist your arm to attend by the end of the day). So off to Echo Tap for our sixth (is this really only the sixth?) burger of the tour:
· Apparel: In fear of shrinking my shirt further, I have to admit this was the third wearing without it being washed. When I walked in the bartender told me I looked nice. After I took my coat off I noticed no more compliments came my way. I believe there are multiple ketchup and mustard stains on it at this point.
· Atmosphere: Not going to lie, the Echo Tap makes me really happy. They unnecessarily renovated some of it last year, so I just avoid the nice parts and stick to the places I know. This was the first burger stop where we bumped into friends. After talking about the tour, our friend Joe suggested we create a blog. Way to be out of the loop Joe.
· Beer: I was very excited to try an IPA that was on tap. Halfway through drinking it I realized it was a Sleepy Hollow IPA, the same beer from Graze, stop #1. This is dangerous when we’re already starting to pull repeaters and don’t even notice.
· Burger: Okay, onto the main event. The Echo Burger was accompanied by no description on the menu but we found out from the waitress it had cheese AND a brat patty on it. Holy Cow. Sign me up! So we all got those and I ordered mine with sweet potato fries. If you’re close to me at all, you know that my favorite food is not actually burgers but brats. I absolutely love them. Small known fact though is that I actually don’t like brats in patty form. While it worked well with the burger, I have to admit my favorite bites were when the brat patty slipped off and I got just beef. Fantastic. Echo Tap knows how to do a burger right (they should do a cooking class for whoever whipped up those burgers for us at Blue Moon).
· Appetizers: We’re starting to use the term “appetizers” very loosely. Last time it was fries, this time it was a big buffalo chicken wing pizza. Either way, the pizza was phenomenal. It was hot (as in spicy), had amazing crust, and was all around delicious. I would return to Echo just for the pizza (well, and the beer). I had previously been under the assumption that all Wisconsin bars served Jack’s pizza out of the freezer. Not the case.
Bottom Line: Awesome burgers, great beer selection and surprisingly fantastic pizza. Oh, and everything is ridiculously cheap. I have always been a big fan and supporter of Echo Tap and this trip only further reinforces this. This place is a Wisconsin Woman’s Paradise. Men, take note. (Or maybe not – preferences like this may explain why I’m still single).
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